I wish I could bottle and store this good feeling for a time I'll really need it. I'm sincerely happy right now. Let's go back.
The month of April was a full of turmoil. The early parts of the spring 2018 semester got me feeling all lazy. The classes are easy, why should I worry about them? Oh, because assignments and projects get graded. Guess I'll hike up my skirt and get to it. Holy shit did I overestimate myself. The entire first half of the semester's Accounting 102 homework did not get done. Only the last two weeks got touched. I couldn't even rely on the quiz grades because they were all loaded questions and I got some awful grades on them. I got a bad grade on one of them, got 8/20, tried a second time and got a 12/20 by guessing most of the questions. Cool. My final project in Advanced Programming didn't even get 50% done because my group doesn't know how to use Javascript and I didn't have enough time to do it all myself. The rest of it got done. The week before finals week, I stayed up most nights working on Marketing and Accounting. Because of the lack of sleep, I slid into last weekend sick as a dog. We played D&D on the Sunday I got sick proper. Lawrence came to visit and he had gotten Clem's bbq for all of us. Glorious. D&D was fun, too.
That morning, I was having a bit of a meltdown. That Friday night, I'd been informed that we had a rat in the house. Nick's grilfriend Tina found it in our trash as it ran under the dishwasher. It's always been a point of anxiety for me. I fear infestations of really any kind. Bedbugs, lice, mice, rats, bees, ants.... doesn't matter. We had fruit flies really bad the summer of 2014 and I almost broke down. So rats is a big deal. Saturday went by and I was off visiting friends and family so I missed out on dealing with the rat situation. Sunday rolls around and I warn the D&D group that I've got at least a rat in the house. They come over, assuring me it's not a big deal and they can help me find a way to take care of it. While nobody actually helped me take care of it, I had no time to worry about it. School was jumping back into action. Class or project work every evening. So I worked and I went to school. My roommate, Chris, bought a rat trap and killed the thing while I wasn't home. Problem solved, eh?
Mostly, it seems. I started my accounting final on Friday night, safe in the feeling that the problems were handled and I could spend three hours on the final and be done with school completely. Alas, during my final... during the final, the rat trap went off. I was too busy at the time to look into it. After the final (which almost locked me out due to the browser not loading the damn thing), I checked the trap and found a small mouse. I used a garbage bag to pick the thing up and toss it outside, in the bag. I also had used the bag to reset the trap. Satisfyingly, today was the day I got to get to the store and buy cleaning products. Bleach, a bucket, and a mop. I cleaned the kitchen floors heavily. The whole house smells like a pool deck. I swam for four years of high school and lifeguarded for those summers. It's got me happy and nostalgic.
Not to mention that Friday was my last day of work for two and a half weeks. Since my department had to work Good Friday, they gave us a floating holiday to spend elsewhere. I used it for today! So now, all I can do is get through this absolutely gorgeous spring day and I'm free. Yesterday was cold and today actually feels like a proper spring or summer day. Low humidity, almost no clouds, bright sun. Perfection. What a way to go out before the trip.
My trip starts tomorrow. I arrive at the airport at 5 AM or so, go through all the nonsense, then fly to Toronto, then Vancouver, then Narita. Japan is gonna be amazing and me and Nick are gonna see as much as we can. I wish I could bottle the excitement and happiness I'm feeling right now. Free from work for two weeks, free from school for four months, and going on my dream vacation.