June 29, 1999
One of Those Days

Have you ever had a day where nothing seemed to go right? I had one today. This morning I had to call over to FSU at 9 AM to see about my job opportunities and I couldn’t drag myself out of bed until 8:50 AM. Mr. Griffith, the person I talked to, said that I was definitely needed in the office and I should come down to fill out some paperwork. He expected me to be there at 10:30 AM (that’s when I told him I could be there) so I left my house at 10 AM. The first thing I noticed was that my radio had stopped working. AGAIN! My little car is on its third radio and they have all broken in the same way. It starts out with the clock not keeping time and then, one time when you turn on the car, it won’t even show the time at all. At this point the radio won’t work either and you can’t get out any CD that might be in the player. This is where my radio is right now. It is very frustrating. You can’t tell me that I have three faulty radios in my car, so there must be an underlying electrical problem. I guess it is time for radio number four. It was a major annoyance not having something to listen to on the way to FSU. It is kind of a long drive and I get bored listening to myself talk. Anyway, let’s get back to the day at hand.

As soon as I pulled out of the driveway I realized I had forgotten the directions to the building and I needed to get some gas in my car. No big deal, I thought. My brother had gotten up just as I left so I tried to call my house on the cell phone to get the directions but no one answered. Strange, but maybe Kenneth was just in the shower. I got some gas on the way, but it was one of those where you have to go inside to pay – add a few minutes there waiting in line. I called Kenneth again; now answer still! I remembered most of the directions so I went ahead towards FSU. One last time I called my house just as I was getting to the point where the direction were fuzzy and Kenneth finally answered the phone and read them to me. Apparently he had gone back to sleep after I left and hadn’t bothered to answer the phone when I called about five times before. What a lazy bum. Maybe he couldn’t hear the phone ringing, I don’t know, but that seems unlikely with the loudness of our phones. I got to FSU, had to park on the fourth floor of a parking garage across the street, had to ask directions in some random office I passed, and found my way to Mendenhall Building where Mr. Griffith’s office is.

It seems they are in need of an assistant as much as I am in need of a job! Mr. Griffith introduced me to a guy named Mark (I can’t remember his last name) who needs some help making AutoCAD drawings. At least I have a little experience with that computer program and I don’t have to learn from scratch. I will work from 8AM until 4:30 PM, but I don’t start until at least this Friday because of the paperwork that needs to be completed. I am very excited that I am going to be able to get some practical engineering knowledge and earn some money at the same time. I think I am getting a pretty good deal with an $8 per hour salary. Let’s hope that I enjoy my work there. We’ll see what happens when I start working.

Back to my crazy day. It was pouring as I was filling out some forms for the secretary. I hoped it would stop before I had to leave. My car was parked farther away from the building than I wanted to think about. Around 11:30 AM I left the building and it was still raining. I can’t believe I didn’t think to bring an umbrella inside with me. I just had to put my hair up in a ponytail, clutched the OPS information folder I had been given, and started to walk to my car. By the time I got there I was soaked. Good thing I was wearing my good shoes and a nice pair of pants, right? Argh. It didn’t help much that my clothes and hair didn’t dry on the way home and I had to use the air conditioning because it was so hot outside. My radio was still nonfunctional, but one little place on the clock readout was illuminated. Whatever. By the time I got home it was sunny. My mom felt really bad that I had gotten so wet.

As I look back, I escaped from the day unharmed. I did get a job, but the broken radio must be added as a loss. I think I came out on the positive side, though. I may have to go back to FSU tomorrow to sign some papers. That’s kind of a pain, but it is necessary. Oh well.