My day started at 6:05am with a speedy and imperative trip to the 24-hour grocery store. I hate going to the grocery store. But since we were to the point of having our cereal with chocolate soy milk, drinking our coffee black, and not even being able to make pb&j’s, I bit the bullet and grocery shopped. One hundred forty-five dollars and twenty-two minutes later I was back at home making coffee and opening the curtains to the day.
It was while I was sitting on the couch watching the early morning walkers pass by that I realized I had left my notebook in my calculus classroom last night. On Wednesdays and Thursday s I have evening classes that don’t end until 10pm. Needless to say by the time those classes end I am ready to hit the road. I drive home thinking about how happy Annie will be to see me and dreaming that John will have dinner ready for me. Annie never disappoints.
Usually the four of us watch something on the Tivo and then head off to bed. And that’s exactly what we did last night.
So, it wasn’t until this morning that I realized my dreadful mistake. That notebook contained not only my course notes but also official school documents with the students’ ID numbers on them.
Let’s see. So far this week I have:
1. Left above mentioned super-important calculus notebook in the classroom & now can't find it
2. Failed to check my paper mailbox for 2 weeks in a row and missed a big administrative deadline
3. Forgotten to grade a homework assignment that I had promised to my students by Tuesday, so they could have it to study for their big test today - oops!
4. Discovered that my pink converse tennis shoes don't actually go with every outfit - despite my previous assertion that pink is the new black.
[But in my defense, I had a life altering week. I discovered that through a long lost girl friend and 2 other degrees of separation, I am connected to the producer of my favorite TV show Veronica Mars! You can’t beat that.]
At 7:00am I called Charlie, our trusty department chair. He usually gets in early, so I thought he might be able to search the classroom for me. He said he’d do it.
So I waited. And waited.
I waited so long I completed an entire calculus assignment, no doubt with plenty of mistakes, given how worried I was.
And finally…I emailed.
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From: KK
Sent: Thursday, March 2, 2006 10:02 AM
To: Charlie
Subject: did you find it?
[message body blank]
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From: Charlie
To: KK
Sent: 3/2/06 10:10 AM
Subject: RE: did you find it?
Well...... I can't say for sure...... I may have, and then again, I may not have.... :-(
You're just going to have to give me more clothes for you to find out.... *
Pretty evil, huh??? ;-)
*[Charlie also runs a dry cleaning business]
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From: KK
Sent: Thursday, March 2, 2006 10:11 AM
To: Charlie
Subject: RE: did you find it?
Grrrrrr....
--------------------------------------------
From: Charlie
To: KK
Sent: 3/2/06 10:24 AM
Subject: RE: did you find it?
so, how did you forget your notebook???
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From: KK
Sent: Thursday, March 2, 2006 10:26 AM
To: Charlie
Subject: RE: did you find it?
You are truly cruel.
I'll remember this.
You know I'm an uptight type A personality - you're KILLING ME!
:-)
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From: Charlie
To: KK
Sent: 3/2/06 10:31 AM
Subject: RE: did you find it?
Of course I know the type of personality you are.... shit.... my wife is way worse. Do you know that EVERY FREAKIN' day she calls about 2to 3 times when I'm down at the store just to find out how the business side of the store is doing...... she freakin drives me NUTS!!! I'll also have you know that prior to when we started this business, when I would work hours on end here on campus, she would call literally EVERY DAY at about 5 to 5:30 to ask the same freakin question!!! which was.... "so, what time are you coming home." Now, this wasn't necessarily because she was anxious to see me, but more because, she had had it with the kids (which by the way, we only had at most three, at that time) and just wanted me to take over.
Well, I guess the only thing that I can say to you as I would normally say to her is........."why do you ask questions that you don't want the answer to???" :-)
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From: KK
Sent: Thursday, March 2, 2006 10:36 AM
To: Charlie
Subject: RE: did you find it?
If you want sympathy, you've come to the wrong place.
Ok, look. I forgot the notebook because I'm an absent minded professor.
HOWEVER, though absent minded, I am still capable of forming a tag-team with your dear sweet wife - so that we may call you SIX TIMES A DAY.
Don't put it past me!
Your dear sweet assistant professor,
KK
-----------------------------------------
From: Charlie
To: KK
Sent: 3/2/0610:43 AM
Subject: RE: did you find it?
So, the real question is how important is the true answer for you??? Hm.... can I smell extortion.... And I think that I'm just going to have to turn off my cell phone from now on, huh?
-----------------------------------
Radio silence as time ticks by.
-----------------------------------
From: Charlie
To: KK
Sent: 3/2/06 2006 11:15 AM
Subject: RE: did you find it?
Hey... where are you??? I've been waiting for your reply..... ;-(
--------------------------------------
From: KK
Sent: Thursday, March 2, 2006 11:34AM
To: Charlie
Subject: RE: did you find it?
I needed a quick nap. Remember, YOU assigned me night classes?
Now I have to walk the dog and get ready for my eventual departure from the house. :(
I must say, you are a formidable email antagonist. I would have been able to break a lesser emailer by now.
K
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From: KK
Sent: Thursday, March 2, 2006 1:24 PM [I’m at school]
To: Charlie
Subject: RE: did you find it?
YESSSS!!!! Try to imagine the clenched fist of victory that accompanies this.
thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you
Thanks for putting it on my desk.
Oh, and when I write this up for my blog do you want me to call you Aldo or Charlie?
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And so this one ends happily.
But then they usually do. You know why?
Because I have a job where I can get away with wearing pink converse tennis shoes, and I can step right outside my office door and see the ocean.
Don’t hate me because I live in socal – I earned it. (But that’s another story.)
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