1// Couple Complaints

[spritechan]

A couple years ago, Ben lent Steve and myself a book that was a compilation of letters he wrote to his friends and family during his first year of college. He sent it as a kind of newsletter that summarized his daily life. He called it "college complaints," and it was hilariously steeped in the deep-seated but kindhearted annoyed way that Ben has. His family had it published for him, and the rest is history. However, he only wrote through the Spring of that year, and they abruptly end. This last time that we visited Ben and Sean, it was revealed that Ben began writing again a few years later, and THAT time period is now ANOTHER book of complaints. Reading it has inspired Steve and myself to try to write our own versions — me on my LJ and him on Google Drive — for at least 100 days (stretch goal being a whole year). We're thinking it would be neat to see if we can write for basically 100 straight days, and also we are interested in comparing our views on the day as well as our writing styles. We're gonna call it #couplecomplaints. So. Day 1.

Suddenly, I was awake*. This week has been insane with regards to waking up. The cuddles in bed have been too good, and I've been struggling HARD again to stay asleep at night. I notice that 5-7 times a night I'm just staring into the dark, awake. It's offered me more opportunities to rotate and snuggle Steve (or make him snuggle me), but in the morning it's hella frustrating to be so damn tired. 

However, today I got up at 5:30, generally the latest we can get up and still have hope for Couple Coffee time before work. We showered relatively quickly, got ready, and I poured our coffee — Steve got the orange mug from Sow's ear and I used my standard handmade brown mug with cream glaze and a MN state stamped on it, with a heart over the Twin Cities. 

We sat on the couch and chatted about nothing. We ALWAYS lament the fact that we couldn't stay in bed and how the cuddles are so insanely good, and often we vow to nap later, but usually we don't. We talked about what our schedule was like, and all too soon Steve had to leave. I should leave when Steve does, but 99% of the time I don't. I put off parts of getting ready, like straightening my hair and putting on mascara (and sometimes I put off getting dressed even!), so that I can have more time with Steve before he goes. Then I lazily meander around getting the last bits ready and leave between 6:50 and 7:10 (the latter is me being incredibly naughty).

I called Steve on my way, because my drive is about 10 minutes and his is much longer. I used to listen to music before work, then would listen to Haley's snaps, then drove in silence for awhile, then got into podcasts, and now I like to talk to Steve on my drive. 

When I got to work, we discussed last minute preparations for our field trip to Nickelodeon Universe in Mall of America. I was assigned a foundations, the teacher of which had washed her hands of all preparations of this trip but decided to butt in whenever she felt in order to literally yell at students for perceived slights until I basically politely but firmly told her that her job for the day with them was done and she left us alone. Seminar went well, the kids listened when I went over the rules and structure of the day, and even though we were late to the bus, it went pretty smoothly, all things considered. 

When we got there, the mall was barely open, so it was pretty dead, especially for a Friday. After reiterating check-ins, lunch time, and where I would be posted, I told the kids to go and have fun. It was hilarious watching them apprehensively walk toward the empty park. They reminded me of cats in a new environment. Courtnie, the 6th grade counselor, and I were at the North entrance. We expected the day to be slow but it went by crazy fast. Kids checked in regularly and there were no behavior issues.

I ended up with a wristband but ran out of time for rides, and that was okay. I was just happy to have such a relaxed day and enjoyed watching them be such happy, well-behaved kids. There was some issue with the busses at the end, at which time the kids fell apart and some minor disasters ensued, but we all ended up on our bus unscathed and the ride back was uneventful.

When we got back to the school, we debriefed on the day, which had more successes than areas to work on for next time. There was a terrible thing that a student who did NOT go did while we were gone to projects he and his peers have been working on for over a month (basically he destroyed several of them and then acted like he discovered the damage instead of creating it — but we had our principal look at the cameras and he was the culprit). Then there was a minor panic when Jan thought her phone was stolen and I helped her locate it (it was hidden in a drawer by some naughties).

Got home (finally! yay!) and stood outside with Steve, Connie, and Grandma Ann until 4, when the garage sale needed to get put away. Steve has been telling me that I shouldn't help clean up, but everyone else is too weak to do anything either, so it just ends up being Steve doing the bulk of it and the other three tottering about trying to help but only risking injury, and me sitting there looking like a self-important princess. 

After the extraneous guests left, I suggested we spend some time outside so I could get some sun. Steve hemmed and hawed about what to do, so I said we should read Ben's second book. I elected to read aloud (we've done this in the past with other books), and we spent a good couple hours reading several days' worth. We got so into it we missed a 3-star raid in Pokemon Go** but we stopped in time to do a 2-star raid, which was close enough to walk to at our nearby park. We did a few laps of the park in addition to the raid. It was a gorgeous night but there were FAR too many people around. Everywhere is just crawling with them! Shoo!

Dinner was delicious India Palace leftovers — Steve having the Shahi Korma and I had the Paneer Tikka Masala — and then we turned on the ITG machine. Steve played for awhile, and I played for awhile. We were both having off-days in our own way, mine being that I kept getting an intensely racing heart (~185 bpm) for NO REASON. Usually when it happens, it's only for a minute or so and only happens a couple times before settling down. Tonight it lasted the entire night whenever I'd play a song. I hate it because it makes me dizzy, unfocused, and it's added pressure on my chest. But, I still got a new 98 (Twilight) and a new 99 (Dawn, finally).

After that was shower, tea, Hearthstone, and writing this journal. After this I'm hoping to cuddle Steve, read his version of events, and go to bed soon after.

*The Office reference

**Oh yeah, we started playing again, Steve like a month ago and me a couple weeks ago. It's far improved from the original version, with the addition of quests and better gym/raid battles.