YOU'RE SHOUTING!!!!

I don't have any control over the volume of my voice. I never have. My dad is the same way, he literally SHOUTS everything he says. It's hilarious to hear him talk on the phone because he YELLS so loud you find yourself thinking, "he doesn't even need to phone, I bet whoever he is talking to can hear him from here." Funny except that I am the same way. People have pointed this out to me. My best friend X's dad asked her if I had a hearing problem because of the way I SHOUT everything. I don't think I do, and I really don't notice the level of my voice. I know that the more excited I get, the LOUDER and LOUDER and LOUDER I get. I also move my hands and arms around A LOT and it's fairly common for me to jump and fling my legs and arms and dance around. I can't remember ever being different than that and while I think upon initial meeting, people stare and whisper hushed, "is she on something?" "does she have a mental disorder?", once people get to know me, they get used to my "normal" and find it charming.

Perhaps that is why I work at camp. At camp, EVERYONE SHOUTS EVERYTHING!! Kids are loud and big groups of kids are REALLY LOUD and so when you're in the dining hall, it's deafening, or when you are trying to get kids pumped up at the campfire, SCREAMING and jumping around wildly is all part of it. And camp people are all EXTREMELY EXCITED about EVERYTHING, so even when the kids are gone and camp is quiet, you will find the whole staff SHOUTING at each other and flailing their arms and using a lot of exclamation points!!!!!

But I'm not at camp anymore and I'm not surrounded by SUPER EXCITED people all the time, and so I find more people staring at me or saying, "I can hear you, you don't have to yell." I want to respond, "I'M NOT YELLING! YOU HAVE NO IDEA HOW MUCH LOUDER I COULD BE!!!!!" But I don't. I just sit quietly and dream of going back to the woods, singing songs and telling kids, "that was pretty good, but you can be MUCH LOUDER!!!!!!!", flinging my arms and going to bed with a sore throat.

Fan Error

When I left the office yesterday, I brought my laptop home with me because I was planning to do some more work in the evening. But when I got home and attempted to turn it on, it said, "fan error" and then shut down. It did that all 17 times I attempted to turn it on. I assumed it meant that I needed a new fan and I didn't completely freak out and assume my entire life's work, photos, and everything was gone, but I was still a little nervous about that possibility.

This morning, I woke up and immediately went to the store and bought an external hard drive. This is the second computer I've almost killed and it's about time I learned to back my work up. Then I spent the entire morning on the phone attempting to find someone who had the part for my type of computer and who could fix it like, immediately.

By noon I had located a place (just 30 or so miles away) and rushed out the door to get my computer fixed. After 20 minutes, the technician came out and said, "good news, you don't need a new fan. I found a fly in your fan, but when I removed him, it went back to working like normal." Apparently a rather large fly (he brought it out to show me) had gotten inside my computer. After leaving the front door of the house open all summer and having bugs fly around and then die on top of my computer every day, I have had to pop a few of the keys off my keyboard to dislodge bugs already, but I didn't think any had gotten inside.

$75 for labor + $5 for "fan repair" later, I am bug free and my computer turns on without any issue. And next summer I will keep the door closed or cover my computer. Lesson learned.