Tears of a clown.

Tomorrow is my appointment with an academic advisor at Mount St. Mary. It's a 2 hour appointment, which is more time than I got from anybody at LBCC, but maybe I should stop talking shit about LBCC. It's starting to sound bitter. Anyway, I'm nervous. Why? Well, for one reason, I don't know where I'm supposed to park.

It's been a rough week. I decided to change my work schedule back to the 9/80 for the summer, and this was the first week of four 9-hour days. I'm actually really feeling that extra hour. It doesn't help that we are very busy at work, covering for absent/non-existent colleagues (all of us. There are five us, and then three missing). It seems that we take turns being miserable, being realistic, and being accepting. I think I'm in the accepting phase  (for now). It is so hard to be totally behind, work piling up and having unread emails and ignored voicemail messages, and then when you are at your breaking point (or near it), someone tells you to "do your best."

Dude, if I wasn't doing  my best, I wouldn't care at all. 

Anyway, luckily I work with a group of very fun people (having a nice work environment is a new one for me, and I am not taking it for granted). 

Here's an example, though I hope this story isn't somehow offensive. If it is, I am very sorry. It's possible I was having a bad reaction to my allergy medication.

My colleague, G. just inherited the case load of our departed colleague, D. (D. didn't die, she got a promotion). G. unfamiliar with D.'s cases, and since we tend to memorize and recognize the names of the people we work with, it was bugging her that she couldn't identify this one employee. The employee's last name is "Fu." 

Now. My colleague is a sophisticated woman who has the most beautiful jewelry I've ever seen. She's funny and smart and has this awesome Armenian/Russian accent. She speaks 4 languages. She's a smart cookie. 

After looking for this file for about 20 minutes, G. got frustrated and asked me to help.

"What am I going to do with this Fu," she asked, and for some reason that struck me as the funniest thing I had heard in a very long time. 

I was the only one who laughed. I laughed a lot. It took me quite a while just to stop giggling. I think the guy who sits on the other side of my cubicle was ready to call the Employee Assistance Program on my behalf.

Anyway, this week I have been tired, overwhelmed, achy, silly, and sad. Not all at once.

Please play "Tears of a Clown" (the cover version by the English Beat) now. You'll feel better. I do.