Rainman Needs a Holiday

Yeah, I'm noticing this whole “getting out in the real world” is becoming really important. The other day, I made a dash to the store in the middle of the night, while talking to Daddy. After a while, he had to go and got off the phone, but I kept talking. I became that crazy lady roaming the aisles of Volde-Mart at 1:00AM talking to herself-- and not in the funny way. It freaked me out enough that I called Castle, knowing he'd still be up, just so that I could have someone responding to me, because I couldn't stop talking.

Yes, getting around people who can hold down a conversation (that doesn't loop every 15 seconds, thankyouverymuch) is starting to become important. Definitely. Definitely important. Definitely. Definitely. /typed-Rainman-impression YOU SEE WHAT I MEAN?!

As you probably know, I have been fightingworking with the Veteran's Association since mid-February, trying to get a homemaker to come in and give me some relief from caring for The Mad Cow, day in and day out. And as of 2 weeks ago, they finally came through (with a little nudge from Senator Rockefeller and Congresswoman Capito). All of a sudden, I went from 6 hours a week total to 4 hours, 5 times a week. TWENTY hours, to do grocery shopping, visit with friends and just be out of the house. HEAVEN! Mebbe I'll even start finding my sanity again. I'm fairly certain I left it under a rock somewhere...

The problem is, my friends are working during the majority of those hours. And grocery shopping takes me about 2 hours, if I reeeeally stretch it. And, due to poor timing on the part of the theaters, I can't really go see a movie. It has sort of left me wondering what the Hell I'm supposed to be doing with all this lovely free time? Something where I'm not spending money (because, hello! I don't have an income) and where I'm out of the house, but not driving up to Parkersburg every day. Actually, Parkersburg would be a non-issue if it weren't for the prohibitive cost of gas, and, well, lack of income.

Hmm, lack of income, plenty of time on my hands... At first I thought I could get a part time job! Except, that I would have to figure in commute time, because I LEAVE the house at 2:00, I can't BE at work at 2:00. And I can't work overtime. And I still need SOME time for shopping, or running up to Pburg for SOME necessities... and most offices in the area close by 5:00 (if I'm lucky), so I've got somewhere between 7.5 and 10 hours that I can work. Hmmm. Like anyone would waste time training me in their office to do 7.5-10 hours of work over 3-4 days in a week. GAH!

But I still needed something to do. Next thought: community service. So I went to my local library. Turns out they're desperate for volunteers. In fact, they're even hiring part timers right now (to the tune of 20-30 hours/week, so I still can't do it, but it's nice to know!). And I volunteered. Starting Tuesday (cuz Monday is grocery day), I get to put all of the sci-fi/fantasy books in alpha order. I'm realizing that to some people, that might sound downright dull, but I'm excited. I'll get to work IN A LIBRARY, in the SCI-FI section, and I'll be able to soothe that weird part of me that loves to put things in order (except in my bedroom). And there will be people there whose conversations don't loop every 15 seconds! I might even get to talk to one of them. OooooOOOOOooooh!

So, yeah. I'm volunteering to work in the library, and I couldn't be happier. Oh! And if I can get my bike fixed, I could even ride there every day. OoOOOOOoooooh! Built in exercise!

So, once that starts, I might go back to my regular conversations with myself, instead of the freaky ones. I'm excited.

Peace.