Following Directions

So I had this really "forward" thinking teacher in gradeschool. Don't ask me who she was, I have a bad time remembering if it was Ms. Estrada or Ms. Rocha...mostly cuz they all seemed short and they were all Mexican, and as anyone can tell you, WE ALL LOOK ALIKE. Besides, I was kinda being facetious about the "forward-thinking" bit :). When I think back about the way they taught me? I can remember some great yelling and arguing they had with our class. They were so young, so inexperienced. Don't you know people? Once you're in an argument with a child? You've lost! BIG TIME. I should know :).

Anyhow, one day she passed out a worksheet. Oh how I loved freshly mimeographed worksheets. It meant I could zip through it and be done and waste time or do something bad I knew I shouldn't, like talk to Carol, Vanessa, or maybe even Jennifer. Talking really is my downfall, I do talk, a whole lot. Just ask Andy, only, if he has that glazed look about him you'll have to poke him awake so he realizes it's you and not just more of me yapping away. Where was I?

Right, so this worksheet, it had really big, dark, purple letters telling the reader to FOLLOW ALL DIRECTIONS. 20/20 hindsight? I really should have majored in engineering or something, cuz me? Follow directions? Buahahahaha. I thought I'd give it a shot.

#1 said something like, read #2-10 before doing anything.

Ummm hmmmm, I thought as I sharpened my pencil and filed that one away in the place where all silly things like "instructions" ended up.

#2 write your name on the top left-hand corner.

What I should have done was um, read on to #3, right, su-u-u-u-re. So, of course I wrote my name on the top left-hand corner so I wouldn't, you know, forget to do it later or something. Yup, me and directions.

#3 circle #1

Yep, circled it

#4 Put a triangle around #6 (or something, I'm guessing)

But you're right if you're thinking I'd tossed out instruction #1 and went on down the line until #10 where it said something like: Now that you've read #1s 1-10, go back and follow the instructions in #s 1, 5, and 7. There should be no other marks on your paper.

This is what erasers are for, people! Cuz, um, that "learning my lesson" thingie? Tee hee, you're funny.

So, tell me this, I'm new to this whole "lots of dye in the wash water/add vinegar the first time the wool touches water" thing. Right, sound like directions don't they? Did I follow them? Ummmm, no. I do have an excuse though (when do I not?) I washed/blocked my Classy Slip-Up/Project Spectrum socks, finally, and they're drying in the garage. But, um, yeah, I didn't bother reading the PARAGRAPH of washing instructions that I just found on the ball band as I was getting ready to toss/file it.

It talks about some wool-wash (I use woolite, shoot me later) and two or more applications of the vinegar!! I did notice TONS of dye, mostly orange :), in the wash water. Is there an eraser for this? Can I go back and do the vinegar thing now or is it too late? I don't see them much lighter than they were pre-washing, but to be honest? I decided not to look all that closely in case that electric blue and all the other cool colors that first attracted me to that yarn had gone away, you know?

Maybe now, in 20 years later and after the fact? Yeah, maybe I'll start reading the directions all the way through. Until I forget and slip back into my usual ways of course. I am nothing if not stubborn.