So, it’s been a few weeks since I’ve made up my mind to retire, regardless of how scary the pension will be. With my hours at the vet clinic, I’ll be perfectly fine, but there are many things to keep me awake at night.
Oddities to share since my last blog…
Clients at the vet clinic have been somewhat demanding lately. I had one woman tell me that other receptionists would have already gotten off the phone with her and consulted a vet about her problem “already”, as I attempted to explain to her that it would be in the best interest of her pet to be seen again. She didn’t have that kind of money, so she would like the vet’s opinion over the phone. Now, the place I work is more than generous about talking with people, clients or not, and giving advice as to whether we think the pet needed to be seen and if there were any things they could do on their own. The client in question also called me “honey”. That seems to happen a lot to me, and in that condescending way, it makes me even less inclined to provide “free” assistance.
School has not disappointed in the odd behavior category either. Don’t even get me started about the plastic bag situation on the broken phones. I’m trying my best not to believe what I was told by the student was the actual fact, but the awful truth is that it’s a possibility. I think that is one of the most pervasive factors in my decision to leave. I am too old to discuss why what you did was wrong. You know damn well it’s wrong, and our conversation about it isn’t going to help. Instead, we chat about why you shouldn’t set a fire in the middle of the commons, and we come to an agreement that we shouldn’t do that again in the near future. Did we all understand? How do we all feel about it? Is your self-esteem still fully intact so you can go out and set another fire in another location? Let’s have hug and move forward. Nope, I can’t do that anymore. The should shrugging and the coddling is not my style. As teenagers, they KNOW that what they’re doing is wrong, and why should they not do it? There is no punishment for it. The pendulum has swung and I feel like Miley Cyrus in the wrecking ball video, barely hanging on.
It’s really a shame to have to leave with those feelings. I’ll miss some of the kids, but after last year, I’ve just stopped caring as much. I don’t know the names of the new teachers, and I don’t have the energy to put into the situation anymore. I have a new situation to put my energy in to, and I have been giving thought as to what my next adventure will be.
Now, on to reading…woke up to one of my favorite texts of all time earlier this week. A close friend has a new job that is much further from his home. He’s taken to audio books, and we’ve been sharing what we’ve been listening to. He’s been enjoying Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea and his text to me said, “Jules Verne really turns my crank”. Those are the kind of people that I need in my life.
I’ve spent the week with Samantha Irby’s We are Never Meeting in Real Life. She reads it, and I’m not a huge fan of her reading style. The book is hilarious in parts, but it’s also a little TMI, too. I definitely find humor in her observations, but I’m not sold that her sexual observations are all that hilarious. I’m certainly not a prude, but a good deal of it feels that it’s for shock value and not real humor.
I’m also wandering back every so often to The Magpie Murders. I am enjoying it because it’s a very standard British mystery I believe. I plan to go back to that more steadily this coming week. There’s Something Inside Your House, a YA horror, is on deck after that.
What am I reading, instead of listening to? Right now, I’m reading a true crime by M. William Phelps called Targeted. I was reading Mad City by William Arntfield but I eventually gave up because it was so poorly written. It’s about a murder on the Madison campus in 1968. I had read about the murder, but I didn’t know much about it. This book was published by Little A which I suspect is a self-publishing operation. It desperately needs a good editor because sentence structure and flow were awkward.
That’s all for tonight. If you’re reading anything interesting or want a suggestion, put a comment in. Let’s talk about whatever you want to talk about.
The Edgy Librarian 