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I have had a busy phon-a-licious morning! Today I have talked to my school's Financial aid department, Graduate school, Registrar's office, and the education loan company (Sallie Mae) for a sum total of about 2 hours. And I managed to only kind of sort be testy with one person. She said "Oh you're from (town name). I'm from there too" when I gave her my phone number to have someone call me back.

I said "Actually, I'm not from here. I live here now, but I'm from Boston. Hence the attitude about my having to deal with Financial Aid's mistakes." It's not that people in CT don't get annoyed, or that they don't get irritated easily. It's that they tend to hold it in, all clenched up and whatnot. Not so with someone where I'm from. Nope. And I've become not only aware of this cultural difference but aware that others are aware of it as well. I figured maybe she should know I'm not from Tightasswaspville CT so she could place my apparent level of irritation in the proper social context.

I consider this relatively mild, given my impatient mood and the numerous phone trees, hold music sessions, and gate keepers I had to talk to in order to fix a computer based error in my record. I think I am actually getting better about not blowing up on people who happen to stray into my warpath. Whoopie! If I keep this up, it could mean I won't be reincarnated as a dung beetle.