Still Alive

On Tuesday I decided to make decisions that may or may not have been the best decisions.

I stayed up all night—literally all night—playing videogames with some of my friends. When I went to work at noon, I felt like a zombie and had absolutely no motivation to do anything. I also felt queasy. My boss, Thor, said that as soon as I finished taking care of a sample request for Research and Development, I could go home.

So I took care of what I had to do as fast as I possibly could. I went home and took a nap from 1700 to 2100 and felt great after waking up from that. So I went to hang out with friends again. This time I stayed out until 0600 and went to sleep with earplugs in since my family was starting to wake up. I didn’t want to have any trouble falling asleep.

I set my alarm for 1030 so that I could shower and make it to work by noon., and then I lay down in my bed.

The next thing that I remember, my mom is opening my door and saying something. I sit up in my bed, startled, and mumble something with an inquisitive tone.

“Your work just called, they're wondering where you are," said Mom.

"What time is it?" I asked, sleep still on my lips.

Please be earlier than noon, please be earlier than noon, please please please be earlier than noon.

"It's just past 3 o'clock in the afternoon," she replied.

Crap crap crap crap crap!

"I don't do stuff like this! Ugh stupid earplugs." I sat up and checked my phone. Two missed calls, two voicemail messages, a text, and even a Facebook message. I was sure they'd be pissed off with me.

Afraid of what was coming next, I checked the text message first.

It was from Robert: "Hey homie, we're all worried about ya, if you can, send me a text, if you decided to run away that's cool too just text me so we know youre safe."

The voicemail messages were from Thor, my boss and friend. He said to call the lab if I could, and that he hoped I was okay.

The Facebook message said, "your coworkers are very worried about you, call the lab when you can."

If I didn't feel terrible before, I definitely did now. I got dressed as quickly as I could and sped to work. When I got there I learned that I had been the center of dozens of tales of untimely demise. They'd checked hospital emergency departments and news reports of car accidents. Karen had apparently been on the verge of tears-- wondering if I'd crashed my motorcycle.

I was touched that nobody was angry--even when they found out I was still alive and had simply slept through my alarm. They genuinely care, and that means a lot.