Ugg...

Today has just been an exceedingly crappy day.

To start off with, I've got a really nasty cold - like, this is the worst I've felt in... heck, probably years, but I'm not throwing up and don't have a fever, so I have to go to school. So, when I woke up, my mouth had completely dried out (you know, 'cause I can't breathe through my nose) and I split my upper lip just by moving it.

So now that hurts.

As if to add insult to injury, I couldn't find my glasses and was late for math class... which lasted almost 30 minutes longer than normal. So, I go home, my head pounding, knowing I have to mow one of my neighbor's lawns...

...and find out that I've ALSO got to go to the dentist today.

In all fairness, actually, the dentist was probably the best part of the day. I mean, a lot of it was sitting around waiting - and the hooked-stick-cleaning part (the only part that's really unbearable for me) didn't last as long as it normally does. And my dentist said that I don't have to get my wisdom teeth removed ('cause I've got such a big mouth). So I guess that's a plus.

I went home and dug out the lawn mower to go take care of one of my neighbor's yards. It's kinda in major dis-repair... mainly because I don't think she's ever raked it, and the whole thing is on a hill. But raking isn't part of my job description (not after I scraped all the skin off both my thumbs after raking for 4+ hours last winter) so I just mowed.

Well, she was supposed to leave my money either under one of the tires of her car or under the windshield wipers. I looked for nearly half an hour (and this, remember, is with a pounding head in air that contains an ungodly amount of pollen) trying to find something that... wasn't... there...

So that definitely didn't make me happy. Walking home from her place, though, one of her neighbors flagged me down and asked if I could do her mother's lawn. I said I could (and now have a new lawn job paying $20 per cut) and started on that.

About half-way though, I hear a sudden ping and then a clunk and then that nasty noise of metal cutting metal ... and then my lawnmower quit. So I flip it over to see what had just happened...

... and half the bottom covering of my lawn mower has dropped off and is blocking the blade. Why? How? I don't know. But I spent about fifteen minutes trying to undo one of the bolts so I could get it out of the way and keep working.

Then, when I tipped the lawn mower back up, a bunch of oil came pouring out of the side though the air filter (which, I might add, we had just replaced... because the same thing had happened to the old one.) That one was easier to fix - it isn't good for them, but mowers can run for a little while with no air filter. And it's better to run with no air-filter than an oil-filled air-filter, as putting oil directly into the middle on an engine tends to cause explosions.

About half a yard later, as if to add an insult to the previous insult and injury, the belt on the auto-power for my mower slips off the tred. Meaning I have to push a heavier than normal (because it's got a self-propulsion system built in) lawn mower up hill while my head is pounding.

Then, to add an extra insult to the two insults I'd received previously and the injury, I realized I'd forgotten to put on sunscreen.

Surprisingly, though, I'm not particularly mad/angry about any of it... I guess this sanctification deal is working after all.

God is great.

Beer is good.

And people are crazy.

James
Who Does Not Own the Rights to That Song, But Billy Currington Does, So Don't Sue Me, etc., etc.