- the struggling student I wrote about earlier (whose grade I am going to pro-rate for the missed exam while they were in the "behavioral health facility") achieved a good grade on the final exam. I feel like with that for once, trusting my judgement was solid.
- this is the finished maraschino-cherry cake. It was a hit (I do have some left over; not a lot of people made it to the party - it was cold and raining)
It makes me smile because the style of decoration is very reminiscent of what my mom used to do for "simple cake decorations" when I was a kid. It seems very homely (in the British sense of the word: which is a good thing) to me.
It turned out pretty well, too. I'm having a piece right now as my "dessert for today"
- I can help out my brother, who is teaching biology at the homeschool cooperative where his daughter goes; he doesn't like the lab book they have and I offered to send spare copies of our intro lab manuals to him, and was able to obtain same.
- I taught two people how to use the new scan-tron. I don't know why people are afraid of it? It's not any harder than the old one and because it's all electronic, it does not make the horrible Gatling-gun sounds that the old one made when a student missed a lot of the questions.
The not-so-good:
- I went down to Sherman and it was kind of nuts, even for a Tuesday. There were lots of kids in the Target (???? either homeschooled, I guess, or maybe some of the schools have already let out for Christmas?). One of the kids was skateboarding up and down the aisles, no parents in sight, no one said anything even after he crashed into a display.
And driving home....well, something reminded me of my dad and I teared up again. I wasn't crying badly enough to make it unsafe to drive but I did drive much of the way home with tears running down my face.
I really hope the "mostly just happy memories" thing kicks in soon.
- I think I mentioned I saw a leak coming from my water meter, and wonder if this is the source of high water bills I've had? So I went down and paid my bill in person and also commented about it to the person (I had called it in but had to leave a message and presented it as "I don't know if I called the right office, so..."). Came home to a hangtag on my door: "The leak is on your side of the meter, you are responsible for its being repaired. Call a plumber. We have turned your water off and will put it back on after you get it fixed."
This was at just about 3 pm. I called my plumber right away and was told "We'll try to get someone out but it will most likely be tomorrow" and I melted down - I still have laundry to do, I REALLY need to wash my hair....I can't do that without water. And I have NO ONE in town I feel comfortable calling and asking to use their shower, and I can't go over to the gym, it's so cold I can't go out with wet hair.
And of course, no flushable toilet which....wouldn't likely be an issue until tomorrow morning, but, still.
What irritates me? I had mentioned this before to the city (called it in when I had the first inflated bill) and NOW they escalate it to NO WATER FOR YOU
I called the city back. Sat through a couple of hold periods, finally talked to someone. The people there are always kind of....abrupt? I interpret it as "rude" but maybe they're just used to dealing with clueless people? I asked if I could have the water back on because I hadn't been home, and there was no way to get a plumber out, and I had no family in town I could stay with*
Grudgingly, after lecturing at me about "but you're wasting water!**" and "you'll have to pay for the wasted water" (Yes, I said, I get that, but it's less than a night in a motel), she said she'd send someone out. I do have water back but oh the air in the lines.
(* I swear people here assume everyone has about a dozen aunts and uncles and about thirty cousins scattered around the area and you can just get help from one of THEM in instances like this; there is no concept that some of us are extremely alone)
(** this is a city that thinks nothing of not-repairing minor leaks in water mains - there is ALWAYS water running across the road up to my building - so when it's below freezing you have to avoid that street - because it seems too big an effort to fix it. But OF COURSE when it's the responsibility of someone else, they are a Bad Person if they don't attend to it right away. I will note we live in a pretty well-watered area and have had sufficient rain, so a little wasted water is not the end of the world)
But yeah. And also I will owe several hundred up to maybe a thousand to fix this leak. This is why I have a savings account but I guess there goes my big indulgent purchase for the end of the year (Normally I buy myself something in the $100-$200 dollar range; not this year, I guess)
But at least this explains the high water bills recently. And fixing it will eventually save me more than what the repair cost.
I know I shouldn't complain, and I got it fixed for now, and I have the money for a permanent fix, but I am just tired unto death of little things going wrong that drag my attention away. It seems like almost every time lately when I think "yay, I can relax a little" something happens.
But yeah. Driving back I thought of something, and I think it even more now: "I wish I had a shoulder to cry on, but ironically, if I had someone nearby that was like that, supportive enough to be a shoulder to cry on, I probably wouldn't NEED a shoulder to cry on."
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