Today was my longest day of work thus far, and actually my longest day this whole school year thus far. I had classes at 8, 10, and 11 and my 11 o'clock class got out at 11:50, leaving me the needed 10 minutes to walk to work. Actually, I warned the teacher beforehand (because she has a tendency to go at least five minutes over time) that it took me approximately 8 minutes to walk to work, and if class wasn't done by then I'd just have to leave.

Then I worked from noon to 6. It was fun. It rained all day today, without letting up once. It was raining when I woke up. It is raining now. I walked in the rain all day long. My sweatshirt got really wet. My hair got really wet. My shoes got really wet. So did my backpack. And my pants. In fact, today is just a really wet day.

But I had an epiphany as I walked down now-familiar 82nd and turned into Glisan and saw a glimpse of Sutcliffe Hall, the first sign of Multnomah visible from the intersection. Dusk was setting in. I had taken off my glasses because the large drops on them made it harder to see than with my glasses on. It was dusk, it was blurry. It was ever-present rush hour. I waited about five seconds after the "walk" sign came on to cross the intersection - I used to be frustrated. Why doesn't "red" mean "red"? Why does "red" mean "two or three cars can go on red, and who cares if there is a pedestrian there." Now, I just wait patiently and take it as a matter of course. Car headlights were glaring in my eyes. I looked down the street where Dr. Garry Friesen lives. I looked over at Montavilla, the park that seriously gives me the creeps at night. It was rainy and cold and a new smell, usually unpleasant, hit my nose every minute. People getting off a bus bumped into me and gave me ugly looks. A car pulling out of a driveway and trying to get onto the main street backed off the sidewalk so I could walk without stepping in an ankle-deep puddle. The next car didn't back up and I ended up tiptoing around the front with my hand ready to catch its front bumper in case I fell (I could have gone around the back, but this was shorter.)

My epiphany was this: I love Portland. I don't really know why. Actually, it probably isn't too different from Seattle as far as the weather goes. As far as coffee goes, there are some differences. Seattle is considered "Starbucks city." Portland is known for its many small, independently run coffee shops.

Maybe I don't always love Portland. Maybe it was the dusk and the long-awaited rain that made me feel so happy. Or the feeling of finally getting off work and being damp and wet at the same time (damp from wearing the same sweatshirt that had gotten soaked earlier that day, and wet from the new rain adding to the moisture and running down my face and making it look like I was crying but I wasn't!) and looking forward to a very long, very hot shower (since no one else would be taking one, the water pressure should be good, and my favorite stall, the one that will actually get my hair wet in under a minute, should be open) and maybe a movie at Jessica's house tonight, who knows.

Anyway, I feel very content now. I have the room to myself this weekend; I had forgotten that Toni would be gone. Actually, all week I have been having this craving for having to be around my friends, but tonight, for the first time in a long time, I don't really. I just want to lay around and drink some of the tea becca sent me (thanks becca!) and clean a little, read a little, do a bit of homework, do some memorizing/quoting, and maybe eventually go over to Jess'.

I think I will clean a little bit now.

But before I go, I must tell you about the customer I had today, just to get it off my chest.

I was making a Chicken Bacon Ranch sandwich for his girlfriend,and I put three lines of Ranch dressing on it. Now, Ranch dressing is much runnier than, say, mayonnaise, and so when you put it on, it kind of spreads out to cover the sandwich instead of staying in little distinct lines. The guy said, "Hey, when did you start putting so much Ranch on? Gosh."

I said, "Actually, that's the standard amount - three lines across."

He didn't say anything until a minute later, when my coworker was putting mayonnaise and mustard on someone else's sandwich. Then he pointed at it and said to me, "You see that? Now that is the right amount of Ranch. You put way too much on. She put just enough on."

I said, 'That's because it's mayonnaise. Ranch is more runny! I'm sorry!"

He said in a mocking tone, "Are you arguing with me?" I said, "No." He went up to the cash register to wait for me to wrap up his sandwiches. I could hardly concentrate enough to finish up the order. He said he wanted it to go, and I pulled out a tray. He handed me a 20 and I hit the button that said 50.

Then I went in the back, and - I couldn't help it - I cried.

Karen came back. Karen is an older lady who has worked there for six years. Or five; I can't remember. Anyway, she was so sweet. She was like "Well, I'm Mom Karen around here. Don't pay him no mind, honey; he was a jerk." She used a few words that I won't repeat here, but her heart was so kind to me. It made me happy. She kept complimenting me on my speed and accuracy. Keep in mind that I have never been complimented on my work before except by a customer, because my former job SUCKED.

Also! Karen had been worried about working with me all day on a Friday (busy day). Apparently she told my manager (and this story was told me by both Karen and my manager), "You're putting me with a new girl on a FRIDAY?!" One thing was, she didn't realize I had worked at a Subway before. Once she saw that I could handle things, and only had questions about where things were located and stuff, it was all good.

About people who constantly call me "hon", "honey", and "sweetheart" - there is no way they will get away with it unless they are over 20 years older than me. Oh, and they have to be female, too. Karen calls me all that stuff, and I don't mind, because she's at least my mom's age.

Gah, there was this 35-40ish man today who just kept smiling at me. I normally don't consider this to be a bad thing, but when I start to feel really uncomfortable, I tend to trust my intuition and assume that I don't want to act too friendly toward that character. Gah, it freaked me out.

But! We made like 7 bucks in tips today, so we split it, and I finally had enough to buy myself some deoderant! Well, I'm kind of lying. I don't want to use the money currently in my savings account unless I absolutely have to. I'm really anticipating my first paycheck. I want the money spent during the school year to be made during the school year, and the money left over from this summer should be saved.

Anyway. Bye now!