disgust.

This afternoon, in the store, an elderly woman came in to have a look around, and once she was done, sat in a chair by the door.

After an hour I asked her if she was alright. She told me that her family had gotten tired of having to wait for her because she walked slowly, and had sent her into my store to have a look around while they shopped elsewhere. They had told her that they would meet her in my store when they were finished. She said that should could probably go out looking for them, but that the mall looked all the same to her and she was afraid to leave the store and get lost.

An hour-and-a-half later I was getting angry at a family, asked the woman her last name, and had Bryan send a page out to the mall to get the family to come to our store and collect their grandmother.

Twenty minutes later, they showed up. The mother of the family walked into the store and (honest-to-goodness truth) yelled at the little old lady for having paged them when they were "right down the aisle". They walked out of the store still arguing, and, once outside, the couple continued to scold the older woman while their teenage children watched.

I hope, when the mother is her mother's age, that she is blessed with children exactly like herself.

Bryan sent me on a break then, I think because of what happened, because he told me that when I came back from my break I needed to look less disgusted.

There is no respect in America for the elderly. And what a terrible example for the children who watched.

sunday worries.

I'm not sure what to say today. I'm pretty tired. I'd really like a day off, but I'm liking what I'm doing and I don't realize that I'm tired until nighttime when I get into bed. Or at about 6 am when I have to get up.

I've been running. I'm following a training program online. You know I got some new running shoes and I've been following the Nike plan online to get back into running. I'd really like to be able to do something with that. And it's a nice way to start the day: it wakes me up and makes me feel like I'm still a little bit in shape and doesn't make me feel so bad about eating smores or anything like that.

The lab is okay. Hard to believe that we only have three short weeks left. Feels like we could use about a year more, we're just now getting started. It's not really our fault or the fault of our advisor. We came across some problems and then we had to keep restarting our experiment and we can only DO the experiment when the fish lay eggs and blah blah blah. The whole nine yards.

I've been trying to take care of myself. Drinking my milk and taking my vitamins and getting some sleep.

Money is starting to be something I'm worrying about every day. I've been working a lot and trying not to buy too much, but I'm afraid because it seems like my paychecks aren't as amazing as I'd like them to be. And I have a list of things I need to get for school in the fall that I've started looking for since I'll only be in Erie for 2 days in August. I finally caved and got a new white cardigan. The one I had was mine since I think about the ninth grade and it was getting a little dingy and JCrew had them on sale so I figured it was about time to start looking nice again in a white sweater. We also had those ribbed sort of cotton tank tops on sale. They were $4.97 on clearance, so the clearance price took 30% off and then I got ANOTHER 30% off of that for my employee discount. They ended up being like a dollar and some cents. You can't even get them that cheap at Walmart. So I got six. I'll wear them for running and to class and in the summertime. But anyway, I'm worried. And I don't want to come to the end of the summer and (if it happens, which I'm not sure it will) not have enough money to cover everything and still owe a little going into the school year. Thankfully, I'll have a job (or two) during the year, so if that happens to be the case, it's fixable. But I'm nervous.

Hope all is well in Erie. We've FINALLY been getting some summery weather down here.

I'll try to call soon. Dad, I'm so sorry about forgetting to call back the other night. And today after work I had to stop at the grocery store again and get some yogurt because I have cankor sores really bad and by the time I got back I thought you'd be in bed. I will try my darndest to call Tuesday afternoon/evening. Tomorrow I have to work at JCrew again after the lab.

Tuesday should be fun. Stephen and I are taking Dr. Gribble out to lunch as an early thank-you for everything this summer. She's been great. I can't wait to have her for class now.

Okay, time to sleep. Up at six tomorrow to run. I'll be fine. I just need sleep and reassurance that everything's going to work out, that everything's going to be okay.

wednesday.

Nothing much going on today. Went running this afternoon as it was gorgeous outside and then Stephen and I played tennis.

I've decided that I'd like to make it my goal to run a marathon by the time I'm 25 years old. I think that's doable, and it'd give me something to run for and a reason to be disciplined about it. Grandpa Charlie ran marathons and I'd like to continue that tradition, if only for just one time.

Tomorrow I'm having a haircut. I'm very excited.

Stephen, Dr. Gribble, and I are going to head down to Pittsburgh for lunch next week. My birthday will be coming up and Dr. Gribble's birthday is on the 28th, so we'll be going to Nakama's (the sushi place) for lunch to celebrate and also as a thank-you to Dr. Gribble for working with us this summer.

Dr. Gribble mentioned off-hand today about wanting to work with us again next summer. Stephen says that he probably won't do it because he'd rather have a clinical internship or shadowing position, but I might be interested, especially because our research is just now taking off and we keep discovering things that don't have to do with our project. Example: today we found out that at a particular concentration, the fish' ears don't form. This creates problems with balance and the fish are forced to swim in circles because they don't know which way is up. SO interesting, and SO worth studying, but not at all relevant to our research for this particular summer...

I'm pooped. I asked for more hours at JCrew, and boy did I ever get them. I have tomorrow and Thursday off, and it'll be nice to get things wrapped up in the lab without rushing and get in to bed at a decent hour.

Updates:

I've started running again. When do I have time to run? In the mornings. I get up at six.

I'm going to start trying to go to mass in the mornings on any days that I DON'T work at JCrew. Otherwise it's just too much for me.

I have a haircut on Thursday! My hair is getting a little unruly. I'm going to get it pretty short I think, shorter than now even. Shorter because: One, it's too hot for it to be hanging in my face all summer. Two, I have to keep pinning it back in the lab so I don't burn or corrode it off. Three, I like getting haircuts. I'm a little nervous because all the haircutting places in Grove City seem a little shady, and this one I only picked because it's within walking distance of my house. I'm going to take a picture and show them what I want. We'll see if they get it right. If not, there's another hair cutting place four doors up the street. I'll go there the next time.

Finally, I may be in Erie on Friday the 24th of July. Torrie, Katie, and Ashley want to take me out on the town for my birthday and Torrie has dubbed the 24th as the day of choice. I'm still not sure I actually want to go, but asked for the day off anyway. Even if I don't end up going, maybe Stephen and I can catch a movie here or something.