Grim

Chico is beginning to come alive.

Or so I'm told. There are definitely more people here this week than there was this time last week. And, as I strolled through the campus towards downtown, where I spent about 30 minutes looking for HELP WANTED signs and then gave up, I had to smile. Because school is starting soon. And I'm ridiculously excited. I'm one of those weird students that hates summer unless I'm in summer school (which happened for the first time this summer in a while) and loves being busy with school work. My brain feels like it is functioning again and I feel like I can WRITE, which is good, because I still have many chapters to go before I have to be at the conference on Oct 2. I was thrilled to see new freshmen coming in, wandering the campus with their parents and looking for their classes.

I was not thrilled to see people downtown, however, because I was looking for a job. Still looking. The job front really hasn't done too well with me this year and it still looks grim. My heart sank after walking into Jamba Juice to inquire after a job and the girl telling me, "Sorry, we just did all of our hiring." Really? When did this happen? Was it last week, when I spent most of the week thinking I was going to get a job and then got a letter of rejection? I seriously should have some ESP job thing, where I KNOW where/if places are hiring. And if I could get a job working there. And, just as I thought of going back, I overheard a conversation between two students that went a bit like this:
Boy: I've spent this entire week working...
Girl: Working? You found a job already? How did you do that?
Boy: No, I meant working out. I haven't even started looking for a job yet.
Girl: Yea. I want to enjoy my last week of summer before I go get a job.
At this point, I wanted to throw myself at her feet and shout, "Teach me your ways!" because I've been looking for a job for weeks and if THIS girl can get a job before me, I will have a heart attack. HOWEVER, I was NOT desperate enough to walk into the local hardware store and offer my services A. because I know they would offer me a job right away and B. because I promised myself that 5 years was all I was going to spend in the hardware business. And my 5 years are over with.

So, instead, I walked back to the school to check my bank account and see if my financial aid money had transferred into my account yet. Today is the day it's supposed to be dispersed and I figured that, if I couldn't find a job, I could at least spend 2 months worth of food money and get my books. But my account hadn't changed. So, in an attempt to depress myself, I went into the bookstore to see how many used books in my classes were left... and that looked grim as well! Long story short, I had to go to financial aid to find out why my money hadn't transferred, they told me I hadn't done the procedure soon enough, I had a brief mental breakdown (because the only way I can relieve stress is to cry - hopefully my yoga class will change that), called my mom, got a pep talk that went along the lines of "you can put the money in the bank when it comes!", and went to buy all my books.

Then I biked home, praying to the gods of air and rubber that my front tire wouldn't pop from the weight of the books in my basket on the tire. Along the way, I almost had a heart attack twice because I saw two police cars (driving past me quite slowly, I might add) and I have not yet registered my bike. I was afraid they would have my ESP and pull me over for parking my bike on campus so many times without a permit. However, I arrived home ticket free...

But to a smelly apartment.

I hate that. My apartment has had this weird, funky smell for the past few weeks and I cant figure out what it is for the life of me. I've checked everything. I take the trash out regularly, I clean out my garbage disposal on the sink, and it's certainly not coming from under the sink. I've even checked Esther's tank and we just changed her mat this week so it shouldn't be that either. But it's driving me crazy. (It reminds me of the time that mom shoved all this old broccoli down the garbage disposal and it got stuck and my dad had to open up the pipe under the sink so he could clean it out and the house smelled like old broccoli for weeks. Gross. The reason why I no longer eat broccoli.) And Jo can't smell it, which drives me even more crazy because I wonder if I'm going crazy! So, I poured some lemon juice down my garbage disposal and it seems to have cleared the smell for now. That or I'm just used to it by now.

Only time will tell. But I will be here... waiting.