Bitterness

I am bitter today.

Bitter like my unsweetened regular iced mocha from what is quickly becoming my least favorite nearby coffee shop.

I am also sick.

I am sick and I am bitter. This is not a good combination.

My day did not start out this way. In fact, my day started fairly well.

It’s a Wednesday, which means it’s a late workday and a day, according to ‘my plan,’ where I am supposed to be able to get a lot done. I love plans. They are like lists, only better. 

I truly had great intentions for this day. For my 8.5 hours of freedom before needing to walk to work. I was going to wake up early (nevermind how late I went to bed), don my running attire and jog across the bridge and back. This applause worthy feat would have then been followed up by a phenomenally healthy breakfast of a vegi filled omelet.  A whirlwind, but through cleaning of the kitchen, my room and the house.  Then a focused time of class prep and exam writing, because I AM a teacher, and that is what all good teachers do. HA! If only intentions were truly enough.

Watching my alarm go off at a bright and sunny 6am (why I wake up just minutes before my alarm, I will never understand), I decided that a better use of my time would be to roll over and sleep for a few more minutes, then get up and act upon my glorious intentions. Ignoring your alarm never goes as well as you hope. One day I will learn this lesson. An hour and a half later I rolled back over, slipping my eyes up above the covers to peer out to the unfriendly black digits on my rugged travel clock.

7:32.

In junior high and actually most of high school, I had this weird thing about getting out of bed at a time that wasn’t a multiple of five. 7:32 is definitely not a multiple of five and therefore, not an acceptable time to climb out of bed. That, and the knowledge that I didn’t have to be anywhere until 4 o’clock in the afternoon, kept me in bed from another hour and a half as I drifted in and out of reality.

8:58. The phone rang. It was my novio calling to say good morning and goodbye nearly all in the same breath. He is out on a ship for a week and this will be the last time I hear his voice until he gets home.

Starring up at the ceiling I counted down the hours between work and now, deciding that 6 hours was still PLENTY of time to accomplish the GREATNESS that was my revamped ‘plans’. Have I mentioned that I enjoy plans. Plans are Glorious! Like ice cream, only not so sweet or sticky.

Did I mention that I am tired.

It might also be advantageous for you to know that I read a good portion of the book Blue Like Jazz this morning over my delayed, but still quite nutritious vegetable omelet. I think I have picked up a bit of his writing style. Right now it just seems to fit.

I washed the small mountain of dishes that accumulated in the kitchen sink. Cooked breakfast. Washed the new dirty dishes that I had created. Picked up, sorted and folded all of the clothes lying around my room. I signed and sealed my taxes for the IRS. I actually accomplished quite a lot today.

What I didn’t complete though, was the exam for my class today. Not that the exam needed to be finished by today. More that I needed to write it today so that I could figure out a way to print the thing so that it can then be approved and ready for administration on Monday.

I don’t like exams.

I left my house 2.5 hours early for work today, in the hope that by being at school I would be hit by a stroke of genius and be able to create an exam. No such luck. Arriving at school after trekking 30 minutes under the hot sun through the geographic beauty that is sand brown buildings of Bahrain, I was anything but invigorated.

I wanted to crawl under a rock and die. Slightly over dramatic, but not too far off from demonstrating the depths of exhaustion I have incurred from this illness some might call influenza.

Battling the frustratingly slow internet connection I was done. I trudged up the stairs to my classroom and slumped down into my chair exhausted. Class hasn’t even started and I am already finished. This isn’t good.

Sitting unproductively for another 15 minutes, I decided there was better use to my time. Walking down the street to get coffee.

Which brings me up to now.  Slightly less bitter.

Thanks for listening.

Ciao!