Okay. I have found myself once again lacking in my blogging duties. So in no particular order (well, maybe in order of when it happened from earliest to most recent), here's what's happening with me. It's long. So read when you are either a.) bored as balls; b.) procrastinating; or c.) have absolutely nothing better to do.

THE JEEP ACCIDENT UPDATE:

So yes, I have begun the motions of contesting the claim. I'll explain further, keep reading.

I AM PERSONALLY INJURED
Turns out that when I went to my regularly scheduled Chiropractic appointment, the doctor was like, "Wait, whoa. You were in a car accident? Well, we need to run some tests before I adjust you, let's check everything out."

Turns out that my lower back is almost doubly worse than when I first walked into his office three weeks before the accident and that my neck, which is supposed to be slightly curved and in a straight line, is not curved much at the base and not in a straight line head on. Neat.

So he says to me, "You need to call the insurance company and start a personal injury claim. Your HMO won't let me throw all my tools at you to help you out, but the auto insurance will because it's stemming from the accident - you weren't this bad when you first walked in."

Indeed, I've been in my lumbar pain and upper back and neck stiffness in the past two weeks.

So now I get three massages a week to work on my sore muscles before my adjustment.

Rough, I know.

But I'm in so much pain, it's helping a lot.

RETAINING A LAWYER
My chiropractor then suggested an attorney for me to speak with. So I explain the whole thing, he asks a few questions and then says, "Well, I believe that we have enough to reverse the blame. In fact, I'm fairly sure you have a very very good shot."

Neat.

So I ask him how much this will set me back. He asks, "You got my name from your chiropractor, right? Are you injured?"

I explain the x-rays and my lower back and neck.

"Well," he answers, "I'm sure we'll get the blame off of you based on the pictures and from what happened that then we'll move to a personal injury claim. It's my hope that you won't have to worry about me once we settle."

I guess I'm suing someone. Yippie-kai-yay. I'm torn. But if it means that I might have a shot at paying off some debts or even part of my car, then I suppose I will give it a shot.

THE DAMAGE
Based on what they could see, the damage to my vehicle is over a cool $5,300. When they start tearing it apart, they might find more, along with extensive damage to the underside of the passenger side when I went over the boulder. They thought it would take two weeks to fix. It took a week and a half to get the parts. So I won't get the baby back anytime soon.

I HAVE PROOF
So besides working the accident out logistically in my head and remembering everything that happened, it turns out that I have proof. Not only is the Rascals owner providing me with the pictures he took that morning (he was utterly and speechlessly surprised that I was the one ticketed because he knew the guy hit me in the shoulder - ha!), but I took pictures with my trusty cellphone of the skid marks still visible in the shoulder. Take a quick look below. You can see where he hit me - where the tracks overlap. And they are clearly in the shoulder, not in the lane.


If you look really hard, you can see the skids. Keep looking.

WANNA KNOW WHAT'S FUNNY ABOUT BEING TICKETED IN THIS ACCIDENT?
Not too damn much. But we're talking about me here. I managed to find something bladder bustingly funny when I took a closer inspection of the ticket from the Trooper.

Turns out that I'm White! And a Hispanic Female!

Under Race, she checked "White." Under Ethnicity, she checked "Hispanic."

I suppose that one could make the argument that since I am a Filipina that because the Spanish invaded my country for 300 years, that might make me Hispanic. Hell, my last name before I took my step-fathers was Spanish. My great-grandmother used to speak primarily in Spanish?

Or you could just ask me. Because I understand. I get it a lot. Just don't make assumptions. It makes an ass out of you and

...umption.

Moving on.

SKETCHY McSKETCHERTON
So this dude that I hit. Not even his car. Registered to someone else. I don't know who it is. Can't even tell if it's a he or a she based on the name the Trooper supplied me with.

But he's totally Sketchy McSketcherton now.

Today - two weeks after the accident - almost at the exact time I filed the claim after the accident - I call the insurance company to make sure everything is kosher, I don't have to fill out anything, etc. Since they did such a bang-up job with my personal injury claim (that's a long story that doesn't need repeating). And she tells me that the dude-that-hit-me's insurance company closed his end of the claim.

I'm confused. She explains.

"Well, according to the file, he hasn't contacted the company since the accident and the insurance company can't get a hold of them. So they closed the claim."

Buhscuse me?

So I pull out my Accident Folder (I'm anal retentive) and relay all the information on him as I can. The Trooper supplied us both with each other's information. And apparently I'm the only one who has it, not even the insurance company.

So...

It somewhat makes me nervous, but not really. Because I am doing everything I'm supposed to. If - no - WHEN I get the fault in this accident overturned, the insurance company can go after their insurance company for all they've got. I refuse to pay more in my insurance because I GOT HIT. I refuse to get points added to my license because I GOT HIT. And hell, I'm not paying a deductible because I'M NOT AT FAULT.

So that is what's happening with my accident. Craziness.

FENG SHUI FOR THE COMPUTER WIDOW

So the last show of The Cardboard Box Collaborative's inaugural season came and went. And it was fun. It was not without its share of mishaps, but in the end, everyone who came to see it really enjoyed it. We got some KICK-ASS karaoke in and managed to go to the sauna unintentionally (the place had no air-conditioning). On top of it, we made new friends, got to eat sushi all the time, and learned some new things. And we laughed. Much. And often. And really, that's all that is necessary for a good experience.

I OFFICIALLY MISS NEW YORK

So after being kidnapped by Jessica a few weeks ago after the Coro Dinner, I came to the realization that I really am absolutely not done with the Big Apple yet.

See, I was worried that I might be. That I would never want to go back. But no worries, my New York friends that read this - if any of you do. Because I miss the city like I would miss my arm if it was cut-off from me. This much has become apparent to me - and more.

SHOWING THE GIRLS AROUND MY HOME
But let me explain the last time I was in NYC - just last week - with my coworkers.

So being a gracious host, I found it difficult to call everyone that I wanted to when I was in the City. For this, I apologize to anyone that I didn't get to see - and it was a many people. It was just so crazy and hectic - and in trying to make sure that my coworkers were having a good time - I just plum found it hard to connect with everyone I wanted to. I will change this though, since I plan to go up and only see the people that I haven't yet.

But anyway, I digress.

A month or so ago, my coworkers and I spent an unholy amount of money for these fantastic seats to the Yankees/Pittsburgh game. We're talking behind home plate. Yeah.

So Jackie wanted to get a hotel room. I decided that after spending that much money on the tickets that I should try to find someone willing to put up three people. I very soon decided against that - didn't want to overburden anyone with three bodies taking up space in their apartment. So I offered to use my Hilton Honor Points from Iowa and Seattle that I racked up.

So we booked a free hotel room the night before the game so that we could really enjoy ourselves. The hotel was SWEET. Embassy Suites in Battery Park, right across from the Irish Hunger Memorial. Amazing. And highly recommended for people who want to find a nice hotel in Manhattan.

HOTTER THAN BALLS UNDER THE STARS
A few days before leaving, I got an email from my good friend, Mai. Turns out she had VIP tickets to "Broadway Under the Stars." So I readily accepted.

We sat very close to the stage on a huge blanket, enjoying cheese and wine. Christina Applegate looked fantastic. We didn't know some of the songs (it was a tribute show with Broadway Men as the theme) but we had a good time anyway.

It was also ridiculously hot and humid and no breeze and thousands of New Yorkers. You know what I mean. We were sweating just sitting there. It might have been the wine. But it was hot.

In fact, during the first number, the lights went out. I thought something might be wrong. They were filming it for broadcast later in the week. The Rockettes kept dancing through the lights being out - we could see what they were doing. Afterwards, Christina was like, "Wasn't that great? Let's see that again!"

We all laughed.

And then she said, "No, seriously. As you can see, the lights have gone out, so we're going to need to redo that so that we can re-film. So hang tight."

So we did. We were all talking amongst ourselves. Christina was still on stage. Someone shouted, "Dance, Christina!" She shuffled a did a little step. Clearly, all of them on stage were laughing and having a good time. Someone in the crowd yelled, "Kelly Bundy!" She didn't seem to respond. Someone yelled, "I love you, Christina!" She replied, "I love you back" into the microphone.

I was rapidly searching my brain. See, I heart Christina Applegate because I heart "The Sweetest Thing." That movie cracks me up - and her especially. So I was trying to find a line that she said for me to shout out to her so that she would recognize a "Sweetest Thing" fan. I wanted to yell, "Look, it's Jesus!" but I was afraid I'd offend someone. Then I was about to yell, "What's up with you?" When the lights went back on.

So a few days later, I mention this to some friends who heart the movie and ask for things I should have shouted out. It took us a while. We had to find the right quote that wasn't too crazy or vulgar to yell. It was Narco who finally hit, "Do we have time for a movie montage?"

Damn. I should have thought of that. Oh well. I'll just have to see Sweet Charity and try it when she comes out of the stage door.

I FORGOT HOW NON-EXPENSIVE SOME PLACES IN NEW YORK ARE WHEN YOU'RE DRINKING
In my accident week, all I wanted was a drink. I didn't have one until after Broadway Under the Stars. We decided to go to a place close to Bryant Park with air conditioning. One of the former Coro's suggested a place his friends work at. So we went.

Three shots and four or five drinks later, I was ready to head back to the hotel with Jackie and Sarah. Needless to say, all of us were feeling just fine. We had enough sense to call the front desk for a late check out. And late check out we did.

We checked out at 1:30 in the afternoon, grabbed brunch at Lalo's and got stuck in traffic showing the girls around the town. We parked in a garage and headed to the 4 at 86th Street.

THE BRONX BOMBERS AND HAPPINESS
To cap the end to a very trying week, I was elated to go to the Yankees game. Especially with the seats we had. It was me and Jackie and Sarah and my good friend, Vivian (from my McCall days and just a big a Yankee fan as I am).

I think I almost cried when we came through the tunnel to get to our seats. It was amazing. We were in the VIP section where they served food to you. Sure, I spent an arm and a leg and had to wait until the 6th inning to get my food, but really, it was fantastic.

I won't say too much. I'll let the pictures speak for themselves. This is how freaking close we were. We watched Mussina pitch a complete shut-out, Matsui hit a home run in the first inning, Giambi turn the jeers into cheers with a double hit, A-Rod warming up, Derek Jeter just being there, Sheffield's crazy waving bat, Robbie Cano stroke one to the outfield, Posada doing his thing, and Tino Martinez come into the game. Even Ruben Sierra made an appearance. It was AMAZING. I don't think that I can ever go to Yankees Stadium again. Because I'm going to want those seats everytime. Someday...


The view from our seats.


A-Rod warming up.


Taking the field.


Derek Jeter.


A-Rod on deck.


I heart you, Tino Martinez!


Finally, the girls. Me, Jackie, Sarah, and Vivian.

That is my update. I hope you've enjoyed it. Please keep coming back. I will be much better at this. At the least, I will try once a week. Cheers.

THE SHITTIEST MONDAY IN RECENT MEMORY

So coming off of our opening weekend for Feng Shui in Philly, I found myself having the shittiest Monday in recent memory.

You see, it's just a little over a year to the day that I traded in my old Donkey (Subaru Impreza) for a 2003 pretty-damn-near-new Jeep Liberty I have named "The Gorilla" (you can ask me why in the comments).

This would all be fine and good.

Except that I got into a car accident today.

My baby is broken.

It was 9:30 in the morning and I was coming back from Lindsay's with Hucklebees - literally less than three miles away from my house. I was going to drop off the cat and my bags and go straight into work.

Well I'm at the turn to get into my neighborhood - a turn I've made hundreds of times. And as I'm approaching, I notice there's an unusual amount of traffic going north on Route 13, which is what I have to crossover to get into my neighborhood.

Route 13 is a three lane road. It's like a big boulevard - cement dividers between north and south - and special turn-offs for u-turns or left turns. You get the idea.

Anyway, there's a ridiculous amount of trucks and motor homes and trailers attached to trucks coming from the south. Apparently there was a NASCAR race in Dover I was unaware of. Either way, it made for a lot of traffic.

Now generally speaking, most Delaware drivers find themselves on the wrong side of dumb, as Narco would say. I was waiting at the stop sign to go straight across Route 13 for maybe ten minutes. Seriously. I was behind this woman who was making a left turn. Cars were waving her to go. She wouldn't. So I pull up along side of her on her right - many of us do this when we are trying to go straight at this stop sign when we are behind someone going left. If she wasn't going to take advantage of the nice people waving her through, I sure as hell was going to.

Now I should mention that there's a stop light about 100 yards to my right. Basically, the traffic going north on 13 was stopped at this red light and these cars noticed we were trying to either go straight or make a left turn and to their credit, were leaving us space to go. So I slowly start to go forward. I'm giving the obligatory wave to the two cars who have stopped and as I approach the trailer attached to the truck in the third row farthest away from the stop sign and closest to the street I was trying to get onto, I hesitated for a second. I inched forward for a second, counted to three, and then hit the gas gently to get past the truck.

It was at this point that there was suddenly a loud thud and my wheel went to the right. Realizing I was in the process of getting hit, I jerked the steering wheel to the left a little. My reflexes were good, except that I ended up hitting the gas a bit instead of the brake. In hindsight, this was a good thing and I'll explain that. But at the time, I ended up going over a nicely landscaped curb, felt the jeep going over a boulder in the nicely landscaped curb, and trying desperately not to hit the street sign or the "Rascals" sign for the restaurant that shares this curb. Turns out I landed just into a soft patch on the grass, but plummeted my car right before the landscaping got to include bushes and more rocks.

Now I'm pretty shaken, I turn to check on the cat, who is okay - turn off my car, grab my insurance, and walk out of the car. The driver of the other car is pretty shaken. His airbag had deployed and he was a little confused. I asked if he was okay. After he said yes, I started to call 911. A guy walked over to us and asked if we were okay - he had heard the crash from down the street and ran to make sure no one was hurt. That was nice of him. He stayed for a little bit to make sure we were okay.

It's at this point I realize the other driver has bruises along his arm and a cut knee. The impact of him hitting the airbag must have been pretty hard.

It's also at this point that I look at the front of my car. You'll see pictures below. My heart sank. I was also a little pissed. I could only think of my insurance at the cost, I'll have to admit.

It's fixable, though. I think.

So to make a very long story short, the state troopers didn't come for about an hour or so. So I sat there with the other driver. He was okay. He was from Philly. He was trying to call his daughter to pick him up. He was very nice. We agreed it was just an accident - we didn't see each other over the trailer - hey, shit happens. He said he wasn't going to sue me or anything. I said "Thanks." I should have said "I won't either." But I'll get to that.

So the trooper finally gets there to take all of our information. This is where the story gets bogged down in details. What is important is that I told her the story as I told all of you just now - a truncated version, though. Basically, he was in the lane closest to us and I had hesitated, I thought I had it clear and the next thing I knew, I was on this grassy and landscaped embankment.

The Rascals owner came out and took pictures and then told me that the county has enough to put a light there, they just won't. And he doesn't care about the property, he cares about people getting hurt. Apparently, two years ago, I guy flipped over his car and two weeks ago, some guy moved a huge bolder twenty feet with his car for the same reason. So he was saying that he was glad everyone was okay and that they need to put a traffic light there because it was so dangerous - it happened all the time.

Um.

So she takes the info as I'm calling my insurance and all that blah crap. She calls two tow trucks - very necessary. Had I slammed on my brakes at impact, I might have flipped over the Jeep. Okay. So I'm at least alive and fine. Then I get really upset. Why?

Because the other driver said he was in the lane, not on the shoulder. Which is an understandable mistake - people use that shoulder all the time as a lane. He had mentioned to me that he had pulled off to get a hot dog at the place next to rascals on his way home.

Of course, he had no cash and no cards on him, so I don't know how he was going to accomplish such a thing, but this is another story.

So I am the one who is at fault, according to the trooper. Failure to yield at a stop sign. Which is crap since I was stopped at it for ten minutes and was going because the cars had waved me through. This, of course, does not occur to me until the tow truck arrives and after Jackie and Sarah pick me and Hucklebee up and I'm at home and starting to piece it all together again.

I get a $50 fine. I had started to piece it together when the trooper was there, I asked her if the lane closest to us was a lane or a shoulder. She said a shoulder. Okay. I didn't quite put it together, but I was pretty damn sure at that moment that he was in the shoulder and not the lane.

I ask her about points on the license. She says it might be one or two points. She is really apologetic - she didn't want to have to place blame in the situation - at least that's the feeling I got. She said, "You don't have any points on your license, do you?" I said, "No. I've been in very very small accidents before this and no points were given." She looked really sympathetic and shrugged and said, "I'm really sorry."

So here's my dilemna: I am pretty damn sure that my account is correct. I very clearly remember waving to two cars in the first two lanes because I did it after I had passed the first car and wondered if the first car saw me. I was slowing down past the truck. If I'm correct, that's three lanes. In which case, I was blindsided on the shoulder. I've driven the damn thing so many damn times, been in the exact same situation and I know that once I get past the third car, I'm in the clear.

So do I contest this? I think that on principle, I need to. At the least, to impart the importance of putting a goddamned traffic light there. But here's the sticky part: it's my word against his.

Because no one - not one - in that long line of traffic - who saw the accident stopped. Not one of them stepped forward as a witness - no one even rolled down a window to see if we were okay. Tell me that I'm not crazy when I think that this is pretty damn egregious.

The only guy who stopped was a guy who heard the accident down the street - he never saw it. The Rascals guy was taking pictures of his property. And the guy who stopped had said, "You know, this is just an accident, but they'll probably tag the blame on you."

Right. I understand that. The other driver had the right of way. Or did he? If he was driving on the shoulder, did he have the right of way? If other cars stop to let me pass, I understand I have to be careful in the cross, but in a three lane highway where I had successfully passed three cars, is it my fault?

Thoughts? Comforting thoughts? Jesus. I'm just sitting here thinking through this logically and trying to apply some of my legally-conscious mind to it.

In the meantime, AFSCME came through in the clutch and got me a rental car the very same evening. At least I have that.

And my poor, poor gorilla is going to be appraised and then worked on. Oh, and it's not just body damage, apparently, the impact I had on the rock not only killed the front tire and probably the axle, but it also knocked something else out because there was oil and fluid leaking from my car when the guy towed it out. I just hope it's fixable and that they can get it back to where it once was. I am paying waaay too much money for this car to have it look like a piece of shit, I'll pay off that deductible some way.

I'm so not happy. Please tell me this isn't a sign of the week to come. It's only Monday.


Good thing my cellphone has a camera. I remembered it about thirty minutes after the accident. But this is pretty much it.


This is where my car came to rest.


Even got part of my passenger door. I can't open it all the way. Scratches along the passenger side all the way to the rear wheel. This is going to cost me a fortune.


Notice the wheel. Smashed.


Getting towed off of the embankment.


This is the last view I got of my car before I left. Sad.

Send happy thoughts. I'd appreciate it.

Wow. That's all I have to say. Wow.

it's hard to believe this month has flown by, but I can't say that I'm upset about it. It's been one thing after another and I guess for anyone who actually checks into this thing, the latest thing I can say is that I'm good. Busy as all hell, but feeling quite good.

The thing is, I've been running around this state, between here and Maryland, between here and New York, and between here and Philly. And yes, I work seven days a week. Call me crazy, but it's the only speed I know. I suppose at some point, my body will stop me from doing such things - as it almost did at the beginning of the month. So, in typical "I haven't written a blog in weeks" fashion, an update on all things fabulous and not in my life:

THE SPRING OF BASEBALL.
Perhaps some of you know, perhaps some of you don't - I happen to be a big fan of America's favorite pastime. As evidenced by posts as the legendary Orioles/Twins game from before - this is truly the spring of baseball. It's funny how it's always when I leave NYC that I tend to watch more baseball. Because it used to be right there in front of me and I suppose part of leaving New York is that at least I get to watch my beloved boys play no matter where I am. Except that I'm in Delaware. Which means that I have to go to Buffalo Wild Wings to watch them play because they're the only place in this state with the YES Network (That's the exclusive Yankees network for those of you that are unaware). The point is, even though I'm a die-hard, dyed-in-the-wool Yankees fan, I have only seen them play once this spring. And until two weeks ago, I was averaging a game a week. I've seen the Phillies, the Cardinals, the Twins, the Orioles - and the Yankees - only once. Something needed to be done. Especially since I've now got my co-workers watching them as often as I am, being the Braves and Cardinals fans that they are - they think the Yanks are hot and I've gotta say that I whole-heartedly agree.

The point is, I plunked down a lot of cash and in two weeks, the three of us are going up to Yankees Stadium and meet up with another die-hard Bronx Bombers fan to watch them in action at the House that Ruth Built - and in the section right behind home plate and close to the Yankee dugout. Excuse me while I take a moment to dance around my room.

Thank you.

I barely get to see them much being down here, but I've managed to keep tabs on most of the games. Which brings me to my next point.

XM RADIO
I caved in and finally bought one last month and I can't get enough of the damn thing. Hell, I bought it so that I could listen to my Yankees no matter where I am. So if you're thinking about spending the money to get one, I highly recommend it. It's possibly one of the most useful things I've bought myself - and I've stopped listening to the conventional radio, which always ruins music for me.

FILLIBUSTER, BOLTON, and BILL FRIST
Yes, I won't wax political or philisophical about this one. Obviously, I grinned as last week ended when I read the words, "Frist cedes control of Senate to Reid" in the Washington Post. But what I will say is this: cooler heads prevailed and in the meantime, I think I finally saw and heard of Senators I had long thought had died. See, the Fillibuster fight would have dictated much of what I do since my job is tied to what happens in the Senate (for obvious reasons I choose not to go into right now). So while working last week, I found myself listening to C-SPAN all week, something even a political animal like myself have never done for hours at a time, and finding it very interesting. Beyond that, not much has changed. Except that even with a Republican majority in both the House, Senate, and White House, we are finally hanging together. It's not quite as much progress as my little liberal beating heart can hope for, but under the circumstances, I'm pretty darn pleased.

WC DEBAUCHERY AND WHERE THE HELL IS MY CELLPHONE CHARGER?
Yet another Washington College graduation gone by. As an older alum who was using graduation weekend as a relaxing break from the hey day of Social Security reform, I decided that instead of going to the bars at all this weekend, I'd stay in with friends and have some down time. So we did.

Stayed at Middle Hall with the crew and didn't leave all weekend. Seriously. I decided that if people wanted to see me, they could get their ass to me since I wasn't going far. Turned out for the better, I think.

We had a WC Happening on the front porch and into the Cater Walk. Brought the guitar and mic along. We played, we laughed, we reminisced. We then decided to play "Fifty Guineas and a Dream" and see if anyone could correctly answer some WC trivia. Turns out we not only know a lot about the history of our college (and we're talking real obscure things), but we can make it fun. I guess that when your college is the only one in the country licensed to use George Washington's name (legally) and you are the 10th college in the nation, there's a lot to ask. Lemme clarify for all of you the title of our trivia game - George Washington himself gave us his name and fifty guineas to start up the college and being the aweomest ever, we have decided that means George gave us fifty guineas and a dream. He also did serve on our Board of Visitors and Governors and left because he became president. Not too shabby.

I digress.

So after many hours of "Fifty Guineas" and a load of drinking whilst doing it, we retreated into one of the rooms where we had the fully stocked bar and proceeded to have a very good time. I made up new concoctions that were lauded by everone. I called them "Monkey Juice" and the even more popular "Monkey Punch" and then it was DOMA time. We initiated two kiddies and before you could say "May Day," it was Sunday and time for mimosas during graduation.

After graduation, we hurried out of the dorm (though not quick enough because I spent over $200 at the bookstore - don't ask) and towards Rock Hall where a co-worker of Lindsay's has a house on the bay. We spent the afternoon staring at the Chesapeake Bay, having a barbecue, driving around in a golf cart, and swimming in the indoor pool before saying our goodbyes to yet another fantastic reunion weekend.

On the drive home, I started thinking and wondering whether or not I had grabbed my cellphone charger out of the dorm before I left. I was only twenty minutes away from the college and almost turned around because I was sure I had. The only thing was that I didn't have a clue as to how to get back in the dorm.

Sure enough, I couldn't find it when I got home. So I've been calling the school and it turns out that they couldn't find it, either.

So what the hell happened to my cellphone charger, dammit?!

I'm still sad. Or pissed. I can't tell the difference.

I'M CROOKED.
Going back to that thing in the beginning of this post, my back hurt me for more than a month straight. And not just a dull little pain, but serious sharp pain. So I started going to a chiropractor. Which has been fantastic. It helps that he's pretty cute, too. But that's neither here nor there. It turns out that I had a group of muscles on one side working against a group of muscles on the other. Also, you're supposed to have these fluid-filled sacs between your vertebrae and after years of chronic pain without any adjustments at all, my lumbar vertebrae sacs are extremely compressed. So this is what the trainers were saying to me in crew. Of course, they didn't fix me at all. So I leave it to my chiropractor to straighten me out. I've been going three times a week and since I started, I'm feeling incredibly better. Progress is steady and my body has begun to make some serious changes to the adjustments. I'm not quite out of the woods yet, things are starting to stay in place and now my spine is correcting, so the pain will sometimes dissapate and then suddenly, it's back again - and spreading to my upper and mid back - but I'm told this is normal. Either way, I'm finally fixing a problem that has been vexing me for most of my life - from the time I was a kid. Funny how no doctors ever fixed it before.

THE ANNUAL CORO DINNER AND FOR CRYING OUT LOUD, I MISS NEW YORK.
I went to the Annual Coro Dinner last week and it was amazing. They had it at the Lighthouse at Pier 61 at Chelsea Piers and it was so incredibly shee-shee-pee-pee-doo-doo. Then again, I did pay a lot of money to go.

The room has these huge windows and being on the pier, the view of the Hudson is fantastic. Walking in, they had these trays of drinks that were splederific and hors d'ourves that were amazing - I'm talking truffles, salmon, crab, stuffed noodles with asparagus. Then the room opened up for the dinner and this year, instead of spreading out Coro alum amongst the tables, they seated all of us together. Which might have been a mistake.

We were so far away from the action that we found ourselves not paying attention at all. Plus, our table had only six people total and the table had settings for at least twelve. There were glasses of wine in front of us. We were lightyears away from the action. So we decided to drink and whisper and send text messages to other alumni at different tables. It was decadent. Dinner was amazing. It was fun.

At one point, we were joined by one of the Fellows in my class and two of her co-workers. Just so happens that she works at NY1 News and one of her guests was a fairly famous newscaster. We made quick friends. I passed her glasses of wine, we drank, we all had a great time at the table. And then we went to the bar with the rest of the alum afterwards.

After one beer, I had to go. Mostly because my car was going to be towed if I let it sit there after 11. So after circling the block and realizing there was no parking whatsoever, me and two alum decided to leave since we didn't feel like paying for parking only to go back into the bar that was hotter than Hades and drink more.

We had an adventure. One of them lived in Brooklyn, so in driving her home, we decided to stop by the apartment of a Coro alum and chum (as I say) that wasn't at the dinner. We hung out there for a while before dropping her off.

Then it was off to Astoria in Queens where I was staying with my friend for the evening. After some chatting, we went to bed. The next morning, I work up so I could move my car and head back. I got a call from my former AFSCME boss in Iowa. So we met for brunch. She kidnapped me. She roped me into going to the NYC labor happy hour that night. What can I say? She really pulled my arm.

Riiight.

So whilst waiting, I decided to run some errands. Went back to the old apartment. Stopped by the bank. Shopped at Modell's for Yankees gear for me and my coworkers for the big game in two weeks. Went to visit a grey area in my life (we all have them - and it was a good time). Went to the happy hour. Had free drinks and food. Met wonderful people. Promised to come back. Left for Delaware.

And in my unexpected extended stay, I realized, with a lot of sadness, just how much I really missed home. I think that's why I have only been going into the city for extremely short periods at a time since I moved (a few hours, a one-night deal) and stopped going altogether. It's too hard to go back. It's the life I left behind. I'm happy where I am, but there's a part of me wishing that I'll get sent back home soon. Because I'm now in that strange place where I know deep down in my heart that I'm going back because I know for a fact that I'm not anywhere near done with New York yet. But it's so strange to go back. Because I don't have a home there to go back to. It's so familiar and a part of me and yet I can't stay because I don't live there anymore. It's familiar and foreign at the same time. It's exciting and the same. It's fun and sad. And it's still strange to know that I lived there and had such an amazing three years there and I can't call it home. It's uplifiting. And it breaks my heart that I am not a part of it everyday. I don't know that I'll ever get over it until I move back. So I guess that's on my "To Do List." Honestly, I don't think it ever came off of it.

FENG SHUI
The Cardboard Box Collaborative's final show of the season is upon us. I wrote one of the monologues in the show. It's going to be fabulous.

As one of the CBC's Artistic Associates and it's resident design/scenic monkey, I have been spending a lot of time on all the stuff for the show in my copious amounts of spare time (i.e. sleep time). So if you can see it, please do. You can check out the link on the right for the show information.

WORK AND OTHER RUMINATIONS
Work has been busy. Which is a good thing. We've been gearing up for this big town hall we had tonight. It turned out to be a cozy crowd, but a crowd nonetheless and we had a great time. So that's good.

I'm still struggling with certain aspects of my work, but that's the challenge in all of it, which is what I love about the work.

I dunno if my mind is playing tricks on me or what, but I'm starting to get strange feelings about work. I love the union and I love AFSCME, there's just other things happening in my environment that I can't put my finger on. i won't go into much detail. I think it's mostly been stress, though it hasn't been usual stress. Either way, my intuition is getting strange signals. I'm going to remain cryptic about this. I have a feeling that my time in New York last week triggered it.

But rest assured that I'm doing exactly what I love and I'm having a good time doing it. I wouldn't change places for the world.

That's my fifteen day update. I have two weeks until the Yankees and three weeks until Castle Connection with my friends in the Outer Banks. So i'm going to love this month. And everything it brings me, good and bad.

And I'll try to check in more often. I promise.