I am noticing a trend. I pretty much only instagram pictures of food and I have been only blogging about things that totally irritate and or infuriate me. So, why would this post be any different?
We have opened our home for 8 weeks to an exchange student from Korea. He is a 15 year old boy. I already have one of those(a 15 year old boy) so I don't know what I was thinking. After the first few days and the novelty of a new place wore off, two 15 year old boys is not double the fun. All of that is for another time. My issue this evening is with the two women who came over from Korea with the group of students. If I had a douche bag jar, these two twits would owe it and owe it big.
My son put it best when he said, "they look at you and smile and say yes, but I really wonder what they are thinking in their head." Well I will tell you what I think is in their head and it includes an 'F' and a 'U' and probably some other derogatory phrases.
I will give a little background, these biotches didn't get off on the best foot with me. In the first week when we had our student, he had a cold. He was taking LOTS of medicine from Korea. The third evening he was with us, he passed out. I called Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dumb and explained my concern for his medical status. They determined, over the phone that he was 'fine' meanwhile I am trying to care for this kid who is 'fine' but then informs me he is going to start vomiting. I later spoke with a representative from the school who told me that they had a kid last year from Korea who had medicine from Korea and he was taking too much and not following the instructions on the label, which posed a problem.
I asked TD and TD what is in the medicine the kid is taking. I explained that I will need to tell an EMT if I have to call an ambulance. I also explained that I have friends with small children and I have a dog, what if one of them were to get into this medicine? I need to know what it is. Most of all, I wanted to know what it was because it is my house and out of respect for our home I felt we simply had the right to know. Guess what? After numerous requests and 8 weeks later, I still have no effing idea what the medication is.
While we have had this student we have completely changed our schedule. He has after school tutoring everyday. That means a later pick up for him. We have been available to bring him anywhere he has needed to be. We have celebrated his birthday with him and Korean New Year. We have brought him to museums and snow tubing. It was my youngest son's birthday yesterday. He goes to a different school so he has been on vacation. He wanted to go into Boston. I thought that would be great and we could get our exchange student into the city too. As a result, he missed his after school tutoring.
Now my kids never miss school. Maybe one or two days a year. Because of all of the weekend snowstorms we have had while we have had our student, many of the things we wanted to do were cancelled. We decided that Friday, after lunch we would dismiss both 15 year old boys from school for the last museum we wanted to bring our student to and my son who is on vacation wanted to go to as part of his school vacation.
Well I see TD and TD tonight. They say to me, "We know you want to take Ahn to a museum on Friday but we don't think so." They go on to say "he has missed tutoring twice so he can't go." Now this kid came half way across the world. I feel like an afternoon at a living museum(Old Sturbridge Village) would be a great way to round out his stay here in the states. So this is where the title of this blog comes in 'cause clearly TD and TD do not know me. So I say, "Well then you won't mind keeping him with you until 8pm when we get home that night."(they are usually done with the students at 4pm) Then, ever so politely, they start speaking Korean to each other right in front of me! Like I wasn't even there! I think they were maybe saying, "What the eff, how are we going to be able to go out to have fun for our last Friday night in the states if we are stuck with this kid?"
Shockingly they thought that it would be a good idea for him to go after all. I felt like saying, "Excuse me? What? Oh your an idiot? That's what I thought you said." Obviously I did not go on a rant, I kept it under control and polite, but Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dumb, clearly you do not know me, but I know you. I have your number.
I will be honest, I don't really feel this experience has done much to endear me to these people. Maybe I will feel different in the weeks after our student is gone, but for now I just don't know. I would love to hear other peoples' experiences with exchange students.
We run a cub scout pack together. It is a big pack, 80 boys. It is a lot of work.
You may think this volunteer job would be very glamorous.
I hate to break it to you, it is not.
My relationship with my friend who I do this crazy work with has developed and evolved. It has been good and it has been not so good. Now enter a few glasses of wine, and here I find myself at my computer ready to let it rip. At first I was not going to. Then I was reminded by a very special blogger that this is my space. I have some shit to yak about and I'm gonna yak.
I am done with cub scouts in a week.(yippeee...tear...happy dance...tissues...tears...bigger happy dance)
I want to go out like a lamb, so to speak, as I did come in like a lion 5 years ago. Back then it was a different time and the lion was needed to get the program running, solvent and on to the business of teaching boys to be scouts. Now things run smoothly for the most part.
In the past years working with my friend, she has made good decisions and not such good decisions. When the bad decisions came, there was clean up to be done, which I would do. Whatever...
It hasn't necessarily been the bad decisions but her actions around them. She avoids, is suddenly too busy to even pick up the phone. Fucking Really? is about all I have to say.
Here we are one more week to go and she makes a banner decision. I am in charge of the pack, she is the assistant. She 'goes rougue' making a very dumb decision. The person taking my place agrees she has eff'ed up. Whatever... I want to fix the problem, not dwell on it and she can't even pick up the eff'ing phone to try to problem solve and fix. On top of it, I work full time. She is a stay home mom with 2 kids in school. I make time for her if I am working or home at night. Now, she can't even find a minute.
Ok peeps... this chick is gonna let it rip! I have sat by during this political season with not much to share about it. There is a back story explanation for that, however this is not the time. I just can't keep it in any longer... this chick's 'bout ready to loose her shit! I read headline after headline... Hurricane Sandy Seals Election for Obama. You know what I say? I say it is time for a little history lesson.
Now, you might know that New Orleans holds a special place in my heart. My husband and I spent 10 days there, leaving about a week before Katrina hit. When we were getting ready to return home, we heard about a big storm churning in the Gulf. Now, when we were there we spent a lot of time at the Convention Center. I can not even begin to tell you how I felt when I saw the footage of people starving there, dying there, elderly people lined up along the wall seaming like they were just in line waiting to die. The stories of the rapes, the missing children. The footage of the Convention Center effected me the most. I had occupied that same space. I had sat in the same place where I was then watching on TV people dying from lack of food, water and medical care. My heart broke for the city I had just fell head over heals in love with. When was someone going to help them? How could it take so long? The heat, dehydration...what a senseless way to loose life in our great nation. You would think New Orleans was a third world county.
Here we are 7 years later and in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy. We don't have the heat of New Orleans, but the cold is coming and another potential storm next week. I am blessed, we lost power for 3 days, no real damage to speak of. Not like our neighbors to the south in New York and New Jersey.
That leads me to our history lesson of the day...
On Monday 8/29/05 Katrina hits land. On Monday 10/29/12 Sandy hits land.
On Wednesday 8/31/05 Bush flies over New Orleans to survey damage(I am not defending this, just stating the facts). On Wednesday 10/31/12 Obama visits areas hit by Sandy.
On Thursday 9/1/05 Mayor Nagin pleads for help, his 'desperate SOS'. On Thursday 11/1/12 residents of Staten Island make desperate pleas for help, for food and for water.
On Friday 9/2/05 the National Guard convoy of food and aid reaches New Orleans. On Friday 11/2/12 the National Guard reaches Staten Island with food and water for the first time since the storm. All the while, Bloomberg continues to plan for the New York Marathon to step off from Staten Island on Sunday 11/4/12. Though the Mayor feels it would be good to give people something to cheer for, he does an about face and cancels the race.
By Saturday 9/3/05 both the Convention Center and the Superdome have been fully evacuated.
Now, all I know was the feeling I had in the days following Katrina. What was taking so long to get help to these people? Now granted, Bush did not handle the press or himself well during that time, but reviewing the time line, it is strikingly similar, and yet Obama is a hero? New York and New Jersey are nowhere out of the woods when you look at the immediate needs of people. New Orleans did have the heat, but NY and NJ have the cold. How many elderly people do you think are in apartments right now in NYC. No heat in dropping temperatures, no power, no running water, running out of food. What about all of the pets left behind? Dying of thirst and hunger shut up in apartments that there owners thought they would be back to in a day or two? All the while, it is suggested that a marathon should be run. Should the runners have waved as they jogged on by to the starving dying people who live in one of the greatest cities in the civilized world? How nice it would be to have 30,000 runners converge on Staten Island, stepping on the damaged remnants of the belongings of the people who lost everything? All of the resources directed away from recovery and saving people to focus on this frivolous activity in a city that can not afford frivolity at this time.
I am also going to point out another pattern, one that I call the Vegas pattern. Now I am not even going to get into Libya except to say that Obama took off to campaign in Vegas shortly after our 4 American citizens were murdered in Libya, one being our ambassador. Now, cut to this week and where does Obama jet off to again following his brief photo op? Yes, Vegas baby. Then, to add insult to injury, Obama is on the stump telling his supporters that they should take 'revenge' and that voting is the best revenge. The only thing I can say to that is, NY and NJ should take some of their own revenge out when they vote for being left high and dry in one of the worst disasters in our history by the current city, state and federal administrations. However, the sad fact of the matter is that so many won't have power back by then, they will be lucky to have gas to get anywhere and it seems almost impossible that polling places will be able to open in the hardest hit areas. Let's face it, their main priority is survival, not voting.
All I am left to say is...
Shame, shame shame on Obama and Bloomberg and I hope there is a similar song about them because just as Bush deserved this song, they deserve a song just like this of their very own...
Now, in the immortal words of Forest Gump, that's all I have to say about that.
oh curse you. the lack of sleep. the hormones. maybe even the moon. all's I know is today was the culmination of some of my worst moments. really there may have been a number of contributing factors but I take full responsibility for my actions however less than stellar they have been.
(Oak Alley in LA. I took this picture on 8/2/05 just days before Katrina. The calm before the storm.
I thought it was appropriate.)
so, cut to this morning 5:45am, on about 4 hours of sleep. husband home this morning, he usually isn't so the morning can get a little dicey when he is added to the mix. I ask him to put the bagel down in the toaster for me, no time for me to sit and eat... have to eat in the car. I come down ready to leave. bagel is all wrapped up nice. awwwe I think nice husband, fixed me up right this a.m. I had no time to make a coffee, bagel would have to do. off to my 15 year old's new school for a meeting, I bite into the bagel and should have known this was the day to turn around and just call it a day. Bagel is dry, not a speck of anything on it! oh yum, NOT! I don't even have coffee to help choke it down.
I get to school, go to the office to sign in and believe that it is friday the 13th, clue number two that I should have called it a day. meeting goes well I must say... now on to work.
Email from sister in-law inquiring about train tickets we purchased to go to PA in December for a wedding. I am suspicious that sister-in-law #1 and #2 are going to try to pawn my MIL off on us for the trip. I give my husband a heads up. he assures me they wouldn't do that. he says SIL #2 knows it is her turn to take MIL since we just took her on a 7 day cruise and 5 days to Vero beach. I however am still suspicious of SIL #1 and #2.
Get to the work parking garage. They are remodeling...very confusing to get around the changes in traffic flow. Garage guy starts to yell at me. How the eff can I hear him yelling at me from in his truck? He is beeping the horn, waving his hands. I literally loose it and yell "What!!!!" in a manner that anyone who heard it would be waiting for my head to spin and green slime projectile vomit to be expelled out of my eyes, ears and mouth. I am embarrassed. I park there everyday. It is where my parking pass is issued. fuck, I am going to have to see this guy everyday now...
In the office, follow up email from my SIL #1, prying info on our trail itinerary. I am not happy, I respond in a cryptic manner but she is not letting up.
I ask co-worker about a meeting on Monday. Said co-worker has a very HIGH opinion of herself and her importance in her job. I put up with her and make nice on a regular basis. today however, she decided that she needed to point out to me how very important she is and I got a serious SMACK DOWN. I am still smarting from it. She pointed out to me how many fewer files I have than she does in a not very nice way. Well than, on all days there was a guy in my office who thought he was having a heart attack. First responders took him to the ER. Well low and behold little Miss Bitch slap came and asked me why I didn't tell her they took heart attack guy out. I explained that I knew she was very busy and didn't want to bother her. Well she didn't like that. I may not be the brightest bulb on the tree, but when you get a bitch slap like I did from her, I'm not exactly going to run to her and tell her all of the office news. So then she plants herself in my cubicle...blah blah blah she keeps going on about trivial crap. Meanwhile more emails from SIL #1. Well bitch slap woman decides she needs to apologize, why I don't know and clearly she doesn't know me well enough to know that she could serve a sorry up on piece of your best anything and I will accept however I will NEVER forget. People who turn on you once, will turn on you again. HOWEVER, given my fragile(pronounce fargillee like in A Christmas Story) she kept going on that she was sorry and the more she said I began to feel the tears. I can't effing believe it!! I never get emotional at work and here I go. There was no blubbering but all the same the tears were there. I would like to act all cool, but I thought she was a friend and I should have known better. Anywho should have considered hanging it up at that point.
Now SIL #1 is still emailing me for specifics on our trip. What is making me angry about this is that they know our position that it is SIL #2's turn to deal with traveling with the MIL however it appears that they are going to book her on the same train as us, this 78 year old very confused woman and then let us know we are responsible for her. I swear I am about ready to loose my shit on this one! She is the same MIL who sent $25,000 to the Dominican Republic for the lottery she allegedly won. The thing that kills me is that rather than step up to the plate and take their turn they would rather jeopardize our relationship. I finally do the unthinkable. I told SIL #2 a different route from the one that we are really taking and told my husband he needs to call his sisters and get this shit straightened out.
Cut to my evening where I needed to welcome 85 scouts to the cub scout program this year. I am dealing with nit picky leaders who seem to forget at times that the program is about the kids. I can't even get into it but after 2 and 1/2 hours of sign ups, fundraising kick off and teaching them all how to make survival bracelets I was done!
But really I am not done as my oldest son is three towns over playing Magic the Gathering until 11pm at a card shop. The town he was in is not the greatest. he is supposed to call me 30 minutes prior to getting out. I am driving there thinking everything is fine and that I will have some time to read before they are done. I get txt from him while I am 20 minutes away that they have been waiting outside and the store was closed than I get 'LOL' from him so I don't know what is going on but I am still trying to drive and get there with all of this going on. They get in the car and he starts. He can't understand what my problem is. My big problem is that I was responsible for someone else's kid and if the reverse happened to me I would have been very PO'ed!
I finally get home 8 minutes before the end of this shitty day. Granted I am grateful for all of the things I am lucky enough to complain about but it just feels so good to put it out there. Now maybe I can sleep.
