TO That's "All For All..."
This time, it was the ankle with the screws in it. It happened thusly:
After an awesome evening at Dolores and Michael's in a pre-birthday celebration for Dolores---a wing and sing night---I was walking to my car. It was dark, and wet, and on the curb there was a tree whose roots were coming up out of the ground. And the macadam below it had an amazing example of PennDot's handiwork---a giant ditch. And, of course, we must all remember that I am one of the most graceful creatures to ever have walked the earth.
I was too busy saying goodbye to John and Tim, and not paying attention to what I was doing. And I stepped high over the roots, and overstepped the macadam, landing too hard on the edge of the ditch. My ankle went right, then left, then right again. I heard snapping, and there was pain. I shouted for John and Tim, but with the traffic around Dolores's place they (understandably) thought I was just saying goodbye to them, cause they couldn't really hear me over the din it was creating. So, I called Dolores, and in the process of finding my cell phone, dropped my keys on the ground, breaking the lip gloss keychain Melissa and Erin had bought for me for my birthday (sorry guys). She comes out and escorts me back into her house, the whole time I'm balling cause I really think it's more than sprained or maybe a screw popped out and it was just too much. I had been working the entire day, then scrambled to make a chocolate chipless cookie cake for Dolores afterwork---the fastest I ever baked something in my life---, and then went to Dolores. I was working on being up for 24 hours straight on top of only getting a cumulative amount of 5 hours of sleep since Tuesday night---and I desperately wanted a shower. Schools are dirty. Baking is dirty.
So, I'm crying because I also have no insurance and I knew X-rays were needed, at the very least. There was no way I was gonna be able to pay for surgery. And, of course, I worry. So that was where a lot of this was coming from. Also, I felt so terrible that I had to call my parents to come and get me because, of course, it would be my right foot keeping me from being able to drive home. I also kept poor Dolores and Michael up, although Michael went up to bed shortly after he gave my parents directions. But still, they had had long days too. And I felt so incredibly bad because it's just like me to ruin an evening like that.
Anyway, Mom and Dad get there and they drive me the long way home where we stopped to let Rosie out and get icepacks for me. Then we headed another 40 minutes in the opposite direction of Dolores's house to the hospital where I had been treated after my accident, when I got the screws in the first place. Mom felt more comfortable there as opposed to the Reading Hospital, because they knew my medical history.
After waiting for a rather long time for the doctor without my pants (because apparently they needed to see the alignment of my legs and I couldn't have just rolled up my pants), she shows up and orders an X-ray. Thankfully, the nice radiologist found a way for me to have it x-rayed without having to get out of my wheelchair. Then it was another cold half-hour till the doctor came back to read the film. I was glad that it was only a sprain---a bad sprain at that---, but that still left me uncertain as to whether or not I'd be able to work this Monday - Wednesday.
Well, the doctor told me that I should be walking on it (fucking S&M bitch), so I did just that for three hours on Saturday---the only time I was up, what with my anti-inflammatories. And Sunday, I was able to maneuver without crutches for a good portion of the day. But man did that hurt. Not as much as it did today though. All parties involved in the post-falling drama agreed that I should go to the school today and if they send me home, that's better than if I were to call ahead and tell them about the sprain. So, that's just what I did.
Well the district was very understanding and went out of their way to make sure I was off my foot as much as possible. I was signed up to be a "floater" for the morning, anyway. So I, along with two other subs, stayed in a conference room off the office and did grunt work, and I was reminded why I love this age group---the Middle School. First, we sorted through cards to go to servicemen overseas. We needed to pull the truly inappropriate ones and also correct the good ones if they had truly atrocious spellings. And I tell you, these kids amazed me.
Here are some of the good ones I picked out: "I hope you make it home safely and never get put in harms way again." "The Eagles won on Sunday. They're going to the superbowl, you know. I was fishing the other day and I thought of you all in Iraq cause I bet you'd all rather be fishing, too." And one girl did a beautiful drawing of the flag on the front of the card, and then wrote an apology on the back saying she hoped the serviceman liked it, but she was a "bad drawer."
Here are some frightening ones: "I hope you come back alive. We wish you good wishes. Kill Terrorists." "Let the body's hit the floor" (that one was repeated three times more and the grammatical error I put there was in each line.) And a closing, "Sincerely terrorist hater."
And, this is what truly made me smile, the salutations. Here are some really neat ones: "Dear Soldier Dude." "Dear You." "Dear Army People." "Dear Vetenarians." (I love that one and kept it misspelled) "Dear person who I don't know." And the closings on some were just as fun: "With my hope." "Rock Iraq's World." "Rock On!"
The other thing we sorted was anti-drug posters: which were to get laminated and which weren't. One of my favorites was a giant list of 153 to do besides drugs of which my favorite ideas were, "Play with rubber ducks," "Grow Corn," and "Make a Turkey Sandwich."
Following this we were set to the task of researching in Education magazines for articles on various topics for a presentation the Principal was going to have to do. My topic was Exploratory Topics for In-School Programs. I came up with a lot of ideas in my own head of programs that I would have loved to have been a part of in school. But, that was just based on the ideas I read---not the readings themselves. So, we'll see if they were helpful to her or not.
Again, the school district did a lot to rework my afternoon schedule---I was in for the PE teacher, an irony I'm sure is not lost on John and Dolores. But because of my ankle, I didn't have to oversee a PE class. They arranged it so I could sit most of the day. I ended up covering the Temporary Placement Center (TPC) where the kids go when they have lunch detentions or in-school suspension. I had a kid in ISS today. He was there the whole day, and by the last period of the day, he didn't feel like working. What he felt like doing was interrupting the test-takers that come in and use that room. I was constantly trying to shut this kid up. He'd be fine, and then one of the test-takers would ask me a question about their test, and he'd start up again. I felt like a prison warden. But, I got some work done today at least.
And I can't stress enough how wonderful the district was about my ankle! I'm sure my alma mater would have pitched a fit. I hate them anymore. But seriously, even with the little walking I did do, it was enough to kill my ankle. I came home and slept for like an hour cause I had taken an anti-inflammatory towards the end of the day, for that purpose. I just got up from another nap, actually.
Some leftovers from Friday that never got posted:
*Several people, including THE CHAD, thought I was a student. I was in jeans with my hair in two ponytails---it was teachers dress like a student day, anyway. But my students thought I was a student too. Nice.
*During lunch duty, I noticed a kid that looked like the GEMINI, Scott, from college. This was the guy that stopped being friends with me because his girlfriend made him. Why, you ask? Because he kept getting "inappropriate" with me. Apparently, he didn't see waking me up at 3:00 to talk about why his penis was crooked as inappropriate at the time. Or the time I was so sick with an inner ear infection that affected my balance and I had to drive to go get myself more orange juice as a bad time to ask me for my feelings on anal sex. OR, the time he was piss-assed drunk and came to my dorm's window screaming the lyrics to the song, "Come to my Window" and getting his roommate to molest my roommate as bad either. Fucker.
*At the "Wing and Sing" night, Tim messed up the lyrics to the song, "It's All For Love" from the Three Musketeers movie and sang, "Then it's all for all..." John's response made me nearly PIMP. "Dude, you just messed up the entire point of the song..."
*And I'll leave you with more magnetic poetry:
we cry the snow...
stil though to ache
after and above
After an awesome evening at Dolores and Michael's in a pre-birthday celebration for Dolores---a wing and sing night---I was walking to my car. It was dark, and wet, and on the curb there was a tree whose roots were coming up out of the ground. And the macadam below it had an amazing example of PennDot's handiwork---a giant ditch. And, of course, we must all remember that I am one of the most graceful creatures to ever have walked the earth.
I was too busy saying goodbye to John and Tim, and not paying attention to what I was doing. And I stepped high over the roots, and overstepped the macadam, landing too hard on the edge of the ditch. My ankle went right, then left, then right again. I heard snapping, and there was pain. I shouted for John and Tim, but with the traffic around Dolores's place they (understandably) thought I was just saying goodbye to them, cause they couldn't really hear me over the din it was creating. So, I called Dolores, and in the process of finding my cell phone, dropped my keys on the ground, breaking the lip gloss keychain Melissa and Erin had bought for me for my birthday (sorry guys). She comes out and escorts me back into her house, the whole time I'm balling cause I really think it's more than sprained or maybe a screw popped out and it was just too much. I had been working the entire day, then scrambled to make a chocolate chipless cookie cake for Dolores afterwork---the fastest I ever baked something in my life---, and then went to Dolores. I was working on being up for 24 hours straight on top of only getting a cumulative amount of 5 hours of sleep since Tuesday night---and I desperately wanted a shower. Schools are dirty. Baking is dirty.
So, I'm crying because I also have no insurance and I knew X-rays were needed, at the very least. There was no way I was gonna be able to pay for surgery. And, of course, I worry. So that was where a lot of this was coming from. Also, I felt so terrible that I had to call my parents to come and get me because, of course, it would be my right foot keeping me from being able to drive home. I also kept poor Dolores and Michael up, although Michael went up to bed shortly after he gave my parents directions. But still, they had had long days too. And I felt so incredibly bad because it's just like me to ruin an evening like that.
Anyway, Mom and Dad get there and they drive me the long way home where we stopped to let Rosie out and get icepacks for me. Then we headed another 40 minutes in the opposite direction of Dolores's house to the hospital where I had been treated after my accident, when I got the screws in the first place. Mom felt more comfortable there as opposed to the Reading Hospital, because they knew my medical history.
After waiting for a rather long time for the doctor without my pants (because apparently they needed to see the alignment of my legs and I couldn't have just rolled up my pants), she shows up and orders an X-ray. Thankfully, the nice radiologist found a way for me to have it x-rayed without having to get out of my wheelchair. Then it was another cold half-hour till the doctor came back to read the film. I was glad that it was only a sprain---a bad sprain at that---, but that still left me uncertain as to whether or not I'd be able to work this Monday - Wednesday.
Well, the doctor told me that I should be walking on it (fucking S&M bitch), so I did just that for three hours on Saturday---the only time I was up, what with my anti-inflammatories. And Sunday, I was able to maneuver without crutches for a good portion of the day. But man did that hurt. Not as much as it did today though. All parties involved in the post-falling drama agreed that I should go to the school today and if they send me home, that's better than if I were to call ahead and tell them about the sprain. So, that's just what I did.
Well the district was very understanding and went out of their way to make sure I was off my foot as much as possible. I was signed up to be a "floater" for the morning, anyway. So I, along with two other subs, stayed in a conference room off the office and did grunt work, and I was reminded why I love this age group---the Middle School. First, we sorted through cards to go to servicemen overseas. We needed to pull the truly inappropriate ones and also correct the good ones if they had truly atrocious spellings. And I tell you, these kids amazed me.
Here are some of the good ones I picked out: "I hope you make it home safely and never get put in harms way again." "The Eagles won on Sunday. They're going to the superbowl, you know. I was fishing the other day and I thought of you all in Iraq cause I bet you'd all rather be fishing, too." And one girl did a beautiful drawing of the flag on the front of the card, and then wrote an apology on the back saying she hoped the serviceman liked it, but she was a "bad drawer."
Here are some frightening ones: "I hope you come back alive. We wish you good wishes. Kill Terrorists." "Let the body's hit the floor" (that one was repeated three times more and the grammatical error I put there was in each line.) And a closing, "Sincerely terrorist hater."
And, this is what truly made me smile, the salutations. Here are some really neat ones: "Dear Soldier Dude." "Dear You." "Dear Army People." "Dear Vetenarians." (I love that one and kept it misspelled) "Dear person who I don't know." And the closings on some were just as fun: "With my hope." "Rock Iraq's World." "Rock On!"
The other thing we sorted was anti-drug posters: which were to get laminated and which weren't. One of my favorites was a giant list of 153 to do besides drugs of which my favorite ideas were, "Play with rubber ducks," "Grow Corn," and "Make a Turkey Sandwich."
Following this we were set to the task of researching in Education magazines for articles on various topics for a presentation the Principal was going to have to do. My topic was Exploratory Topics for In-School Programs. I came up with a lot of ideas in my own head of programs that I would have loved to have been a part of in school. But, that was just based on the ideas I read---not the readings themselves. So, we'll see if they were helpful to her or not.
Again, the school district did a lot to rework my afternoon schedule---I was in for the PE teacher, an irony I'm sure is not lost on John and Dolores. But because of my ankle, I didn't have to oversee a PE class. They arranged it so I could sit most of the day. I ended up covering the Temporary Placement Center (TPC) where the kids go when they have lunch detentions or in-school suspension. I had a kid in ISS today. He was there the whole day, and by the last period of the day, he didn't feel like working. What he felt like doing was interrupting the test-takers that come in and use that room. I was constantly trying to shut this kid up. He'd be fine, and then one of the test-takers would ask me a question about their test, and he'd start up again. I felt like a prison warden. But, I got some work done today at least.
And I can't stress enough how wonderful the district was about my ankle! I'm sure my alma mater would have pitched a fit. I hate them anymore. But seriously, even with the little walking I did do, it was enough to kill my ankle. I came home and slept for like an hour cause I had taken an anti-inflammatory towards the end of the day, for that purpose. I just got up from another nap, actually.
Some leftovers from Friday that never got posted:
*Several people, including THE CHAD, thought I was a student. I was in jeans with my hair in two ponytails---it was teachers dress like a student day, anyway. But my students thought I was a student too. Nice.
*During lunch duty, I noticed a kid that looked like the GEMINI, Scott, from college. This was the guy that stopped being friends with me because his girlfriend made him. Why, you ask? Because he kept getting "inappropriate" with me. Apparently, he didn't see waking me up at 3:00 to talk about why his penis was crooked as inappropriate at the time. Or the time I was so sick with an inner ear infection that affected my balance and I had to drive to go get myself more orange juice as a bad time to ask me for my feelings on anal sex. OR, the time he was piss-assed drunk and came to my dorm's window screaming the lyrics to the song, "Come to my Window" and getting his roommate to molest my roommate as bad either. Fucker.
*At the "Wing and Sing" night, Tim messed up the lyrics to the song, "It's All For Love" from the Three Musketeers movie and sang, "Then it's all for all..." John's response made me nearly PIMP. "Dude, you just messed up the entire point of the song..."
*And I'll leave you with more magnetic poetry:
we cry the snow...
stil though to ache
after and above