Hard Work

I had a fun experience last night - my door unexpectedly decided to self-lock after I shut it to go to the bathroom, leaving me stranded in the hall without keys or cell phone. Lovely. Fortunately I was dressed, and fortunately the girl down the hall was home so I called my coordinator Tracey who first laughed at me and then told me to run up to Pollock and get a spare key. I did so, waited in a long line, and they told me that they don't have copies of South keys. Great. They called East Halls. They didn't have them either. I go all the way back to my dorm, have Tracey call the police, and I wait around embarrassed for a young cop to open my door. That's inconvenient, but not horrible, right?

Well. It happened again. This time I had the foresight to bring my cell phone with me (but not my keys, I'm not that smart) so I called the police directly and thank god they sent a different officer out. I don't even know how that happened - the doors are never supposed to lock automatically. I'm like the anti-Houdini.

Anyway, Tracey sent in a work order last night and it was repaired by the time I got home this afternoon. Excellent.

I had boatloads of fun this afternoon, since it was Special Olympics check-in day and my sole function was to sit at a picnic bench in the shade and make my way through a stack of books and the Center Daily Times. Then I talked on the phone for awhile. Then I took a walk. This job is too demanding.

Tracey came down to check on us (two CAs, sitting at a bench, reading, keep up the good work) and gave us this little nugget of golden good news: we're all getting a raise from $5.15 to $6.25, going up to $7.15 in July. Say what? Penn State is giving us free housing, food, utilities, and internet and they're still going to pay us more? No arguments here, but I feel like a shyster.

I happened to be seated in Squirrel City, and this guy was on my table taking a nap before I got there.










Possibly the same squirrel up in the tree, staring at me.








Where's Waldo?








Other wildlife fun. I hate these caterpillars with a fiery passion. One crawled onto my hand a couple days ago and I freaked.






After those strenuous, back-breaking hours of labor, I was able to stroll through East Commons and check out the festivities. They had a dunk tank! Here's Spikes the Deer? Gazelle? aiming poorly. Note the ball in mid throw. It came nowhere near the target.



Finally Spikes just gave up and hit the dunk button. Cheater!











I was all about the monetary gains today, so I headed down to Carmike to pick up my monster of a paycheck (it wasn't, really). This is what greeted me on my arrival:

Is it vomit in a cup? No! It's a particularly loathsome concoction of Sprite, topping oil, popcorn salt, and every flavor of Kernal Seasons they could find (including Ranch and Caramel, ew). What we couldn't understand is ... why is it bubbling so?



Drew was the only one brave enough to take a gulp, so I ponied up a dollar and added it to the fund. He's braver than I am. I can only imagine what kind of gastrointestinal havoc that mixture is wreaking. I have video footage, thank god, but it's not been uploaded yet.

This sign bugs the crap out of me. I realize that it's supposed to say "burritos", but I always see it as "burrjtos". Lame, lame, lame. It shouldn't affect me this much, but it does.



I'm looking forward to a very Carmike-heavy weekend, so I either won't update at all due to a lack of subjects or I'll be posting every day due to insane boredom.