Adventures in Grand Rapids
Yesterday, I thought I must have left my cell in my room because it had fallen out of my pocket sometim between when I left the room and when I got outside, I went back to look for it, and didn't find it in the hallway. I come back to my room in the afternoon, and can't find it. By now I've concluded that this situation is not okay. It's already foremost in my parents' minds that I am forgetful and prone to losing things, and I did not need to prove these qualities by having my cell lost/stolen on my first day here. I used the phone in the hotel room to call my own cell, and I get this guy who doesn't speak English. He actually said to me, "No speakie English." I try again, and there he is on the other end of the line. Now, by this point I'm entertaining the impossible, and yet highly probable (since this is my life we're talking about), possibility that this guy fucking stole my cell. Yes, I do know my own cell number. But then I remembered a curious phenomenon that happened to my mother whereby she was definitely dialing correctly but still gets some random person. So I asked celticwitch86 to call my cell to see if she gets this dude, too. I hear it ringing very close by. It's wedged between my wheelchair seat cushion and the rest of the chair. Fuck, I looked there. Oh, did I mention I also seem to have tunnel vision when it comes to finding the things I'm prone to losing? Yeah.
This morning, I attempted to toast a bagel for breakfast on a wholly average setting, as I quite often do. The room's Toaster of Infinite Failure burns the hell out of the bagel, rendering it completely inedible, and now the delicate scent of charcoal wafts gently around my door. Oh, and the toaster set off the smoke alarm, a deafeningly loud and ear-piercing noise. It's 6:30 am at this point. Luckily it saw fit to turn itself off, because I was by no means dressed yet, and I didn't want to waste precious minutes getting someone to come turn the thing off. Luckily, no-one panicked. Apparently this happens all the time.
Now it's time to tell you about roll-in shower and its detachable showerhead. "Roll-in" means that there is not an effective buffer between the floor of the shower and the bathroom floor at large. A cloth shower curtain goes only so far. The holder for the showerhead and the temp control/on-off mechanism are waaay at the other end of the shower from the fold-down bench (which is slatted--ow, my ass. Who the fuck thought that up?) forcing me to put the running showerhead on the floor. The high water pressure propels the showerhead backward and around in circles. Remember our friend the shower curtain? Largely ineffective. I actually managed to grapple with it pretty well until tonight, restraining it between my knees, but tonight I got a jet of cold water while I was still sitting in my chair. You can imagine how thrilled I was about that. I ended up with a lake on the bathroom floor of unprecedented proportions. BUT I also made the fortuitous discovery that, like my showerhead at home, this one has different settings, one of which is can be described as "gentle rinse." YAAAAAY.
I'll write about the actual internship tomorrow. It's good stuff.
This morning, I attempted to toast a bagel for breakfast on a wholly average setting, as I quite often do. The room's Toaster of Infinite Failure burns the hell out of the bagel, rendering it completely inedible, and now the delicate scent of charcoal wafts gently around my door. Oh, and the toaster set off the smoke alarm, a deafeningly loud and ear-piercing noise. It's 6:30 am at this point. Luckily it saw fit to turn itself off, because I was by no means dressed yet, and I didn't want to waste precious minutes getting someone to come turn the thing off. Luckily, no-one panicked. Apparently this happens all the time.
Now it's time to tell you about roll-in shower and its detachable showerhead. "Roll-in" means that there is not an effective buffer between the floor of the shower and the bathroom floor at large. A cloth shower curtain goes only so far. The holder for the showerhead and the temp control/on-off mechanism are waaay at the other end of the shower from the fold-down bench (which is slatted--ow, my ass. Who the fuck thought that up?) forcing me to put the running showerhead on the floor. The high water pressure propels the showerhead backward and around in circles. Remember our friend the shower curtain? Largely ineffective. I actually managed to grapple with it pretty well until tonight, restraining it between my knees, but tonight I got a jet of cold water while I was still sitting in my chair. You can imagine how thrilled I was about that. I ended up with a lake on the bathroom floor of unprecedented proportions. BUT I also made the fortuitous discovery that, like my showerhead at home, this one has different settings, one of which is can be described as "gentle rinse." YAAAAAY.
I'll write about the actual internship tomorrow. It's good stuff.