Post-Schna-ulations

The makings of an odd day...

Actually, this odd day began Monday around 4:00 and continued through Tuesday afternoon.

It all started as I was getting ready to leave my office (sadly, it was not a dark and stormy night). The doors in our office are very large and very heavy, and my old nemesis inertia was about to strike again. I had pulled my door to start the shutting process, but quickly changed my mind as I realized I had forgotten something (i don't even remember what anymore). So, I turn around and stick out my right hand to stop the door. Sadly, for me, I happened to stick my index finger right through the gap between door and wall (on the side of the door with the hinges), and the evil, monstrous door continued to close and every increasing speed. The result: one squashed finger. It left a lovely gash in my finger, which didn't actually bleed (those last two layers of skin stood their ground!!), but still looked (and still looks) pretty ugly. My finger also got swollen and deformed looking (the swelling favored one side of my finger over the other - very strange...). My coworker found me laying on my floor.

I'm not really THAT big a wimp, but it hurt...A LOT. The concentration of sensory receptors in a person's hand (particularly the fingers) is second only to the number in a person's tongue and lips (for the dexterity required for speech). I also have naturally LOW blood pressure, so the rush of adrenaline and the drop in blood pressure that occur with any kind of pain was a bit much and made me a bit clammy and dizzy. Okay, so I am that big a wimp. Go ahead, laugh...hahaha.

Okay, now you're really going to laugh. After this, I went to the bathroom, preparing to leave for the day. I got into the stall, and what do I do? I pull the door shut on the tip of my LEFT index finger. Of course, this resulted in the tiniest of bruises and no real damage, but I was about ready to kick the door it (or kick myself, except I feared something smashing another finger in the process).

As a result of the finger smooshing, I got a ride home (from the coworker who felt bad for me when she found me laying on my floor (she said that she would have screamed if it had happened to her, so that made me feel a bit less silly)) and I missed a rehearsal. It's hard to play the oboe with a fat, stiff finger. However, as of yesterday morning, much mobility had returned and my finger is fairing much better each day. I got lucky, I think, that the door didn't crush the bone or tendons as much as the skin, fat, and muscle on the top part of my finger. Lucky me! I will be well enough to play in the final rehearsal this friday for the concert this saturday. Crisis averted.

Fear not, that was the longest story of my strange day.

Tuesday morning, I woke up a bit on the late side. I rushed around, got out the door, only to find that they were totally tearing up the street down which I walk to the bus. I had to cross the street and walk on the opposite side as usual, as the large vehicles were literally tearing up the top surface of the road on the other side (this was actually pretty cool to watch).

Enter odd moment #1: The Raccoon.
- As I'm walking down the sidewalk, I look across the street and see a raccoon walking down the sidewalk in the opposite direction. He's just out for a stroll, not in a hurry, meandering along. This is the first raccoon I've seen in Pittsburgh, though I have been assured they are common around here. This one seemed out of sorts. It was out at 8:15 in the morning, walking down the sidewalk, after all. Strange behavior for a raccoon.

Odd Moment #2: The Bus
- So, I get to the end of the street and have to cross back to catch my bus. However, as I'm trying to figure out how best to get across (remember, road is torn up), my bus drives past. DAMMIT!!
Eh, I caught the next bus. No big deal.
I sit down next to a middle-aged, casually dressed Asian man, who is in the process of preening his finger nails. After I sit down, he seems to become self-conscious of his preening and stops, sitting on his hands. I notice he has nothing with him - no bag, briefcase, coat. He starts to hum, VERY quietly. Can't tell what he's humming - don't care anyway. After a few minutes, he suddenly scratches violently at his arm. Pause. Scratches the other arm. Longer Pause. Begins scratching, with BOTH hands, his chest, arms, neck, upper back. I move to the very edge of my seat, nearly falling into the aisle.
Just as I'm about to stand up, he pulls the chord to get off the bus. Crisis averted again.

Odd Moment 3: The injured man
I get off the bus at my usual stop (which happens to be within about 2 minutes of 4 different, interconnected hospitals). There is a man standing at the stop, waiting for the bus. His pants are covered in quite a bit of dried blood. His hands are bandaged pretty heavily, and he is holding them up near his chest. He appears to tremble slightly and looks as if he might cry.
If I had hurt myself (obviously quite badly), had gone to the hospital, and then had to wait for a BUS to get home, I don't think I'd be too happy either.

Odd Moment 4: Work
This is not very interesting, so it will be very brief and unspecific. As I was testing our subject for the day, another subject showed up very confused, thinking he had an appointment. Lots of confusion and craziness ensued. Everything worked out. Not much more to say here.

Odd Moment 5: Intersection of Death
There is an intersection near my building which has been dubbed (by me) the intersection of death. Prior to the policeman being stationed there, we would watch at least a couple accidents a week from our 8th floor offices, looking down on the intersection. I saw at least 2 people get hit my cars there too. So, I'm walking to the gym and waiting to cross the intersection of death. The light turns red. People stop. Stupid lady in a car slowly rolls to the line, appears to be stopping. The light in the other direction turns green. I start to cross. The traffic begins to move. Suddenly, stupid lady in a car decides to turn left, right through the path of a bus, and nearly over my toes. Too bad the light was red, DUMBASS!!!! Much honking occurs. Walking around Oakland is a scary thing.


All in all, I think the raccoon was the strangest moment for me. I honestly stopped and watched it for a few seconds (which could also be why I missed my bus, come to think of it). Very, very bizarre.

posted by Schna @ 8:26 AM