wah wah wah.

I'm tired and I swear all I ever do is complain. So why stop now? This week has been crazy busy and it's only going to get worse! I think it's a good thing I took Monday off to chill and get some school work done. Last night I didn't get home until almost 8 because I had an appointment with my fabulous hair stylist, Dwight. Today I was supposed to take some homeless kids to school at 8 AM, which meant I had to get up an hour earlier than usual. Their mom ended up calling me to let me know she found a ride but I was already up and about to leave so I went in early anyway. Tomorrow morning I am going in early to take them to school for real. Unless their mom finds another way to get them there. And then I have to work until 9 PM because I am training a bunch of new volunteers. Then Friday night there is a going away party for one of my favorite co-workers who found a new job. Saturday morning I head back to work to train the new volunteers on crisis intervention (thank God none of them know me and so none of them know that I suck at crisis intervention and have zero patience lately). Saturday afternoon I have class. Oh and there will be a quiz in class and I'm not sure when I will study for that. Shit I think that's what I'm supposed to be doing right now. And then Sunday Jesse and I are meeting my parents at The Common Grill, which is one of my favorite restaurants but holy SHIT it's an hour away and what was I thinking????

This week, for the first time, I ran into a Katrina survivor. A woman showed up at the shelter with questions about how she was supposed to get MI identification. Her Louisiana ID had expired and the Secretary of State told her she had to have two pieces of proof of address. Big problem since she is currently living in a hotel paid for by the Red Cross. Due to the patriot act it is damn near impossible to get identification in this state, and probably everywhere. I know I've talked about feeling angry that natural disaster victims get more compassion than everyday poverty victims but I felt really bad for this woman. I wished I could give her the information she needed and send her on her way. She said she had a job all lined up but she needed valid identification before she could be officially hired. This is exactly what I was worried about. Helping survivors will involve so much more than offering an apartment! My supervisor was in the office when the woman stopped by and my supervisor, the wise woman she is, said, "she shouldn't have any problem getting ID because I heard there are special programs in place for the survivors. She should just call the Red Cross and they'll help her." The woman just looked at her and said, "I already did that. They couldn't help. So now I'm here." Then my supervisor got the phone book out to look up the Red Cross in the yellow pages. I took the woman out on the porch and finished talking to her there. Then I fantasized about my supervisor telling me she got a new job.

Time to get some homework done. Or something.