Update for Everyone VI: What Is and What Should Never Be

[Mr. Smith]

Wow, I had no idea I such presence here....

Appropriately for the new title however:

1. Excellent week with midterms, and I got some teachin' in.

2. There was a Hurricane Relief Concert which all five former Presidents were at....I thought it was next week...

[Mr. Smith]

I have suddenly started habitually referring to almost everyone as "sir" and I have no idea why or how to stop... I worry myself sometimes

There's no shame in that. I reckon I do this quite a bit too. There are far greater things to worry about than over polite addresses.

[Mr. Smith]

Wish me luck...I'm going to California for a few days next weekend.  Any guesses on how long it takes me to trigger the locals?

If you're triggering locals, it's only because you mentioned cheap gas prices and good roads.

[Mr. Smith]

The trek to Skunkbushmechamaxland continues. Currently in Dallas.

[Mr. Smith]

Welp, now I'm in the heart of Skunkbushiemechamaxland....good gravy the Braum's are everywhere....I think I saw more of those on the way up than Mickie D's....

[Mr. Smith]

Well, it took almost a day, and half of that was spent at Houston's Hobby airport, and a few encounters with hobos in the downtown...but I finally made it back to California.

[Mr. Smith]

Nothin' like:

- A good mornin' mass in Oakland

- Duck roast and an overload of pastries

- A visit from relative I hadn't seen in a while

- Return of the Jedi in Shakespearian prose

[Mr. Smith]

Prayers to TDAS and Kingpoleon.

[Mr. Smith]

...I can't believe I'm saying this, but:

I'm probably going to lose my driver's license and I'm going to be stuck for a long time....

I hope I'm wrong, but too much is depending on me either passing the written test in Commiefornia or all my paperwork lining up perfectly in Texas.

....I just don't have a good feeling about 2018 already, just based off this.

[Mr. Smith]

...I'm going to be 25 tomorrow...

And yet, everything feels anti-climactic...empty. Is this what the whole quarter-century crisis is supposed to be like?

I dunno, usually I feel a little something of excitement when the day comes, even if the circumstances haven't been there to acknowledge it (be it because of college, or in the case of two years ago, a splitting headache...which prophetically ended up describing 2016 in a nutshell..I digress)...but right now....just nothing....

Classes haven't begun yet, church isn't until right afterwards, and even if I had stayed in Cali for just a little longer....no one would really have much to say. Dad's overtaxed, my Mother's health is probably just as if not more f&*(ed up than Scotty's, and my sis is going to be busy with D&D...so little changes there.

[Mr. Smith]

Cath,

Welcome to hell, my friend (AKA the modern dating world).

Earlier today, I would have said that she luckily seems to have lost interest. Unfortunately, such appears to be not the case. Nevertheless, it appears incumbent on me to think of something interesting to say. Definitely a mistake.

Best of luck. Also, you seem to have a way of making the most vapid, mundane, or dull things sound more interesting than they really are...if you can do that, you'll be in good hands with topics for a while until you do have something interesting.

You've got this.

[Mr. Smith]

I lost my key to my bike's U-lock.

[Mr. Smith]

My parents are holding me prisoner by refusing to let me visit a friend who moved to college (which is about 3-4 hours from where I live) earlier this month who is starving herself and considering suicide, so I'm really getting ing sick of their goddamn controlling bullsh**t. I'm extremely stressed out because I don't know if she'll be alive for much longer and I don't want her to go back to her abusive ex-boyfriend and I'm just extremely scared and anxious at the moment. Me and my parents used to have a good relationship, but now they act like totally different people. I have almost no way to get to her unless I want to spend money on an overpriced bus (literally would cost me $100 roundtrip and I'd need to pay for an uber to get to where she is)

Oh, and my ongoing mental breakdown is getting worse because of this

I hope things work out for your friend.

[Mr. Smith]

Given how crazy this semester is going, I'm going to have to cut out this place for a while. At least a month. Unless I lose my job...and even then...

Hopefully once things are a bit more balanced out, I can return. But right now, Atlas is a distraction, and besides this shutdown that just ended, there really isn't that much going on.

Old habits die hard, but I've got to at least try for a month.

Cheers,
  LDS

P.S. I don't use this font unless it is serious. So yeah, I'm out for now.

[Mr. Smith]

So I’ve got a mid-term next week, and almost no motivation either to study or to work on rough drafts.

That's been me all semester for quite some time.

I feel like a law student who can't seem to pass the bar and running out of options, the situation isn't exactly that, but close enough.

Keeping my grades feels like just a means to have a more updated transcript for another attempt elsewhere at something else...

[Mr. Smith]

...I'm going to have to quit my job.

I had considered it for quite some time, but figured I could at least eke it out to the end of the semester, even with the awful relocation plan that makes an impossible commute even more impossible.

But now, I'm in hot water for "not being productive", which is really just codeword for: Well Skipper, you don't the numbers we needed.

If I go through with it, I can't be rehired, but if I try to hang on and don't make it, I get fired and I don't believe the unemployment benefits will side with me.

fml.

[Mr. Smith]

I am being crushed under a mountain of sleep debt. I don't know what's wrong with me. I can't sleep. It's like my brain forgot how to turn itself off at night. I'm going to lose my mind if this keeps happening.

Right there with you sista'.

And the worst part is when you get to that point where you're not all awake either in the middle of the night huh? The energy is just gone, the eyes are a bit droopy, but the mind races and nothing with go limp as should happen, yes?

[Mr. Smith]

Prayers requested.  I am at the hospital right now; my mom had a seizure and we are currently waiting in an acute care room.  We just dodged a huge bullet because my mom likely would have died had she been alone.  Please pray for both of us.  She is sick and I am completely stressed, but grateful that I was present at the time she fell.  She is now fully awake and hopefully we will be discharged either tonight or early tomorrow.

God help you, man.

[Mr. Smith]

What career field, JA?

Community and Social Services. Most of what she applied to were jobs in long-term care facilities and as case managers (such as at DCF). I lean more towards the Social Work side of things, so I know it’ll be a good spot for me too.

Closer to Wisconsin too.

[Mr. Smith]

My mom's okay.  They ended up detaining her for the night.  I didn't even know that was something hospitals could do.  She resisted going in the first place and later told me to never call an ambulance again.  I didn't know what to say to that.

She had a second seizure when they did a scan of her heart, which they're concerned with now but only slightly.  But she regained her consciousness throughout the night, even used scissors from my laptop bag to cut the IV cords.  Seriously, she's got balls that I never will.

Got a ride back from a friend, so I'm home for the night.  I'm beat, but I feel like I should stay up and wait for news.  I don't know.

If there's one thing I do know, it's that staying awake and waiting for news does nothing in the meantime but adds to anxiety and stress.

[Mr. Smith]

I just met Daryl Davis...the Daryl Davis, and I got an autograph!

Unfortunately, I forgot my phone (which happens when you oversleep and miss half the lecture), otherwise I totes would've PAPOM'd.

[Mr. Smith]

I think I just flunked a class. Haven't taken the final yet, but I just bombed a huge project.

Even a D is a flunk in this case...

[Mr. Smith]

Besides the flatness, doesn't looks too different from pockets of rural Virginia.

[Mr. Smith]

So, I'm back in the Bay for a weeks.

i'm tired i'm wasted i love u darling

THIRTY YEARS DUNGEON!

[Mr. Smith]

I finally decided to work on my mail-in ballot (since I haven't officially switched residence over to Texas), I've only got a few weeks before I have to return to The Lone Star State for a Summer Session (which I hope doesn't whoop me like last semester did).