a day in the (real) life...

for those of you not well versed by now, the fantasy version of this page is here:
a day in the life. The reality follows...

5:00am:: The alarm goes off. I'm supposed to get up, to get my workout on, but I'm too tired, so I turn the tv on, and turn it off, then roll over and try to snooze, while keeping one ear open for the newscaster to say...

6:00am:: I get up, and try to get in a quick shower, before...

6:07am:: my son wakes up...he's a very light sleeper, and the sound of the shower wakes him up. Depending on his mood, he may turn the tv on to Noggin, or Discovery kids, and then start asking me for some juice - even if I'm still in the shower. Or he may clown me, and beg for an a$$-whuppin, which will force me to discipline him, and make him go back to bed. With him, you never know.

6:25am - 7:00am:: Hopefully, I'm done showering and getting juice (for now), and have a bead on how bad morning traffic will be. It's ALWAYS bad, just varies by degree. I pull on sweats, because my son is now determined to get dressed, and it's quicker & easier to oblige him then get him to wait until I get dressed. So, I get him dressed, face washed, teeth brushed (is always tricky) and settled down enough so that I...

7:00am - 7:45am:: can get dressed, and get my hair together. This includes ironing, finding unrun pantyhose, etc. I'm out the door, and at son's school by 7:45.

7:45am - ????am:: It's Atlanta traffic, so I just never know. My commute is 30 miles, but I can only make it in 30 minutes at 3 am. Typically it's about 45, but if a tractor-trailer overturned anywhere...more on that later...

????am - 4:30/4:45pm:: oh I was SO sincere about the gig though - so the prev post was semi-accurate:
yes, I'm late for work - but for a (not-so)worthy cause. I spend most of my day, in pursuit of my never-ending journey of expansion of my programming skills. Yes, I love this part of being a geek. For the non-geekish, this is similar to cooking. See, as of now, I'm a biscuit maker of the programming world - trying to become a Executive Pastry Chef - they both know their way around some dough, but I'd rather make the Almond Croissants, ok? I do what I do very well - but I can always learn to do it better.

The part that I didn't capture was this: I'm a salaried employee, and my gig expects it's staff to put in 45-50+ hrs/week. I work with people who planned better than I. They eat, sleep, workout, socialize, etc. at work. They're settled, married, and have someone covering them. So, they don't have to run home to meet the daycare center bus. Hubby will pick up the kids, so they can work late. Or mom lives with them, and helps out. In any event, my boss is as understanding as he can be under the circumstances, but trust - my late arrival, early departure jawn has been noted. I'm hyper-aware of this everyday that I leave before 5:30pm.

4:30/4:45pm - ???pm:: the commute revisited. I alluded to this, but here's the drill: A tractor trailer loses its load somewhere on I-285 (Atlanta's halo - it's an interstate highway that circles the city proper, is about 60 miles in circumference, and whose traffic is hellacious on a good day). The impact of the accident is that traffic is basically f%^&ed anywhere within a 30 mile radius of I-285, from say 3pm until 6ish? Add some inclement weather, sunshine/sunset slowdown or the fact that it's Friday, and you have chaos and anarchy. My 30 minute commute has officially turned into 2+ hours.

5:31pm:: my son's schoolbus is miraculously NOT affected by traffic.

6:00pm - 7:15pm:: I argue with the daycare center about when/where I can pick him up, and how much they will end up charging me in late fees. $5/minute? $10/minute? $40 flat fee? Who knows - I just know that I probably won't be able to afford it. But I can't afford not to - with no living family members, and no reliable friends that can help, I'm at the mercy of whatever they decide to do. This is a long story and I won't trouble you with details - let's just say that they're partially culpable for the 7:15pm time frame. And my son's drop off time is SO not negotiable.

7:15 - 8:45pm:: quality time? yeah, right. It's al I can do to try to cook, help with homework, clean a lil, eat, then get to studying, as I aimlessly try to advance my career by pursuing my grad degree. I've been at this pace for a while, since I just finished undergrad, and it seemed like the smart thing to do, to go back while I stillwas familiar with the pace, and had the information semi-fresh in my mind. I'm already regretting it.

8:45 - 9:00pm:: I pass out in a chair in the living room, book/laptop in my lap. My son joins me, by crashing on the couch.

12:00pm/1:00am:: I wake up, and try to finish studying, cleaning, washing clothes, something. I wake son up, and put himto bed, then drag myself in also. I fall unconscious, and sleep fitfully - the pressures of the coming day already upon me.

5:00am:: I begin again...

I posted all this, because I'm frustrated. The commute is killing me, my support system is non-existent, and ....I dunno it's hard for me to get anyone understand. This was my day, today. I argued with the daycare, again - ended up in tears in my car, because I'm simply so frustrated about this, and have been for so long, that I just don't know what to do about it.

Did I mention that my son is handicapped? Integral to this whole thing, but That's for another post though...

I have to finish studying...