hidden driveway, laurel md., 8.18

I read a bunch of stuff on Fray.com today, and really enjoyed some of the stories. I’m thinking about a few story ideas and possibly submitting something with some illustrations. Also, this weekend, A List Apart posted a great article on writing for the Web, which has some points that I need to take to heart. (for those of you who are asleep, my apologies.)

Jen’s sister broke into her apartment last week. Jen called me from her house, livid and raging, unable to make sense of her feelings. She told me the story and I got more and more upset, because I knew that not only was she mad with her sister, but that she felt completely unsafe in her apartment. Her sister left that day with a halfhearted apology, and called back from her car later, completely unable to grasp why Jen was so upset with her. I got off the phone with Jen so that she could talk with her. At the time, I was driving (badly, all over the road) and I felt my pulse strong in my arms and body. My face was flushed in the rear-view mirror.

Coming down off the anger, I felt completely powerless to help, total anger at her selfish, stupid sister, and frustrated with the whole situation. We have been struggling mightily this year to make the ‘She’ and ‘Me’ into ‘Us’, and this incident illustrates the problems with our current housing situation.

John brought the server in to the rack at his office, so my connection suddenly got a lot faster. It’s wonderful again. Appletalk over IP is a beautiful thing. This past month has been a blur of freelance work, some outdoor work, and wierdness at the office. Definitely an interesting August.

I got an email from Jen, and she wanted to add this to my comments above: “…I had no trouble making sense of my feelings. I knew what I felt, I just felt guilty for responding the way I did at the time. The fact that we are sisters really greyed the lines for me.”