Dirty Little Secret #108

I fear disaster.

In London and New York it was terrorists. Much scarier than that, in Minnesota it was tornadoes. Nothing strikes fear into my heart like the sound of the tornado siren. The neighbors would stand outside and watch, hopefully, while I cowered with the children, the cat, the dog, the tortoise, and the weather radio in my split-level's basement bathroom. And it wasn't even a real basement! Dude!

And please don't ask me to ever consider living west of Buffalo, or south of the Mason-Dixon line. It's just not going to happen. Do you people know what's out there? Hurricanes! Earthquakes! Wildfires! Drought! Dude!

I always appreciated John Irving's novel, The World According to Garp. When Garp and Helen find their dream home, a small airplane crashes into it just as they leave with the realtor. Garp is delighted: it's pre-disastered! Nothing bad can happen here again, because we all know that lightening doesn't strike twice.

Sadly, for Garp that just isn't true.

So I freaked out a little when Cory Lidle crashed his plane into a building on E. 72nd, near Dirk's prior place of employment. We no longer lived in Manhattan at the time of the accident, but still, the notion of familiar environs touched by catastrophe is disconcerting. This leads Dirk to believe that I am C-R-A-Z-Y, as he is not in the least bothered by the thought that if this exact event had occurred three years prior, and he happened to be walking by, that he would have died a fiery death.

Nope, not bothered at all by that.

He likes to point out that, in the incident in question, no one except the pilot and instructor were killed. "See?" he says, "I would only have been INJURED in your imaginary world." He points out, as well, that on any street you'll ever walk down, someone is bound to have died there. He's helpful, that way.

So today, a crane collapsed in Manhattan, at E. 91st and First Avenue. A BLOCK AND A HALF FROM OUR OLD APARTMENT.



Dude! I walked by there! With my stroller! And my newborn! And Dirk is reading over my shoulder convinced that I need to be institutionalized!

Unlike Garp's pre-disaster, I am post-disastered. Either way, I don't like it.

Dirty Little Secrets #106 & #107

106) Sometimes I take stupid online tests.

107) I was truly delighted with the results.

When I was little, I loved this guy. It made me very upset that he couldn't be seen by others.

And it's not a half-bad description of me.

Your Score: Snuffleupagus

You scored 50% Organization, 50% abstract, and 61% extroverted!

This test measured 3 variables.

First, this test measured how organized you are. Some muppets like Cookie Monster make big messes, while others like Bert are quite anal about things being clean.

Second, this test measured if you prefer a concrete or an abstract viewpoint. For the purposes of this test, concrete people are considered to gravitate more to mathematical and logical approaches, whereas abstract people are more the dreamers and artistic type.

Third, this test measured if you are more of an introvert or an extrovert. By definition, an introvert concentrates more on herself and an extrovert focuses more on others. In this test an introvert was somebody that either tends to spend more time alone or thinks more about herself.

You are somewhat organized, both concrete and abstract, and both introverted and extroverted.

I bet you didn't think you were Snuffleupagus. Let's find out why.

You are both somewhat organized. You have a good idea where you put things and you probably keep your place reasonably clean. You aren't totally obsessed with neatness though. Alloyius Snuffleupagus (and all Snuffleupagus') is not sloppy by nature, but he moves so incredibly slowly that it is impossible for him to be totally organized.

You both are about equally concrete and abstract thinkers. You have a good balance in your life. You know when to be logical at times, but you also aren't afraid to explore your dreams and desires... within limits of course. Snuffy generally has very basic interests, but he explores his abstract sensitive side when he plays his snuffleflute.

You both are somewhat introverted. Originally Snuffleupagus was very shy and was only Big Bird's invisible friend. However as he has aged he has started to build new friendships with new characters. Like Snuffy, you probably like to have some time to yourself. However, you do appreciate spending time with your friends, and you aren't scared of social situations.