Goodnight Moon...goodnight stars

I'm writing this to you from a dark room filled with the portent of soon coming thunderstorms. The lights are all out, and the curtains billow in the wind. There are no stars tonight. Strangely, this perfectly captures my mood. I could go either way.

The day was strangely productive. I worked out, cleaned up, washed my hair, applied for some jobs, and emailed. I watched CNN, Beowulf, and cooked a huge dinner of rotisserie chicken with all the trimmings. I did not dwell on my circumstances.

In other news, today in a stroke of laughing irony, life walked up slapped my back in friendship, leaving a kick me sign. I spend most of the days now waiting for the phone to ring from unfamiliar out-of-state numbers, waiting to be asked to interview at any of the many places that I've applied. Today the phone rang, and it was an unfamiliar out of state number. Full of expectation, and putting on my best business persona, I answered the phone saying "this is Danielle". It was American Express calling about my past due amount and wondering whether I would be able to make that payment by phone today. And so it begins. The calling, the gentle and friendly voice "reminding and encouraging" you to make your payment. It's amazing how it all comes back to you and how quickly one adjusts to having money in hand and on the way at any point. I realized today that I have to re-learn phone evasion techniques. But how to balance the need to screen calls with the need to conduct business and be available for my next employment opportunity? And so I end the day with a bank account balance of 5 dollars.

My head pounds. It's not frustration... this time. This started with Katrina -- I can sense the onslaught of a severe weather system through my magical, malfunctioning sinuses. There's one on the way tonight; some shelters even opened in New Orleans for people who live in Fema trailers (more irony!). My forehead screams with pain at the abrupt, plunging pressure change. I remind myself of those coal mine canaries; good for a warning in a crisis, but at great personal expense. Maybe I can turn a profit with this. More on that later.

Time to lay me down to sleep for now. Ta-ta.

Post Theme: Hopeless by Dionne Farris