My memory is not my friend!

First off, let me start off by saying CONGRATULATIONS to my big sister who graduated with distinction from the University of Virginia yesterday with a Bachelor of Science Degree in Aerospace Engineering and two minors in Mechanical Engineering and Latin!

UVA was actually REALLY nice for her graduation, luckily. It was gorgeous weather all around.

The 2011 UVA School of Engineering graduates!

The grounds and buildings of UVA are immaculate. This is the iconic Rotunda.

However, because I was down in Charlottesville for her graduation and dinner, I didn't get home to NoVa (where my family lives) until late last night (around 10:30pm). Please note that the previous week went something like this: Monday-Friday I woke up at 6:30 am for work. Saturday and Sunday I woke up at 5:30 am to go to Charlottesville.

TODAY I woke up at 4:30 am to drive back to Baltimore! I am so lucky! I remembered to pack everything I would need for the next two weeks and off I went, slightly earlier than planned, at 5:20 in the morning. Unfortunately, 10 minutes and a few miles down the road I realized I left my CELL PHONE charging at my house. So I turned around and came back for it. Said goodbye to my mom a second time, and actually made it all the way to work. Two hours later.

Fast forward to the afternoon. I have a medical appointment on campus where I'm required to get my eyes examined. I triumphantly reach into my purse to put my glasses on...and realize I left my contacts case at home. Fan-freaking-tastic. The doctor requires that I take my contacts out. Unfortunately, all she has is SALINE solution. So that's what I had to dunk my contacts into: a refined ocean.

Let me point something out: Do you open your eyes underwater at the beach? Does it feel good? Would it feel good to put your contacts, which go back in your eyes, into the same thing?

THEN, halfway through the procedure (mind you, this was all paperwork, the examination hadn't happened yet), I found out I was late for a once-a-week-only training. So I ran across campus holding my contacts to make it to training. If that wasn't bad enough, the cup my contacts were in was a giant "URINE SPECIMEN" cup. Because that's all the doctor had. Really, I was just hoping I wouldn't see someone and have to explain why I was running around campus with a cup of pee. Oy.

I get to training and I'm too late to join. The trainer asks me to wait outside until the next round. I sit in a corner and put my contacts back in and promptly throw the cup away.

And then the pain hits. A burning agony. You think salt in an open wound in bad? Try salt in your EYES. My vision was constantly blurred from the firey pain of a thousand dissolved salt crystals gleefully digging into my poor irises. All I could do was sit there, "sobbing" silently as my eyes water, sniffling pathetically as my sympathetic nose began to run.

Oh and the secretary was out there with me, and became convinced that the trainer made me cry.

Eventually, I explained everything to the trainer about why I was crying, but the secretary never heard. So she had called the receptionist in my building to check in on me after my training and see what upset me. So she did, which was awfully nice, even if it was all a big misunderstanding.

The best part of all of this was that I ended up not needing the training at all because my old training from last year still counted. So in conclusion:

A1- I took my contacts out in saline, only to shove them back in my eyes, for no reason and,

B2- I skipped half my medical exam to run to training, only to have no training!

Oh. And I forgot my toothbrush.

--R.