Crunch Time

I have no brain. I'm staring at a very long To Do list, knowing I've been neglecting it for no reason whatsoever. (Due date for all this stuff? Yesterday.) I'm also staring at a calendar empty of students but full of commitments - electrician for two days, cat to vet, errands to store and mall. I also see something else. A class. A class I wasn't going to take, but ...

Here's a riddle: What do you do when you're stuck between a rock and a hard place?

Answer: Crunch.

I didn't cave about my classes. Well, not exactly. I did feel the pressure, though, and I did decide to compromise - I'm working two of the five Saturdays I was asked to work. I chose the two to coincide with what is usually slow yard sale days - after all, it's technically still winter. Around here, that means lots and lots of rain for awhile longer, weather that is not conducive to treasure hunting of any kind, so why not fill it, right?

Wet rock and practical hard place.

I also still have no extra car - Acid Trip hasn't settled out his dead car issue, so he's still driving one of ours. I rented a Mazda Thursday through today because I needed the extra wheels to get me to and from work and errands. But tomorrow I have no students (I'll take and pick up the Big Lug from work), and the next two days I have no electricity (and no freedom, since the guy will be yanking bits of my basement apart), so I'm not really needing it.

Mixed blessing rock and loving patience hard place.

See, I'm student-free so the money is hit and miss right now. I'm a tutor, so I'm one of the first expenses to go. Yes, I've spent the last year positioning us so that we don't have many expenses but household, but we do still have loans to pay ... and I have a couple of big things coming - the panel upgrade (finally) Wednesday, the cat's hyperthyroid meds (about $50. a month plus regular blood panels), and my mother's 70th birthday trip in June. The cash for most of it is in the bank right now, but I don't like all that empty space on my calendar. Should I cancel the panel? Cut cable and cell phones? Allowances? Anything resembling a mellow took a serious hit today when I found that my paycheck didn't make it to the bank. Again. Bugs in the new system at work or perfidious plot? Keep trusting or find a new plan?

Panicky rock and paranoid hard place.

Yeah, I'm feeling the squeeze. I didn't know what a "sail cat" was until recently - a feline that's been run over so many times that it's paper thin and will ... yep ... "sail" like a Frisbee - but I'm starting to know how the silly thing might feel. Not one load but many rolling over and over me, pushing, pushing, pushing. Flat as a pancake. Ground to powder. Crunched to mush.
It isn't the darkest, though, and I know it. There are a few bright spots. 1) With no electricity (no TV) and no car (escape), I'll be forced to do all the things on ToDo (darned batteries!). 2) The weather is cold enough that the food won't spoil (much). And 3) Pressure produces something else, too, something I not only relate to but that I actually aspire to:

Diamonds.

Oh yeah, I can do this.