Gau! Gau's journey!

New shiny! phone, in the process of getting shiny shiny! laptop, and getting treasure! at new University (classes begin today). Two new uaooooo!s I found on the Veldt, who look like me. Big new directions.

So let me talk about the day before yesterday. (aaand cue fanfare music)


My mission: after woman of special interest who is special and a lady got home from work, I was gonna take the bus to school with my shiny shiny! bus pass (that I paid for unchoicegivenly with my Student Services and Activities Fee), find out where my classes are going to be held so I'm not looking around on the day of classes and getting myself late, and then take a bus to dim dim University Village to go visit the Apple store and buy a MacBook. (yay financial aid)

In a more summary nutshell:
1. Find out where classes are.
2. Go to Apple store.

I had to wait until my Lady Special came home, which was like 3:40. It took about a half hour after that before I even created my mission. She walked in the door, and I was on the couch looking at the lingerie section of a JCPenny catalogue while the kids were breaking windows and tearing off wallpaper.

She hands me the day's mail. Included is an envelope from UW Financial Fiscal Monetary Coin Paper Tree Company University Sector. Included in the envelope is a financial aid check for some coin. Not an our worries are over amount of coin, but a breathing room, phew amount. It was enough to buy a laptop, ensuring the taking of sweet notes in class, and all the online reading and typing of papers and such that skool reakwires, and bonus a replacement of my 3+yr-old Dell machine (which I love. We have a relationship for sure).

We're both happy about the check. Megan suggests I go buy a laptop right then and there. It kind of took me aback, the thought of making such a big purchase right away, without having to feel guilty about spending money. It was an idea that took me by surprise. After thinking it over for a few more minutes of couch-piloted JCPenny models in beige, cream-colored, thick bras and undies and havoc-wreaking kids, I found that Megan was right. There wasn't time to spare.

It was about 4:30. I got on a bus. On the way to campus, I stopped at the bookstore. It's on the Ave, really close. Found the other book I need for Spanish 101. Then I perused the office supplies, taking my time and enjoying myself, trying out several varieties of pen. Then I got a burger and fries and Mtn Dew. But it got the better of me, cause when I got to campus after that, the computer labs were all closed. But I did get to see this:

Lame.

I hadn't written down where my classes were going to be! So going into the buildings would have been useless without the class numbers. I was counting on being able to use a computer lab to login to my UW thingy and find that out. Didn't think about it b4 I left home; wasn't time.

So I'm sort of disenfranchised(?) at this point, but I used my handy dandy--notebook!--no, my smartest of phones to find the bus route to UVillage. I get to the stop, get on the bus, spend a little time walking around, seeing what happened to the building that once housed the restaurant I once worked in, looking at all the glitzy stuff and regular and irregular people. I asked a hot redhead where the Apple store was, and was surprised I had no interest in flirting with her, smiling to myself as I walked where she pointed me.

Coming up is the best part of the entire journey. It's getting dark outside. I get to the Apple store.

You know what? I can't say it in words. Here is what I encountered:

Mine

eyes

could

not

believe

them

selves

nor

could

the brain

they're

wired

to.

So I took some pictures and was all like, "Well my objectives both were failures of good intention this evening," and I went into a Barnes and Noble to blow off some steam and look at their cds. They all sucked. The music playing overhead was so lame--newschool renditions of tired, tired old blues numbers.

My backpack was starting to get heavy. I was unfamiliar with the street names and bus stops around that territory. I'm walking down ... 25th, is it? The street that runs right in front of UVillage? Well, I'm going south, looking at my phone, searching for this bus stop it was directing me towards, tired, and wanting the night to be over. I can't find the stupid street it was telling me to get to; they're all wacky over there. I make a wrong turn and just end up walking the fuck through all of campus, uphill half the way. Brutal. I'm so tired, and the trip has been fruitless, so mix frustration and placeless anger on top of that.

I remember the exact place the next thing of interest that evening happened. I had gotten up the hill and was walking fairly fast thru campus towards 15th Ave, where the 48 runs. On a brick walkway, near some pretty little buildings with trees creating a canopy above, I step down on my left foot and feel a sharp pain. Not enough to make me stop walking, but definitely enough to slow me down.

I knew I had given myself some kind of sprain or stress thingy in the muscles down there, and the sensation was familiar. When I walk, for some reason, without thinking about it, I step harder on my left heel than my right. I immediately started remembering when I used to do this to myself much more often, when I was in school before, when walking was a much larger part of my daily goingaboutmybusinesses. Or when I used to walk to work and spend more of the day on my feet. The pain brought me back to a time forgotten; to a different me. I was grateful for the trigger's effect on my memory, but not for its effect on my leg.

Then I remembered trying to correct my walking all that time ago, and I realized I'd have to reemploy that technique right then and there. I continued walking to the bus stop, limping. Made it home. The pain wasn't horrible.

When I woke up yesterday morning? Not so bad. A background feeling of weirdness down there.

When I took the kids to the park? Bang! It came back with a vengeance. Doing some outdoor walking really made it bad. I was leaning on the stroller just to take some of the pressure off my foot. I kind of started giving BB a wheelie, so I had to lay off and try to just walk it out.

But, oh, dude, that didn't compare to when I had Justin drive me to campus, cause he's a nice guy and we'd been planning it for a few days and we'd get to hang. Walking around there, I was totally screwed. I had to walk slower than I'd ever had to walk before. Descending declines was the worst. It hurt so bad! Shooting pain through my whole lower left leg. Oh man I was limping and trying not to act weird. So many other kids around, awkward themselves, and I wanted to get out of their faster-walking-ways but I couldn't, and they for some reason wouldn't pass me either, so I had backing up kids of awkward backing up behind me, even though I'm off to the side as much as I can be. It's funny, now that I'm thinking about it. They were probably all thinking I was trying to act cool, but actually... I was limping a bit obviously, too.

I found my stupid classrooms after more stupid walking. I went home.

Ankle feels better today. Not much, but better. It'll hurt like a snitch as soon as I start walking toward the bus, I know it. Tonight is the first night of my evening classes. It's Writing for Mass Media. Sounds cool, right? I'm looking forward to it.

Thank you for reading this far. I'll let you know how everything goes.

Okay bye.