Late nights, early mornings, long days and wrong shoes

I am exhausted and my body hurts. There is not enough time in the day to get everything done, especially this week. Monday night I had a midterm; it was three, 2-page essay questions and a 1-page bonus essay. Dr. R thought we could answer each question in a half hour and be out of there by 8. I'm glad she didn't hold us to time. In my effort to be complete, my essays went over two pages and I had to ask for a second blue book. My hand hurt. I also stopped to talk to someone on the way out, so it was after 9 when I left, which is normally what time we get out of class. No biggie.

Usually on Tuesdays I can sleep in, but not yesterday. I had to be back at school at 8 a.m. for a meeting regarding a group project. That means leaving the house by 6:30. Unfortunately this week is a lot of early mornings just to fit everything in.

Yesterday I went to lunch with my friends G and R; we walked to a Chinese restaurant across from the university. For whatever reason, G decided to cut across the grass and go down a muddy hill -- the closest point/straight line theory I guess. I was wearing these open-toe slip-ons and my feet got caked. R laughed and said no one would notice because no one did when I wore different shoes.

A couple of weeks ago it was a busy Thursday morning and I went to slip on a pair of shoes. I have two open toe-shoes I like, one is black with two straps and one is navy with one. I put on the navy shoes, or so I thought. Once I got to campus I looked down at my feet as I walked to my office and noticed I was wearing two different shoes. One navy and one black. I was mortified. Just the day before I left my work clothes at home when I drove down to work out with my trainer at the campus gym; I ended up doing a short workout and driving an hour back home, getting ready, and driving an hour back. I might have cancelled class if I didn't have guest speakers.

But here it was the next day and two different shoes. There wasn't enough time to go home and get shoes. I knew Doug couldn't bring me the right shoe. I was embarrassed, but I decided I just had to live with it. Once in my office, R came in to visit. I pointed it out to him my two different shoes, but he said he hadn't noticed. Later, I taught and had a guest speaker, so I didn't stand the entire time in front of the 55 students. That night I had class, but we sit around a conference table and no one can see my feet. I went the entire day, at least 9 hours, and no one said anything about my mismatched shoes. I didn't have to die from mortification!

Until yesterday. I worked to get the mud off my shoes, but there is always a residue. At least they matched. As the students arrived, one of the girls who sits on the front row noticed the shoes and asked what happened. I explained, making the comment how no one noticed when I wore two different shoes the other week. "Oh, I did," said one girl. "I thought you were just doing it to see if someone noticed." Yeah, I'm doing an ethnographic study...I don't think so. "I noticed too," the first girl said. Evidently my students did notice but just didn't say anything. I was so embarrassed to think that everyone saw my fashion faux pas. Obviously I am just too exhausted to pick the correct shoes.