Shoulda just stayed in bed (mostly)

'Cause nobody wants to be the last one there
'Cause everyone wants to feel like someone cares
Someone to love with my life in their hands
There's gotta be somebody for me like that
'Cause nobody wants to do it on their own
And everyone wants to know they're not alone
There's somebody else that feels the same somewhere
There's gotta be somebody for me out there
-"Gotta Be Someone" by Nickelback

I heard that song on the radio at least five times today. And don't get me wrong, I actually really like it - most of the time it hits me as a very hopeful song - but with everything else that happened today, it kind of drove me up a wall.

First off, I wake up a lot later than I had intended to and discover Teddie has made a rather disgusting mess on the bathroom rug, right in front of the toilet and less than a foot from his litter box. (He's mad at me because he's back on a dry food diet - he much prefers tuna.) Get that cleaned up, and check my phone (I've taken to turning it to silent during the night. Mornings are happier that way). Missed call from one of the PCPA numbers. The TD wants me to explain one of the notes from the report this weekend. Why the hell is he calling ME? And on my day off? Do I LOOK like the person who sent the notes out? I'm the employee whose contract is getting cancelled, remember? Grr! (And I'd like to point out, since in all fairness I do proofread the notes before they get sent out, that I TOLD Chrissy that if she called a certain piece that, no one would know what she meant and she decided to leave it because it was cute.)

Deal with that phone call, decide I have enough time to do laundry before my dentist appointment, and haul dirty clothes down to the laundry room, including the soiled bathroom rug, which of course gets all over the shirt I was wearing. Ugh! Toss THAT shirt into the wash, which I had planned on wearing to class since it was my last clean school shirt, and walk back to my apartment in my sweatpants and sports bra, which got a really odd look from the super as she was sweeping the sidewalk. (And it was still more covered up and modest than most of the swimsuits people wear to the pool, so I don't know what her problem was.) Go back down (in a new clean shirt) to put laundry in dryer, and one of the dryers doesn't work. Of course. Put laundry in dryers that do work, and go to dentist appointment because my back teeth have been hurting (You have no idea how much I HATE going to the dentist. I didn't have any weird experiences to turn me off of it, not even a cavity or bracers or anything, it's just the feeling of metal scraping on and between my teeth. It's worse than nails on a chalkboard!)

No cavities (which is what I was afraid of), but not only have my wisdom teeth come in and are smashing up against my molars, my x-rays show that I have at least one extra molar! I tried to argue that too many teeth was better than too few, but the doc says they've all gotta come out, the sooner the better. Fantastic. Now I get to go make an appointment with an oral surgeon (cue creepy shudders of horror) for a consultation on what exactly needs to be done and how much my insurance will cover. (All I can say is they'd better knock me completely out, and it's a good thing that they're literally less than a block away from my apartment.) Oh, and I have a minor gum infection, too, which is also contributing to my teeth hurting, but that should go away on its own soon.

Finally get done at the dentist's (and I didn't even get a plastic dinosaur, I was so disappointed! I did get a new toothbrush, though, and it's purple!) and have enough time to make it up to CalPoly before the admissions office closes. Get up to the school, explain my situation to the initial admissions lady, and find out that CSU schools, including the CalPolys, don't accept students seeking a second bachelor's degree. You have to be a graduate student or have never earned a degree before. The hell?! What's that say? You'd better choose right the first time, because heaven forbid you change your mind in your career? I'm willing to learn, I'm willing to pay, but I can't be a student. Part of my brain says that can't possibly be right, maybe the lady was mistaken or I misunderstood her, so I need to seek further information, but it was incredibly disheartening! No other local universities have an aerospace engineering program (the nearest one is UCLA). Gah!

Two of my friends (Mel and AF Guy) have tried to convince me to join the military (there's my aerospace schooling and career right there, as well as better-than-current paycheck and benefits), and while that is actually really tempting, there are two problems with it. The biggest one being that I would have minimal to no control over where I got stationed, and I really want to stay around here. The second one being that no matter if I enlist or get a commission, I will have to go away for training, and what am I supposed to do with a cat while I'm gone? I am, however, going to go talk to the recruiter's office and see if they have more specific contacts on civilian jobs. Another friend (John) would really love to see me move back to LA. I want to stay here, though. I like it here. My friends are here, my training is here, my kitty is here, and my family loves to visit me here. What more can one ask for from a location? (Okay, a job, yes.)

Finally get to class, which was mostly good. I actually partnered up with Mrs. S tonight in kickboxing and we added a haganah twist to our partner "crunch & punches" that the rest of the class seemed to like. (She'd originally had us doing them with one partner doing the situps/punches and the other just kneeling and holding the pad. In haganah, we do it with both partners doing situps together - one is the target and the other punches. We just used the pad for a target instead of hands, but it worked.) They all started copying us, anyway. Regular class was okay - Sir had the black belts work some grappling stuff tonight, and I got the second technique pretty well. The first one I need to work on a bit more. He only had us go through four forms (white, purple, red, and first degree) in instructor class tonight, and I knew all of them. I made a few technique mistakes, though. Then we did weapons, and I only got a few comments on my form, but I am *really* having trouble with one of the single bahng mahng ee drills. I can do it as an attacker (strike block strike block strike block), but not as a defender (block strike block strike block strike), for some reason, even though it's just the reverse. Definitely will be working on that this week! I also found out that there will be an instructor certification test before the end of the year. I don't know if I will be eligible or not. I don't think I will be - I have the memorization down, but still have some technique problems and am not sure that I have the "eye" yet to really help anyone else. I am pretty sure I'll be mid-terming, though. There's also going to be another women's self-defense seminar on November 15th, so mark your calendars!

Anyway, I've finally gotten tonight's episode of Heroes, so I'm going to curl up with CP2 and watch it. And maybe re-watch an episode of Fringe, too. Tomorrow's gotta be better!