Swine Flu

Okay then, this is what is bothering me.

Swine flu. I know that it's a big deal, I know that apparently it's infected Claremont, and Ross, and Texas, and Mexico. I understand that it is serious. I understand that people have died. But what I want to do is hold a big sign over California, or maybe skywrite, a big sign that says "CHILL".

We have had outbreaks of Swine Flue before. In New Jersey, two women died. There was a death in New York 1992. Don't believe me? Look at the CDC website.

Apocalypse theories seem to be all the rage right now. My buddy Elisa's mom canceled her trip to Mexico because so many people have died down there. But, here's the thing--people have died from the swine flu not only because of the disease, but because ambulance drivers are too freaked out by the aspect of death-by-fever to go and get them. The people who have it here are wearing masks and are recovering well. Everyone they've interviewed in the United States, when asked if it was different than any other flu, said "no." The CDC is trying to contain it. That's why people are advised not to leave their houses. It's not leprosy. It's not the plague.

While there is a valid concern, and we should be extra careful and Purell the living patootles out of everything and everyone, most of it is sensationalist media. Articles that have the words "swine flu" in them get more hits than the article about the glow in the dark puppy (which is freaky, bt dubs, cute little beagle puppies should not have sea anemone genes ANYWHERE). Journalists have caught on, and now title articles with "SWINE FLU. IT'S STILL HERE."

We aren't going to become the zombies from 28 days later. Everyone calm down.

Three things about the world that I notice

1) Must every interesting class be at 2:45 - 4:00 on Thursday?

2) 18 days--almost 17. I want them to fly by.

3) I love my boyfriend, my friends, my roommate, and the world right now :)

Good things, bad things, all things great

BAD THING
I didn't get my suite

GOOD THING
I got a bomb-diggity room in GJ-Dub

BAD THING
I'm not a peer mentor

GOOD THING
I get two weeks extra of summer vacation

BAD THING
I won't get to bond with the future freshmen / get to know other peer mentors

GOOD THING
...I'm not dead?

Update

The hall draw drama is over. For now.

I think me and six other people may be getting a suite: that is, if we're drawn in time. Three people have numbers higher than we do. If things keep going this way, we're not going to get it.

(PANIC! HYPERVENTILATE!)

Be zen, Callie. If we don't get it, we have backup plans. My roommate will be my roommate no matter what. Even if we're stuck in a matchbox.

Sorry for the incomprehensible language. A little frazzled, a little freaked. But all will be okay.

More Drama.

I feel like I'm betraying something.

I mean, I'm probably not going to get medical hall draw at this point. The four people I emailed about it never responded, and the numbers are already out, and people may be applying for the rooms that I may need next year. The rooms with air conditioning. I get heat headaches. My right side does not work when I'm heat exhausted.

I'm hopefully seeing the Associate Dean of Students today to explain my situation. But by the time I do see her (today), it can either go one of two ways.

1) She understands and does medical hall draw with me
2) She says "it's past the deadline" and doesn't do anything about it.

It's not my fault. I thought you couldn't have a roommate. The email specifically said "you may not bring friends." Then I hear from my buddy Emma, who is also on hall draw, that she's going to be living in a freaking suite with two people. And room for a sofa.

I understand that there are medical needs that need to be fulfilled. But three people, nay, six people, could fit into that room. Scripps housing is already effed up. They made reinforced triples out of tiny rooms in Toll while our dorm, while I love it, is still ridiculously huge. They kept moving my friend Theadora to bigger and bigger rooms, and now she has a single. There isn't any justice in this. They couldn't move one of the people in the quads to that single? They couldn't make a double room a double and let that one person be lucky in that respect?

I went to bible study yesterday. I know, for me, it's weird. We analyzed the parable that had the kingdom of heaven compared to a vineyard. The owner of the vineyard paid everyone equal pay, including men who had only gotten to the vineyard an hour earlier. When asked why, he said [paraphrase]"I agreed to pay you one denarius. Do I not have the right to decide what to do with my own money? Are you jealous of my generosity? Go, take your pay. The last will be first and the first will be last."

I know the message of that parable. We talked about it. The men in this parable thought they deserved something. That because they worked harder, they deserved more than the men who had gotten there an hour ago. We applied this to life. If everyone got what they deserved, they would have a lot less than what they have now. I took away from it that we shouldn't complain about what we don't have, rather, be grateful for what we do. I thought that would apply to rooming, as well. I thought I didn't care what room I was in if I loved my roommate as much as I do.

But, suffice it to say, I like my right side's mobility, limited as it may be. I like being free of debilitating pain. Yes, it will only last for about a month and a half, but that's a month and a half of constant migraine. And I don't really like that. I wish I didn't have to have air conditioning. But I do.

I guess I'll leave it all to fate.