Before cell phones and caller-ID if my telephone rang I answered it. I rarely let the machine get it. It made me neurotic to not answer and so it was a must. I did however always wait till the second ring because my mother always did that at work and I thought it was cool. With my cell phone I have slowly gone to the place of not taking calls. I never turn my phone off, but the ringer is on silence a lot. That way I can see who called, but I can return the call when it's convenient for me. The plus side of this is that I'm never awakened in the morning by phone calls, especially since I haven't been working and have taken to sleeping late.

Unfortunately, this morning was not one of those mornings. My phone rang at exactly 8:36 this morning. I waited till the voice mail chimed through to get up to see who it was. It was my friend J.M. who I gave tons of grief to later in the day for calling so early. I had just gotten back to sleep when my boss called. My phone was now next to my bed and since I was somewhat expecting his call I answered. He was calling to let me know that he'd arranged for me to return some products that we had borrowed. He told me where to take them and who to ask for. We talked for about 2 more minutes and then we hung up. I repeated the name (Mike) over and over several times so that I wouldn't forget because I don't want to get out of bed and write it down and then promptly fell back asleep.

I immediately began dreaming and in my dream I kept repeating this name over and over as I prepared to go to work. In my dream I am part of the production team filming a movie and as I am walking down the hall to go into the studio I realize that I have forgotten my shoes. I am barefoot. I freak out. There's no way they'll let me on the studio floor without shoes. I'll be fired and I'll never be able to drop this stuff off for Mike and do my job. Finally someone from costumes said they'd loan me shoes so then I wait, and wait, and wait, and wait for them to return with shoes to wear, all the while trying to hide the fact that I am barefoot. Finally the shoes come and they are a size 8 and a size 14. What the crap am I going to do? I try on the 8's but they won't fit. I try on the 14's but they are huge. I realize that's what I am going to have to go with and I wake up.

And draw a blank. I can't remember the name I was told to ask for at all. Not even close. I am panicked. I pace around the apartment. I do things to try and jog my memory. Finally after an hour I give in and call my boss back, give him a message I had forgotten earlier and ask for the guy's name again. And then the waiting starts. I am supposed to be at this place at 1:30 sharp. And there'll be a million people there so unless I can ask for the right guy I am screwed. And so I wait, and I wait and I wait. I take the subway downtown and start walking toward the establishment and still no call. At about 1:25 I call my boss back and he answers on the first ring saying that he was just about to call me. Turns out I didn't have all the information in the first place. He gives me everything I need to know and I return the stuff.

Mike, his name is Mike. It took hours for me to calm down from this little event. I am trying too hard to give a good impression. I need to relax a little bit and try and enjoy what I am doing and not worry so much and I think I'll get along much better. Whew, I am exhausted just thinking about it.