Good God, I'm home. Should I kiss the floor now or wait until after this post.
I like my house a lot. It's an old colonial style house on the top of a steep hill. When I look outside my window I can see the lights from the center of town to my left as well as the trees from the park nearby to my right. Despite the creaky floors and chipped paint, broken doorknob and rough carpet... I love my house. And for $600/month, this house has been my greatest investment here.
But, I have not slept in my house for past three nights thanks to my aunt and her job. You know those commercials where someone breaks into a picture perfect house setting off an alarm the awakens the picture perfect family and then the screen switches to a concerned representative from the alarm company who calls to make sure that everything is alright at the family's home...well that is what my aunt does. Except, she really just sits around for most of her shift in an office somewhere waiting for something to happen.
She usualy works the morning shift, but thanks to a co-worker quiting at the last minute her job had to move around some schedules this week until they could hire someone to take the midnight shift. This is where I come in. Because my aunt had to work a midnight-8 shift (except friday) and my college aged cousin has to work 7-5 at his summer camp job she had no one to watch Michelle from 7 to roughly 9 o'clock in the morning. And because I am the dependable, responsible relative who loves Michelle to pieces, I was the only person she could ask.
I absolutely adore hanging out with my cousin Michelle. She is a inquisitive, polite, adventurous six year old. We recently saw Judy Moody together (terrible movie) and she eagerly shared her snacks with me to make sure I was comfortable. Recently she picked up the gardening bug and has planted her very first tomato plant. I love this child fiercely as if she were my own, and I have no problems watching her ever. I even asked if my aunt needed me to come over on the fourth to watch michelle and or babysit if necessary. But she said it wasn't so I made other plans.
I wanted this July 4th to be low key this year. I took the day off because I couldn't bear being at work with annoying people. I spent most of the morning talking to my mom on the phone because the 4th will always be a little rough for our family. Three years later and the grief thing is getting...easier, I guess. But His birthday and death will always be...tough, there is no way around it.
Some of my friends were having BBQ's, others were going to hit up bars later on in the day. While I was asked to attend most of these activities, I instead decided to stay home and watch a bunch of British Television shows thanks to Netflix. I love America and being an American but the Brits won on the programming front.
So when my phone rang as I was on who knows what episode of the IT Crowd, I was shocked to hear my aunts voice (who never calls) on the other end. She called to ask if I wanted to come over because her neighbor was having a BBQ. There would be hotdogs, and hamburgers, and french fries....'oh, and do you think you could spend the night'. Say what?
She explained the situation (there was no one to watch Michelle in the morning) and I agreed to spend the night thinking it was going to be just 1 night. 3 nights later and I am finally home. I've been living out of a messenger bag for the past few days and after i finish watching Star Wars V I'm taking a nap. I am exhausted.
Michelle was as delightful as could be, but everything else was terribly the same at my aunts house. There was still this sense of complete chaos and dysfunction. Her house has never felt like a home because it is constantly in a state of 'renovation'. She can't decided on a paint color for the walls so there are several color strips on the wall. She has more random appliances in her house than Sears catalogue and I may have stepped in cereal she no longer had in her cabinet.
Everything was a mess which probably explains why I got bitten by a spider on my first night on the couch. Michelle and I feel asleep during Macy's Fourth of July Spectacular and when we awoke the next day we were all sorts of marked up with bug bites.For some reason, I got the worst of it. I had a pretty disturbing bruise on my arm that was red, swollen and itchy. I didn't think too much of it, until Wednesday when the bite marked had double in size.
The bump on my arms was the size of a golf ball. And while I've never had the chance to use the phrase in a sentence, the description it's not an exaggeration. Yesterday when I walked in, to work, I immediately complained about my arm, My manager asked to see the bite in question and when I pulled up my sleeve he let out a gasp, gagged a little and said that my arm didn't look good.
As soon as he said that my other co-worker asked 'what doesn't look good?' and came over to check out my arm. When i turned it towards him I swear to bob he recoiled in disgust. He tried to look away but couldn't, and went to touch it but then stopped. And then just backed away and said I needed to get my arm looked at.
By the time lunch rolled around my arm was the topic of discussion. Everyone wanted to a) see it and b) diagnosis it. Some one gave me bendryl to kill off the infection (by then it was established a spider was the most likely cause) which made me irritable and sleepy the whole shift.
I of course had to head home (after work), shower, change and de-stress before heading back to my aunts house for the third time this week. I shouldn't have come home. My bed looked so soft and comfortable and the orange cat who has claimed my room as his own took his seat near the window per usual. It was tough having to pry myself and him from the room last night.
Needless to say I am very very happy to be home today. I didn't think I could miss my bedroom this much. Because today is my last day off before vacation I have a lot of cleaning and packing to do. The plan is to pack light so that I have room in my suitcase to bring a lot of things back in. My mom has a tendency of buying me things when I'm home ( i know. it sucks. gosh) and I could use some new jeans and shirts. I'm just saying.
This vacation can't get here fast enough. I have a tendency of stepping up my A game after being home for a bit and I have high hopes that post trip to south carolina I will have a job. A real crappy, entry level one. I saw transformers the other day and rolled my eyes several times as Sam (shia lebeouf) struggled to find a job the first 30 minutes of the movie. When his parents come to visit Sam in D.C (where he lives in a beautiful apartment with his too gorgeous girlfriend) they are disappointed to learn that 3 months out of college he has yet to find a job. 3 months, try 3 years Sam! And then there is an awful montage of him going on interviews. Not only did he go on 7 in like one day but he gets an awful job working with a creepy John Malkovich.
I hate movies that depict post grad life. Even in the simpliest of forms.
I haven't had any luck in the interview department since March, nor have I ever had 7 damn interviews in one day (come to think of it I don't think I have seven job interviews in the last 3 years), so I figure something will come my way after vacation. It always does.
Ugh, time for a nap. The last few days have felt more like work than actual work and the days before vacation are going to be hectic.
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