YYYYYYYYYYYYEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!

I nearly burst into tears today at work. I was MOMENTS away. It looks like I'm going to be working late for the foreseeable future. It also looks like I'm going to be working on Saturday. And possibly Sunday. Definitely Monday night. We got a fax from China today that said, essentially "Hello, please prepare the following 16 of your families to fly to China by Sunday (three days from now). Thank you. Oh, and by the way, the following 27 families are going to have new babies tomorrow and you might want to inform them of this." Usually we have two or three weeks to do all of this - we have two or three days INCLUDING the weekends. AAAAAAAAAAA! And it's not like I can just go "Oh, well look at that! It's 5PM. Too bad you're going to China tomorrow, but I'm not going to spend my nights and weekends getting your paperwork done."

Labor Day weekend was great fun! I was attending Jackie(my best friend from high school)'s wedding in Ohio. I don't know anyone in Columbus other than Jackie, so I had booked a hotel and made a reservation for an "economy" car. There was a problem with the car reservation that I'd made, so the woman at the rental counter decided to do me a great BIG favor and give me a giant SUV for the same price as the tiny car I'd reserved! It came complete with an attachment for clubbing baby seals (it's under the glove compartment). I didn't have the heart to tell her that I'd about rather die than drive an SUV since she thought she was doing me such a big favor. I'd probably have felt more comfortable driving around naked in a glass dump truck than I did driving that big thing around. I'm sure I looked like a little old biddy sitting bolt upright, peering over the steering wheel while holding on with a death grip.

I managed to navigate the city (which I'd never been to) in the rain, in the dark, with only the skimpiest of maps. The police didn't even stop me when I cut them off while going through a red light - so I guess there are more exiciting things to do in Columbus than chase after flagrant traffic violators. Also, trains in Columbus apparently like to park blocking the streets for hours and hours on end. I almost didn't make it to the Bridal shower when i found one such train blocking my way one mere block from my destination! Columbus isn't exactly a grid city, either, so it wasn't easy to find my way around the train. I had to ask for directions at a nursing home.

The train was still there after the bridal shower was over.

When I leave Seattle, I often feel like I am emerging from a bubble. While I'm home, I watch almost no TV and I don't listen to any radio other than KEXP (no commercials - more or less indy music only) or NPR. When leave Seattle, I cram in as much television and radio as possible. What's up with these Incredible Hulk Fist toys that they're trying to sell kids these days? Is it me or is that one of the dumbest toys you've ever heard of? I mean, how much entertainment can noise-making fists really offer a child? It just seems so grossly decadent - expensive plastic blobs that make noise. How about toys that call for imagination? Art supplies? Something worthwhile for goodness sakes! I also watched AMERICA'S TEN SCARIEST CAR CHASES!!!! Ah, the joys of television.

Sunday was significantly more entertaining what with Fess, Tim & Lance rolling into town. We fell right back into where we'd left off in high school. It was fabulous. Since Lance didn't go to school with us, he made a rule that if we gossiped about any of our old friends, we had to tell him a funny story about them so that he could relate. So we related lots of hilarious escapades from high school. And some of the less hilarious escapades as well. For example: We once videotaped a little "skit" that we thought was the most HILARIOUS thing. EVER. It went like this:

JenJie: Good evening sir, and welcome to Le Snoote` Resturaunte`. How may I help you?

Fess: I will be dining with my Wife and Sister tonight.

JenJie: Ah! Table for three?

Fess: No! Table for two!

Bwah ha ha ha ha ha! We used to recite the last two lines of our skit over and over to each other and laugh and laugh. This time, we laughed at how silly we'd been for laughing since it's not really all THAT funny.

Also, sometime I must write about the crazy man in Baltimore and our near death experience. It actually IS funny.

Monday was the wedding. It was the most beautiful Polish-Chinese wedding I've ever seen. It was very Catholic. You could tell which side of the family was the strict Catholic side (the Polish side) because they knew all the little hand motions and they knew when to kneel and stand and stuff. I got to see Ah-yee and Id-chee-uh, Jackie's aunt and uncle who raised her and played a big part in my high school social life. Jackie and I used to sneak around a lot because they were SUPER strict - they didn't allow her to make phone calls unless it was about homework, and they didn't allow her to go out of the house or have friends over. It wasn't until her senior year that they finally gave me the "ok" - and then they took a real liking to me and were always asking after me and wondering when I would come over again. Anyway, they were very happy to see me as was Jackie's mom.

I got all weepy at the end of the wedding, though. I miss Jackie something awful, and watching the slide show at the reception really put into perspective the fact that Jackie's not a young girl anymore - she's totally adult - and a lot of time has passed. I have totally missed out on the last half of her life and I miss her so much. I can't wait to see her again.