Ring of hair around the toilet

So arrived here on Wednesday night. The Super Shuttle dropped me off and of course I had no keys to get into the place I was subletting. The sky was ominous and it looked like tornadoes were going to drop down at any moment and I actually thought for a brief moment I would be sleeping under the small bridge that leads to the entrance of the apartments. Luckily, someone came and gave me keys.

Let's discuss this apartment. First off, Thursday was a GORGEOUS day. Bright, sunny, birds churping, etc. Okay, at least I have a roof over my head. But I quickly discovered that the inside of this place is a black cavern in the middle of the day. Very few windows... and they don't open. I have to run the air conditioner constantly because it gets stuffy. It's the anti-fresh apartment.

I found dirty dishes in the sink that have been sitting there since the END OF APRIL. There was a huge spider hanging out on one of the plates and unfortunately Greg was not here to take care of it. I had to wash it down into the food disposal while screaming like a girl... After murdering the not-so-itsy bitsy spider, I loaded the dishes into the dishwasher. I turned it on and it started smoking and hissing. Hmmmm.

Then I journeyed into the bathroom where I found the most disgusting hair and piss encrusted toilet. It looked like someone had opened a pubic hair barber shop. I was gagging but managed to deal with the mess. Oh, and there was no shower curtain. And I have no car. And the apartment is nowhere near a Target.

Luckily, I have met some nice people with cars.

LAXative

Thank god I just checked my 8000 pound suitcase. I am usually a pretty light packer... only taking either a bookbag or small duffle bag... but for this little adventure I loaded up a suit case the size of a small home. By the way, I absolutely hate going through those security lines because you have to take off your shoes, put your laptop in one of those gray bins while you walk through the beeping door frame in your socks holding just your ID and a crinkled plane ticket. Then, you have to retrieve all of your stuff while it flies out of the x ray tunnel and put on your shoes as quickly as possible. All while some guy says, "keep moving folks"

So I am sitting here at LAX watching the people sitting around me. On the right, a couple is existing in utter misery... She says, "There must be water in this airport.... I have not seen any fresh fruit". She goes to wipe crumbs off his lap. She says, "Is my cell phone ringing or is that yours?" She gets up to use the restroom. She comes back and says "I think grandpa prays, do you think he prays?" The husband just sits there saying nothing. In front of me, the line for Burger King is a little longer than it should be and there are people in line that should not be breaking their diets. There's a family of eight traveling together to my left. Around me: a few lonely souls as myself sitting around typing on their computers. Maybe they are closing business deals or maybe they are on myspace?

Will I ever wash the suit?

So I leave for Michigan on Wednesday and I am really excited yet sad to leave all of my wonderful friends in Los Angeles for the summer. I am especially going to miss Greg! Ugh... I am going to miss the beach!!! I really do not know how I survived this past week: conducting a lot of 8,9 and 10 year olds in a hot gym in a hot stinky suit (that I still need to dry clean). Then all of the pizza parties at school to celebrate. I need a 4-6 week sabatical from any Pizza Hut smell. Just so you know, that smell lurks in a classroom for a long time...epecially when it is 80 degress outside. ICK!

I am also really going to miss Dawn, my coworker. She has been an absolute insipiration for me in rejuvinating my love and motivation for teaching. Plus, she has been become one of my closest friends in such a short amount of time.