definitely down with the sickness

 i don't know what it is, or how long it's been brewing, but yesterday i continued to feel terrible and snotty and last night i began to develop a throat infection... it's currently in schroedinger's box, i guess we'll see.

yesterday:

the first thing - that set the tone for the day - was responding to the "integration teacher":

let's not gaslight the parents, please. it goes without saying that <mr smear> has a responsibility to cooperate and work in the classroom, and we're making every effort to get him to do so. i'll remind you that the school already knew that he had a specific problem with language classes, and in addition to not giving him the lessons that new immigrants are entitled to, you also put him in a class for two years with a teacher he didn't trust - so letting him, in a new year with a new teacher, start on the wrong foot without communicating with the parents is already an unacceptable level of negligence.

let's add to that that we've heard from him that <his teacher> A. has given up on him and told him explicitly that she didn't care what he was doing, and B. doesn't acknowledge him even when he does cooperate, and C. makes up stories that she hasn't given up "but", without trying to communicate with us *after* we said it was neither logical nor reasonable that until about six months ago we hadn't heard from her or about her at all, this is simply appalling behavior from a teacher who is responsible for a very important subject for our son.

shame on you.

it took a while to get going, but by the evening i'd put together the two side tables. it was a rainy day, and i was feeling miserable, so i lay down to rest for a bit with cowboy bebop on.

ten minutes in, i received an urgent call from the school - mr smear was playing in a puddle and slipped, hurting the same foot that he'd injured a few weeks back. i kitted up for the rain and walked to the school and waited for him to hobble out, very slowly and dramatically.

it turns out the woman who walked him out is responsible for the entire grade, and i was pleasantly surprised when she informed me that she'd seen my message from this morning and is going to investigate.

i walked about two blocks with mr smear, trying to gauge whether he needed medical intervention or not, and i felt that it wasn't warranted. but i did feel that a taking a taxi home was warranted, we were moving very slowly and it was threatening to rain again...

i got mr smear home and gd got him into the bath so he could warm up and soak his foot after being soaked in cold, wet clothing for so long. i lay back down on the couch and continued with cowboy bebop, and mr smear joined me after his bath and the two of us just chilled like that for a while.

until gd arrived to pop my bubble and send me off to the pharmacist. so i begrudgingly dragged myself off the couch, got dressed up again, and walked to the pharmacist. from there i decided to try to pick up the packages that i'd been led to believe had arrived at a post point for me, and i walked through the rain until i found the place and discovered that i'd misunderstood the tracking alerts.

i passed by zuppa on the way, so i picked up an "old time vegetables" soup and struggled home, each step reminding me that in addition to general fatigue, every step i take wearing my heavy rain boots is effectively lifting weights.

gd and i enjoyed the soup when i got home, and i spent the rest of the afternoon doing dishes, helping mr smear with his homework, and putting the bedside tables together. for gd's birthday, we ordered dinner and it was delicious.

...

i realized yesterday that i hadn't checked our bank account since the beginning of the month, and was both excited and confused to see a lot more money than i'd anticipated. it's very easy to do the math wrong - not least because my first paycheque in the new job will only be for half a month. that notwithstanding, this way these events have all played out will prove to be a significant windfall and we'll finally be able to clear our debt!

...

we had some unpleasant business due to my mother asking me in afrikaans if we'd made a card for gd, and gd's very sensitive about people speaking in different languages in front of other people, so mr smear and i ended up being a lot less subtle in kicking gd out of the room so that we could put it together :P

i pretty much crashed after mr smear went to bed.

today:

mr smear and i woke gd up with singing and her card, but with his foot he wasn't up for going to school or checking out the art school's open day, so we had a quiet morning until gd started becoming nervous about getting his foot checked out.

so here we are, sitting at an aroma waiting until 1pm when the doctors and x-ray operators arrive...