Confession

Wow, it has been a long day and I have a confession to make. But first, let me give you some background.

I have been blessed this year with the generosity of so many people. This generosity has allowed me to be able to work only three days a week (Sunday, Thursday, and Friday for those of you who don't know) and really focus on school. This semester, I'm enrolled in school with a total of 16 units, and I have to admit I'm not sure that this semester is going to be that difficult.

Since I am one of the older people in my classes,I have almost turned into a professional student, I get the feeling that I'm in enrolled in easy classes since everyone around me dreams of fake id's and enjoys the newly found comfort of living away from Mom and Dad. I'll keep you updated on how "easy" these classes as the semester progresses. Going off on a tangent, let me reel myself back in.

Now, most of the week I am very relaxed and able to really hone in on some activities, that i never had time to do before. Only after studying, of course. I have taken up cooking, exercising, cleaning, and writing to name a few, which have all become a therapeutic outlet for me. Except for days like today.

It all started last night, When I made the mistake of going to happy hour at Rock Bottom last night with Wei, my roommate and his friend, Kassage. Happy hour was fun besides some anxious distractions from seeing an ex-boyfriend, at least I thought it was him. I was too chicken shit to actually make any eye contact to verify that the back side of him actually matched the front that I wouldn't look at. That's really beside the point. I was delirious and really exhausted from the night before when I stayed up late doing nothing productive, I should have been studying. So back to happy hour, we had a couple drinks and it was time to go home. Came home, was in bed before midnight, and then the sound of the dreaded alarm this morning.

I hit snooze a couple times, thinking, in sleepy/dream-mode, that I had so much time before school. The next thing I know it's 8:15 and I have about ten minutes to get out the door so that I could make it to PH 290, Health Professions and Organization, on time. An hour later, after a short stint on the freeway, a pop in to Starbucks (yeah, I did make time for a venti coffee w/ cold soy), a search for a parking spot, and a short walk later I was in class listening to a lecture about "Health People 2010."

I made it through PH 290 and was off to Microbiology lab, uhh. Still tired, the coffee only mildly perked me up, but I was running on no food. It's eleven, now and I'm putting on this dreadfully tacky white lab coat and getting ready to "play" with some E. Coli. Great, I have only had coffee, not one bite of food, my cognitive skills, not to mention motor skills, are declining at a rapid rate, and I have to "play" with E. Coli. I was just hoping that none of it got into my body, so that I wouldn't have to toy with the idea of having to "pray to the porcelain god" for any period of time. We used samples of it and placed them in some cool jelly looking stuff, so that it would grow and we could examine it next week. Lab is 2 hours and 40 minutes long. By the end of lab, my coffee has completely worn off, I can't really think straight and I am starving. Not to mention, I'm starting to get cranky and very grumpy.

I get out of lab at 1:40pm and now I have a race to work. It's the first day of the week that I have school and work, and I had been dreading it since I got out of work Sunday night. I have to be at work by 2:15pm. Now, this means that from the moment I get out of lab, walk half a mile to my truck, wait in traffic to get to the freeway, drive from the college area, all the way to Poway in 35 minutes. Almost impossible! Did I mention I was starving? I know I'm that hungry when I start yelling at people in the car for almost no reason. It just seemed like everyone was driving super slow and trying to their best ability, to make me late to work. I was a grumpy girl today!

Ok, so It's 2:01pm and I'm getting off on my exit to work and still have about 5 miles to drive to get to GEICO. Great, 14 minutes to get to work, change into "work appropriate" business casual clothes, clock in and start checking, what I found to be 75 emails waiting for me. Of course, I hit about 80% red lights on Scripps Poway Parkway, or what Charles likes to call, SPP. Just my luck I start getting more upset. I finally make it work, I get a front row parking spot, which always brings a smile to my face, and I run in, looking like a bag lady. I'm carrying my school bag and work clothes, and trying to find my badge to get me into the building. I run through the turnstiles, up the steps, and finally to my desk where I end up clocking in at 2:18pm, pretty darn miraculous. I drop my stuff and go change, and all i can think about is eating. Charles tries to talk to me, and I have to hold off on that, so that I can get some food in my body and prevent a snappy, short remark from exiting my mouth.

Since, I only had ten minutes in the morning to get ready I didn't have time to make my lunch. As most of you know, I haven't eaten "fast food" in about 6 months, maybe more. Besides,the occasional Bean and Cheese burrito from a local taco shop, hmmmm. This is when the confession you have all been waiting for comes in. There is one small detail that I left out on my way to work. I stopped at Taco Bell. I used to eat Taco Bell maybe 5 times a week, at the height of my fast food diet. Ironically which at that point in my life, I was surprisingly too skinny. Now how does that work? I went through the drive through, on the way to work and ordered too much food, my eyes for food were enormous. Like a good girl, I ate it all. Finally, a sense of energy rushed through my body. This was later followed by a sick feeling, a combination of nausea and a fever, at least it felt like it. Was it the Taco Bell or E. Coli I started to wonder. But I have to confess, that my crunchwrap, crunchy taco, bean burrito and diet pepsi were quite tasty in my moments of exhaustion and starvation.

All though the food was good, I would have to admit that, I will not be making a habit of the Thursday trip to "the bell". I feel much better when I eat fresh unprocessed foods that really give my body the vitamins and minerals that it needs.

The rest of the day turned out be much better than the first half. I had another coffee, a triple venti soy latte, to combat the continued feeling of exhaustion and take my mind off the dead battery in my phone. I spoke with some nice policyholders at work, and got to help some fellow co-workers with their calls.

As I write this last sentence, I think about getting to sleep so that I don't have another late morning, have ten minutes to get out of the house, and end up with a meal of Taco Bell later in the day.

Much love,

Micah