unexplained

I was in the math center a week ago, happily tuting away, when I looked up and saw a printout posted on a bulletin board. In the middle of the flyer was a photo of adjunct instructor and fellow tutor, Greg.

I thought, "Oh, what's this? We doing instructor of the month or something?"

Then I noticed the "In Loving Memory of"

WHAAT? I was shocked. Friendly, mellow, patient Greg? Passed away??

I had no idea. Neither did many of the others I talked with. He never looked unwell or in any discomfort. He was, I'm guessing, mid 60s, and seemed quite healthy. Loved his grandkids, enjoyed golfing...

Magnum says maybe it's one of those cancers you don't know about until the end. Maybe?

Still feels strange to think I won't be chatting with him anymore. My colleagues in testing were equally shook.

• Speaking of testing, I worked last Saturday with Party Girl. It was a busy day with lots of annoying little fires needing extinguishing. I didn't get much catching up with her until we were closing up. What's with all these people and their issues? Didn't they know I had Party Girl tea to catch up on??

But I did know that she was in a much peppier mood when I worked with her on Friday and then Saturday than she'd been the week before. Things are not great at her dad's facility, but minisculy improved. She's given her husband the what for, and he's taking note. No more mention of her moving out, making him buy her a house.

In short, he's having what seems to be an emotional affair with a long ago girlfriend - The One Who Got Away - from back in high school before his first wife (Party Girl is wife number 2). They talk on the phone and text regularly. I don't know if she lives nearby, but he should pick a lane.

• Speaking of picking a lane, I'm going to lay it all out with my PEO chapter at our upcoming meeting that people either need to step up and take an office or we don't have a chapter anymore. Sad but true. I'm not going to keep us afloat for another year just so we're in this same boat next February. We'll see how it goes.

But I'll be patient and calm and caring. 

It's what Greg would do.

the sequel

For this final installment of the events of Thursday morning, I offer this birds-eye depiction. 

I've tried to show Alex, heading south on the bike path and crossing the road. The Prius that hit him was going west, I was going east, about to turn onto the southward bike path.

The red splotch is the approximate spot where Alex landed.

The sun-looking things are to represent flashing lights that a pedestrian or cyclist is to activate to alert oncoming traffic. There is no stop light or walk signal at this particular intersection.

I didn't see the actual collision, but from what I gathered from those who did, Alex didn't stop at the intersection, and was going pretty fast. I don't know if the lights were flashing at the time, possibly activated by another cyclist who had gone through ahead of Alex. They continue flashing for about 5 to 10 seconds after the button is pushed.

I will say that those flashing lights aren't the greatest. They're the same as the yellow lights that flash in school zones during drop-off and pick-up times. 

As for the woman who hit him, she was distraught, not angry. Felt absolutely awful. When I went over to check on Alex, she kept repeating, "I hit him..." and "my baby is in the car...", so I told her we'd keep Alex safe until paramedics arrived and to go ahead and check on her baby - she'd parked the car a few feet west of where Alex was laying.

"No", she explained, "I want to stay here with him. Will you please go check on my baby?"

Oh, me? Okay.

I went to the car and saw a kid of about one year, secured in his car seat in the back passenger side, just as he should be. He held a small plastic Tonka dump truck. I'd say he was utmostly the least fazed person at the scene.

Back to Alex, where he remained motionless and disoriented. [Fresca] noted that he was most likely in shock. After googling the symptoms of traumatic shock, I would certainly agree. That combined with obvious head trauma would explain his seeming "calm".

He did look to try to roll himself - possibly thinking about sitting up - a few times. But his movements were too slothlike and ineffective. Plus, whenever he did that, we all told him not to move, and he complied, only to try again in a minute or so.

By then, a nurse was on the scene. Ever witnessed a medical situation, and a nurse seems to automatically appear?  I swear, they are everywhere! Thankfully.

About the time the paramedics arrived, the nurse told Prius woman that she'd done a cursory neurological test on Alex, and he did fine. By that point, we were nearly as concerned for Prius woman as we were for Alex, she was so beside herself. 

Competent paramedics arrived, west-bound traffic was re-routed, so I figured I should probably get out of the way at that point. I checked social media and incident blotters, but never heard anything else about the crash other than that paramedics spent an hour and nine minutes on the scene. 

I left feeling concerned for Alex, but at the same time wondering at his carelessness. Not stopping at that sketchy intersection, not wearing a helmet.

Noting the day, time of day, his age, and the direction he was going, I couldn't help but think he is a student at the college where I work. He had a messenger-type bag on, and the top flap was partially open underneath him, from where a mangled breakfast burrito peeked out.

So, to Alex, I'm thinking aboutcha. You too, Prius woman.

testing... testing...

Happy first weekend of September. I've got the day off from work and intend to do a bit of decluttering and other mundane things. 

This week was busy despite having Monday off. Tutoring is in full swing - I did end up having a student fill my last open slot - and it's nice to be fully booked. I do appreciate the balance of testing and tutoring. I wouldn't want to do either of them full-time, but a bit of both is nice. 

Speaking of work and balance, allow me to vent just a bit. Last week, I shared that photo that Work Study had us take with her cake, supposedly for our Grandboss. Work Study has been with us for a few semesters now, starting with a typical work study stint of just a few hours per week.

At first, it was great because we were quite short staffed at the time, and her help was much appreciated. We have since become fully staffed since bringing on Mango and having Star transfer from another campus. Meanwhile, WS has somehow greatly increased her work hours. However, we just don't need her for as many hours she "works".

Additionally, she is not cleared to provide most of our services. She can help with student tests, that's it. But we do testing for a whole slew of tests having nothing to do with the college. In short, she gets paid to hang around, take care of personal business, flirt with security, etc.

I think work study is a great program, but I often grumble inwardly, thinking of the abuse of the tax payer funded work study system happening blatantly in front of me. And I know I'm not alone as coworkers have voiced similar thoughts. 

WS was set to finish her program at the end of this semester, but yesterday, she told us that she's looking to change her major, which means another two years at the college. And she wants to keep working milking the system with our department. She went to talk to Boss about it. They were in the office with door closed for quite a while.

Shortly after emerging, she quietly asked me how she could be a better worker. She acknowledged goofing around and wanting to do better. A new leaf turning over, supposedly. She took Sarge aside as well and asked the same things.

Honestly, we struggled to come up with things she could DO better. It was more about things to stop doing - and even then, we were too nice to say much.  Sarge and I both tactfully mentioned that when each of us had work study jobs, we didn't use that time to do our homework and other personal business. In the end, we didn't have much advice to offer. 

We'll see how this plays out. I'd planned to just ride out the semester since WS was expected to move on at that point, but now this new development...

Okay, enough of that. On to the decluttering - one of my fave hobbies 😊.

Oh, and I tried out those [Chatgpt] running shoes this morning for their maiden voyage.

I took a pic of them because I noticed they were "glistening" in the kitchen light this morning - something about the upper material.

But alas, my camera didn't capture the glisten - it must be magic that cameras are unable to transmit. You'll hafta take my word for it. And it was a lovely time in the glistening shoes bought for a bargain price.

Bottom line: Chatgpt did me a solid.
Make shopping easy again.

it begins

Out on my bicycle this morning, and what did I see? Kids. In fresh new clothes. Backpacks. Waiting for the school bus. 

And so it begins. The K thru 12ers are back to school. We've also noticed an increase in population over the last couple of weeks with university students returning. Freshman move-in day was Monday, and I assume many upperclassmen had rental leases that started at the beginning of the month. 

Last night, we were out walking the pooches and went by a house that looked in the middle of move-in. A couple of college-aged guys were sorting through piles in the garage. One was having a phone conversation, and I surprisingly heard:

"You're on your way now? Please remember to bring a broom"

I say it surprised me because, in general, college guys aren't known to be particularly tidy, thinking about brooms. In addition, the "Please" was a nice touch. 

The scene somewhat reminded me of "The Lake House" that Meego and his roommates vacated after 3 years when they all graduated ("The Lake House" because it was on Lake street, not near any lake that we know of).

From what I could tell, those guys were pretty responsible renters and seemed well liked by the landlords. They took care of the lawn and even had a small successful garden. They joked about two of the guys who were the "dads" in the way they controlled the weeds, complained about neighbors not controlling their weeds...

I stumbled upon a blog a few weeks ago, written by a girl embarking on her freshman year of college. She's journaling her preparations for moving, creating her class schedule, getting to know roommates, etc. Now, on the brink of moving into the dorm, she and her three suite mates are already squabbling a bit, via text, over bathroom decor - before setting foot in the place. Bathroom decor.

I recall a college orientation rep explaining the typical dorm situation and noting, "Guys, in general, are slobs. Girls, in general, bring lots of drama".

Reading about the brewing dorm bathroom drama, I remember part of the story of how Meego and his friends found The Lake House. Did the previous renters all graduate and move on?

Well, no. 

"They were four girls who were 'best friends', and now they all hate each other"

a taste of hell

My brain is on vacation.  

The spring semester came to a screeching halt at the college a couple of weeks ago. While, we're still providing testing, the tutoring side of things is out for now, so my brain said, "See ya!"

I did take on a high school tutee for a few weeks of summer. Plus the summer college session could bring in some requests. so hopefully, I won't totally turn to mush. 

I do want to dust off my drawing toys and wake up the slumbering right side of my brain.

For now, I'm looking forward to a simple summer and have no major getaways planned as of yet. 

We got together with Chaco and Meego on Sunday for Meego's birthday/ Mother's Day. Wolfgang was out of town and missed out. Despite the fact that it was Mother's Day plus graduation weekend for the university, we managed to have a nice outing at a local Indian restaurant that wasn't too busy.

Goat and lamb as well as chicken were eaten at our table, I confess. I think I've given up on being a strict vegetarian, but more power to them. I can say that it's been several years since I've eaten cow, so there's that.

We were seated at a booth, and there was another family in the booth behind ours. There was a thick partitioning wall separating us from the other booth people, but it didn't suppress the conversation once one of the women started shouting. 

I mean, there was some Jerry Springer (RIP) Mother's Day family drama going on back there. "divorce... your dad's fault... appreciate you mother (dammit)...waaah " omg. 

I expected them to leave or calm down, but no! They stayed and, I guess, ate their selections while periodically loudly chastising and crying. No chairs thrown, however. Probably a good thing they were in a booth.

The food and service were quite good. We will happily go there again, but it did seem that the staff was avoiding us a bit - likely because of our proximity to Drama World. The restaurant does have a hefty selection of alcoholic beverages, which may have contributed. Maybe?