My Little Corner

I got home last night around ten. I’m tired, I’m still in heels, I’ve just driven from meeting Amy and Sandy for dinner and a movie, and had left to meet them straight after school was done. I was talking to my dad on the phone and carrying all of my school stuff, including my fabulous lab coat. My key doesn’t go in the lock very smoothly and once it’s in, it won’t turn. The sucker will not budge. My roommate is out of town for the weekend. Slight panic starts to creep in. I quickly look around to make sure no one is hiding in the shadows about to attack me because this is all a scary new way to attack young single women. No perps in sight, heart starts to slow back down to a normal pace. My sweet dad asks if I have any WD 40. No I don’t have any WD 40! Even if I did, it would be inside my apartment and currently I cannot get inside my apartment because the key won’t work! There are two other apartments in my little hallway and I have yet to see anyone go in or out of either one so asking the neighbors for help isn’t gonna work. The other major problem is that my key, in addition to not turning either way, will not pull out of the lock. Dad suggests that I just leave the key in and go to Amy’s for the night. I tell him okay, hang up with him, start to call Amy while still trying to turn the stupid key. As Amy’s voicemail picks up the key very grudgingly turns and my door opens. Hurray!! I hang up without leaving a message with Amy and do a little victory dance in my foyer. After a quick check through the apartment I confirm that we indeed do not own a can of WD 40. I take the key off of the keyring and leave it stuck in the door. I then triple check to make sure both deadbolts are securely locked and I don’t sleep very well. That kinda surprised me because I normally don’t get freaked out when I’m by myself. Anyway, I had to wait until 10 for the office to open up this morning and let them know my key was stuck. The girl said she would call maintenance but they don’t have specific hours on the weekend and would I be home for the next hour or so. I can’t lock my apartment door and my key won’t come out, let’s think about this–yeah I’m gonna be at home for the next hour or so. Almost two and a half hours later, the maintenance guy knocks on my door and fixes the problem…with a can of WD 40.
So today at Target, in addition to purchasing the second season of Veronica Mars, I bought my very own can of WD 40.

Sunday afternoon. A perfect time to visit the aquarium. And that’s just what we did.

LB, cousin Jamie, first-year Jackie, and I spent the afternoon at the aquarium (and had a side adventure just getting there but that’s what makes field trips more fun, right?). We saw bull sharks swim above us, South African penguins being fed, a jaguar pacing back and forth, and a fish throw up it’s dinner of squid parts. All in all, a pretty cool day.

My supervisor is still out of the country and there are no other available supervisors on Friday afternoons, so I left early (for the third Friday in a row…good thing work hours count towards clinical hours!). I went shoe shopping and read a book for fun by the pool and am now watching Veronica Mars Season 1 (bday gift from brother Justin). But that’s not the point of my story.

I’m in the shoe store and find really cute brown shoes on sale. I am in need of some brown shoes and sale is always a good thing. The problem is that while these shoes will look very cute with jeans, I’m not sure if they could also be classified under the "business professional" heading. I find some other brown shoes that weren’t on sale but were definitely dressy. I ended up buying the ones on sale but it got me thinking about where I am in life. I’m in an in between stage. I’m out of college but not a young professional. I want to wear the shoes that go with jeans and a t-shirt but am required to dress up every day of the week. I have to make grown up decisions about many things but still can’t support myself. My life is extremely busy but only people who are currently in grad school seem to understand this (people in college think it’s just a continuation of college life and people out of college have an attitude of "just wait ’till you’re in the real world). It’s an interesting place to be in. I like it but it’s still "in between."

Yesterday my granddaddy turned 91 years old. Saturday the family drove to Louisiana (me from here, Mom and Dad from Houston, Justin from Austin) to celebrate. I hadn’t been to visit since his 90th birthday a year ago. Saturday evening, the entire clan got together for dinner. Sunday we all drove to Dallas. Justin stayed for dinner and then went home to Austin. Mom and Dad stayed for the night and for most of today. It was a nice weekend and lots of family time. Now I’m preparing for the upcoming week…by being lazy and watching TV.