The Red Sox are losing...

...and the good mood I was in yesterday has gone the way of the sunshine.

It's raining like cats and...well...really hard tonight. We had tornado sirens going off and everything. I confess that seeing all the facebook status updates about friends hunkering with their families in hallways and basements made me sad that I was by myself for the weather drama. Storms are more fun when they are shared.

Remember how I said I had plans for moving? Nix those, thanks to my current "landlord" (which is a massive management company; I knew I'd pay for selling out to the man at some point). Breaking my lease, they inform me, requires me to pay another 4 months of rent. This despite the fact that I have been a superb tenant for 4 YEARS...yes FOUR YEARS, and they recently filled my building with college-aged boys who smoke, blast their music and pee in the bushes. And lets not forget that for 4 months I couldn't walk down the sidewalk because they wouldn't trim those bushes. Grrrrr...

Anyway, today was a tough day for much more important reasons. My Leadership Fayetteville class had "Social Services" day; I have dubbed the day "Be glad your life doesn't suck" Day. Amid the tear-jerking stories of homelessness, poverty and disabilities, we visited a house for children age 18 months to 6 years who are the victims of sexual and physical abuse. Sitting at their little tables to share lunch, chatting with them about costumes and their opinions on pizza, feeling like a giant person in the face of that tininess, I got swept into just how precious and vibrant those kids are. It wasn't until I was on the bus leaving that I truly internalized why they were there; someone ABUSED them. Barely more than a foot tall, brimming with cuteness, and some asshole man or woman hurt them. In moments like that, I wonder why we consider ourselves to be the superior race.

Later, we visited a Women's Shelter and were informed that 1 in 5 people (women? I'm not sure) are the victims of abuse. There were 9 women in the room. We were all doing the math.

And the Red Sox are STILL losing. I think it's time for me to call it a day.