A Short Letter Home: And for my next trick...

Friday, July 21, 2006

And for my next trick...

Dare I report this incident? Well, hopefully my mom will be too busy packing for her flight tomorrow that she won't check the weblog.

So, I went to my former place of employment yesterday to say hello and see what was new with my former co-workers. It was a hot day yesterday, though nothing like they've been having back east. I was driving my mother-in-law's car, and I hadn't bother to roll down all the windows. Having only the driver's window open makes for funky airflow that I find distracting, so I had that one rolled halfway up and the vent fans blowing. It was hot, but nothing too distressing. At least I thought. Anyway, I manage to remember the proper exit and arrive at work. I park my car and head towards the front door. As I approach, a couple of my former coworkers step out. They are quite happy to see me and give me a warm welcome. We stand outside the door chatting a bit and suddenly I start to feel a bit dizzy. I think to myself that we should go inside where I can sit down or at least lean against something. I start to move forward and then everything goes gray. I have this moment of delirium and the next thing I know I'm on my knees and my former boss is helping me stand up and go through the door. Apparently I had slumped down and then fell backwards. When my friends tried to help me up, I guess they must have gotten me on my feet again but then I collapsed again, this time onto my knees. This called quite a bit of consternation and they ended up calling the paramedics, just to be safe. So there I was, sitting in the company lobby, my feet up and an ice pack on my head. My boss gives me a bottle of water, then the person at 911 says not to give me water, so they take the bottle away. People are coming up and greeting me, while I sit there like some head of state or something. Soon we can hear the sirens in the distance. Despite the fact that I'm egotistical enough to keep a blog, I really don't like attracting that much attention.

Anyway, the medics checked me out and couldn't find anything wrong. Once I had sat down and started cooling off I was feeling fine. So we all wrote it off to overheating and I continued my visit. It was the last day for another of my erstwhile coworkers, so I got to attend the goodbye party and probably see more folks than if I had wandered the building on my own. I was even given a piece of cheesecake and a side of raspberries. Of course, I don't like cheesecake and raspberries, or at least I didn't, but given all the fuss folks had made over me, I felt obliged to eat it and build up my strength and all that. Turns out that it wasn't that bad, really. I think that all that Yunnan lao jao has burned away my finicky taste buds and now I can eat anything.