the scariest thing EVER.

Yesterday, I come home from work. I'm tired, because my pal Sha was in town, and I decided to escort him to the Chinatown bus a few blocks from work at 6am. Then I worked for twelve hours, on little sleep. Not a good call. The mouse that's taken up residence in one corner of my room kept us up chewing on a plastic bag.

So anyhow, I show up and there's a show at our house about which nobody has informed me. I realize this when three manarchists on our front steps fail to move aside as I bring my bike into the house. Sigh. Ah, well. I'm not too terribly concerned as I'm on the third floor and there's reasonable sound insulation, but it's still punishingly hot.

I think to myself, "Self, we should take us a nap." set my cell phone alarm, climb into bed, and ten minutes later, the phone rings. Oh, it's Elly! I answer and say hello. Silence. Then, voices that are decidedly NOT Elly's are *screaming* in the background. There are crying voices, panicked voices, little kid voices, and no Elly. I keep saying "Hello?!?" at the top of my lungs, and keep listening until the phone hangs up on me. I call back to a jammed signal. I freak out and call Molly and Catherine, both of them roll to voicemail. WTF? I leave messages that they should tell me if Elly's OK. I keep calling Elly's number, and eventually she picks up and says "I was just in an accident. Can I call you back?" Needless to say, I couldn't sleep after that.

So as it turns out, she's OK, and the carload of people who ran into her are (we think?) OK, but the whole incident was more than traumatic for all involved, especially being on the anniversary of Katrina. Her car and theirs are not in good shape, though, and she's a little more than freaked about the whole thing. As was I. Our friend Ingrid eventually called to give an update as she was trying to sleep some. We spoke today and she sounded in better shape. What we realized happened is that her phone somehow auto-dialed me either during or right after the accident so she didn't know the phone was on, but I was busy hearing everything about it.

Yeesh, man. Being several thousand miles from people you care deeply about is hard enough, and I seem to do plenty of that...hearing them get into accidents is too much.

I don't normally do these sorts of things, but...

Big Bird You scored 70% Organization, 43% abstract, and 77% extroverted!

This test measured 3 variables. First, this test measured how organized you are. Some muppets like Cookie Monster make big messes, while others like Bert are quite anal about things being clean. Second, this test measured if you prefer a concrete or an abstract viewpoint. For the purposes of this test, concrete people are considered to gravitate more to mathematical and logical approaches, whereas abstract people are more the dreamers and artistic type. Third, this test measured if you are more of an introvert or an extrovert. By definition, an introvert concentrates more on herself and an extrovert focuses more on others. In this test an introvert was somebody that either tends to spend more time alone or thinks more about herself. You are very organized, both concrete and abstract, and more extroverted. Here is why are you Big Bird. You are both very organized. You almost always know where your belongings are and you prefer things neat. You may even enjoy cleaning and find it therapeutic. Big Bird is never sloppy and always under control... pretty good for a 6 year old bird living without a family. You both are sometimes concrete and sometimes abstract thinkers. Big Bird can be quite dreamy at times and has no problem using his imagination. At the same time he is also practical and can be methodical in his search for answers to questions. You have a good balance in your life. You know when to be logical at times, but you also aren't afraid to explore your dreams and desires... within limits of course. You are both extroverts. Big Bird gets along with everyone. He makes friends easily and always has a positive attitude. You definitely enjoy the company of others, and you don't have problems meeting new people... in fact you probably look forward to it. You are willing to take charge when necessary or work as part of a team. The other possible characters are Oscar the Grouch Bert Snuffleupagus Ernie Elmo Kermit the Frog Grover Cookie Monster Guy Smiley The Count If you enjoyed this test, I would love the feedback! Also if you want to tell me your favorite Sesame Street character, I can total them up and post them here. Perhaps your choice will win!

My test tracked 3 variables How you compared to other people your age and gender: You scored higher than 83% on Organization You scored higher than 26% on concrete-abstra You scored higher than 91% on intro-extrovert

Link: The Your SESAME STREET Persona Test written by greencowsgomoo on OkCupid Free Online Dating, home of the 32-Type Dating Test

every time a door opens

Another one shuts? Perhaps not. Well, this past Sunday I helped Elly to pack up her things and she headed off into the sunset, New Orleans-bound. It was a very teary-eyed packing adventure, and she left six hours later than she'd intended. Yargh. We've pretty much agreed that while we're technically broken up, we're both really fond of each other and must remain at minimum Very Good Friends.

Virtually overnight I find myself with more spare time than I've had since I was fourteen or so. Also, I'm single for the foreseeable future, also for the first time in 14 years. I hardly know what to do with myself! Hence, this blog entry. I'm starting slow. I have a lot of reading and calling people to catch up on, so I've started that. Yesterday I organized my closet extensively. I think this was a coping strategy, but there are worse ones, I figure.

My heart is thumping away, last iem I checked, but certainly a little knocked about.

coming up for air

After two insanely whirlwind years at USAS, I landed a job with a labor-affiliated community organization as a web manager. Whew! My schedule is little travel, nine-to-sixish, and I'm all of a few blocks from my old job. The concept of spare time hasn't exactly settled in yet, but I'm only in week two.

What does this mean? Hey, remember that time you called me? Yeah, that time three months ago? I think I'll be returning your call soon. In fact, I'll be returning your call and your email from a year ago and perhaps pro-actively calling the people who secretly gave up on hearing from me ever again.

It also means my return to the Bay is slightly delayed. It's a big deal, big money job, which is good because after two years of USAS I basically couldn't afford to move back. It also means I'll be taking over my parents' mortgage, or at least a big chunk of it. After my three month probationary period I'll even have vacation time and enough dough to come and visit!

This past weekend was the USAS national conference and I had negotiated the day off to go up and facilitate stuff. It was one of the better ones, but man I was wiped by the end of it. Traffic meant a five-hour trek from Philly to my doorstep, since I returned the car. Now everything is more voluntary -- although it'll be tough to quit USAS, and I will be supporting it from afar.

More soon, and I mean it this time.