Hot? Is This Hot?

Heavens to Betsy, it is. According to the little weather ticker at the bottom of my browser, it's now 97 degrees, down from a high of 103. One hundred and three degrees Fahrenheit. This is not June weather, my dears, but really, what is anymore?

I shall share with you the glory that was public education today, but first this. If you have ever had a colonoscopy or are ever goingto have one -- so that's every last one of you -- you must read this. Not only is it a 100% dead-on account of what the experience is, it's Dave Barry, so it's pee-in-your-pants funny.

I am off briefly for physical therapy for my feet. Now, even I think this is overkill, but I'll go, once, anyway. I don't know if I have time in my life for more than that. The orthotics help, and I'm good with that. (Unless they do some sort of massage or something that really feels good, in which case I'm all in favor of my health insurance paying for foot massages. I have to pay for pedicures myself.)

I went to the little mall after school because that's where the big Chico's is, and I got an outfit to wear to the couples' shower at the end of the month. And I did it smart this time. Instead of buying clothes and then trying to figure out what kind of shoes to get, I wore my tan Merrill sandals and bought an outfit that goes with them. Score. Then I went to the big mall because that's where Sephora is, and I wanted to pick out a flavor of Philosophy body scrub. Except they didn't have the actual flavors (like vanilla, cinnamon, gingerbread) only the perfume-y scents and they were no good for me. So I'll just have to pick a flavor I like, all of the above, actually, and get it from QVC. Because what I need in my life is More Product.

Ah, I see by the clock on the wall that it's a quarter to six, so I'm off to see the feet people. The heat story is to be continued upon my return.

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I'm back. For whatever that's worth.

So, it was hot. The kid whose schedule was supposed to take over the computer lab never showed. I mean, he was in school, but in each of his regular classrooms, when the teachers asked him if it was okay there, he said it was. He's apparently not a complainer, although I guess someone is on his behalf.

Rooms were hot, rooms were air conditioned. It was pretty much a random thing; even one side of the new building, which has central air, didn't work until the afternoon. Most of my school was built in the forties and fifties, before anyone was even thinking of putting central air anywhere except movie theatres. Kids were going to the nurse's office in droves and then getting picked up to go home. I don't know how many people on the staff went home sick. One of these was the SCM, who went home with a toothache; once again, I had trouble getting the V.P. to understand my situation and provide coverage, but it ultimately worked out. (I had asked her what I should do if no other teacher was there and I had to go to the bathroom, and she said to call her. I was imagining the announcement in the office following my phone call: "Hey, Chai has to go the bathroom!! Can anybody go up to the library and cover for her?" And since the answer would be No, since nobody there puts himself out for anyone, it would have been twenty minutes before the Martian herself made it up there, by which time disaster would have struck. Although the lawsuit for that would have been a beauty.)

Every neighboring town declared last night that their schools would only be open for a half day today, and half already called a half day for tomorrow. B-Town, not so much. At 2.00 today, they declared that we would have a 1.00 dismissal tomorrow at the high school only and only for students. But I'm guessing that a lot more kids and teachers both will just stay home. If we don't have enough kids in -- I don't know what the number is -- the state will not consider it to have been a school day, in which case they could have used the final snow day in our calendar after all and given us the day off. It's an interesting gamble. We'll see what happens.

Okay, I must eat. I don't feel like eating; I never do when it's hot like this, but I already have the headache. This is how I lost a ton of weight many years back; it was a hot summer and I was out of air conditioning a lot so I couldn't eat. I only stopped looking skeletal when I got pregnant the following summer. And of course I can't lose that way again, nor would I want to, but it's worth remembering. I'm not losing an ounce tonight, because I think I'll faint if I don't eat something within the next five minutes.


WATCHING MASH :: ENTRY #1776