Can I tell you about a bad day? Sure that's why you're still reading.
Well to be completely accurate, it was more like a bad 24 hours.
11:00PM EST Feb. 19, 2014
My good friend back in Vancouver calls, like he promised earlier in the day. We have a group chat on our smart phones so I thought to myself, "He must have something important to tell me." So we begin our chats with just catching up on each other lives and the lives of our close friends, all the while I began to brace myself for some kind of shocking news. I knew exactly when the news was about to be delivered.
He said, "So Jmak, do you still want me to help you with something next month?"
You see, next month consists of the birthday of a girl I've been interested in for a bit.
I then replied, "Ummm... maybe. Why are you asking me so early?" Then he drops the bomb about how she is most likely seeing someone else right now. Fair enough, I knew it was bound to happen. I even made a bet with this good friend that she would be seeing someone within 3 months of January. I can't say this was completely bad news because the wager was a steak dinner, and there was a third party involved, so I actually got myself two steak dinners.
Depressed a little more than usual after the phone call, I headed to bed to try to feel really sorry for myself, but what I realized is that I was not bothered all that much, not even sure if I was actually sad. I think when these sort of things happen frequently, you just don't have the energy to continue feeling sorry for yourself. Yes, you can run of energy feeling sorry for yourself apparently.
11:00AM Feb. 20, 2014
When I woke up the next morning, I looked outside and it looked like a good day to ride my bike to school. I got ready an hour early (which is super duper rare), and watched the news for a bit before I headed downstairs. Now usually, when I bike to school, I give myself about 5 mins to get from door to door, usually resulting in being about 5 mins late. But today, I decided to leave early so I can grab a coffee before heading to the studio. Every time I get downstairs from my apartment I always wonder, "Is my bike still there?", always bracing myself in the case that when I look over and there was no bike where I left mine. Today, I went outside and turned to my right to check the bike racks. Sure enough, my bicycle was there, but an essential part of it was missing. I had one back wheel and no front wheel. That meant I had to walk to school, but because I got ready so early, I was able to make to class 5 minutes
early. Good thing right? I didn't get upset at all while I thought about it as I walked through the aftermath of snow storms upon snow storms that was of ice and slush. I created a story in my head instead. Someone must've been riding their bike along the street I lived on when suddenly, their wheel broke off and flew into the night, never to be found again. Looking around he sees a bike with a decent looking wheel, and he thought to himself, "good thing today I carried my trusty wrenches with me." Little did he know, that wheel had a net worth of $20 because last year I replaced the wobbly tire with a $20 tire from MEC.
1:00PM Feb. 20, 2014
If I were to list every "bad" thing that happened at school today, I would sound like a big baby whining about how everything sucks, people suck, and life is the worst thing that's happened to me.
So here's the list:
- Bought a Tim's coffee, rolled the rim twice and not one winner
- Phone died within minutes of arriving to school
- Tried to print with the 4th floor printer but it wasn't working, so I had to go down an entire floor to pick up my prints
- Couldn't understand why my dashed lines were so huge in AutoCAD
- No one was messaging me for me to chat with all day
10:00PM Feb. 20, 2014
I would list what happened on my way home too, but I feel like it would be better conveyed as a narrative than a list. At 10 o'clock I decided I wanted to go home and just end the day. Little did I know, fate had other plans for me. I packed up all my stuff and then reached in my pocket for my headphones. They were not there. What was going to keep me company on my walk home? Life was falling apart at this point. I just wanted to go home. I looked out the window and it was raining. No biggie, I grew up in the rain. Not this kind of rain. I got outside and these rain drops were the size of ketchup packets. Good thing I wore the shoes that had never failed me in the face of rain water.
I began walking and within a few minutes I looked down at my jacket and realized the water had already soaked through my first layer. While looking at myself, I slipped a few times before I finally understood that I had to watch where I was going. The entire floor was ice. With that being said, I had to walk extra carefully. Now think of the situation at hand; it was raining harder than my clothes can handle, and now I'm forced to walk very slowly and carefully.
Well I'm only a 15-20 walk away from home anyway. I will survive.
When I finally got the hang of walking on ice, I suddenly stepped in a giant puddle that engulfed my shoe. "Ha ha", I told the puddle, "these shoes have never let water in before no matter how deep the puddle." The puddle then said... well it didn't say anything. But what happened next made me realize just how bad of a day I was having. Water got into my shoes for the first time in two years. THERE'S A HOLE IN MY AWESOME SHOES! I was about to cry at this point. I then gave up on walking carefully, and thought it was actually getting kind of funny. So I walked normally into multiple puddles, splashing water all over myself without a care since my degree of soaked-ness had reached Underwear. I couldn't help but laugh. I started just singing in the rain, literally, because I had not one care in that moment. I was soaked from head to toe and nothing mattered.
Anyway, did I mention I haven't had dinner yet? So I decided to go to the nearby McDonald's to pick up that fan pack they have been selling for the Olympic celebration. I thought I could share it with my roommate who also hadn't eaten dinner yet and I can get those collector Coca-Cola pins for my mom. When I got there they no longer had the advertisement up for the box. Disappointed, I just ordered nuggets and waited patiently for my food. The lady after me was in a very good mood.
In her uppity voice she says, "Hi there! How are you? Do you still have that fan pack?"
The clerk behind the till answers monotonously, "Yea. Fifteen ninety nine."
"O wow that's expensive, I don't need that much food. Just get me a nugget meal please," replies the lady. As if she KNEW I wanted the fan pack, as if she KNEW I failed to get the fan pack because I didn't ask.
11:00PM Feb. 20, 2014
Finally defeated by the day, I walked back to the apartment. As I took out my keys, there they were just sitting in the wrong pocket (left pocket); my headphones.
I did it. I survived the day. Drenched from head to toe I smiled to myself and thought, "someone needs to know what happened to me today." So I opened up the blog I've neglected for two years almost and began typing.
I am so grateful for today. My bike wasn't stolen. I got to school early for once. I danced around ice and in the rain all the way home. I still have a chance to get those Coca-Cola pins. I didn't lose my headphones. I reawakened my blog.
I also learned a lesson. A bad day isn't out of your control. While I waited for my food at McDonald's, the difference was between asking if they still had the fan pack or not. We (most of the time) have total control of what happens, and it's how we react and perceive the situation that makes events good or bad.
I knew it was raining very hard. The weatherman told me before I went to school. I was watching news, remember? I could've taken a variety of preventive measure.
The bike; I could have kept it in a safer place. But it also costed $60 a month and I am not paying half the worth of my bike per month to keep it safe.
I could have checked my other pocket before concluding that I had lost my headphones.
But if I did all that, then where would be the fun?
Today I had a pretty rough day, and I had so much fun!
