Couch 215: The Overcoming Couch

Well, that sucks. I wish you luck. Maybe she'll back off a bit.

Oh, yeah, the highest salaries would get cut first at higher percentages. The alternative is firing people, so... Not that some of the higher-ups couldn’t safely be fired without affecting the university. Like the Deputy Director of Affinity. (That is not made up.)

But one or the other is likely, because enrollment for fall is lagging, especially among the out of staters who pay higher tuition.

As for athletics...ours bring in many millions of dollars and we’re not an athletic powerhouse. So they actually help pay salaries, which doesn’t mean students should be billed for them.

The president, provost, and deans have all taken cuts at my school. We don't yet know what the faculty percentage will be.

My painting from tonight. I didn't realize when I signed up for it that it was almost a 4 hour class. I was only expecting 2 hours.

I'm so overwhelmed tonight. Wednesday afternoon is my half of our CPS team meeting and I'm freaking out about the possible outcomes.

There's pretty much crickets at all the athletic events at my uni despite the fact that students can attend free. I think there might be a small number of people who go to the basketball games, especially when we play a division I school, but really not many. We don't have a football team thank God. You can buy school football memorabilia at various shops downtown as a sort of joke that nobody but current students and alums are likely to even get. A number of standard sports that other universities have, we do not. For example, I would probably go to a field hockey game, but we don't have a team.

This sort of thing is especially frustrating given the budget doesn't even allow for our one library to be open for reasonable hours on the weekend. I think it closes at 4 or 5pm on Fridays and Saturdays. Oh, and it costs more than $400 to buy a parking permit because there is no budget for the parking department, so the funding comes 100% from permits and tickets. And instead of having the athletic fields in a sensible location like other unis - on the fringes of university grounds - they are closer to classroom buildings than the parking lot that I have to pay $400 per semester for.

Yet another frustration is that the two dining halls close at 8pm and 10pm (and honestly stop serving anything but sandwiches an hour before closing). One of them is closed on the weekends and the other doesn't open until 10am and closes at 8pm. It's weird. And don't get me started on the prices - $12 for lunch is pretty outrageous.

Apparently the people who were arrested in my uni town Sunday night were charged for not dispersing, disturbing the peace, and violating curfew. Given that there were apparently hundreds of people down there, this seems strange. I also don't understand why there was a curfew when the protest on Saturday was very peaceful. I didn't even know there was a curfew - I thought that was only going to happen tonight. To be honest, it sounds to me like these people were arrested for protesting and not because they actually did anything wrong. Maybe to send some sort of message to everybody else. I really hope the charges are dismissed. My sister told me she has been donating to help with bail money for protesters. I would if I could not just because I think there's an abuse of power and violation of civil liberties going on, but because I am not in favor of cash bail anyway. It's really unfair and penalizes people based on socioeconomic status rather than risk related to release pending judgement.

MIT mini cheetah robots being tested
they do back flips

I have "supervised" my sister and nieces for 4 days now, and I'm beyond exhausted. I'm irritated and snapping at H and the dogs...even L. I need a break. But how? I tell my dad he must do the 11 hour shift by himself? Tell my sister to drop off the girls at the police station for my shift? This is such bs.

Ooh, creepy! I wonder if those are the "vicious dogs" Trump was talking about!

I dont know but when i think of robot dogs i think of those in Fahrenheit 451

I didnt find them creepy hve you seen Boston Dynamics sand flea. BD Atlas is creepy

Actually these guys reminded me of I, Robot.

Argh, another migraine. I wonder if I can lay on the floor in my office without getting into trouble. Hmm. I might try. I'm tired of feeling sick.

Tonight is my last appointment with my case manager. A month ago, I would have cared and missed her but now I'm like "meh". I might miss her afterwards, but for now I feel fine about it.


I wish former T would write me back. I think she is avoiding me. I haven't emailed her very much but she has not responded in a while. I'm worried something happened to her and I'm worried she no longer cares about me. In my head she's calling me crazy psycho chick. But in reality she probably doesn't want to interfere with my therapy. This makes me sad that she is not there for me.

Ugh, woke up this morning with a brutal sore throat, but not a normal one. It's just on one side and hurts constantly instead of just when I swallow. Looked in the mirror and my tonsil on that side looks really swollen. I had told my sister yesterday that I had a terrible taste in my mouth. She suggested that maybe I have tonsil stones. I said I didn't think so because my throat looked and felt fine at the time, I just had a bad taste in my mouth. But it seems like she hit the nail on the head because I poked my tonsil with a q-tip this morning and a big old white lump revealed itself. Yikes, no wonder that area hurts!

Got on for teletherapy but the therapist asked if I didn't want to talk today since I sounded awful. I took her up on that because it hurts to talk. Got an appointment with student health at 2pm.

Feel better soon Susannah!

I hope you feel better soon! my h gets tonsil stones allll the time. he gargles with warm salt water for them. seems to help, i don't know if there's anything better to do with them. he's never gotten any good info from his dr about it.

Our new TV was delivered today (after the other one crapped out). H is giddy.

eta: he actually cleaned 2 rooms of the house this morning while waiting for it to get here. If I'd known buying a bigger tv was all it took to get him to do something around here i'd have agreed to buy a new one a long time ago. and not waited.

I feel "meh" today. I woke up at 3 AM so that might have something to do with it. Work is slow. My coworker in NY isn't in today. I'm bored. I still have a little less than 2 hours to go. But on the bright side, I just got a Dr Pepper. I ordered some vintage Wizard of Oz Postcards for my Mom---she collects them. It will either be part of birthday or part of Christmas present. And I just had chocolate chip cookies. Guess I shouldn't complain. Meh. Meh. Meh. I feel Meh though. UGH.

I was talking about school with my therapist, and instead of him being empathetic and understanding, he started to ask me questions about the paper I’m writing. Once I realized what was going on, I asked him, “are you trying to help me with my homework?”
“I guess I am.”

So the kids have not been taken from your sister's custody? I thought you had posted something about a hearing in court yesterday? Might have misunderstood. If this isn't sustainable, what are the options for the care of those children? It doesn't sound like you feel equipped to continue doing this.

I was wondering, too. It seems this can't be the long-term solution.

No truth to the rumor that this is me!

Woman walks takes Cheesecake Factory treat during Seattle protests

Not going to lie, I’d probably steal a cheesecake from the Cheesecake Factory if given the chance

Court was canceled and moved to today. The court ruled for them to be taken away. I had to watch my sister put the girls in the car and say goodbye. My heart is breaking. I stayed with my sister for another hour, but she wanted me to go. I cried the whole way home. My family expects me to be the strong one. I'm not strong. I just know how to hold back crying until it's safe to.

She might still need me to supervise her visitations and when she's with the baby. I'm hoping my mom starts helping out some.

I feel like I can't watch any more videos of police officers using violence against protesters. what the hell is going on? How is all this going to end? Are we going to end up living under martial law and the problem of systemic racism is just going to continue?