Mean Things

So far this summer, I have been stung six times. This is a new personal record. The previous record was three, and I held that record pretty steadily for quite some time. But I finally broke it. Back in June I was stung by four yellow jackets, then a few weeks ago I was stung by a bee in the pool, and a few hours ago, I was stung by another yellow jacket. Have you ever been stung by a yellow jacket? Believe me, you'd know if you had been. It doesn't feel like a sting, it feels like a burn. It's what I imagine when I hear about people being burnt by cigarettes (although I'm sure that hurts ten times worse). It starts out and you're like "is something stinging me?" And then you're like "SOMETHING IS DEFINITELY STINGING ME" until eventually it progresses to "$&!?@! What is burning me???" I have had this experience five times. Four of those times in rapid succession. It isn't pleasant. 

     Something else that is completely unpleasant is talking on the phone to strangers. I'm not even a huge fan of talking to my FAMILY on the phone; I prefer good old fashioned face to face conversation or handwritten notes and letters. But our high school's Link Crew has this unique form of torture included in the program where they force us to call our freshmen and invite them personally to freshman orientation. The thing is, no one benefits from this. They already send out multiple letters informing the kids about orientation, so not only is the call awkward, it's superfluous. Secondly, it's not just us Link leaders that dread this call. I remember when I was a freshman and I got the goodness forsaken call from some random upperclassman I'd never met before and it was pure hell. Now, the tables have turned and I'm the one subjecting poor little fourteen year olds to super awkward phone calls. I had to call five people: the first two, I got parents and the kids weren't even around. I cranked up the peppy and said "Hi! I'm from the High School Link crew! Is so and so available?" My cheerful invocation was met with tired "she's not available"s, so I had to perform my memorized spiel to adults with better things to do. It was agonizing. Then I got a message machine, thank the good Lord, then I actually had to talk to a kid, but by some divine miracle, that kid is one of my friends' sisters (Cassandra). My last hellacious phone call was another message machine and I was sooo relieved. Maybe I'm crazy or maybe the Information Age has turned me off to such cruel rituals as calling people on their home telephones, but I'm just so glad that's over with. 

-VaughnDL