I am now well and truly oriented.

Went to my VFS orientation this morning. It was rad. The presenter was a cool guy who looked like the statistical average of Nick Offerman and Zach Galifinakis. He is an actor who has played many roles, but the one I care about is playing a villain on… STARGATE SG1! OMG I love that show. I have to figure out which one he was.

And boy, if I had any doubts about the stature of the institution, they were quelled when I saw how many people from outside North America there was amongst the students. People come from all around the world to get the education I am lucky enough to be able to commute to in 45 minutes.

Thus I am extra stoked to find out we are getting a bunch of VFS swag on Monday. I am very eager to advertise my new status as a VFS student to the world.
In fact, now that I am in, I am kinda curious about how many people didn’t make the cut. Not proud of that, but I plan on making this ego trip as long and enjoyable as I can!

<--->

Home now. The previous stuff was written on the Skytrain home and at my local pharmacy.

Man, did today involve a lot of walking. My feet are still sore. In order to get from the place where we did the orientation to where they were taking our Student ID, we had to walk two block, then go down six flights of stairs, then through a simply amazing quantity of building, and then, of course, I had to do the whole thing in reverse, going UP six flights of stairs.

Then I emerged from the building with no idea where the hell I was. (I don’t know downtown very well yet. Should look into that. ) So I had to walk to the Skytrain station too, asking for directions every couple of blocks.

I am easily confused and I need that kind of constant validation.

Then the bus home missed my fucking stop, so that added another block and a bit to my walk home. And now it looks like I lost my keys by, get this, putting my pants on inside out.

Yup, I did the whole orientation thing with my pants on inside out. Luckily, these pants look almost exactly the same inside out, and the only way you can tell is that my pockets don’t look right, and if you look very closely (go ahead, I don’t mind) you would have noticed that the main button is on the wrong side.

But I can’t find my keys, and I remember putting them in the anti-pocket. But when I checked for them later, they were not there. I hope it’s just that they fell out right after I tried putting them in and I was too sleepy to notice. That would mean they are still in the apartment for me to find.

Otherwise, I might have to get new keys, and while getting keys cut is no big deal, replacing the electronic key fob that opens the front door of the apartment building costs $50, so… ouch.

I have the money in my education fund, but still. I would rather not have to spend it, and honestly, I would rather avoid the embarrassment as well. As a former latchkey kid, I feel great shame for even forgetting my keys, let alone losing them.

But that’s just petty little stuff. Mostly, today was awesome. And I got so much done! I got home in time to get to therapy almost on time, and after that I went to the eye doctor’s to pick out my frames, then got dropped off at my pharmacy to get the ol’ pill refill re : my psych meds.

See? Told ya I was medicated!

(—)

Clearly, the universe was not done fucking with me yet.

So I order some KFC online, like I have done a bunch of times before, and think nothing of it. Dude shows up, I pay him (with tip), everything is on go.

Until I open my box o’ goodies, and instead of my usual 4 piece meal (with gravy, fries, coleslaw, and a cookie), there’s just six pieces of chicken. Overcooked chicken.

And I am very pleased with myself, because I only contemplated letting it go for a couple of seconds before saying “Nope!” and called up the KFC. The lady who answered was very sorry (or at least, faked it well) and told me I could keep the six pieces of chicken and my proper order would be forthcoming.

Meanwhile, Netflix was completely failing to connect. I tried over and over (and over) again, and… nothing. Just one error message after the next. We are now at Stresscon 3.

Then I get the expected phone call from the delivery guy who messed up my order, and I expect him to say “I have your proper order now, sir!” or the like. Instead, he says “So we got something wrong, Mister…. er…. Michael!”

Clearly, he said Mister, then realized, in a panic, that he only had my first name. Clearly we’re dealing with an Einstein here. Then he mumbled something completely incomprehensible, then mumbled about letting me have what I ordered for half price.

Stresscon 2! I let him have it. I said “Um, I am pretty sure you are supposed to give me what I actually ordered for free!” And verily, there was iron in my voice. He apologized, and then asked me if what I wanted was what I had originally ordered. Um, yes?

And I told him I was pretty hungry, so…. hurry!

So, on an assertiveness level, I broke a lot of new ground. I refused to let the situation lie and I kept asserting myself till I got result.

But on an aggravation level, it was something I really, really did not need. On any other day, I would have been my usual cool-guy, hey-these-things-happen self.

But after all I have been through today, both good and bad, it was definitely the wrong fucking day to hit my shit button.

Motherfucker is lucky I didn’t go to Stresscon 1.

I will talk to you nice people again tomorrow.