Imagine this, if you will. It is a normal work day. You wake up late, rush while getting ready and accidentally hit your shin on the corner of the coffee table. As you make your coffee, you realize you forgot to wash your only travel mug. Great. On your walk to class, you realize you also forgot your headphones. Double great. You go about your day on edge, the muscles in your shoulders are slightly tensed and your friends and coworkers ask you if you're okay. Yes, I'm FINE don't ask. You're so okay that you're one mishap away from breaking down in tears. It's just not your day.
What I just described to you, my friend, is a series of unfortunate events. Rather, a string of inconveniences that make an already shitty day even shittier. We all have them every now and then, and they suck. I could get preachy and put on my guru hat and say that the best show of character is how one deals with these inconveniences, but I'm not feeling up to it right now; ask me another day. Today, at least, I want to complain.
A Mundane Night that Inspired Me to Write This Post For Some Reason:
So, for lack of better words. This evening tested my patience. It started with the prospect of alone time. Something I'm very on-the-fence about. On one hand I can do all my hooligan shit that I can't do when other people are around, like leave socks on the ground without picking them up (some call me a bad girl). On the other hand, I have a perpetual and compulsive fear of being alone. As described in a past post, I have lots and lots of thoughts that float through my brain. Who am I going to bounce them off of when there's nobody for me to attack with my words? Also, as a woman, being alone is scary. This fear-of-imminent-death might be aggravated by my brain's tendency to think of the Worst Case Scenario. But tonight on my neighborhood app, people had posted about seeing a man try to look into their windows. Freaky right? A normal person would probably think "okay right, that person won't come to my house because all the lights are on and if they do I have a weapon". HA, if only it were that simple. My brain went full schizophrenic mode and I was full-on peeking out of all my blinds with a kitchen knife in my hand. Awesome, my crackhead behavior is starting to become more crackhead-crackhead than the cute-crackhead. To top that off, after spending an ungodly amount of time shrinking my brain by scrolling through TikTok, I finally decided to get ready for bed. I turn on the shower and lo-and-behold our water heater is dead. A-mazing. Just peachy. Now, I don't know if you are like me, but I have a borderline obsessive-compulsive habit of always showering before bed. The prospect of not being able to shower sends shivers down my spine. I feel every speck of dirt, my skin crawls. Ugh disgusting. Must. Shower. How can I heat up water? ...... By boiling it! So I prepare for the task at hand. Picture: Me wrapped in a kimono, boiling water on the stove, in my kettle, and in the microwave at 2:30 in the morning, constantly checking the windows to make sure nobody is peeping in with a crowbar and a flashlight. I make multiple trips back and forth, the tub is less than a quarter filled. I look down at my meager supply of heated water in agony. I feel like a medieval woman, waiting to bathe after 8 long months. The tub has been used by my husband and son before me. I have no hope. Then, from the depths of my brain box I remember that something called Google exists. I quickly type in "how to take a hot bath with no heated water" and get a strategy for making the water hot as quickly as possible. (1) Fill the tub halfway with the cold water (2) dump boiling water into tub until desired heat is reached. Voila, I have a hot bath. Mind you it's kind of small and my body doesn't really fit but it works. Ah, the joys of being an adult.
So kids, the moral of the story is: appreciate what you have, because when it's gone you'll have to boil water for an hour just to enjoy a hot bath. My water heater still isn't fixed and I'm fearful of the future of my shower situation. I'm also hopeful that everything will be okay, mainly because I sent a strongly worded email to my courtyard's residential advisor. That's all for now.