And to think, I’m not much of a drinker in the first place.

I knew this was the week for it when I started on Monday, and I won’t have a semblance of calm til at least Saturday night.

Today was the pits, however. I had to be at work and went in early because I had to do some inventory before dealing with the kiddos, but somebody started out the day using the room I needed to do it in, so I tried to be elsewhere while working (only for them to clear out halfway through my hour).

Then, the kids came in for their STEM camp, and boy was it a doozy. I was trying to keep them going while doing inventory, and it became more of a babysitting job the further I went along. Three hours is too long for what they were willing to do, and that made me a bit annoyed. Two more days and we’ll be done for a few more weeks. I generally like the camps, but it largely depends on the kids and how whiny they get when they have to work as a team together or actually learn something.

Seriously, there are daycare facilities where they just set you down at a table full of Legos and that’s all you do all day–might be more expensive, but less whining.

So, I managed to get out of that early today to help a young man that had to prep for an exam over the summer, so it was nice to pass them off on that last hour. I had a good hour to teach, and that worked out. What I hate about days like this is I leave for an hour for lunch, but I just couldn’t get into it.

I hate hour-lunches, because I spend the whole time looking at my watch to make sure I’m not gonna be late. I’d rather just work and go home early (but that’s impossible when you close).

And then back to work. The first half hour wasn’t bad, but then it just spiraled out of control. I had some testers come in to work, and the first showed half an hour early. Not so bad, but then another one came in that I had NO IDEA they were coming. They were waiting for me to finish the crazy amount of phone calls and questions coming at me (but ended up starting half an hour after their intended time).

Nobody knew where they came from, and i tried to just keep calm and get things done…but that also meant I left an hour later than usual because of checking things and getting the place set up for tomorrow… and I’m opening.

I let the garbage alone and just left. I was too damned tired at that point and if I didn’t need gas so badly in my car, I would’ve gone to the liquor store instead–screw waiting for the weekend.

If I’m desperate enough, I’m sure I could scrounge a recipe out of a hole somewhere with all I’ve already got, but when you want that certain item… yeah, not “just anything” will do.

But, I needed to get home to the pooches and let them out to pee, because the sooner I do that, the sooner I can get comfortable and relax and practice that song I’m trying to learn on my guitar.

I finished tuning the guitars and trying to play the song while relaxing, and one of the strings broke while I was tuning.

Ugh, really?

I just hope the kiddos aren’t all nuts tomorrow. On the flip side, I will be able to go straight home afterward and take out my aggression on the yard. There’s supposedly a crazy big storm coming in the next few days and I really should fill the holes in the yard, and put all the crap that’s out in my yard away safely.

Hmm…that’s a good chore for tomorrow.

Just hope I can last the week without throwing up my hands and going “screw it.” Booze–as infrequently as I drink–is a nice idea for relaxing, but it’s more that I’m feeling tremendously used up and am burning out.

Hell, my flexibility got me in this odd position in the first place. I mean, we had this special event and only after everybody got their schedules did the bosses realize that this week was one of the STEM camp weeks–they thought it was next. Usually another teacher takes care of it, but it would’ve meant a total overhaul of everybody’s schedule so they asked me to take care of it.

I surprised myself a bit on Saturday when I ended up covering for somebody last minute, and when I was thanked for showing up and doing it (since I was already coming it made sense just to come a bit earlier), I let “do I have a choice?” slip out.

Yeah, I’ve been on the edge of burnout for at least a week now that I can see. Wish I’d noticed sooner.

I wouldn’t mind taking a vacation, but it would be a staycation and I need the hours big time. They won’t be able to do without me for a while, anyway, so I’m just gonna dedicate my time to being completely away from work when I am away from work.

And I’m not coming in early again like I did today, even if inventory needs help, because frankly the kiddos need a good lesson in cleaning up their work stations and if they’re missing stuff they need, too freaking bad.

Responsibility is a helluva thing, and I did all I could to get them good and prepped.

Well, til then, I’m gonna watch some videos about guitar playing tips and cuddle the dogs for a little while. At least I was FINALLY able to download Hungry Shark Evolution to my phone for those 10 or 15 minutes I could get to myself in between going places.

Hell, a staycation would be fantastic, even if it’s not the best idea. I got too much crap to do here at home to ignore, and having an immaculate house at the end of a home-work week would be the most awesome thing I could think of.

Damn, I’m boring.