Why Am I In This Handbasket?

The new laptop came in!

I am unfortunately posting this from the old laptop because I needed to copy files from it to my external drive and the battery had drained down and  have to hold it to charge it so while it's doing it's thing I'm doing mine.

I did get to play with the new one a little bit at work. We recently got wireless there with access for patients and visitors and even though it's still in the testing phase and nobody is supposed to know it's up at all I was able to get online with it and download a few things like Google Toolbar and Firefox.

Probably going to be tweaking things for the next week or so.

I have tickets to opening night of a play in which several friends are to appear. Getting to the theater a little early I decide to go backstage and wish them well. Never mind that this is the height of inconsiderate behavior if you haven't been invited as it will distract them from their preparations, I'm sure they won't be angry. In fact the very first person I see happily shouts "There you are!" and drags me toward the dressing room.

Where I discover that I have an important part in the show and I'm due to go on with the rest of the cast in less than half an hour. I've forgotten that I auditioned and even though I never came to rehearsals and don't have a costume they are still expecting me to go on. I find a script book and try to learn enough to fake it only to find that it's become very difficult to read and the words won't quite resolve on the page.

Most people have very limited reading ability in dreams.

It's a common dream for those who are in theater. It's not going to happen any more than the one about suddenly remembering you have an important mid-term in an hour but you've never bothered to go to the class and you don't know where it is will.

Right?

Maybe.

Home Safety is a class given every Thursday at 4pm to patients who are due to be discharged. There are three sections that were once taught by three people but our clinical educator got a dream job offer and left us so her section on planning for evacuation has been covered by the nurse who does the medications part. I set up the AV equipment and take it down again.

I have to do take down during the evacuation part because that section doesn't need slides and we give the class in the patient dining room.  As soon as the last speaker is done they start putting out the dinner trays and I'm in the way. Baring the class being canceled or me being out sick I've heard it weekly for about a year now.

So, Wednesday at 4 I'm meandering through the halls pulling my mail boxes (I have three) and making deliveries to other people when the head rehab tech grabs me and tells me they need me in the patient dining room right away. Why? Something to do with the safety class.

I find that my boss has the AV stuff mostly set up with a few errors and I take charge and get it set up properly. Turns out that the class has been moved up a day to free up resources for the employee training  that is scheduled the next day and nobody remembered to tell me.

After I get it set up and the first presenter starts only 15 minutes late I go back to my office only to have my boss come in a few minutes later needing a hard copy of the middle part because it turns out that the presenter for that called in sick and somebody is going to have to wing it.

"What about the emergency evacuation part at the end?" I ask.

My boss looks at me slightly panicked. "What emergency evacuation part?"

"About how to get registered for a special needs shelter and what to expect and what you need to bring."

"Where is that?"

A feeling of doom drifts by. "In my head, I guess. I have no idea where D keeps it."

She instructs me to type out as much of it as I can remember and she'll give it. I manage to remember it all and get it to her before section two concludes only to have her squint at the 12 point font as she realizes she doesn't have her glasses. "Here, you do it."

And with only a couple of minutes to center myself I am on in front of about 15 people.

Once upon a time I drove the director I worked with in college nuts because I could take the stage in his shows with total confidence but I had complete meltdowns in his pubic speaking class. Being somebody else living in a fictional world with a transparent fourth wall is a snap. Being myself and attempting to communicate with strangers staring at me was one of the scariest things I've ever voluntarily done.

This week, I had this incredible adrenalin high and it was the most fun I've had in a long time. I added personal anecdotes off the cuff. I made eye contact. I projected so the people towards to back could hear me. I only looked at my piece of paper once towards the end.

I rocked.

I LOVE YOU fenikkusuken!!!!!!!

Resurrection has been nominated for the IYFG awards!!!!!

*hyperventilates*

*ded* 

*Revives and does the happy dance again when I realize I'm gonna get a Forthy banner no matter what now*