Why I Love the Internet

It has occurred to me recently that I love the internet for a variety of reasons. The first is because I'm a shy person. That news will surprise friends but unfortunately is very true. I HATE phones! I'm not good with strangers on the phone. I get tongue tied. The internet allows you to do a great deal of business without having to use the phone or talk to strangers. Plus, there's the convenience of not driving, all over the place, in Stockton's summer heat. (I feel bad complaining because it's not even hot yet. However, in my defense, I did just get back from a winter climate.) In the last two days I've been able to change my address on DMV, re-register to vote (because of my new address), check my jury duty status, look up info. on Albert Einstein, look at drawings by Al Hirschfeld (Thanks Joe), print directions to a Fourth of July party and window shop in Aotearoa/New Zealand's Jade Factory. Of course, there's the daily looking at email, blogs, and (I can't believe I'm going to admit this) the reading of my horoscope. The ease of the internet is amazing!

I had a friend in high school who was the personification of a computer guru...o.k. geek. He built personal computers, when he was five, back in the seventies before anyone but universities & governments had desktop capabilities. He told me that one day I wouldn't be able to get through a day without using a computer. Well, Greg you were right. I thought you were nuts because why would an actress (what I wanted to be at the time) need to use a computer daily? I thought only the techies in theater would need to. However, I've become as dependent (addicted) as the next American on how easy a computer makes my life. Yes, I was without internet access in NZ but not without computers: atm's, money exchanges, guidance systems on the planes, trains, boats, and coaches that we used. The mind boggles at how accustomed I've become to the use of the digital world. Especially because there is no time limit to any of it.
What do you love about it? Or is it a burden?

Coincidences

Just a couple of quick questions: Are coincidences truly accidents or are they signs/messages that one is supposed to take into consequence? What if you meet someone in a place that you've never seen her/him before? What if you were just thinking about her/him? And what if you are only in that place because where you wanted to be was "out of order"?

I was hit by a bus

I returned to the United States from New Zealand unscathed. (Which for me is saying something.) The next day I was hit by a bus. Yes, I was in a car. It was not jet lag but the fact that the driver of the bus decided he would pick up people waiting at the bus stop. Trouble was he had decided to be in the left lane. This was decidedly odd as it is not part of that particular route. Nevertheless, he was there and needed to get over into the right lane. There was a little problem with that...I was already occupying that space. I had been with the bus for four or five blocks at that point. I looked up and my heart didn't even have time to skip a beat, let alone begin racing. It was all very calm. There was bus everywhere. I couldn't go to the right because I'd hit a couple and their baby in a carriage. It felt like when you're swimming in the ocean, riding waves forward toward the beach. You look back and see a big wave. You cockily think, "That's not so big. I can handle it." Until the wave comes closer and is meters (yards) above your head and is crashing down on you. That's what the bus looked like. It was in the front window, the side window, and the rear side window. Everywhere I looked was bus. I remember thinking, "I can see me in your mirror, why can't you see me? I guess I'm going to be hit by a bus." The tire slammed into my front and the minute I was touched the bus veered away. I just kept driving straight. We both pulled forward and stopped. I got out of the car and there wasn't anything wrong with it. I was shocked and very pleasantly surprised. I was fine and when the bus driver came to check on me I waved him away. The funniest part was when the man who'd been waiting to be picked up, came running forward, only to berate the bus driver for not stopping a block and half back where he was. The driver looked at him aghast and replied, "Um, I, uh, well, I hit this woman." The man's wife runs up with the baby and said, "Honey, catch a clue! Are you all right, dear?" I just smiled and said that I was and so was the car. I wished them all well, got back in the car and drove away...in the left lane this time.
Did I stay calm and cool? Hell no! About four minutes later, after a red light, a bridge and five cross streets, I saw the sign for my youngest sister's street. That's when the "what-ifs" entered my head and I began to shake and was on the verge of tears. I just made it to the end of her block, walked in the door and the minute I saw her I began to cry. It was her 35th birthday and I told her, "I'm sorry, I don't have a present but I think I'm it." After telling her the story, her lovely triplet daughters and handsome son gave me hugs, too. I calmed down and felt much better now that I was protected by good birthday karma.

I learned that even a bus can bring a certain sense of peace. I knew there was nothing I could do and I would just have to ride out the situation. Fortunately, it turned out fine. For someone who likes to plan things and have order in her life, it was a good lesson...especially because no one was physically hurt.

So slow down, take it as it comes....AND CHECK THE RIGHT OR LEFT LANE BEFORE MERGING.