Irritations and Contentments . . .

(photo courtesy of Wresting Fan©)

Irritations

• cars blasting their radios that have a heavy bass. Does it really sound good to you? For whatever the reason, my ears are sensitive to heavy bass - it is worse to me than nails on a chalkboard. I don't mind playing songs loud on my radio, but I also am mindful that not everyone around me will want to hear what I'm playing.
• not stopping for people (especially kids) trying to cross at a crosswalk. This past week, I was on my way to picking up Wrestling Fan. As I drove down the street, I saw this kid that looked to be about WF's age (13 or 14) at a crosswalk. I stopped and fully expected that the people coming in the opposite direction would stop as well obviously wanting to believe the best in people at all times - silly me!. Three cars failed to stop & the last car was an older couple and the guy actually looked right at me as he was driving by!
• people who seem to believe that just because they have their turn signal on that they have the "right of way." What I mean by this is two days ago, I was at a stop light in lane number one. I was behind another car. In lane number two, there was a SUV next to the first car in front of me. When the light changed, the SUV apparently was in the wrong lane. As I started forward, the next thing I know, the SUV is making its way into my lane, forcing me to hit my breaks so that I wouldn't hit them. Now, the turn signal was on after they started going into my lane. Silly me, that turn signal turned on after the fact must give the SUV the right of way.
• Bullies. There is a teacher in the District who is trying to make me miserable by questioning everything that I'm doing. For instance, I'm pretty damn familiar with our contract, being fairly intimate with it for the past few years due to my work on the bargaining team. This person, otoh, only has a passing familiarity with it. He called me the other day asking me a question about a section of the contract. I gave him my response and he disagreed with my point of view and bluntly stated, "I think you are interpreting it wrong as that's not how things were done in the past." My response to him was "fine, file a grievance and will see if it flies." He has yet to do so.

Contentment

• meeting WF's teachers on "Back to School" night and having almost every single one telling us how polite he is and how much they enjoy having him in class. (WF only had one bad report from his science teacher, which I don't think is that big of a deal and yes, we did talk to him about making sure he was acting appropriately at all times - even if he doesn't like the teacher.)
• receiving several phone calls and e-mails from different teachers over the last couple of weeks thanking me for my hard work on their behalf. I actually have had people call me on the phone for no other reason than to say, "thank you" thus somewhat restoring my belief that most people are inherently good.
• driving home with the top down yesterday on our fourth day of real summer weather and having Guitar Teen help at a function that I was hosting. It's always a pleasure getting to show off your kids and simply put, driving in a convertible on a nice sunny day is a great stress buster!
• having a prayer said with my permission in the middle of the parking lot. It was a teacher who was in need of my assistance and was very pleased with the outcome. I'm not a religious person, but was not offended when she asked if she could do this. Her prayer was one of empowerment and strength in my current position as union prez.
• (for Jenn) my little peke is okay and only cost me this !!! as opposed to !!!!!, which is what it was the last time he was yelping out in pain like he was this morning. Ear infection as opposed to a herniated disk is a much less costly fix.