Why I Hate Sundays, or, My Quest for a 24-Hour Pharmacy

Sundays are a time for rest, relaxation, and limited hours of operation. Unfortunately, today is a Sunday. Today I learned:

1. The Kroger Pharmacy nearest my apartment closes at 5:00.
2. The next nearest Kroger Pharmacy also closes at 5:00.
3. The nearest 24-hour Kroger Pharmacy is at 5800 W Broad Street in fucking Galloway (see map, below).
4. 5800 W Broad Street is 14.6 miles from my apartment.
5. I hate Sundays.

Late to Class

I woke up this morning at 8:25, 25 minutes or so after the start of my 8 a.m. class.

Note: This is the second time I have done this in 9 days.

Note: This is a class that I not only enjoy, but am required to attend (M-A-N-D-A-T-O-R-Y).

Last Tuesday, I decided to just skip the class to avoid the embarrassment of being an hour late to a 6-person lecture. Today, I sucked it up and went.

I was 54 minutes late. It wasn't so bad.

In both instances, I have been up late (4 a.m. late) the night before doing homework for said class. Under ordinary Kristin-at-college circumstances, this is not a problem. Hell, I've been sacrificing sleep rather successfully for years now. But somewhere in the time of the last year or so, I've lost my ability to go without sleep. I get tired earlier at night and (have been known to fall asleep at bars). I sleep in later on mornings (and have recently been known to sleep through classes).

I loath feeling tired, and I despise needing to sleep. Well-oiled machines don't sleep, so why should the human body, the most well-oiled machine of all, require it? Other than to increase the human lifespan beyond that of industrial machinery, sleep is a waste of time and a killer of productivity.

Loathsome People

Ranking #4 on The Beast's 50 Most Loathsome People in America of 2005 list is: you.

4. You

Charges: Silently enabling and contributing to the irreversible destruction of your planet. Absolving yourself of your responsibility to do anything about it that your immediate neighbors don’t. Assuming that it’s normal behavior to spend several hours each day totally inert and staring into a cathode ray tube. Substituting antidepressants for physical motion. Caring more about the personal relationships of people you will never meet than your own. Shrugging your shoulders at the knowledge that your government is populated by criminal liars intent on fooling you into impoverished, helpless submission. Cheering this process on.

Exhibit A: You don’t even know who your congressman is.

Sentence: Deathbed realization that your entire life was an unending series of stupid mistakes and wasted opportunities, a priceless gift of potential extravagantly squandered, for which you deserve nothing but scorn or, at best, indifference, and a cold, meaningless demise.

There are some other pretty loathsome people on there, too, if you're interested.

Picture of Aaron

This is my new favorite picture of Aaron.

Apartment Hunting

Today begins the routine of apartment hunting. I don't know about the rest of the population, but I adore shopping for apartments. Each apartment is a blank palette waiting to be designed.

I'm especially excited because this will be my first apartment by myself. I've liked almost all the roommates I've had in the past, but I'm excited to have a place to make my own. Keep in mind that "my own" will probably be a shit hole because I am a slob, but it will still be my shit hole, with my piles of clutter wherever I want them to be.

I have two appointments tonight and one tomorrow. I'll probably post updates because I'm excited. You really have no idea. I really love looking at apartments. BEST DAY EVER!

Digital Union

My 2 hour independent study class meets in the Digital Union on Fridays, mainly to teach us web design so we can make a "digital story" when we go to England. This is all well and good, but really, it left a bad taste in my mouth.

First, I was put off by using a Mac instead of a PC. It made the whole new-software-experience element that much more difficult because of the new interface. They said that the Macs will be much more user friendly when we get to working with video, and maybe they're right, but this morning I was in no mood to be without my handy right-click. Learning the intricacies of a new program is frustrating in its own right, but learning it on a Macintosh when the last four years of school as an engineer taught me PC-only material? But I adapted, I adjusted, I kept an open mind, and really it wasn't so bad.

Until... Another person had modified a photo a little bit using Photoshop during the class and wanted to send it to herself, and for some dumb reason I volunteered my email account for this (she couldn't get her account to open for some reason). So I'm trying to use a new-to-me internet browser (Safari) on a new-to-me operating system (Mac) to send a photo from a somewhat-new-to-me program (Photoshop). And meanwhile, while I was trying to figure out how to compress the image into a .jpg file (because the .psd file was too big for my email to handle), everyone left.

And then, even though our class was technically scheduled until 11 (of which I was unaware, but the syllabus says 11:00 and the instructors confirmed that while at the Union), this other group of people came in and started setting up. The lead instructor of the class told me they could move my laptop to a different work station. I told her I'd only be a minute if she would show me how to flatten the image, but that didn't seem to register. She sent a guy to unlock my laptop and move it, but while they were moving mine they wanted to move all the computers so the next group could have a clear table. So I stood there and waited for a while and got very annoyed that everyone had left me when I was trying to do a favor for someone. And they were busy unlocking all of the laptops (each of which required a different key, so they had to try all the green keys for the green locks and all the blue keys for the blue locks and so on until they found the key that worked in each lock), and I felt very brushed off. I wouldn't expect them to give me tons of personal attention, but when the syllabus says 11 and the instructor says 11, isn't it rude to dismiss me just because the rest of the class left? And why was another group coming in to use that room if we had it until 11:00 anyway?

So I left. My email and internet use were still logged on, but the computer was on standby and I didn't want to wait 15 minutes or however long it would take just to do a favor for someone who didn't even stay with me. Fuck doing favors for people. And fuck optimism. When can I graduate?

Cerealicious?

Today's Lantern had a story about a new restaurant opening on High Street called Cerealicious Café. According to the article, the restaurant will offer various cereal and topping options. And apparently, customers will be able to mix two kinds of cereal together.

Some cereal and some toppings in a bowl, and all this for the low low price of... $3.50. $3.50?! I can buy a whole box of cereal for $3.50.

A whole box, approximately 12 1-cup servings of cereal (according to the nutrition label on my Crispix), for $3.50. The nutrition label also recommends 1/2 cup of milk to go with cereal. One gallon of milk (approximately $3.00) is the equivalent of 16 cups, or 32 servings of cereal.

The least common denominator here is 96 servings of cereal. 96 1-cup servings of cereal in 8 boxes, about $3.50 each, totals $28. 96 1/2-cup servings of milk is the equivalent of 48 cups of milk, or 3 gallons, about $3 each, for a total of $9 dollars. $28+$9=$37 for 96 servings of cereal. That's about 38 cents per serving. Cerealicious would have to give you 9 cups of cereal with 4 1/2 cups of milk to make it worth your money. Don't go there.