The book fair is over. Where’s my corkscrew?

I was watching Modern Family on Wednesday, dying of laughter at what was referred to as “Satan’s Trifecta”, with Claire, Haley, and Alex all on the same “cycle”.  I laughed at poor Phil’s angst as I ate handful after handful of trail mix, wondering how I could possibly still be so hungry.  I wondered how, this week, I have been simultaneously exhausted yet unable to sleep, achy and tired and completely off my game.  I blamed it on the book fair, the minor case of the sniffles running through our house like a mildly annoying housefly, and the incredibly irritating personalities of others.  I did not blame it on myself.  I did not realize until a certain “aunt” came to “visit” much earlier than normal that there may have been something else going on.  Suddenly, it all made sense.

On a related note, a friend sent me an article entitled “Incompetent People Too Ignorant To Know It” which seems not only extremely accurate, but also extremely nerve-wracking.  Am I incompetent and unaware?  I don’t think so, but then, how would I know?  It’s enough to induce a breakdown of sorts, although the idea that stupidity breeds lack of awareness really does explain a lot about society.  Did I mention the book fair?

Speaking of breakdowns, Mark had one last night.  He was completely inconsolable because, he said, he was WAY BEHIND everyone in the class in math.  This struck me as very odd, since he is very good at math and also his teacher, a few days after we had returned from Maui, had assured me he was all caught up.  However, with the hysterical breakdown right in front of me, I wrote a note to the teacher and spoke with her prior to class, hoping to have a solution to the problem.  She was completely puzzled.  He wasn’t at all behind.  He missed a few worksheets when we were in Maui, but he scored very well on the unit test, and so she had given him the option to either a) forget about the missing pages, or b) complete them at his leisure.  Whichever option was fine with her.  Apparently Mark’s breakdown stemmed from his own standards, which were being compromised due to lack of time.  To say that he takes after his mother would be an understatement. 

Did I mention the book fair?

This week it seemed everyone was talking about Leap Day and the joy of having an extra day, which puzzles me.  It’s not really an extra day, is it?  It’s kind of like how we “gain” time during Daylight Savings.  It’s not really a gain, people.  Even if it is, somehow, an “extra day”, it’s an extra day in February, one of the bleakest months of the year!  Well, not for me, because I was on vacation, but I think most people would agree that February is, indeed, a bleak month.  This is not to say it isn’t fun to think of all those people who get an extra special Leap Year birthday – that’s kind of cool.  But then, I may be a little bitter since I spent Leap Day at the book fair for seven hours. 

There were some cool erasers, though:

For the rest of the day, I was singing “Don’t stop! Believing!  Hold on to that FEEEELLLINININGGG”.  My girlfriend who was volunteering with me that morning told me that her very first concert was Journey, which I thought was exciting and reminded me that MY very first concert was INXS.  The Devil Inside!  That was back in the day when you could see an excellent concert for under twenty dollars.  This also reminds me that The Grapes of Wrath – who I saw in concert for about twelve dollars and whose member Tom Hooper I had an astounding crush on – are rumoured to be GETTING BACK TOGETHER.  I’m a little nonplussed.  That just seems, for some reason, kind of depressing.  But maybe it’s just my current state of mind (“will you ever find your peace of miiiiinnnnndd?”).

My current state of mind being exacerbated by the fact that I spent all week in a windowless room staring at this scene, answering myriad questions regarding the price of various posters and erasers.  But that’s enough about the book fair.  I’m even boring myself.  This goes back to the original question, amended: are boring people too boring to know it?