Nine Mistakes I Made This Week

[Gustav 6,468]

I've been doing a lot of thinking lately about lots of things, and I'm a little bit salty today because I thought I had early weekend plans and found out that everyone I had those plans with not only went and forgot about those plans but also went and made other ones that have nothing to do with me. Which, I think, can trigger a few fair thoughts at once:

 

• I was told this was an accident, apologized to, and asked if I want to do things next week. Unfortunate things can happen, I value my friends, and I still believe that I am valued too.
• Though I'll stick to thinking about this myself, I have the right to be disappointed tonight. My early weekend plans are now to have some beer and watch some baseball, and I'm annoyed that that isn't as fun as it is normally.
• Why am I such a despicable human being?

 

To plumb that last point to its deepest possible extent, I thought that I should think of some things that I have been at fault for recently, so I can take some accountability and move forward as not only a better person but also probably one that people won't forget about. If I were to pick from a hypothetical group of people who I would want around, could I confidently say that I would be picking myself? My experience tonight has shown me that lots of people might not. And as exciting as some of those other plans may have been, I do feel that I am capable of bringing lots of good things to many different environments. So, to those who may not have thought about me tonight, I'd like to present a handful of things I've done wrong.

 

I have made about nine or so mistakes that I can think of pretty recently. Most of these nine mistakes have happened while I am at work at the job that I am paid to do by a higher authority. And perhaps the VHL might be able to think of nine (or so) mistakes that they have made in recent memory as well, perhaps also at some of the jobs that they are paid to do.

 

1. Sometimes, rinsing out a piece of lab glassware with soap and water doesn't get everything off of it. Anything that's touched a chemical that likes to stick to glass gets put in a solution called a base bath to sort of chemically force it off--but things aren't supposed to stay in there for too long. I forgot to take things out of the base bath this morning--silly me!
2. I want to get trained on how to use one of the instruments owned by my department, but I screwed up the paperwork and got a confused email from our HR-equivalent. I guess I'll have to do better next time!
3. One of my coworkers left for good this week, so we had a going-away party with some funny pictures loaded up on a slideshow. One of my contributions was a Photoshopped picture of a painting of the Last Supper with my coworker as Jesus and the rest of us as some of the Apostles. It turns out that I wasn't paying much attention to who was who and accidentally made one of us Judas! Perhaps I should read up on these things.
4. I was supposed to call up the resource center so we could rent something fun for an event we're planning next month--but forgot. I still have some time, but I hope I didn't let people down!
5. I'm trying to find ways to make a chemical that would be very helpful to what I'm doing, and the only places I've been able to find anything on this have been in a collection of patents from Japan. I spent most of yesterday complaining that I didn't know how to read any of these, before I ended up saving myself lots of time by just finding them in English. I sure wish I had that time back!
6. The circumstances of this week have led me to have not many days where I'm responsible for my own lunch at work, so I decided that I didn't need to cook this week. That's led to me eating like garbage on the days where I should be taking a little responsibility for what I eat, too. So even though I've been good at exercising anyway, I don't really feel like it. Maybe I should learn some balance.
7. I got roped into taking some dance classes. It's been more fun than I thought it would be and I've learned lots of things that I never would have otherwise. But with no experience with these things whatsoever, I wasn't very good at it this week and felt bad for the people whose steps I mixed up. I suppose some practice would be nice!
8. I've been to bed too late every night this week and spent all of every next day tired at work. There's never been a reason why I couldn't have gone to bed on time, meaning that this is my fault. I suppose I could be working on this.
9. Today I parked in a space that I didn't know would charge me for the whole day rather than giving me options for time spent in that space (like just about anything else in the area does). I chose to just accept this when I saw the charge rather than getting back in the car and moving, just because I'm lazy. But some of that money is money that I wish I didn't spend. Maybe I should be more responsible!

 

There are nine mistakes I've made this week! It took me a while to think of all of those, so maybe it's really difficult to make nine mistakes. I'm not sure if, or how, the VHL might be able to relate to this. But perhaps the VHL can see why I'm such a piece of shit that no one wants, and perhaps some who find themselves in the position of ignoring others might be able to reflect on that and imagine that perhaps they may have made mistakes in their own lives as well, whether at the jobs that they are paid to do or just in general. Maybe, if one were to make nine (or so) mistakes, that could be taken as an opportunity for self-improvement.

 

Spoiler

 

For some of our more overly sensitive, yes, this is a joke.