My creative juicer is broken...

Tonight my manager addressed me as "creative mind." That title couldn't possibly be farther from the truth right now. I've been down in the dumps-y all week and unable to finish anything worth merit, but I figured I'd give it a late night college try. 

Monday the TV dude came. Well, a new TV dude...not the previously mentioned Dish Network Creeper. He told me that the aforementioned creeper installed a sick HDMI cable and that my TV woes would be over. I spent the day celebrating this fact, I think. Oh, and attempting to talk some sense into admissions at Shepherd to get them to forward my application as a non-degree seeking student quick like a bunny to Tracy Seffers for my English classes next semester. 

Tuesday was my first adventure in substitute teacher land, and boy was it. Eighth grade English. I went to the school on the "bad" side of town with the "bad" reputation. Those kids sure did give Ms. Joan Jett (I don't give a damn 'bout my bad reputation...) a run for her money. Halfway through the day, the most logical action to take was turning off all of the classroom lights and hiding under the desk instead of retrieving the kiddos from lunch. I'm pretty sure it was a combination of factors. Mostly age, though. Eighth grade is rough wherever you go...even in my lily-white, middle class, picket fence and cookies side of town when I was thirteen...eighth grade sucked. I'm due to sub tomorrow, but my tummy is acting all weird (I tried to bring back my stomach of steel this weekend -- no success), so I'm getting up at 6 in the morning to see how I feel, after that I can call the sub system and call out. 

Really, all I think I need is a day off. After a really rough first day of subbing (even the secretaries at the school I was in felt bad for me...) I had about an hour to re-charge my batteries at the new-ish Starbucks in Hagerstown and then had to report to work to close. I proceeded to close most of the nights last week (I need time to sub) and worked all weekend and now I'm exhausted. My body may very well be screaming for a day off to get my self settled for a big train adventure starting on Sunday. 

Yes, train adventure. For those readers who don't know me...somewhere between my spring break trip to San Francisco and a visit to my mother when she first moved into the new house in Texas in April, I developed a paralyzing fear of flying. I discovered the greatness of Amtrak over the summer, and it's a three-day journey from here to there, but an enjoyable one with a lay over in Chicago (yes, I'm aware this makes no sense geographically...). I'll get to that later. 

Basically...nothing's been really coming out as far as words are concerned, and I'm truly worried that all this retail and yelling at kiddies is going to turn my brain to more mush and I won't be able to recover when I start classes. 

But, then again, I worry too much. 

How are you?