And it's Wednesday

I went to bed early last night because I was tired (And found out this morning on the weather that my assumption was correct: ragweed pollen is very high). I read a couple Ray Bradbury stories before bed. (The one with the "sun domes," which is kinda sorta depressing and makes me wonder if I'd be the guy who made it to the second dome, or one of the guys who winds up dead in the jungle. And a re-read of the one about the junkyard guy who convinces his kids he's taken them to Mars and I can't decide whether he's a good dad or a terrible dad because he gave them what they thought was the experience of a lifetime but which was actually a lie they'll probably figure out later on)

I found this yesterday afternoon on YouTube. I find it tremendously amusing:



Yes, they're wasting food, I suppose, though if it's a clean never-used toilet they can probably re-use the grapes and the carrots.

(My favorite is "600 acorns" because it's so oddly specific and who would flush acorns? And the "chocolate long john" is perhaps a little too "real" - kind of gross)

I suppose these are like the toilets they have in prisons and stuff? I know a home toilet won't do that.

(Or will it....

That was one of my favorite Calvin and Hobbes strips EVER.)


Sometimes I think I missed my calling; I know I once said if I were 16 again I'd pay more attention in my advanced math classes and go into Material Sciences Engineering or something like that because being able to try to break stuff for a living would be fun. So would being a product tester, I guess.

***

Found out this morning about the "free" flu shot clinic coming up. It's being sponsored by some kind of medical-screening company. I had previously ignored the e-mails because I know my carotid arteries are good and I know what my waist size is (a little too big, but not too bad in proportion to my hips) and all that jazz.....but apparently if we want a free, on-campus flu shot, we have to sign up through them and I assume go through all the other screenings, which (a) I don't want because I don't need an officious nurse telling me I need to lose weight; I already know that and am trying and (b) it will take a long time of waiting in line if we have to go through all that stuff.

So, sigh. It used to be we walked into the nurse's office, signed a few papers (verifying, for example, we weren't allergic to eggs) and then got the shot, no trouble.

There's also some kind of "pandemic preparedness exercise" that will end in a free flu shot but that involves driving to the other side of town on a school day and then hanging around.

You know.....you'd think if they wanted us to get flu shots they'd make it simple without all kinds of time-requiring stuff.

So, heigh-ho chain pharmacy. I bet my insurance would even cover the cost of a flu shot there. (My doctor's office generally does not offer them as so many other places do, and it would also involve going through an appointment and having a co-pay).

And yeah, with my asthma having been slightly worse this summer I think I definitely need to be sure I get a flu shot. Even beyond the "I don't want to feel like crud for a week to ten days if I get the flu"

***

I haven't heard back how the food went down last night at the college student fellowship (I could have stayed but I was tired and at that point wasn't hungry and just wanted to get home and take a shower - the a/c was off in the kitchen and it was hot down there). I will say both the leaders effusively praised how the chicken looked and smelled when it came out of the oven, and the college kids, as they were trooping up the stairs, were exclaiming "oh, I'm STARVING" and "It smells good!" so hopefully it turned out well. (I have a bad history of slightly overcooking chicken because of fears about salmonella).

Though as I said on Twitter: if you want to feel validated as a person, cook for college kids. (Though it's kind of sad that a lot of the times my feeling "validated" comes only at the end of me putting in some work.)

There was a lot of food - I worked with another woman (in some cases it's couples that do it; my "partner" is a widow). I made the chicken and baked beans; she made macaroni and cheese (in case of non-meat-eaters, I suppose) and brought the soda and made a dessert and brought some fruit....so the students were well fed with fairly nutritious food last night.

(We have a lot of lower-income students on my campus. I don't know that any of the youth group are, but I've also read stories about how there's this sort of quiet issue of some students on some campuses not being able to afford nutritious food or decent housing)

***

Speaking of "validation," this came through my Twitter feed today:

Yeah, Einstein never said that and I don't even know if he would have ever devoted any of his (considerable) brainspace to that kind of a thought, but, yeah.

because sometimes I will kind of bitterly mutter "I don't matter," usually when I've been voluntold to do some thankless task, or I have someone (often a student) demanding things of me I would never have thought to ask my professors for. Or when my wants go unmet for another week or when I feel ignored and talked-over.