in search of z

Outdoor Lab: Day Two

Let’s talk about how fun last night was. Dead, dead tired. So, so sick. I lay down, and somehow my snot that had been clogging up all day decided to turn to liquid and gush out of my nose for the next six hours. The guy I am rooming with does and excellent job of impersonating a coal train rushing down a mountain with loose spokes. He told me he snored, to which I replied, “That’s okay, I find snoring comforting.” (Which, I do. I loved it when Chad would snore in his sleep, reminding me that he was there, that I was safe and happy.) What this guy was doing in no way resembles snoring, unless bombs being dropped in WWII count as snoring. When I realized I only had a couple hours left to sleep, I trudged across the creaky hall and crept onto the sofa and fell asleep—after fifteen or twenty minutes of taking turns between blowing my nose and peeking out over the covers to see if any of the ghosts I had been told about were accounted for—I wish I were kidding.

Therefore, I am a wee bit tired today, and there are still two and half days left. Yay!!! Also, I can’t stop eating. Every minute I am awake is like a desperate search for food. It seems I haven’t had a meal in a few months and my body thinks I need to stock up before hibernation. By the time I get home, the bags under my eyes will be larger than the duffle bag I brought with me, my nerves will have cracked from lack of sleep and insane children, and my fat will have expanded so much, it will take all of my sixth graders to lift it around me so that my feet can move. Maybe it’s a good thing that Chad’s not waiting at home for me to return. Yes, it all comes back to him. It always does.

Actually, I have done a pretty good job up here. Being cut off from everything helps. Things start to overwhelm me and get me down, and then I realize I have no time and have to help the kids. I have also been planning my new ghost story. I think I am going to try my hand at a short story. I hate short stories, but I have too many books I want to do, so for now, I will have to satisfy my desire for this story in this manner.

Okay, time to try this bed thing again!