MetaChat - Please, I need some caretaking. Distract me for the next 12 hours.

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25 March 2010

Please, I need some caretaking. Distract me for the next 12 hours. →[More:]
I'm a nervous wreck, because a big, positive change in my life that I've been anticipating for months is finally happening tonight. Problem is, I'm just a total mess. So far today I've spilled cream cheese on my shirt and then sat in it, trod on a coworker's toes in a meeting by making her look inept (her reaction, but warranted), and I'm bursting out into tears at the slightest thing. Sometimes they're happy tears, sometimes they're relieved tears, sometimes they're worry tears, sometimes they're for no reason at all. I went and bought new clothes, and I'll be OK from about 3-6 p.m. EDT, but until then and after, I suspect I'll continue to just fall apart.

Can you help a gal out?
I love you guys. (WEEP!)

post by: Stewriffic at: 11:00 | 34 comments

Aw honey! I'm soo excited for you! Do you want some distraction? Want to hear about a mischievous thing my cat did? I'm sure most of us can distract w/ funny pet stories. Or something else.

posted by leesh 25 March | 11:02

Hm, since you're at work I guess you can't just spend the day doing whatever. Do you have headphones? Load up on some thinky-type podcasts like Radiolab; they always distracts me.

(If I'm wrong and you can just spend the day doing whatever, then do what I'm doing and watch the entire season of a TV show.)

Anyway, congratulations on Big Positive Change, whatever it is.

posted by desjardins 25 March | 11:03

Falling apart for a little bit is ok. It is in fact pretty normal when faced with big changes. Do the people around you know about the big changes? If not, is there anyone around you who you'd feel comfortable telling? Sometimes the stress of feeling like you've got to keep it together is more of a problem than the stress about the actual change.

posted by occhiblu 25 March | 11:06

Want to hear about a mischievous thing my cat did?
Tell!

Anyway, congratulations on Big Positive Change, whatever it is.
It's a boy. Who's in the air as we speak, coming from far away to stay for a looooooong "visit" as we figure things out. We've been pretty quiet on here, just because you never know what's going to happen. (aside: Honey, I hope you don't mind!)

Do the people around you know about the big changes?
Oh, totally. We have a psychiatrist on staff here who I talked to (one of his reactions was to break into "Bow chicka bow wow!" porn music, which cracked me up), and the same coworker who thought I dissed her saw me earlier after I'd burst out crying. I explained that it was happy tears (she knows the situation), and that all is well, so there's that. My boss is cool with crying too, which makes me happy. I'm just going to keep my office door closed (so glad I have a door that closes), and try to keep distracted.

posted by Stewriffic 25 March | 11:20

Here, this'll distract you--the Scott Pilgrim movie trailer. One of my top two all time favorite comic book series turned into what looks like an AMAZING movie.

posted by leesh 25 March | 11:20

OK, here are some cat stories from this morning:

First, he was sitting on my lap while I was working from home and kept trying to eat my charger cord (he's never been a cord-biter until recently) so I made him move and he got all disgruntled, went into the kitchen, and knocked everything off the counter!

Later I was making mac and cheese for lunch and he apparently stole a piece of mac, b/c he barfed it up a little later. Good times.

posted by leesh 25 March | 11:22

Ooooh exciting! Just remember to breathe, and drink some extra water. And listen to occhi.

Distractions, eh? I'm leaving work now, I'll try and think of something good on my way home.

HUGS!

posted by Specklet 25 March | 11:29

cats in boxes! cats in boxes!!! This kind of thing never fails to distract me

Congratulations! also: Breathe.

posted by lonefrontranger 25 March | 11:37

Oooh, the plane is making good time; left early from both the stops so far. It's one of those situations where there are 4 flight segments, so there is lots of refreshing of status pages to be going on today.

posted by Stewriffic 25 March | 11:57

How cool is this?? Yay for bunnylove!

posted by BoringPostcards 25 March | 12:22

Hey, Big Positive Changes are great aren't they? Sometimes Big Lousy Ones turn into BPC's when you aren't even looking, I've noticed. I've got no suggestions for distractions, but...congrats on fun stuff :-)

posted by richat 25 March | 12:41

I'm home now and I got nuthin'. I'm no good for distractin'.

posted by Specklet 25 March | 13:05

this is sweet :)

posted by By the Grace of God 25 March | 13:07

YAY!!!

posted by Ardiril 25 March | 13:19

Oh, wait, you want distractions...

How about searching for George Carlin on YouTube.

posted by Ardiril 25 March | 13:20

I can remember this feeling vividly from my own life. It's hard to take, but the tension/strangeness will pass, and a New Reality will emerge - but it's so impossible to predict what that will feel and smell and sound and look like that it's kind of hard to see beyond the present moment. If you have a moment, grab a journal (or keyboard) and do some writing to yourself about how you feel in this moment. And do something nice for yourself with this last bit of quiet, not-manically-changing time - treats, a movie...

posted by Miko 25 March | 13:50

Second leg of the flight was completed, according to the intarwebs. Shortly here I have to interview some volunteer candidates for a few hours, and then I'll go home. I left some last-minute cleaning at home to distract me, so hopefully it will be smooth sailing from here. (Like I said, y'all are awesome)

posted by Stewriffic 25 March | 13:55

A cubic foot of water has 7.5 gallons in it. So a gallon of water is around 6.1" cubed; which kinda distracts my mind for a few moments every time I think about it.

posted by buzzman 25 March | 16:02

I'm so excited for you stew!! If I had anything in the pantry, I'd invite you for dinner and let a crazy marmoset jump all over you. That's a fairly good distraction :-)

posted by pinky.p 25 March | 16:46

My cat can be distracted for hours with a paper bag. Maybe try that.

posted by desjardins 25 March | 16:56

374 minutes left. I will chat in #bunnies and put away laundry, pick up the living room and den, and vacuum the den. I am OK, other than anxious inability to breathe.

posted by Stewriffic 25 March | 17:57

Okey-dokey, but if you come back, here are two otters playing a piano duet*.

Yay, good change! Breathe!

*I probably found this video on MeCha in the first place.

posted by Elsa 25 March | 18:30

I'm off to bed now, Stew, but I'll be thinking of you and sending happy and calming juju.

I really know what you're going through, my love. When I picked up TheDonF at the airport, the first time we met, I had agonised over what to wear for about an hour and thought I was going to throw up. I felt marvellous the second I saw him, and everything worked out fine.

posted by Specklet 25 March | 18:55

OK, laundry done, den done, and i'll leave the living room so I can just relax. It's not that bad. just a couple of big things that need to be put away, but they need to go outside and it's dark out now.

it's not the first time we've seen each other. in fact, we've both been to the other's house for multiple weeks. but still. this is an open-ended stay. i'm really happy. hap hap happy.

posted by Stewriffic 25 March | 18:59

I'm not sure it matters if it's the first time you've seen each other or not. Even when you know one another, the "OK, we're giving it a real go" is a different feeling than "Hey, let's test the chemistry." It's exciting, thrilling, strange.

posted by Miko 25 March | 20:54

Bingo, Miko. Oh, and I wasn't sure if he'd be OK with my having linked to him (privacy, etc), but we just spoke on the phone (finally, 12 hours into his trip), and he was OK with it.

posted by Stewriffic 25 March | 21:02

Argh! Last leg of his flight, he's been taken off of TWO different planes after boarding because of mechanical problems. How much you want to bet it's canceled? Last flight out of Atlanta, dammit.

posted by Stewriffic 25 March | 22:18

Welp, the third plane has a busted windshield wiper, and there may not be any more available. Dammit.

posted by Stewriffic 25 March | 22:48

Do you have any hair left, or have you pulled it all out?

posted by Ardiril 26 March | 00:16

Ardiril: i'm just fucking tired is all.

Welp, I'm about to leave for the airport. The fourth plane was the charm, I guess. He's getting in (in theory) at 1:50 a.m., I think. The Delta website reset the flight status thingy at midnight, so it doesn't work anymore. My airport's seems to be working, however. Blah.

OK, over and out, kiddos.

posted by Stewriffic 26 March | 00:26

OK, made it home by 3. Showered, ate. Sleep is on my agenda. Damn Alaska time doesn't have him as tired as I am though.

posted by Stewriffic 26 March | 03:23

Thanks everyone! We're home safe and sound and (I am) hoping for a decent climate transition.

posted by Stewriffic 26 March | 09:26

Yay!

posted by Eideteker 26 March | 11:26

Sixteen-hour travel day! It could have been worse; on the last flight they did the normally eighty-minute trip in only fifty.

posted by D.C. 27 March | 00:02

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