Being cranky when I want to be

Why does the world seem to be ganging up on me on this particular day?

The second-to-the-worst part of it is that I seem to remember everything in full detail.

The worst part of it is that B seems to be too blissfully ignorant to notice.

I had my Monday all planned out yesterday: first I wake up early and go straight to the Kapihan to avoid their morning rush; then go to my thesis adviser (a different one, not Sir Buwan) to consult on some new ideas; then get to my classes early (not just on time) and be a good, participating student; then go straight home to work on whatever my adviser would say. Simple enough, right?

I only reached up to the “wake up early” part. Then it twisted out of control after that.

It started with the train station. My ticket got stuck!! Rargh!! It took the staff forty minutes to fix the damn thing. It would’ve been easier if they gave me a replacement card, but nooo… they said “don’t worry, ma’am, we’ll get it out in a few minutes,” like darned pre-recorded robots.

The Kapihan was packed by the time I got there so I didn’t even bother. So much for my “make me feel good about Monday” drink…

I tripped five times walking to my college complex (yes, I counted). The last one was on the stairs going up to the faculty offices where my adviser… [dramatic pause] was nowhere to be found. What I did find was a note saying she would be gone for the rest of the week.

Great. By then I had two hours to waste. And waste it I did.

With that much time, of course I got to Art History class early (yay!). And since I studied so much yesterday that I knew today’s topic by heart, I’d definitely participate in discussions (double yay!). But today just had to be the day when the professor totally deviates from her teaching plan and decides to give a graded recitation on the next topics.

Needless to say, the day wasn’t going as well as I planned it to, as illustrated by the equation: A x 10ⁿ, where A = “aargh!” and “n” approaches infinity exponentially against time.

With my morning ruined, might as well let it go all the way, right? Not that it was my intent to be cranky. It all just came naturally by the way things were going.

And I’m in that exact cranky-mode when Black came in for Eng. Lit., just before the professor called the roll. At least he’s not late today, technically.

Then he starts talking. “Hey, you weren’t at the station earlier! I almost got late for class.”

“I was early.”

“Well you could’ve called me so I didn’t have to wait,” he mock-sulked.

I just shrugged. The prof announced that today we had to work on our reports. Oh great, I have to be all leader-y again.

I hardly noticed that B had begun his Oh-how-lucky-I-was-this-morning narrative, which I interrupted by making him go to his own group.

As expected, my group ended up nodding and agreeing to everything I said. I kept sideglancing at B’s group and the other ones who were all active and happy. I looked at my own group. I only wish they were the least bit as active as the others. Even a little opposition would’ve been nice.

When my group was finished (how long could it take if I was the only one talking?) B went up to me and pulled me over to his group as they were finishing up, saying he had something to tell me afterwards. But they didn’t finish up quickly for all the group’s suggestions and all-around active-ness.

Class period was finished. They weren’t.

“B…”

blah blah blah was all I could make out.

“Black, I have to go.”

“wait just a sec… blah blah blah”

I left.

Things didn’t improve after that. By the time I arrived at my last class (breathing heavily from all that running), my things were in total disarray due to my tripping (again) on the exact same spot on those stupid stairs.

Today is simply the perfect day for everything to go wrong.