Week One: Nov. 27- Dec. 2 “Take an Art Class!”

That’s what the card said!  It was nice it was simple, it was a great way to ease into this project I’ve set for myself.  I would find an art class in town and have an interesting little experience!

“Hey,” said the Universe, “I’ve got some other ideas…”

Sunday:  Got sick enough to run a fever, called in sick for Monday.

Monday:  Stayed home and rested, by the end of the day I felt good enough to go to work Tuesday.

Tuesday: This was fan hitting time.  Got to school did what I needed to do for our morning routine and was wiped out with a little more than 5.5 hours to go.  I got through to lunch and was looking forward to getting home ASAP and found out there was a very important meeting after school, and I really HAD to be there.  Fine.  Got through the meeting and was on my way home only to have my elderly Audi TT make a disturbing noise and lose power as I glided it to the side of the highway.  My insurance took 20 to find a towing service that could be out to me in two hours. I called my aunt who was nearby and she recommended a place that (after some wrangling with the insurance) got to me in 15 minutes.  I was home in the driveway 45 minutes before the first place was even supposed to get to me.  Finally at home and inside and it was obvious my elderly cat, Perch wasn’t going to be getting any better.  Arranged for a sick day to take care of both cat and car.

Wednesday:  Took Perch into the vet for the final time.  The worst part was signing the sticker authorizing euthanasia.  I looked into his eyes and told him goodbye as the injection took effect. I stayed with him for a while afterwards.  If that had been all there was to do that day I would have gone home and eaten too much and reflected on his cat life, but there was still the car to take care of and precious few hours to do it.  Fortunately the tow truck decided to use those hours by making me wait 3.5 of them (out of a promised 2) for it to show up at all.  Got it over to my mechanic and was then ready to contemplate and over eat.

Thursday:  Drove my mom’s car to school, made it though the day, and called the mechanic.  He told me the car had lost its timing belt and probably chewed up the valves and it would be many thousands of dollars to repair, far more than the car was worth.  What did I want to do?  What  I really wanted to do was buy a Tesla, but there’s no way I can swing a car that costs as much as my house.  After at doctor’s appointment back in Fresno I decided I’d go “look at” a Nissan Leaf.  Heh, yeah, “look at.”  A couple hours later I was driving off in a 2016 gently used all electric car that I was kind of, sort of, sure would get me to work and back on a single charge.  Oh, and I’d driven away from the dealership without them giving me the charger that comes with the car.

Friday:  I had a hard time sleeping, excited and nervous about my first trip to work in my new car.  Finally I set off in the cold morning with 90 miles on the battery, plenty to get me to school!  Um, well, it did get me to school, but because I had to do reckless things like run the heater to keep the windscreen from fogging up I only had 30 miles of range by the time I got there, and 40 miles to get home… Knowing the week was getting close to the end I tried to “creatively reimagine”  “take an art class” as “give an art class” and showed my students how to make a picture of christmas lights with chalk and crayon.  A colleague said that wouldn’t cut it and I was forced to agree with her.   After school I spent a few hours in Hanford with my car plugged into a public charger, my phone plugged into a complimentary charger, and me plugged into a coffee shop waiting to have enough juice to get home!  I did have a pleasant conversation with another colleague who happened to see me.  Not a bad way to spend time away from home if I absolutely had to, which in this case I did.

Saturday:  What did I do Saturday?  I took the dogs to the dog park in the new car, eager to show it off to my friends, most of whom weren’t there…. A lot of Saturday was figuring out the car, now that I had time to see everything in the daylight, and get it fully charged (more pleasant waiting), and running some errands with it.

So that was the first full week of being 50.  Quite a lot of new experiences but no art class taken.  I will make the time for it in week 2, as well as a new activity!