First Time

For a week now, I’ve had the distinct sensation that there’s a bat whistling towards my head, just out of my peripheral vision. This could be because a.) I’m sick b.) I’ve been working 12-hour days and, as a result, am behind in every other quarter, or c.) because there is, in fact, a bat whistling towards my head. If it’s c, I’m hoping that the whistling noise is because it’s a wiffleball bat. Solid bats don’t whistle, do they?

Unrelated to my bat issues, it’s been a week of firsts. I experienced my first non-tiny San Francisco earthquake last week. The television was on and, as the building rocked, for some reason I expected the picture to shake in the screen. I turned it off as the aftershocks rolled through because I was confusing myself trying to sort out why the guy on the screen wasn’t moving the way I was. It completely weirded me out.

Also, on Friday, my credit card number was stolen. Not like, ‘I lost my wallet,’ stolen but actually, honest to goodness ‘I have no idea what happened, someone out there’s got the number’ stolen. Being the panicky type, I immediately assumed total identity theft and years of bankruptcy and having to write pleading letter after notarized letter to get it sorted out. I’m reasonable like that.

Turns out it was one fraudulent, albeit hefty, charge which was caught and 5-7 days of waiting for a new card. Very anticlimactic. But still creepy. You’d think I’d have adopted a more seasoned, blasé attitude – or at least facade – about internet crime, given that I’m in the business lo these ten years.

Come to that, you’d think I’d have sorted out the earthquake thing too, But no. That’s me: defying expectations every day, baby. Living the naive dream.