I Can't Not Laugh at Me Today

I have to laugh at myself today, I can't help it. I had such a shitty weekend because of the kids' attitudes that I stayed in my room for most of each day and wanted to stay in bed all day today. Unfortunately I couldn't and my day went from dreary to chaotic and ultimately hilarious.

Ursula had emailed me on Friday with a bunch of items she needs me to find that she has to have by October 1st. I was going to work on them but I didn't get the chance because last night she texted me that she needed me to re-order a few items we'd just ordered and to look for a few more; these were not included in the emails because she needs them this Friday.

As the morning went on she texted me constantly adding to the list of items needed for this weekend and we went back and forth texting pictures and descriptions and item counts and costs and estimated transit times , etc. That's when it started to get really hectic. I was so busy that I kept losing my pen, my cell phone, and my house phone. At one point, in my haste to make a call to a supplier, I actually picked up the remote control and started dialing a 1-800 number on it. It took me a few seconds to realize what I was doing. Good grief. I couldn't help but laugh.

The day passed quickly and before I knew it the kids were getting off their buses from school. I had ordered all but three items off the list from Ursula. Two I can't find and one just needs her confirmation before I place the order. I was still looking for the two missing items at the same time I was signing the kids' planners and homework. I finally put the work to the side and went on to a project for Tyler.

About a week ago his teacher sent me a link to a local short-film festival in case Tyler wanted to enter it. He's getting really good at making movies and she thought it would be fun for him to enter a short film. I filled out the application and paid the $20 entry fee. Ty made his movie in just a couple of hours and we were ready to go. Oops - the movie has to be submitted on a DVD. SHIT!! The burner on the desktop computer isn't working and the movie has to be mailed and post marked by tomorrow, September 10th.

I spent a week calling every company I could think of that does film processing to find out who, if anyone, could burn his movie to DVD for me. Either the place couldn't do it or they could but it takes three weeks. Fuck that! Someone I know had to have a DVD burner. I checked with one friend who said she could do it this morning for me but when I called her she wasn't feeling well. Grrr... No, I'm not angry that she didn't feel well, I was angry that I was running out of time.

When Ty got home I texted five or six friends to ask if any of them had a burner that I could use quickly to get this movie burned. If I couldn't find anyone we were screwed. While I waited for them to get back to me I checked my desktop computer just to see if the burner was working. I downloaded a free DVD burning software because I didn't have any only to realize that I also didn't have a disc. Went across the street to K-mart to get the correct discs and then found out that, not only is my burner not working, it also doesn't burn DVDs. Fuck again!!

I tried on the kids' laptop and got the same result, "No burner detected." By now a couple of friends had texted me back but said they didn't know whether or not their computers had DVD burners on them. One friend asked me how she would know. I did a quick Google search and told her to go to the device manager, find the disk drive, double click on it, look for this or that, and she'd know. While she was doing that I did it on my laptop computer to make sure I was giving her the correct instructions. I have a CD/DVD ROM. Shit!

Oh, wait, I didn't double click on it. I know you're sitting down, and I know you can see this coming. I double clicked on my drive and - oh my fucking elbow - I'VE GOT A DVD BURNER ON MY LAPTOP! Holy shit!!! I've been sitting here all this time and never knew. Every time I looked at it all it said was CD/DVD ROM; I had never double clicked on it because I didn't know I was supposed to until today. When I double clicked there it was in the name - DVDRAM.

Not only do I have a DVD burner but I've also already got software on here to burn the DVD and didn't need the freeware that I downloaded. DUH!!! That would stand to reason, right? Of course it would. All this time I spent looking for someone to burn the DVD for me and I could have done it a week ago had I done the Google search then. Why I didn't was because I'd never seen the software on my computer before so I didn't think to check the drive itself.

Anyway, after I had a good laugh I got Ty's movie burned to DVD, printed out the picture he wanted for the case cover, printed out the paperwork that I have to include with it and it's now ready to go. All bundled up on the table waiting for me to take it to the post office in the morning to get it post marked by the deadline. He'll be entered in his first short-film contest and he couldn't be prouder. Wish him luck please.

As for me, the events of today, the shitty weekend, and the DVD burner incident have all convinced me that I really need to take more 'me' time from now on to keep my brain in better working order. I need it desperately, as you can tell. Wish me luck on that. :)

Until next time...peace to all.