Sisterly Love

I recently visited the City of Brotherly Love- Philadelpha, PA. Now coming from NYC, where it is quite common to be pushed out of the way, yelled at, or even spit on by a complete stranger, Philadelphia was quite a treat.

My first night in Philly had the potential to be disasterous. As I was walking to a bar, my big toe swung straight into a railway track in the middle of the street. I screamed some "big people" words (eliciting stares from passerbyers; they've obviously never been to New York) and hobbled over to the other side of the street. About fifteen people asked me if I was okay. I wasn't okay, there was blood gushing down the side of my foot and filling up my flip flop. There was a ghastly chunk of skin hanging on for dear life. I wasn't sure if I was going to live.

My friend helped me walk the rest of the way and down to the bathroom in the pub. We grabbed some paper towels and started blotting but the blood wouldn't stop. A lady came out of a stall, took one look at me, and said, "There are two doctors upstairs, I'll go get them!". Meanwhile, there was a girl washing her hands, who kept making sure I was okay. She would look at me every once in while and say, "Just calm down! It'll be all right!" (This made me laugh a lot because I'm not sure I could've been any calmer. I wasn't even crying or anything.)

The woman came back with her daughter, who is a student in Physician Assistance. Like efficient EMT's, they directed me to sit on the sink, and helped me lift my leg so my toe was under the spicket. This, I might add, was no easy task. The bathroom was extremely skinny, with about 3 feet between the stalls and the sink. With my back leaning against the wall and my body stretched across the counter, I literally took up the whole bathroom.
She asked me if I had HIV, to which my friend quickly responded, "NO mam, you will not find cleaner blood than hers." (Thanks, girl). Then she got to work. She cleaned it out and stopped the bleeding. After determining that stitches weren't necessary, she started poking the bottom of my foot to make sure I wasn't losing feeling; I wasn't. The "Calm Down" girl came back with a first aid kit. Her boyfriend owned the bar and when he discovered that there was an injured person in the bathroom, he sent her upstairs to his apartment for peroxide and gauze. She bandaged my poor little tootsie up and with the call of duty overwith, returned upstairs.

My friend and I just sat for a minute, not even believing that all of that had just happened. One minute I was in a desperate situation and not fifteen minutes later, thanks to the help of three strangers, I was able to go enjoy the rest of the night.

I am just so grateful for those angel ladies, and the call of duty they responded to for somebody they didn't even know.

(PS/ We ended up having a great time and finished the night with two steaming hot cheesesteaks. Yummm)

THIS april fool's day

I am away from home so I didn't expect to have too much to worry about on April Fool's Day. However, some time in the late evening I called my dad, the mastermind of all the pranking, and this is how the conversation went...

Me: So, did I get any mail today?
Dad: Hmm, let's see. There's something here from college. It's addressed to you. I'll open it up here. Oh, it's a bill!
Me: Whatt?
Dad: Yeah, it says that they reviewed your account and you still owe $400 on your tuition!
Me: NO WAY! That is impossible! (I continue on this rant for awhile before...) Wait, this is an April Fool's joke, isn't it?
Dad: (pauses for a second) Today's April Fool's Day?
(We go back and forth for a while and he convinces me that he has been working all day and totally forgot about the date)
Me: I cannot believe that you of all people forgot April Fool's Day! (I go off on a tangent about how deprived my youngest sister is because she doesn't have the same childhood memories like the rest of us)
Dad: Well, she's right here, let me ask her about her day. Hmm, she says that her shoes were filled with newspaper. Oh, and her backpack was taped shut. I think there was something strange about the posters on her wall.
Me: Okay, so you did remember?
Dad: I didn't say that.
Me: If you remembered what today is, then you are joking about the tuition bill.
Dad: Why would I lie about that? I will send it to you in the mail.
(We end the conversation and about two seconds later I receive a text)
Dad (texting): No bill. April Fool's!

April Fool's Day

I remembered that it was April Fool's Day the minute I woke up in the morning. Years of enduring tricks had put me on guard. Growing up, this is what one might expect (or not expect...) on April Fool's Day: Morning, be careful when you pull a towel down from the bathroom shelf because it surely has a rubber spider or snake on top. Find that your dresser drawers have been tied together, so one can't open without the other. Look for the scissors. They are hidden. Open backpack, throw out all the crumbled up newspapers, to find scissors. Take scissors with you downstairs. Don't turn the water on too fast because the sprayer has a rubber band around it and it is pointed right at you. Snip the rubber band off. Don't grab a cup too quickly because they are all filled to the top with water ready to spill on you. Cut the duct tape off your coat sleeves and try to make it out the door. On your way out, notice that the family portraits have been replaced with hand drawn caricatures. After school, throw open the door to discover that a box full of packing peanuts was sitting on top, making an avalanche down to the floor on all the unsuspecting. Get ready to hear news of "I was fired from work today" or "We decided to finally take that family vacation to Disney." Don't believe anything you hear. Eat dinner without worrying about the secret ingredient the cook claims has been added to the food. You'll survive. If you make it to bedtime, make sure to look around and make sure that none of the tricks will get you tomorrow.

Rainy Day

A Storm...Thunder booming my whole body...Lightening flashing through the sky...Rain pouring down fast and steady...Steam rising...the smell of wet grass and worms....a rocking chair on the porch...Country Roads, Take me Home on repeat.

That is the best part of today ;)

Qwerty

Remember back in the 90's sometime, out came a Jim Carrey movie- The Truman Show? It was like this- a man's whole life was being taped and shown in the real world. He lived on a set and never knew anything different.
Sometimes I seriously think I am on a show like that.
Yesterday I was staring at the keyboard on my phone and noticed that the word "qwerty" was spelled out on the top left hand corner. I thought about this for awhile, just because it was so interesting to me. I envisioned myself in an intellectual discussion where I could bring up this little known fact that only I, clever one, had discovered. The very next day the MSN news had a huge spread about keyboards. The first topic? Qwerty keyboards. It is apparently what this style is actually named. That very night I was talking to my friend and he casually mentioned (or did the producer TELL him to...) something about the qwerty.
Now I just like saying it.
Qwerty, qwerty, qwerty.
I'm catching on to these "coincedences". I bet tomorrow I will just happen to find an autobiography of Mr. Qwerty, the inventor of the keyboard.

I hope they're joking....

My interest was piqued by a headline I saw in the news- "Child in ad shed real tears, producer admits". Turns out, in an attempt to make the 4 year old child cry for a commercial, they let his mother leave his sight. Everybody is bent out of shape about this. A quote from one concerned interviewer, “Is it ever OK to traumatize a little boy, even if it’s to make an important point?” The important point they are talking about is anti-smoking, the ad depicted a child crying over the loss of his mother.
What I have to say about this is GET OVER IT, PEOPLE! First of all, who is the genius that thinks this child actor would be traumatized from this event?! I'm pretty sure it can't be more traumatic then the self tanner his stage mom probably makes him lather on. These so called experts obviously have never had kids. Children cry sometimes. It does not change their life for the worse. I promise, they will still turn out normal, even if they have an occasional separation anxiety melt down. Secondly, it's not like they told the kid that his mom died. They just let her get lost in the crowd of extras for a brief second. After they got their shot, he was immediately in her arms again.
Mind your own business, mainstream America. Let people raise their kids as they please, even if that means letting them cry on TV.