I have had a very busy day.

So today was very stressful for me. Not necessarily negatively stressful, but nonetheless, I am roast toast rn.

It was my sister's birthday today. She turned thirteen. It was the first birthday she's had that I haven't been present for. So obviously, I had to call her. Except my roommate decided to have a lie-in this morning, so by the time he was out of the room and I could talk freely, my sister was already on the bus and unable to talk freely.

Then my dad called me in the middle of breakfast to remind me to call my sister and also to tell me that if I didn't get some paperwork turned in by the end of the day, my planned summer job would go up in dust.

Of course, I had no time for that, because today was the day of my freshman honors project presentation. For the last three months, I've been researching free speech on American campuses, with particular attention to my own school. On Wednesday, I gave it as a walking tour to an audience that was 67% comprised of my own blood relations. That could've been the end of it, but like a fool, an absolute buffoon, I promised my faculty adviser to present it at her first amendment workshop.

So I did that. I did my walking tour indoors, using a slideshow of all the locations for verisimilitude. I was a beautiful goddamn disaster, stumbling my way through my lines and flubbing my words. I made them laugh occasionally, though. And at the end, they were actually deeply impressed with my research. Said I should publish. Said they'd never heard a college freshman correctly use the word 'verisimilitude' in conversation. The editor of the school paper asked if I was interested in a job. So after all that I just stood there, drowning in compliments. It was a nice feeling, but I am much too socially awkward for all that chicanery. I quoted Voltaire and Justin McElroy and left to go hide in the library.

While in the library, my dad called again to re-emphasize the urgent need to turn in those papers by the end of the day. Of course, being in the library, I had very little recourse to reply. I mostly just went 'mhm' a lot.

So then I went to print out the paperwork I needed along with the lab report I needed for my stats class. Along the way, I found a friend of mine selling pride flag magnets and tickets to the gay prom that evening. I bought three magnets and a ticket, because I was in a rush and my brain couldn't keep up with my mouth.

And then stats lab happened and that was a nightmare all on its own because the teacher is possessed by demonic forces. Obviously. He's a nightmare and he never shuts up.

After all that I went to my Writer's Guild board meeting, and that sounded like a nice break at first. I got there very early, so I decided to go powder my nose. I was just pushing open the stall when my dad. called. again. So those were all ideal conditions for a conversation.

Writer's Guild board meeting was fine. I showed off my thumbnails for the year's anthology and everyone was generally very approving. We made plans for the next meeting. I invented a new game for writing. It was fine. The meeting ended and I went to go eat dinner.

In the middle of dinner my sister called.

The dining hall has the worst reception on the entire campus.

It was her birthday.

I left dinner to talk to my little sister.

About an hour after that, I left for the prom. Sometimes I just have to go to a party to remind myself why I don't normally go to any parties. I met some very nice people. I ate cheesy crackers and grapes. I tore up the dance floor to 'Ra Ra Rasputin' and I still haven't gotten my breath back. I played the age-old game of 'see how long we can keep this balloon in the air' with a small group.

I made it nearly eighty minute before the noise and the darkness and the crowd and the spotlights got to me, and I couldn't hear a word anyone was saying and I was sweating like a workhorse and feeling more isolated than I would being alone. So I left, content in the realization that I do not like to go places and do things all that much really.

So that was my day. It definitely had its upsides, but boy howdy it sure did have its downsides too, huh.