Friday, Jun. 27, 2003
Blueberry Beer and power getting cut off, posted at 2:02 p.m.
Epiphany in Baltimore has moved to epiphanyinbaltimore.blogspot.com As almost a reminder of how much I need this vacation, my electricity was turned off today. It makes me angry, because I have to, confusingly, pay three bills for gas and electricity: upstairs gas, downstairs gas, and electricity for both levels. For someone who is challenged about paying one bill a month, three is a conundrum I haven't yet mastered. I always end up flip-flopping and paying whichever one is the most overdue. In this case, though, I'm not sure what happened. I just overlooked it.It's back on now. Apparently this lovely man went in back of the house with a ladder and snipped our power lines, but another man came back and fixed them. You know, if they would have actually called me to tell me about the overdue bill, I would have paid it without them having to pay some man to snip it and then another to fix the snipping, but oh well. It's just one more little pebble on the mountain of financial stress that I feel like I'm carrying around on my back right now.
I'm looking forward to the flight, because for the first time it will be like I'm leaving it all behind, that all of these worries will be behind me.
My mom sent me $100 (a secret from dad), and I told her about the electricity cutoff. She just doesn't understand it. Heating and electricizing the place over the winter cost almost $1000 a month, and that really is catching up with me now. But, also, I just messed up. I felt like telling her, "Well, mom, haven't you figured out yet that I'm sort of a screwup? I'm a pretty darn good teacher, though."
I spent too much of this year paying off college debts, and not enough paying off my bills. And I just checked my college credit card balance, and it's much less, but it also feels like there is still tons to go.
Today was the last day in school. What a depressing day. I closed up the classroom, my posters packed away in my closet and my room looking like any other sterilized room in the school. Turned in the key. Signed my year-end evaluation (I received a score of 100 out of 100, an improvement over the satisfactory 70 out of 100 I received last year... perfect scores are fairly rare in our school, and I was pretty excited.) Hugged colleagues. This has been a long goodbye, and today's was almost anti-climactic, but it's still not a "go out and celebrate" type of experience.
I'm having dinner tonight with my mentor teacher, who is in town from Michigan. I'm excited about it, though I'd be lying if I said I didn't hope she picks up the bill. Last night, I helped a friend move for a few hours, and he took me out to dinner in exchange. I guess I'm sort of a freeloader lately, although it he was paying me for services rendered.
I help everyone move, by the way. Some people just slide into the woodwork during moving day, but not me. I'm right there for it every time.
Along with dinner, I had three blueberry beers at what is perhaps my favorite bar in all of Baltimore - The Thirsty Dog. Beers are 2 for $3, you can bring your dog there, and they have great little pizzas with names like "Stinking Rose," which features more garlice than cheese. Garlic, by the way, is the thinking man's ketchup.
It's quite possible that I will not be able to update again before our flight on Monday. We still haven't figured out how we're going to get from Baltimore to New York's JFK airport (anyone want to drive us?), and all options look like they're going to cost $100 each or so, which pretty much negates the cost saved for flying out of NYC instead of DC or Baltimore. That's a big bummer. Hopefully we'll figure something out. We sort of figured that one of our friends would enjoy an excuse to drive someone to NYC because, well, it's an excuse to go to NYC and it only takes 3 hours or so... but all of our friends seem to be busy or out of town, leaving the two of us shit out of luck.
Two weeks in a tiny Italian village is needed more than ever. Think about me as I read Romeo & Juliet in Verona, as I visit the coliseum, and as I sit on a beach with my copy of A Lesson Before Dying (very excited about the reading this trip). If I don't get back to the library before Monday, I'll be back shortly after the 15th. Be good.