I babysat on Saturday night for a family that I regularly babysit for. The parents were hosting a party for about 50 or so people at their house, and needed me to get the kids out of the house from about 5pm on. I got there and the mother handed me the keys to her car, gave me money for dinner and told me to use her car to take the kids to Chuck E. Cheese. (The kids are 5 and 1 years old). Anyway, we get to Chuck E. Cheese, and find that not only are there about 400 people in the building (mostly children running around), but the AC has gone out. It is 95 degrees inside. I decide, based on the excitement of the 5 year old, to stay there anyway, despite the hot conditions. We eat pizza and play a few games when suddenly my cell phone rings. It's the mom. She has left party supplies in the trunk of the car and needs us to drive back to their house. (It's about 25 minutes back). By the time we unload the supplies at their house it's 7pm or so, but the kids need to be out of the house until at least 10pm (and even if we stay out that late, the party won't be over, and I'll have to entertain the kids in the confines of their parents' bedroom for an hour or so). I decide to take the kids to Triangle Town Center so we don't endure the heat at CEC again. The kids play at Curiosity Creek (a children's area with slides and other climable objects) for awhile. By 9pm, the shops are closing and the crowds are thinning out. We head to the car. I drive around for an extra forty minutes, hoping they'll both fall asleep. No such luck. We get to their house and are "banished" (and I use the term lightly here) to their parents' bedroom where we watch Barbie Nutcracker. (my all-time favorite movie---- NOT). At this point, I have been informed that their dad drove himself to the emergency room around 6pm with gallbladder problems and that I'll be needed until about midnight. That's fine with me. Around midnight, the party has ended and the mom has joined her husband at the hospital. He's fine, she calls to say, but they are going to do a CT scan so it'll be another hour or so. The kids finally get to bed ten minutes after midnight, and I watch a little CNN until the parents come home at 2am. I'm exhausted, and knowing I won't hit the pillow until after three isn't comforting. I have to be up and out of the house early that morning to babysit for someone else. But it's okay. Extenuating circumstances can't be helped. It was an interesting night to say the least. [Note: the night before, I had also babysat for this family until almost midnight, and the next day I would babysit for another family with a 4-year-old and a 2-year-old for five hours. It was a babysitting-marathon.]

AP exam scores are in. That's a very good thing. I thought I would be crushed by my scores--- I'm actually thrilled. Now, I'm waiting for my school schedule to come in the mail, and of course continuing the never-ending college search. . . soon to be followed by endless applications, essays, 'n such. Something to look forward to.