12 Squared

Sometimes, when I see numbers, I think of how that number is broken down. I mostly do that when I see square roots in numbers. The only way that I can tell what time 16:00 is is by knowing that the square root of 16 is 4. It is 4 o'clock. Hence the name of this blog post.


Anyway, I signed onto my blogger to tell everyone all about my terrible day, but FIRST, I had to check all of my Facebook status updates. Well, I didn't have to, but being a 19 year old female who tries to keep up with all her friends, it was almost mandatory. Almost. That's when I saw this quote posted by a friend of mine that kind of made me stop and rethink my day:

"Generally speaking, the most miserable people I know are those who are obsessed with themselves; the happiest people I know are those who lose themselves in the service of others . . . By and large, I have come to see that if we complain about life, it is because we are thinking only of ourselves." - Gordon B. Hinckley

 I read this quote a long time ago, back when I first joined the church, and frankly, just seeing that positive statement really made me all warm and fuzzy inside. So, instead of me just complaining to you about my terrible day, which, I'm still going to do, I'm going to make sure to include some positive things as well.

Last night, I could not get to sleep. I've been feeling not so great the last week or so. I've been congested, coughing, sneezing, the regular terrible cold symptoms. Last night I was feeling a little better, so I decided to not take any Nyquil to put me out of my misery. Well, that didn't work. So, around midnight, I plodded downstairs and took the last of the liquid Nyquil, which was about 3/4 of a dose. Went back to bed. STILL couldn't breathe or sleep. So around 1:30, I plodded back down the stairs and took Nyquil in pill form. So, overall, it took 1.75 doses of Nyquil to affect me. So, after my drug-induced coma of sorts, I woke up at about 11:30. I felt AMAZING. Then I looked out my window. Amazing feeling depleted. Now, don't get me wrong, I LOVE a little bit of snow, but ahem, 7 inches of it? Mmmmno thanks. I decided that, meh, it's no big deal. I'll get through it. So I went downstairs and found basically nothing for food. So, I took out a frozen stir fry and fried it up. It was delish. I love frozen stir fries. Since there is nothing for food, I decide that I'll stop at Hannaford's on my way to work and just pick up a Lean Cuisine or something. I got dressed in some jeans that DON'T touch the floor, two tee shirts, a puffer vest, a barn jacket, a beanie hat, and huge, thick boots. I was a sight to behold. Armed with my snow scraper, I head out to my truck. Oh yes, I recall, I pulled into my parking spot so I'll have to back out, turn around, then go forward towards the street. WELL. I got right down to work. I started the beast of a Ford F-250 3/4 ton with a v8 engine right on up, turned up my WCYY radio and started scraping snow. I forgot how hard it is to reach up there, but I did it. It was IMMACULATE. I jumped right on in, (literally, jumped) and stuck it in reverse and.... that's it folks. That's all I did. I moved maybe a foot and I was stuck. I went forward a little bit, then floored it to go into reverse. I figured I'd get traction soon enough. Oh no. There was no traction. Instead, I went sideways right into my lawn. GREAT. So, I walk up the driveway, back into the garage and get my shovel out. I shovel out my back tires cause, OH, didn't I tell you? My F-250 is a TWO WHEEL DRIVE. Well, after I shovel it out, I manage to reverse about another foot. So, I have successfully moved 2 feet backwards and about five feet to the side. Well, I guess I ought to go get some sand which is half way down the driveway. So I grab my shovel and trudge down the driveway, get a scoopful of sand, walk back up the driveway, place the sand under my tire, go back, grab more sand, put it under the other wheel, throw the shovel out of the way, get in the truck and reverse again. Success! I got another 10 inches reversed. I also went a little sideways and took out the driveway reflector/marker, too, but oh well. Repeat the sand fetching and reversing sentence. Only this time, I REALLY took out the reflector. It is now under my driver's side tire. Ooops. I did this exercise about five times before I actually got the truck reversed enough where I had the room to turn to go straight. That took another two trips for sand and finally, I was heading down the driveway. This took all of forty minutes, a handful of cuss words and a fist thrown into my steering wheel. Patience IS a virtue after all. I did not stop at the end of my driveway, I just plowed out onto the road. If I had stopped at the bottom, I would have been stuck again. I weighed my choices and I decided that I'd rather get hit than get stuck again. Hindsight being 20/20, I probably would have gone with the being stuck option. All through Farmington the roads were great. So, I called my dad to let him know that the driveway was a little worse for wear and I was finally on my way to work. Then I turned on to route 11 and almost lost all my grip on the road. Route 11 was TERRIBLE. I don't think anyone plowed it. I began fishtailing all over the road, hung up on my dad, and tried to get a grip. Close call, but safe there. So, traffic is naturally going about 25 in a 55, but seeing how the roads were pretty bad, I don't blame them. But now I'm running late. And the truck is getting really hot. So I roll down my window just in time for some snow to decide that it doesn't want to stay on my roof anymore. It slides down onto my windshield where my wipers are going full steam. Therefore, the snow came flying in my window and hits me right in the lap. Needless to say, window went up and I decided to fry. Now it's time to turn on to route 16. Whoever plowed 16 decided that the route was really 6 inches over from where the actual road lay. So, I, naturally, went off the road, my tire got sucked into a mini ditch and I had to force my way out of it. By doing so, I ended up yanking my wheel over to the left and therefore, fishtailing again. Now, mind you, I have 720 pounds of weight in my truck: fishtailing should not occur. Luckily, no one was on the road as I ended up on the opposite side of traffic. I got off of 16 with no harm, except for when I turned onto Washington Street I ended up in the wrong lane and almost rammed another car, but what else is new? I turn into my lovely Lowe's parking lot and... IT ISN'T PLOWED. Not one bit. OH, except  for the first six parking spots which is NOT employee parking. Come to find out, the plow company had been there all day... drinking coffee and plowing the road part of the parking lot, not the actual parking spots. So, I have no options: I have to park somewhere. So, I pull into a mound of snow... only to get stuck in the mound of snow. Crooked. And hanging out into a lane. Bloody Perfect. I didn't care. I just went inside. I get in the door and my coworker goes, "How you doing??" What do I do? Cry. I was so frustrated with snow, drivers, snow, plowers, snow, sand, snow, people. So, I cried. Pathetic. I slinked off to the break room where, OH GREAT, it seems like everyone is on break. It was packed full. So, everyone is all, "Cat, what's wrong? You okay?" So, I told them about how stuck I got, how I'm stuck again and how I hate snow and they all say how sorry they are about my truck being a 2 wheel drive. It goes quiet then someone goes, "AT LEAST YOU'RE ON TIME." Laughter ensues. One guy goes, "How come you didn't call on a man to help you?" I respond, "I don't want a man, or need a man to help me. I am an independent woman who can get herself out of her own messes." He goes, "Ya hear that," to my coworker. She goes, "I shoveled myself out! But my boyfriend is coming to pick me up." 

1. I got stuck

2. I almost died coming to work

3. I got stuck in my own parking lot

4. I didn't have time to go to Hannaford's for lunch. So I ate animal crackers for dinner and 2 bottles of water.

5. I had guys asking me all night if I was okay. I HATE crying and I hate crying in front of guys the most.

6. A married man called me 'babe.'

7. A (different) married man basically implied that he is looking for a girlfriend cause he needs some attention. 

8. My best friend's computer crashed and now I can't AIM her. =[

POSITIVE TIME!!!

1. I finally look good in a beanie hat. I used to look so weird in one, but now that my hair has grown out some, I look good in one.

2. I know from experience that I want an AWD/4WD

3. I got paid to do basically nothing all night cause we had practically no customers.

4. Most of my Christmas shopping is done thanks to Amazon.com

5. My bestieeeeeeee is going to be home in 12 days.

6. I have a jug of orange juice to console with.

7. I have finally figured out Korean letters. I just have to remember them all.

8. I'm just as obsessed with Korean stuff as Bex is.

9. Bex is bringing home my textbook so I don't have to buy it and ship it here. <3

10. I'm finally not congested anymore. :D

I know that the quote says that we're miserable when we think only of ourselves, and I know also that many of those statements began with "I," but maybe that's okay this time.