Alexander the (not so) Great

Have you ever read the book "Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day"?

It's a wonderful book that my parents read to me when I was little. The story is all about a little boy who wakes up with gum in his hair...and his day goes downhill from there.

***I WAS going to tell you about how my day today was terrible, horrible, and no good, just like Alexander's, but while I was looking up the ending to his story (because I couldn't remember it), I read that part of his terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day was...you guessed it...a trip to the dentist. Why? Why does dentistry always have to be symbolic of the worst thing that could ever happen to you? New idea: let's take the heat off of the fine profession of dentistry. Here's how you can help--for just $5 a day, you can provide caffeine pills for a dental student in need...just kidding...let's start by replacing the derogatory phrase "I'd rather get a root canal" with "I'd rather get a colonoscopy." (Because those are uncomfortable, too, right?) And instead of "worse than pulling teeth" let's say "worse than waterboarding."

Anyway...my day was pretty terrible, horrible, no good, and very bad. Brief synopsis:

7:45 am--Needed to mail a package before my meeting with the apartment people at 9.
8:00 am--GPS could not find any Fed Ex stores in San Antonio (even though I know for a fact that there are 5 stores within 10 miles of our house.
8:05 am--Text Jeffrey for directions to a store.
8:10 am--Arrive at the Fed Ex store. It does not open until 9.
8:15 am--Text Jeffrey for directions to a 24 hour Fed Ex store.
8:35 am--Package mailed
8:45 am--Arrive early to meet the apartment people.
9:00 am--Alone in the apartment
9:10 am--Still alone in the apartment
9:20 am--Walk to the apartment office only to find a sign on the wall that reads, "New office hours! 10 am--5 pm daily." Before hanging my head in despair, I noticed one of the office girls inside. I waved for her to come let me in, and then watched as she locked eyes with me, then looked away, then sheepishly walked into the next room.
9:21 am--Angrily knocked on the office door until another woman opened it. I informed her of my 9 am appointment and she acted like I was quite high-maintenance to ask for someone to be at my apartment at the time we had agreed on two days before.
9:45 am--Completely checked out of the apartment. Hooray!
10:00 am to 12:30 pm--Worked in the lab on a project that will quite possibly never be finished.
1:00 pm--Began a pediatric dental rotation wherein one child almost threw up fluoride on me, a mother informed us that she was "pretty sure" her child's major health problem would be ok during dental treatment, and a mother told us that her child is "just one of those kids who can't brush their teeth." (Still not sure what this means...some kind of genetic condition? Can't toothbrushyitis?
4:00 pm to 6:15 pm--Worked more on the never-ending project.

Alexander's cure for a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day? Moving to Australia where (hopefully) everything would be upside down, and thus his day would be turned into a wonderful, superb, very good, no bad day.

My cure for a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day? Moving the fajita leftover dinner plans to tomorrow--and eating some Chinese food instead! Let us raise our chopsticks in a toast to a better tomorrow...