guess what. It's not funny anymore...

I am having a bad couple of days. I am tired of having bad days. It is a miracle I could even connect to the internet tonight to write this blog post!

Let me start at the "beginning." I am very happy to say I have now moved into my new Chicago apartment where I will be living for at least the next year. The move went well, no one got injured, and I've set up the kitchen already. Now for the bad news - we were not alone when we moved in. After we had hauled everything from the sublet to the truck then from the truck to the new apartment, we noticed we had some friendly visitors - small bugs about an eighth of an inch long, shaped like tear drops and very flat... This was not pleasant. Luckily there were not a great many of them and so far they had done no harm... However, Eva decided, wisely, that it would be a good idea to contact the exterminators who presumably had come through and done stuff less than a week prior to our move-in!! We obviously weren't around but there was a nice memo under the door informing us that they were expected to come to our floor on the 15th...

In any case, Eva got us an appointment with the bug guys on Thursday, as in yesterday as in the day from hell...or purgatory - not sure which would be more appropriate...I do feel like I am doing penance for something...

ANYWAYS, let me tell you about yesterday. The badness started early on my way to work. I take public transportation to the theater, consisting of a short train ride followed by a short bus ride. Usually there is not much lag between the two since both routes run very often... The bus I take is supposed to arrive every 5 to 8 minutes. I waited at the bus stop for half an hour. By the time the bus arrived, I was supposed to be at work. It is extremely embaressing as a stage manager to be late, especially to the theater... Luckily I'm only an assistant stage manager this time so it is not QUITE as bad (other than my need to make a good impression...) I could have caught a cab or something sooner but when you are waiting for the bus, the main thought you have is "oh, it will be here any second. As soon as I hail a cab and spend my paycheck, the bus will arrive..."

So its noon (the time I'm supposed to be at work) and I finally get on a bus. It was very crowded since no bus had come by for the past half hour... Halfway to my final destination, THE BUS BREAKS DOWN!! Luckily, by this point I am half a mile away from the theater. The bus driver tells us to go get on the bus behind us and I decide it would be much better to walk. The bus was almost full and all those people were going to get on another mostly full bus. Sound like a good idea to you? I walk the rest of the way in the scorching humidity, very embaressed and very late. I did manage to make it before rehearsal started but that was still 25 minutes late for me.

Rehearsal goes pretty well. I have been a little bored this week since we have been doing artistic-y stuff. Since I don't have to take down blocking changes, there is not a lot for me to do except to make note of the small changes in props. I got out a few minutes early and was ecstatic at the thought of getting to Evanston for a very important meeting EARLY so I could actually EAT A MEAL! I decided to get the Purple Express from Chicago Ave, since my theater is on Chicago and it is the closest El stop. Now it is important to note that in the middle of rehearsal, the sky turned black and the heavens broke loose for a couple hours. The rain had stopped by the end, however, and it was looking to be a smooth trip. WRONG!! I wait on the El platform for the EXPRESS for HALF AN HOUR!! By this time I am wondering if I will be able to make it to Evanston at all! Eva has called to see I was okay at this point since she knew I was going to Evanston and she heard there was a severe storm headed that way. Right about at that moment I looked out over the River North area to the west (the Chicago Ave El stop has a beautiful unobstructed view of that direction) and I saw the black clouds rolling in... It became a race against time, since I was standing on an uncovered El track next to some metal poles and had yet to see a Purple train... Just when I am about to give up, my train arrives. Howeever, even with the express it is doubtful I can make it to my appointment. Then the sky opens up.

Now you may have heard about these "little" storms we had yesterday, the ones with the flooding, high winds, dangerous lightening, hail, etc? At that point I realized that if I got to Evanston I would a) be soaking wet and b) probably not make it home because of probable power outages or other bad karmic things that were due to happen to me based on the rest of my day... My goal became making it back to my cozy apartment. This required switching to the Red line, since the Purple bypasses my stop entirely... I got off at one of the transfer spots (still elevated) and run under the useless "roof." The wind picked up right at that moment, pushing all the rain I was trying to avoid onto my back and chilling me to the bone. After about 10 minutes of this, my train finally arrives and I board with a bunch of fellow sponges, soaked despite coats, shelter, and umbrellas. When I got off at my stop, there was no point in avoiding the rain. Turns out the flooding had started too! At the bottom of the stairs in the El station, there was at least and inch or two of water throughout. I put an extra plastic bag around my laptop (luckily my backpack is VERY waterproof it turns out...) and decided to just trudge home because there was no telling how long the storm would last. I called Eva and had her take some towels to the front door and turn of the A/C.

Cross the street in flipflops was extremely difficult since there was ankle deep water. I saw a bus coming that would take me a few blocks closer to home and hopped on, since at least I couldn't get struck by lightening on a bus... Did I mention the thunder and lightening? I'm sure it was stupid for me to try to walk home but I was so wet and cold, all I could think of was getting home. The bus dropped me off a few blocks from the apartment and I managed to make it back okay. On those last few blocks, I just kept praying to God to just let me get to the front door safely. I have not been that scared of weather in a really long time but there was certainly more water than rainwater running down my cheeks by the time I made it upstairs. Eva had towels and a bathrobe waiting and I was soon cuddled up in my papasan chair covered in towels and blankets (don't worry, I took of the wet stuff at the door), eating black bean chili prepared (from a can) by Eva. She is already a wonderful roommate!

So you may remember that this post started out with talk of small flat bugs in our apartment. You may be wondering, "what happened to Emily's story-telling ability! She forgot to finish telling us about the bugs! What happened when the exterminator visited???" Don't worry, the end is in sight...

After I had warmed up, I timidly asked Eva what had happened when the bug people came by...Well, at least the bugs were not baby roaches, as first suspected. No, they are SO much BETTER (sarcasm sarcasm). Turns out we have bed bugs. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, those little mythical creatures parents warn you about when you go to sleep ("sleep tight, don't let the bed bugs bite"). Since we didn't have them in the old place and since this apartment has been empty and clean for several weeks, we think we pickedup the bugs on the UHaul. BEWARE! Spray it down before you start loading! Luckily for us we both use air mattresses so they don't have a bed to nest in. However, Eva calmly warned me to shake out my sheets since they had crawled in between her sheets... She is not going to put the sheets back on her bed until the exterminator comes back to spray. I checked my sheets and didn't find any, thank God! My bedding was in a more air tight container for the move which probably helped a lot. However, I keep checking every few hours when I am home and I definately woke up several times in the night, worried about the creepy crawly things. In addition, I have felt like bugs are crawling all over me since we moved in here, even though there is no evidence of bugs actually on my body. No bites and no bugs.

We got a memo this morning about how to prepare for the spraying. We have to put everything we have two feet away from all walls, including closets, so they can spray. We have to wash all linens in hot water and vacuum the apartment. Then we have to get lost for 4-6hours after they spray and later come home to vacuum AGAIN. I wouldn't mind this much if we got to get it over with soon. But no, we are not scheduled until WEDNESDAY! Almost a whole week from now! Frances will be here too, which is probably a bigger blessing than expected since we will have to move everything we own away from their nice new homes on the walls and then attempt to put everything back.

So it's not funny anymore. At first bed bugs seemed like a joke, a funny misfortune. No more. I am sitting in the living room with my computer connected to the cable modem we finally have (the router is in the mail so we don't have wireless yet). I am sitting on a hard wooden kitchen chair with my feet propped up on a mini-fridge, looking at trunks and copious numbers of book boxes piled in the middle of the room. I was hoping to get those boxes unpacked and/or stored so we could actually set up the kitchen table and have a walking path to the A/C and TV. However, since the boxes are in the middle of the room now and will have to be in the middle of the room on Wednesday, what's the point???

It is nice to get this LONG story out of my system. Hopefully my horrible 24 hours+ will keep you amused (don't worry, I won't mind). If I wasn't in this situation, I would probably find it funny myself. Next week after we are allowed back in our apartment, I'm sure I will look back at this first week in my new home as a humorous anecdote to be told at cocktail parties (well, maybe not the bug part...).

Well, it is time to go get laundry and my computer battery is running low. Hopefully I can make it out of this little corner and get to the front door. We can always hope...