Feeling Spinny

It's a whirlwind.
It's always like that when one changes jobs, have you noticed?
Or is that just me?

Of course part of the crazy is the commute. Since I am not leaving early in the morning, it's usually not too bad, about a half hour. A half hour was also the length of my other commute, but about half of it was spent on Powell, a surface street that's populated with a TON of pedestrian traffic, lots of cars, bikes, homeless encampments, many businesses that make people turn left to get out of the driveway, usually without benefit of stop lights or common sense or any idea of traffic speed. And let's not forget the people standing/walking down the narrow strip of curb in between lanes of traffic at stop lights, asking for handouts.

Sometime soon one of those doofii will end up falling in a lane of traffic and be smashed to smithereens or be taken out by the big assed mirror on the side of someone's truck. Remember, you heard it here first. There are a lot of pedestrian deaths on that street.

Although there are many crazy drivers on that stretch, it's not always the fault of the motorist.

People walk right out in front of cars, I've had it happen to me and have seen it happen countless times. I think they assume that since they can see the cars, the cars can see them. But, well, cars have lights. Idiot pedestrians dressed in dark clothing, not using a crosswalk and paying no attention seem to get hit by vehicles, go figure.

Daytime wasn't so bad except for the time it took, but night driving on that street was horrifying.
I'm glad to be done with it.

So my commute now is 98% freeway driving. I've noticed I get much better mileage, although my car is economical anyway. There are three different major freeway choices for my trip, and using my GPS means it chooses the best route for me. It hasn't chosen the same route consistently enough for me to become familiar with any of the routes, but I'm starting to know which lane I need to be in with enough time that I don't have to rush to get over to the left or the right, depending. Most of the other drivers are considerate when I turn my signal on. I have seen a couple of near misses involving other vehicles, though. Mostly I try to stay out of the way.

People get in a friggin' hurry.

I just want to arrive alive.

So I've been doing what they call 'onboarding' this week. I've always found that to be a silly term but no one consulted me when they added it to our language. I was issued a company laptop (brand new!) and have been taking online classes and courses to learn how the company operates.

It's a lot, and after days and days of it, it's tedious in spots, but so far I have learned many things I didn't know before.

There are additional courses on safety and other things that really are important. I think if everyone gets the same information, the chances of reacting correctly in an emergency improve.

From what I have seen so far, the organization doesn't hire idiots. Everyone I've met has been intelligent and dedicated to the idea that kids are actually people... they just haven't been human as long as we have.

Everyone wants to take care of the young humans they're entrusted with, and the in-depth training taking place may mean the difference between life and death.

The onboarding process means I show up at the office around 10, set up my computer at an open work station and start taking one of the bajillion courses. It's usually three hours or so, then off to lunch and to my new school/program from 2:15 to 6:15. Definitely getting some hours in.

Today I sat in the parking lot at the school and ate the slice of pizza I bought at a mom and pop pizza shop for lunch. I was doing a little cleaning of the front seat, couple soda cans, a water bottle, miscellaneous music and ziploc bags to toss out. I was making sure my charger was charging the phone (GPS makes the battery low sometimes) and I wasn't looking when I picked up the soda can. My right index finger went into the hole and I sliced the shit out of it. Thanks to Excedrin, my finger bled a lot. To be fair, the slice isn't very long but it's pretty deep. I suppose all the bleeding is justified.
I have bandages in my backpack. Of course.

So... about that school/program.

I won't call it dismal, there has been some effort made to have a few things for the kids to do, but it's not adequately supplied for such a large group. I will once again be bringing things in for the kids to do. I left a lot behind at my old school because taking the things I'd purchased away from the kids would have been a terrible and mean thing to do, and I'm not willing to hurt their feelings.

My leaving in aggravation over shit policies has nothing to do with them. They already were sad to see me leave, but they knew I still cared about them. Taking their toys when I left would have sent an entirely different message. I sure could use some of them now, though!

So, my new site.
::sigh::

Part of the issue is the same thing that plagues so many other organizations that provide care to children, that madly spinning revolving door of employment.

I am the second site director this year at this school, and a third person who was training to be a director is going to leave in a week. She has been very helpful to me while I have been learning the names of kids and I've only had to ask for ID from one parent because she was out of the room when someone arrived to pick up a child.

She's very nice, and likes working with the young humans, but she has found a better job, one with the county, which means really good benefits and more opportunity to move up.

We have a teen assistant, too. She is helpful around the edges, constantly cleaning the tables, sweeping floors, engaging with the group. She has the energy to chase them around the playground and play freeze tag or go down the slide with them or sit at a table and color a picture.

I had to set an alarm on my phone to remind me to make sure she takes a 10 minute break somewhere in the chaos of a typical afternoon. Not accustomed to supervising anyone these days, my assistant at my recent job was pretty much able to manage all that stuff on her own, and neither one of us really took official breaks, we just went to the restroom as needed. But legally, especially since she's not even 18, I have to make sure she gets a rest break every afternoon.

Anyway, it's been a tornado and I'm exhausted and my schedule isn't figured out yet so that I'm eating at decent intervals, I get home around 7 and then I eat so late that I have to stay up a bit so my dinner has a chance to get started through the digestive system and isn't sitting in a big lump in my stomach when I lie down.

The digestive thing and the wacky schedule and the fact that my bathroom is here, at my house, which is allllll the way across town from my job means that I haven't had, uh, sit down time except in the evenings.

There *is* an adult restroom in the hallway near our cafeteria, which is quite helpful, but if one goes into the bathroom and doesn't come back out for 10 minutes, it's obvious that it wasn't just a tinkle.

Yeah, I know, even the King of England poops (although he probably has someone who's paid to wipe his royal tushie) but still. So my quiet restroom time happens in the evenings, too.

Anyway, it's been a wild week. As usual I just got thrown into a new school and am supposed to sink or swim on my own. They *are* providing a life preserver or two, and they seem very happy to have me there for reasons other than, "We gotta have somebody!!" but it's a lot and I'm tired.

Glad tomorrow is Friday, I'll be raiding the supply room for some foil and some beads or marbles. I'll be starting 'Sci Fri', an open ended experiment time that we'll do at least twice a month.

The kids will love it.

Tomorrow (if I find the things I need at work) we'll be filling a plastic bin with water, making boats from foil and seeing how many marbles will fit before the boat either capsizes or sinks.

Okay. I've had my dinner and my quiet time in the bathroom. I've been ready for sleep for about two hours now, I think I'll do that.