A Day From Hell

Yesterday was your basic high stress day from hell.

It started off with the pressure of going to the bank at 6:00AM to get the final $300 to pay for the dumpster to be delivered later on during the day. Then there was the effort to block off a space in front of the house where the dumpster would go. Then there was the stress of arguing with Chelsea, and Sadaisha, about receiving the dumpster, paying for the dumpster, and loading it with what I wanted in it rather than what Sadaisha wanted in it. Sadaisha and Chelsea had a fight before I left for work at 7:00AM.

On the way to work the car stopped dead in East New York. I opened the hood and found that a wire to the coil had broken off. The only tool I had in the car was a small vicegrip plier. I was able to get the insulation off the wire with this and wind it around the terminal on the coil. Of course I dropped the terminal into the black deep reaches of the engine before I realized that the terminal was the only way to attach the wire. Fortunately I was able to find it and fish it out. Then I discovered that the large wiring harness was solely supported by the wire to the coil which had broken. I jerry rigged a support to release the pressure on the coil wire by using some electrical tape I found which had been left on the hood support for who knows how long by who knows whom. The car fired up, and I resumed travel to Hofstra with grease enccased hands and stains on my shirt.

I stopped at a parts store and bought wire and a wire stripper, with which I improved my temporary fix, and went on to Hofstra without incident, except that now the traffic was slow. I didn't get to Hofstra until 9:00AM, later by 45 minutes to an hour than usual.

Part of my tension was that I had to prepare an extensive geography test for my European Business class, prepare other handouts for the other two classes, and confirm new classrooms for units of simulation on the French referendum on the European Constitution, and for another class, the OPEC negotiation simulation. I also had to prepare the handouts for an in-classroom simulation of exporter/distributor negotiations over a distribution contract in a third class. I kept telling myself to avoid lashing out at the students because of my stress. As the day wore on I was able to accomplish everything by working as if possessed every second up until the end of the class day at 6:00PM.

I went to a meeting of the Gay Club focused on "God and Gays," featuring a speaker from the First Presbyterian Church of Manhattan. This is the church in which Sara Zug and I were married in 1979. The students attending were so intelligent that it was enjoyable to be there. In addition, my own intervention in the middle of the meeting sparked up a lot of energy. I stated my position that the liberal church has to pull up its skirts and split from the conservative wings of their congregations or else nothing will ever be accomplished. Everyone seemed to find this a good idea.

One of the students present mentioned that she is going to speak on polyamory at the national convention of the Unitarian Church next summer. This confirmed my understanding that the cutting edge of queer people today is polyamory, while the society is back in the old issues of accepting gay ministers and allowing gay marriages.

I felt uplifted as I drove home at 8:30PM after the nice religious discussion.

I got home to find the dumpster half full, and Chgelsea still carrying out blocks of hardened concrete which we had not used when we poured the new floor of the shed in 2002. I changed clothes and started to carry out concrete also, although I did feel some pain on my right side which told me that it was not a great idea to carry hardened bags of concrete. Fortunately there were only a few bags left. About one-third of the loose gravel had also been loaded into the dumpster, which was good. I was a bit angry that everyone had ignored my instructions that only gravel and concrete should be put in the dumpster until it was all loaded, and then wooden things could go in. Oh well, I was just the one paying for it all.

So the day ended without a stroke or heart attack, and all things on the agends had been accomplished. Not so bad after all.

Chelsea was exhausted but buzzed by all the adrenalin from physical labor. She is getting too old for this sort of thing too. I greatly appreciated her efforts and her loyalty.