Smith Day, mostly

When David asked me to work the Geneva High School graduation, I thought it would be a couple hours of work. Little did I know that I would have to be getting up really early and working really late. Luckily, there was time in the middle for me to get some stuff accomplished and to take a nap. Yay, naps!

I set two alarms on my phone - one for 7:05 and one for 7:35. I love that I can set an alarm on my phone - and it has so far worked to have me awake at the proper time. I rarely wake up to the alarm, though. My body wakes me up before the alarm goes off. Sometimes, sadly, much earlier than the alarm. Like yesterday. I woke up at 6:15. In the morning! Eeeek! Being a lad of the night, I really prefer the late night hours to the early day hours. Oh well. This time I got the early hours. My body knew what it was doing (sometimes we just have to give it a little listen). I woke up, worked on my blog, took a shower and finished my blog - all in time to get me to the church, er theatre, on time.

Upon arrival, I was greeted with organized chaos with no one seemingly in charge. Sigh. But everything got done - we got the video tested and helped with setting up for the graduation. I knew some of the kids from working on the musical earlier in the year. Some of them actually seemed to remember me, while others seemed to not see me at all. Whatever. Big class!

After the morning stint of work, it was back to the house for some lunch. Mom was still asleep, so I don't think she missed me too much. She was having a bad day, though. Repeating the same question about a zillion times. A very nice person purchased both of my books and I spent a few minutes getting a couple signed, personalized, packaged and mailed. Mom spent the whole time asking me who was buying the books, how did they find out about them, and saying that I was a productive person and she was impressed because she had never written a book, had she? I tried to answer all the questions as often as she asked them, and to try to bolster her self-esteem - a never ending task that doesn't seem to be successful - by telling her about all the papers she had written and the people's books she had edited. Fun stuff, here at Chez Schoen-René. After I got it together, I took it on the road and walked the three minutes to the Hobart Post Office. The postal worker added a yard of packing tape to the package. I think I should have sent it first class. Not because there was any personal correspondence in there, but because the last time I sent my books by media mail, they never got to their intended recipient. Hopefully that won't be the case this time.

Post lunch nap was great!

Eventually, I fed mom some dinner - all leftovers - continuing my efforts to remove perishables from the fridge before we leave for a week - she got salmon, broccoli and corn on the cob. As I was leaving, I pointed again at the big poster I created to help her figure out what channel she should turn to for what. Unfortunately, she paid it no heed and just sat and watched whatever PBS threw at her. Sigh. That is one of the problems I have with leaving so early (right at dinner time) is that mom is technically incapable of figuring things out on her own. She sometimes manages to change the channel on the tv. And she has been pretty good at figuring out how to turn the TV off. But I fear the time is coming where she won't even be able to manage those things on her own. Eeep. Tonight, I have movie offerings for her that might appeal. Not that I will be out and about tonight - I have to pack for us both for the trip to Maine.

The Graduation started with a hiccough. (What? When did it stop being spelled that way?) Well, before it started, I was amazed to see the mass of humanity waiting to get into the Smith. I managed to find parking and to squeeze myself through the throngs and into the theatre. I checked to make sure that everything was where I had left it and waited to start the slideshow. That is where the hiccup, if I must, happened. The video had no sound and froze half way through. Sigh. I tried everything I could to get sound back - David tried, Greg tried. Finally we just popped the disc, started it again, fast forwarded (very slowly) up to the point it froze, and it worked fine after that. Sigh. I hate windows machines (laptops and desktops, both, equally). I really, really do.

The rest of the graduation seemed to go smoothly. As did the striking of the sound equipment. The whole process, though, lasted a long time. I think we got out of there at 11:30 pm. I got home and was ready for sleep, though I did watch an episode of Warehouse 13 before resting my weary head. Love that show!