mistakes i don’t plan to make twice — but really are mistakes every planned?

I didn’t have to go to work until noon today (don’t worry, I worked late tonight) so i stayed up late to watch the returns and then got up early to find out what the heck happened in California. Then, around 10 a.m. I started getting ready for my lovely job. Because I’m an idiotaddicted to my phone I brought it in the bathroom and set in on the medicine cabinet while I took a shower (in my defence work COULD have called with some sort of editing emergency). 

well, work never called, but the steam from my shower did get into my phone — which rebelled against getting wet by deciding to stop picking up my voice. I could hear everything clear as day, but nobody could hear me. I felt like a screaming ghost. I found this out first calling my friend, who couldn’t hear me, then calling my friend six more times, then calling my sister. She said ‘crystal, I can’t hear you,’ and hung up, without any concern for my situation. and YES, she’s only 8, but a little sympathy would have been nice.

FRIK!!

I have a full-blown addiction to my phone, so I freaked out. to

I immediately drove to the Verizon store, while visions of spending $150 on a new phone danced in my head fighting with the visions of my bank account balance. 

I stormed in to the store, slammed my phone on the counter and said ‘you probably can’t fix it, but it’s broken.’ I kind of left out the part about probable water damage, which my warranty doesn’t cover.

For some reason, every person who works at a cell phone store is a cute guys with too much ax body spray. This person was no exception. He tried to calm me down by asking how long my phone had been acting up.

‘Five minutes. I brought it in right away because I’m crazy,’ I calmly said back. I think he thought i was joking.

He explained that the microphone probably just was broken and he just needed to check my account. sigh. my account is classified as “employee” because my mom (who awesomely pays my bill each month) is the holder and she works for Verizon. Because Verizon probably doesn’t want employees giving themselves free ring-tones and extra minutes, only “special” employees can access employee accounts. This guy was not special.

But he was nice. So he said he could replace my phone for free anyway. THAT’S RIGHT! THEY REPLACED IT FREE’ and now I have a crush on Verizon and everyone should go get a verizon phone. right now. tell them i sent you.

i got my new phone, went to work, did some reporting, covered an event and the made my next mistake of the day. I came back to the office and realized 20 minutes later that I had left my notebook at the event. 

FRIK AGAIN!

I needed this notebook. I mean, they tell me it’s not ethical to make up quotes for stories, so without the notebook I was either going to be totally unethical or not have a story. I ran to tell the copy desk boys that I had to go back and get my notebook. They laughed at me. I didn’t laugh with them.

I ran to my car, attempting not kill myself by falling on black ice. I sped over to where the event was and tried to not to kill myself by spinning out on black ice. I ran through the building, up the stairs and down the hall. then i realized my calves are SUPER out of shape. I turned the corner. and there it was. covered in an angelic light, my yellow notebook was sitting on the table. I said a ‘thank you God’ prayer, grabbed it and ran back to the office and filed my story.

In conclusion, some notes to self: 1. don’t take your cell phone into bathrooms under any circumstances (and if you do, don’t tell anyone that it broke because of water damage). 2. always remember your notebook.

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mistakes i don’t plan to make twice — but really are mistakes every planned?

I didn’t have to go to work until noon today (don’t worry, I worked late tonight) so i stayed up late to watch the returns and then got up early to find out what the heck happened in California. Then, around 10 a.m. I started getting ready for my lovely job. Because I’m an idiotaddicted to my phone I brought it in the bathroom and set in on the medicine cabinet while I took a shower (in my defence work COULD have called with some sort of editing emergency). 

well, work never called, but the steam from my shower did get into my phone — which rebelled against getting wet by deciding to stop picking up my voice. I could hear everything clear as day, but nobody could hear me. I felt like a screaming ghost. I found this out first calling my friend, who couldn’t hear me, then calling my friend six more times, then calling my sister. She said ‘crystal, I can’t hear you,’ and hung up, without any concern for my situation. and YES, she’s only 8, but a little sympathy would have been nice.

FRIK!!

I have a full-blown addiction to my phone, so I freaked out. to

I immediately drove to the Verizon store, while visions of spending $150 on a new phone danced in my head fighting with the visions of my bank account balance. 

I stormed in to the store, slammed my phone on the counter and said ‘you probably can’t fix it, but it’s broken.’ I kind of left out the part about probable water damage, which my warranty doesn’t cover.

For some reason, every person who works at a cell phone store is a cute guys with too much ax body spray. This person was no exception. He tried to calm me down by asking how long my phone had been acting up.

‘Five minutes. I brought it in right away because I’m crazy,’ I calmly said back. I think he thought i was joking.

He explained that the microphone probably just was broken and he just needed to check my account. sigh. my account is classified as “employee” because my mom (who awesomely pays my bill each month) is the holder and she works for Verizon. Because Verizon probably doesn’t want employees giving themselves free ring-tones and extra minutes, only “special” employees can access employee accounts. This guy was not special.

But he was nice. So he said he could replace my phone for free anyway. THAT’S RIGHT! THEY REPLACED IT FREE’ and now I have a crush on Verizon and everyone should go get a verizon phone. right now. tell them i sent you.

i got my new phone, went to work, did some reporting, covered an event and the made my next mistake of the day. I came back to the office and realized 20 minutes later that I had left my notebook at the event. 

FRIK AGAIN!

I needed this notebook. I mean, they tell me it’s not ethical to make up quotes for stories, so without the notebook I was either going to be totally unethical or not have a story. I ran to tell the copy desk boys that I had to go back and get my notebook. They laughed at me. I didn’t laugh with them.

I ran to my car, attempting not kill myself by falling on black ice. I sped over to where the event was and tried to not to kill myself by spinning out on black ice. I ran through the building, up the stairs and down the hall. then i realized my calves are SUPER out of shape. I turned the corner. and there it was. covered in an angelic light, my yellow notebook was sitting on the table. I said a ‘thank you God’ prayer, grabbed it and ran back to the office and filed my story.

In conclusion, some notes to self: 1. don’t take your cell phone into bathrooms under any circumstances (and if you do, don’t tell anyone that it broke because of water damage). 2. always remember your notebook.

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Bob — like the floaty

I once new a boy named Bob. actually, his full name was Robert E. Eaton.

And bob and I, well, we used to kiss and stuff. back in high school. and sometimes he’d write me notes and tell me I was awesome and then I’d write him notes and tell him HE was awesome. and that was all good for awhile.

But I’m kind of stupid and he was a high school boy, so he was kind of stupid too. and sometimes we’d have these stupid fights. like the time I left him at the movie theater (which was like 12 miles from my house) and made him walk home because he was making me mad and he said ‘let me out of the car’ and then i did (because i ALWAYS call a bluff) and he got out of the car and walked all the way to my house where he apologized for being stupid.

What can I say. we were both stupid. and then one day, all of a sudden we weren’t friends anymore. we had grown apart and that was OK and that lasted a few years. i moved on with my life. he moved on with his.

but then, one night, he suddenly called me up (out of the blue) and everything was all good for awhile and we had one really great conversation — until we had a stupid fight. and he hung up on me and I didn’t call him back (because I ALWAYS call a bluff).

and then, two weeks later he died.

that’s it. he just died. and I never talked to him again. and I NEVER got to work out that stupid fight we had. and when I found out he died, I literally lost control of my body. I don’t remember how, but I fell to the ground. and I cried. for days. I really did. I cried. All the time. because nobody I had ever known had died before. and I think i even went a little bit crazy, because I didn’t know how to deal with the grief and I would find myself trying to talk to him when i was crying.

and I thought (because I was stupid) that i would get over in a few weeks. but that was more than three years ago and I still cry. all the time. and sometimes, I just want to call him and tell him I’m sorry about that stupid fight we had. but I can’t. and it sucks. and I think about it every day. and the only thing i can do now is make sure i never have any more stupid fights with anyone else — ever. and I think that’s the only thing any of us can really do, because all the stupid fights, well, they just seem so stupid in the end.

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