on this episode in the life of mel...

So my last real entry was in July. So much has happened in 4 months. I don't even know where to begin.

Denise and Jay have been living with us since April. That's six months. Yet still they can't seem to get their life together to move out. Jay works a salary job and like 60 hours a week, but most of his paycheck goes to child support. Denise still works at Starbucks at 8 and hour and has had a couple job interviews here and there, but nothing substantial. They can't afford to get a place of their own. And it looks like they're not going anywhere any time soon.
Which brings us to the topic of bed bugs. Yeh. Their bedroom ended up getting them. Which is our storage room with all our stuff. I had to throw out a chest of stuff I had for 20 years. And then the mattress which was infested. Apparently, the bugs were there, but they either didn't see them or didn't bring it up until last wednesday. So there's no mattress in the room, and they've been sleeping on our couch in the living room. The bug treatment guys came on Monday (we had a hurricane come through last week, so nothing was able to get done). EVERYTHING cloth or linen had to be put into trashbags. Russ had to take a day off of work, because anyone including the dog couldn't be in the apt for at least 5 hours. Then I has school off Wednesday for Yom Kippur, and spent the entire day washing clothes and organizing everything. Our landlord texted Russ 9pm thursday night telling him that there's a second spray on Friday. So Thursday night, we had to pack up everything again. Russ had to take the dog with him to work on Friday, because there was no way I was going to let him take another day off. He's only a temp, and they are looking to hire him permanently, and anything can hinder that. That monday, he had to stop by the office after I got off school to check on a mix up with his hours, because no one was texting him back. His BIG BOSS just happened to be there. Unfortunately, all our clothes were dirty or tainted with bedbug crap from cleaning, so all he had was bathing suit shorts. Seriously. So he walked in in bathing suit short and flip flops on a day he called off right in front of that big boss. It just sucks, because he finally found a stable job that pays decent. If he gets hired permanently, it'll be at least a dollar more per hour, but now with this fiasco, it might actually hurt his chances. 

So anywho, school's not too bad. A lot more stressful than last year by far. The kids this year drive me bonkers. My schedule goes like this:
8:30-9:00/9:00-9:40 - Elementary Language Arts (basically two class periods, but one class.)
9:45-10:25 - Elementary Art
10:30-11:10 - Middle School Science
11:15-11:45 - High School/Middle School Newspaper Club
11:45-12:15 - Lunch Duty
12:20-1:00 - High School Science
1:05-1:45 - Elementary Art
1:50-2:30 - Theatre

I was so excited to finally teach theatre. SO excited. Unfortunately the kids I have didn't elect this elective so there's very little participation. Nobody wants to do anything which is sad and stressful. The school I teach at is for kids who for whatever reason can't function in other schools or don't wish to go there. Learning disabilities, Autism spectrum, behavior issues... The elementary kids are a handful, especially one in particular I have the first three periods of the day (Language Arts and Art). It's really stressful. I love it. But there are days I'm in the car after school crying, because I fear I'm being judged on how I do my job and handle the kids.
And now I can't even go home to alone time any more where I de-stress and chill, because there's always someone around. Sharing a shower sucks, because the shower gets so gross, and I'm tired of cleaning out the drain before I bathe, because no one else does.
I love my friends. I do. Don't get me wrong. As far as roommates go, they are pretty chill and easy to live with. I'm just an introvert who needs alone time. I need to go home and not be "on" all the time. So I think they are starting to see the crazy grumpy side of me.

So I guess de-stressing leads me into my next segment of the life of Mel.
Last month, I went to my friend Meghan's house to smoke and chill. I miss her. She's my best friend and life has gotten in the way of both of us so we rarely see each other anymore. Plus she always has good weed she can sell me. Jay, whom I live with, is also a pot head. More than I could ever be. He smokes morning, noon, and night. Hell, I just mainly smoke at night to relax, write my novels, and sleep better. I see no issue with marijuana at all. I love that the taboo is going down. I even discovered a little over a year ago that my mom smokes too. Let me tell you how much MORE awesome visiting her is now. lol. Not that visiting her isn't awesome enough.
Anywho, that day, September 19th actually, I was coming home from Meghan's house. I stopped at Publix first because I really wanted to cook dinner that night. It had been at least an hour since I even inhaled anything, so I wasn't even intoxicated. We had just gotten a new car a week before (oh yeh! we got a new car!). I'm not used to manual headlights. Our old car's headlights came on automatically when it got dark, so I never really thought about it. Russ warned me too. But... I got pulled over for lacking headlights. Which is weird, because the low lights come on, but not the real ones. I dunno. Anywho, the cop smelled marijuana on me, proceeded to search the car, and found the weed in my purse. I got arrested, and charged with a misdemenor of possessing marijuana under 20 grams. (to be accurate is was only 3.6 grams) I wasn't put in handcuffs or anything. I got read my Miranda Rights and basically had a panic attack as soon as I head "you have the right to remain silent..." They let me go. I was a few blocks away from our apt. I called Russ, and Denise gave him a ride to come drive me home.
We have a lawyer who is going to fight it. He told me it was a bullshit search, because they shouldn't have gone into my purse or something. He's a lawyer so I'm not arguing his fight. The charges will probably be dropped. I might have to do community service and take a drug class. The arrest will still be on my record which will tarnish my chances of finding a job in a public school. We want to get it expunged when I'm done with community service and all that, but it's going to cost a lot more money. The court date is October 31. I don't have to go, because the lawyer is going for me. It's my very first offense ever, and I'm 32, so I'm holding optimism.

So I'm now a criminal. This special education teacher who believes in peace and love, who tries to do good in the word, who calls herself a hippie, is now a criminal. Go figure it was for weed. Of all things in the world. And just a couple months before it's back on the ballot to legalize in Florida. This world is stupid sometimes. This country is stupid. (I'm not even going to touch on that right now lol)

Anywho, what else. Oh yeh, we went to Dragon*Con in the beginning of September. That was awesome! All kinds of awesome! I miss my nerd haven. I went every year when I lived in Atlanta and hadn't been back in like 10 years. It was me, Russ, Cameron, and Lindsay. We drove up there and stayed at my mom and Brad's place. We dressed as Batman villains. I was Joker, Russ was Penguin, Cameron was Riddler, and Lindsay was Poison Ivy. We dressed up Friday and Sunday. Well Lindz didn't dress up Sunday. There were SO many different celebrities. SO many.
On another episode of the life of mel, I'll probably get into DC stories, but I'm getting a little tired. Plus my novel needs attention. I'm almost done with another one. Through the Mind of a Seer. (https://www.booksie.com/469369-through-the-mind-of-a-seer-version-2) I want to finish it before November for NaNoWriMo, because I think I want to write a sequel.

I hope everyone is awesome. I'm sending everyone vibes of love and happiness!
peace!
-mel-
11:30am