Seismic Twitch

I got up at 7 am. It took nearly an hour just to have the vertigo and disorientation go away enough to approach feeling human. Then Bran drove me to school.

Today was planned to be a busy day. I don’t really like busy days because they usually mean having to be around people. Today was no different.

First was my stats class. After some mad note taking we got a presentation by a couple of people who work in the government publications section of the library. Feature this…we have 6 students for whom English is a second language. Five are from China and one from Egypt. None of them are familiar with the local idioms in our speech. Add to that, the two presenters were also immigrants. Not that I have any problem with them being immigrants. I don’t have much of an issue with accents. However, the foreign students definitely did have a problem, especially with the one man who was from India and had a very strong accent. I had to do a fair bit of explaining about what he was saying to my table companion from Egypt.

After they were done we had a break for lunch. I went to STM for some lunch (chicken Caesar wrap and fruit salad) and went to the Pride Centre to eat. I sat and chatted there for a while and then headed back to the classroom on the 10th floor for the Sociology grad student orientation. I found that to be quite helpful. Right after that was done we headed off to the Faculty Club where a wine and cheese party was being held for all the grad students in the department. This enabled many of the students to talk to professors and try to figure out if who they wanted for supervisors and network some for committee members.

I don’t know about you, but I don’t schmooze well. (My dictionary recognized “schmooze”, interesting.) In fact, I tend to avoid being around people I don’t know, especially the kind of stilted conversation that can happen under such situations. The Grad Student Chair introduced herself and a few of the heads of departments and then we introduced ourselves. Thus far this past week or so I’ve introduced myself 5 times. There were a few familiar faces among the profs and a few among the students. Not that I necessarily know them, but that I’d seen them at the undergrad/grad social function last spring.

Then, like walking into a brick wall, I’d had enough. As I was getting my stuff together to leave my supervisor walked over and sort of semi-chided me about leaving so soon. I guess the slightly panicked glaze in my eyes (or the semi-panicked expression on my face) let her know that I’d had enough and needed to go. She seemed to understand that.

I left through the deck doors. There were a couple of professors sitting out having a drink and they looked at me like I’d invaded their space. However, I just smiled at them and kept walking. Maybe they thought I was a sessional lecturer in the Women and Gender Studies department. Afterall, I was wearing Dawgs (black), sweats (black), Tri-Goddess t-shirt (black) and was carrying a black cloth grocery bag. I have enough grey hair to make them question whether I belong or not. On my way back to the MUB (Memorial Union Building) I checked my phone and found that Bran had left me a message. He just wanted me to call him and let him know when I wanted to come home. I phoned him and waited in front of the MUB and did crosswords.

He and Boy showed up. I kicked Boy out of the front seat (MINE!) and we headed out to figure out something to eat. We ended up going to Tiffany’s Restaurant on Idylwyld. I had the lemon garlic shrimp (buttery and yummy and a heart attack on a plate), Bran had an ok t-bone steak and Boy had a pizza (which gave him leftovers for breakfast). Then we went to the drug store to get some scripts. Oh, that reminds me. I did one more thing. I went picked up some cash, got a money order and paid my drug plan to get Bran covered under the health and dental plan. That was one more “dealing with people” thing I did today.

No, I haven’t forgotten what the day is. It’s been 7 years since that day that altered my world view. I still am traumatized and cannot watch shows about it, look at pictures or read much about peoples stories. I know I didn’t lose anyone that day. I know I wasn’t even directly affected. I have seen more than enough and cannot bear to see anymore. My thoughts are still with the families of those who lost loved ones, who tried to save people and failed, and the brave men and women who sacrificed their health, safety and lives that dreadful day. All except for that one man who sent in a post card to Post Secrets stating that everyone he knew prior to that day thinks he’s dead (though it could be a she). That person has made families and friends needlessly grieve. How very selfish.

I don’t have anything else to add. Tomorrow is going to be laundry day because we’ve all run out of clothing to wear and I work this weekend. Oh, I do have something to add. I watched the new Sweeny Todd with Johny Depp. It’s a great movie. It’s very realistic (yeah, bloody) and the format of the movie made it much easier to understand the lyrics as compared to the stage production. I love having both. It totally rocks.

I have to rip more music and sync it to my player.

Ta-Ra

This entry was posted on Thursday, September 11th, 2008 at 8:59 pm and is filed under annoyances, being social, Bran, food, health, money, movies, school, unpleasantries. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.