2001-09-13 - 1:06 p.m.

Dealing with Stress

Scenario: I get home last night. Check up on some emails (basically I've been ignoring everybody but Cricket and Redwood, both of whom are totally stressing in their own ways). Then I get a very upset email from Cricket. Her day was terrible!

Apparently she spent the entire day fighting with UC Davis computers to print her PhD thesis and was having no luck. So I rushed to pick her up.

I feed her and tried to convince her to just let me driver her to my office and let me print her disseration here. She wanted to try in the office once more (I would have too). It didn't work. :(

By 1 AM we swing by Kinko's to try their computers (though I'm very politely trying to suggest we just come to my office very early in the morning). What a mess. :(

2 AM I take a very defeated and upset Cricket home (she gots lots of hugs yesterday), by 3 AM I fall asleep.

Finally at 5:30 AM I wake up, drive her to my office, and she prints out her PhD dissertation with few problems.

Of course I wish she would have listened to me. I wish all of my friends would trust me more often, because though I might sometimes set my apartment on fire, I've yet to be arrested or seriously injured. (Though it could be some Irish gene or something.) ;)

Stressed People

It is so hard to deal with stressed people. Cricket has been burning the candle at both ends, and like me, she refuses to accept help. Which only makes it all the worse at times. But at the same time, it means I can understand her.

Unlike some people I know who when they are stressed out lash out at me personally, Cricket doesn't. In fact, she constantly apologizes for being a wreck and thanks me. That really makes all the difference in the world. Yes it would be nice if I could help her more, but I understand her reasons. But when her stress is not focused at me, it just makes me really glad to be her friend. In fact, I'm hoping I'll learn to direct my energies the same way, as I know that Cricket and I are very much alike in many ways. :)

So, with 2.5 hours of sleep, having driven up and down the interstate all night and a few times today already, having attended a huge science meeting this morning where I was one of the few modelers ... I'm pooped! :p In a few hours I'm going home and taking a bath.

Cricket's visit has been fun, but the past two weeks have been pretty terrible on me. :(

-=-

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