Friday, May 31, 2013

Full Circle Series-Day 1 "The Arrival"

Ma and Pa drop me off in their dapper outfits.  They get the strangest stares out of everyone because they are dressed so nice.  Inquiring eyes immediately fall on me and I can’t shake the feeling that I have been designated the preppy bitch.  I have to concoct a plan to beat the shit out of someone so I won’t be labeled as a fish the entire time I’m here.  As I scan the crowd for a person that is vulnerable (i.e. someone with needles sticking out of their arm and drugged up so I can easily mop the floor with them) I don’t see anyone that fits this description so I figure I’m basically screwed. 
 
Check in goes well with Carl Winslow from “Family Matters”.  We have healthy banter, and I realize that I could have snuck in whatever contraband I wanted because they weren’t really checking bags with as much gusto as I thought they would.  Mom and Dad check their watches and shift uncomfortably in their seats while I’m going through this process.  I actually forgot they were even there, whoops.  I tell them to leave which they more than gladly do.  In fact, I have never seen my father out a door so quickly in my life.  What ever happened to the traditional Irish good byes?   

After I get my blood pressure taken I make a note to myself to stop eating cheeseburgers before physicals.  The next step is to wait for the nurse interview.  Everybody ahead of me is taking 20 minutes so I’m starting to get nervous about rubber gloves and odd body searches because people are coming out of there grimacing.  Not to mention I saw the nurse and she reminded me of Mrs. Babcock, my nurse from elementary school, so I couldn’t even derive the faintest bit of excitement about going into that “office” (I put it in quotes because it was actually the recreation room with a ping pong and air hockey table. Something just isn’t right when you have a physical examination in a room with air hockey in it). 

I get in and out of there in 2 minutes.  She just asked me a few questions about my medical history and that’s it.  The whole ordeal left me thinking, “What, I’m not good enough for a 20 minute full body cavity search now?”  I feel a little cheated now, but life goes on.  Note for the future of this journal: I wish I hadn’t turned down the red dot that lets you ride the elevator.  That would turn out to be an enormous error on my part.

I travel up the 5 flights of stairs, get settled in my room, pay my bill, meet my cuckoo roommate, and go to the common room to await further instructions.  After everybody has checked in we all go down to dinner for a very appetizing meal of American Chop Suey (insert sarcasm here).  Shortly after dinner we congregate back in the common room for basic orientation and an overview of what to expect in the next couple of weeks.  Not so surprisingly, I fall asleep during this schpiel. 

After all of this is over it is time for bed.  I am relegated to listening to my roommate snore like a banshee.  I swear he sounds like he is swallowing his mouth and now I can’t sleep.

(2013 Note: I think this is where I caught my snore and why I am relegated to wearing a sleep mask now. Snoring is contagious, look it up)

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