Thanks everyone. I'm just playing the waiting game now to see if it gets better or worse.

So, there's a woman who's totally willing to write a recommendation letter for me, except that, well, apparently I should write it. And then she can make some edits and sign it.

I cannot tell you how extremely uncomfortable that makes me. Any ideas about how to write my own recommendation letter?

Oh Em, I'm so sorry. I've known other people who have done that as well, and I think it sucks.

It's not actually uncommon, Emily. But I'd hate to have to do it.

I can't beleive they didn't tell people and just let them assume.

When I left old job, they told me not to tell anyone, and then they sent out an email like the day before saying that my last day would be tomorrow.

By then, I had already gone ahead and told a bunch of people (after a while, in addition to awkward, it just gets rude - "um, sure I'll talk with you about that project next week..."), but I have to think it was at least in part to create the impression that I was being fired. It wouldn't be out of character for that place.

"I have known Emily for about a year, and wowza! She's, like, the greatest teacher ever! You should totally hire her if you get a chance."

Damn, that's freaking lazy, Em.

Is she a co-worker?

Kristin, here's -ma for for grand-ma. What's Robo-virus? Staph? I remember my grammy getting that from her hospital stint; it's so unfair. You go in the hospital to get RID of illness -- it's not supposed to be 2 fer 1!

"STAPH -- The Only Thing You'll Ever Get From A Hospital For Free."

That sucks, Emily. I hate writing things about myself, but writing something about yourself that is supposed to have been written by someone else has to be difficult. Good luck.

I soaked some horribly stained stuff in OxyClean the other day, and it was amazing. I was pretty sure I was going to have to throw the stuff out.

Yeah, remember the bloody pants? I soaked them in Oxyclean, and it came right out.

I cannot tell you how extremely uncomfortable that makes me. Any ideas about how to write my own recommendation letter?

Oh Em, I'm so sorry. I've known other people who have done that as well, and I think it sucks.

I don’t think so. In fact, when the person says yes, I say “I took the liberty of drafting something for you to work with” and they always seem grateful. It allows me to let the recommender know the things about me that are important to the person that I’m being recommended to. Also, makes it more likely that the recommender will get it taken care of. Plus, if you include minute details about how the recommender knows you, it allows the person who read the recommendation to assume that you made a huge impression on the recommender :) Of course, I have no issue with shameless self promotion, so perhaps that’s why I don’t mind.

Em, I’m happy to draft some bare bones for you if you tell me who’s recommending and what it’s for

I add Oxyclean to every load of laundry. I've had to switch to totally unscented everything recently when it comes to laundry, because the smell of the fabric softner, etc left on the clothes was starting to aggravate my asthma.

Gram's going back to the hospital. She's dehydrated and her fever's up. They're hopeful that hydrating her and getting her fever down will be relatively easy.