day of hilarity

chris is at guitar lessons, and i'm at mom and dad's just hanging out. i absolutely HAVE to tell you about my day yesterday. i work in the boarding side of an admissions office for an all-boys school here in town. we've been getting our first round of notification letters ready, and at around 12, my boss gave me a list of students who needed to get letters. and they needed to go out that day.

RIGHT. (sorry david...) but he still made me feel like i should be able to do it. *sigh*

[insert explanation of how long it takes to send acceptance letters: they went out today, and i worked on them from 8 am until 5 pm. literally. the information in the computer (due dates, deposit amounts, etc...) had to be entered into the computer and double checked; they had to be printed; the letters then had to be double and triple checked - the worst thing on EARTH would be to send a kid the wrong letter. then they had to be stuffed with all the correct pamphlets and information sheets and memos and lists; the labels had to be printed and be matched with each letter; THEN he wanted them overnighted so we had to fill out 22 overnight DHL forms...we divided it among us because i can't write right now...that's another story. so the written labels had to be matched with the proper letters, the pickup had to be scheduled, they had to be carried downstairs to the pickup site. i ran up and down the 2 flights of stairs AT LEAST 10 times this afternoon.]

now, this all might seem like it wouldn't take a long time to you, but it really, really does. i always think it won't take as long as it does. but it always takes forever.

back to yesterday. so i already have the heaviness of knowing my boss is disappointed in me. i mean, not REALLY, but the feeling is still there.

another task was to get these certificates and official announcement letters out to another group of boys, and they HAD to go out before the end of the day. period. i technically probably might have been able to get all the other letters out if i hadn't had to do that. so i worked on the certificate itself to make it pretty, which took FOREVER. then i had to go buy the paper. then i had to print them and the letters. at about 330, i took them up to the headmaster because he had to sign them. i asked his secretary to call me when they were done.

then i went into mercy's office (one of the girls i work with) to work on the plans for a big event coming up in mid-february that takes weeks and weeks of planning, and this is mercy's first year, so i'm kind of helping her out. which means that i wasn't in my office when his secretary called me, and when i remembered to go get the certificates, it was 430. so i asked one of the guys i work with to please go get them, and he did! thank you! and he came back and said "guess they don't work until 5 up there...it's dark and locked." WHAT?!?!?!?

at this time, i realized that i wasn't going to be able to pick up my husband from work. he gets off at 445 and i pick him up at 515 - he stays at work 30 minutes longer than he needs to every day - EVERY DAY - because we just have one car. (it's our choice though - we like it!) but this day work prevented me from leaving at 5. it happens sometimes, which is fine, but it's really, really hard to call your precious hubby and say "i can't pick you up today. can nathan take you to the internship too?" [his music internship at church at 645.] *sigh*

so then i called security. and they let me in the office. and i got the certificates. *whew*

i got all the certificates and letters signed by all the proper people, stuffed them into envelopes and ready to be stamped. it's about 515 now. so i took them and went downstairs to stamp them. and the DOOR WAS LOCKED!!!! it's happened to me before but it was friday. (this was wednesday)

so i called security. he did NOT sound happy to hear from me again. they let me in, and i stamped them. *whew*

but then i only had 20 minutes to make it to the post office that stays open until 6. eek! and it's 20 minutes away. no leeway. (is that how that's spelled?) so i shut down my office quickly, hoping everything that i was leaving could be left, and ran out of there. i didn't speed, but i hurried. traffic was not bad, some red lights got me, but no big deal. as i'm driving along with about 10 minutes to go before the last run of mail. sheesh! but i was okay. i was handling it. i was together. not stressed...well, not too badly.

then what happened, you ask? this:

actually it said "maintenance required". are you KIDDING ME???? *sigh* it freaked me out at first, but then i remembered that it happens in this car...it's just an automatic thing that happens every so often. no big deal. i was still together. there were 7 or 8 minutes left, and i was about 7 or 8 minutes away. *whew*

then what happened you ask? this:

AAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!!!!

*DEEP BREATHS* *DEEP BREATHS* i am together. i am not going to get fired. i am not going to bust through the barrier....hopefully.

the worst part about it was that we COULD have gone through. it was power-line workers, and they were only taking up one lane. but they had the whole road blocked. *sigh* most of the people in front of me were turning around. i was doomed. the people right in front of me turned right on a road i didn't see immediately before the barrier, and i followed, hoping that they knew where they were going. THEY DID!!! we made it around on little back roads for about a minute and then *poof*, were back on shallowford road!! HOORAY! i might make it afterall. when i pulled back onto the road, what turned in front of me from another road? the mail truck!!! AAAH! wait! don't unload the box without me!!! i pulled into the post office behind the mail truck [that didn't go the boxes out front...] at exactly 601. i dropped the little packages into the box and saw:

last pickup: 7:00PM

*sigh* fine. whatever. i don't care.

during most of these events that just kept piling up, i couldn't do anything but laugh. but i will admit that when i saw the road closed sign, there were sad tears mixed with laughing ones. but it was just one of those days.

today, as i mentioned, i worked on the other letters ALL DAY, and i mentioned to someone that yesterday and today were like running a marathon, and yesterday was mile 19. forrest always says that mile 19 is where he's praying that his second wind comes along. [and where he sees the ghost of braxton bragg when he runs at the battlefield. hah!]

that's all. i just wanted to share the amazingness of the craziest day i've had yet.

in other news, this is my new favorite picture: