A Thousand Words by Ted Chung

Majorly like.


A Thousand Words from Ted Chung on Vimeo.

Shea from Tennessee

The first time I met Shea was Thursday June 17, 2010, around 9:45pm or 9:50pm.

That's tonight, actually.

Shea made such an impression that I have a feeling that Shea will cross my path again and again in the next few months.

Shea (pronounced "shay") is a pretty unforgettable person.

I will tell the story of Shea soon...

Man someone took my phone u hav the wrong number

My assignment was to collect the missing reports at the end of the month, so today I was working on it.  Begging via e-mail, telephone, and text message.

One sister responded to me with an unusually terse answer.

Me to (619) 555-0436 Add - San Diego, CA

6/8/10 5:27 PM 106 minutes ago

Me: Hello, Xochitl, may I have your FS report? --Steve 4:54 PM

(619) 555-0436: Sure 4:54 PM

"She just says 'Sure'...",  I thought.  "That's it?"

Usually people will respond with their figures.

So I replied with some encouragement to go ahead and give me her report.

Me: Thanks, can you text it to me or e-mail me? Or leave it as a voice mail? --Steve 4:58 PM

(619) 555-0436: Im not quite sure, i just got run over la jolla and im bleedin internally on the sidewalk so if im alive tomorrow il send it on k! 5:00 PM

Okay, now I'm in panic mode with adrenaline in my blood.  Think, think...

The original reply of "sure" was strange.  Perhaps Xochitl doesn't have that phone number any more and it belongs to someone else?

Yet in my mind I was visualizing my dear sister laying on the sidewalk, bleeding.  What should I do?

The first thing I did was call what I knew to be her home number, her land line.

Busy!  Of course.  Her husband is probably just getting the news.  I have to help, somehow.  Must notify others so we can support her.  We'll be visiting her at the hospital tonight.  Hopefully.

Yet there's an element of doubt.  I should call her to make sure.  Yet perhaps the paramedics are working on her now, and won't appreciate having her cell phone ring and interrupt them.  I had better text her, first.

Me: can I call you right now? 5:08 PM

Still in panic mode, I only waited about 20 seconds until I made the decision to just ring the number and see if she answered.

Ringing...  someone picked up!

It was the sound of a man groaning in pain, terrible pain.  Well, at least I now knew that it wasn't Xochitl.  Definitely not her voice.  A man's voice.  Groaning in agony.

"How are you?" I said loudly into the phone, making sure I was overheard by the man laying on the sidewalk in torment from his injuries.  He groaned on... then the sound of the phone hitting heavily against garments...   had the emergency people taken the phone away from him?

Silence now.  Waiting to hear...

"Are you okay?" I said.

Silence.

Then, in the distance, laughter.  More laughter.  And a voice, straining against his own laughter,

"He's still on the phone!"

Silence... and then a disconnect.

Walking back over to the computer screen where my Google voice text conversation was taking place, I saw that I'd had a response to my request to call.

(619) 555-0436: I don't care. [expletive] my life 5:11 PM

Now that I knew it was all a theatrical production, I decided to join right in on the fun and exercise my rarely-used improvisational skills.

What follows is the remainder of the text conversation, complete with time stamps.

Me: Please stay calm. I've just called 911 and although they can't track you directly, I gave them your phone number and they're calling the service provider 5:16 PM

Me: who will be able to get to you. Just stay calm. Can you dial 911 yourself? That will speed the process... in any event, help is on its way. 5:17 PM

(619) 555-0436: U got the wrong numb 5:18 PM

Me: Just please keep your phone on. Is the battery strong? Even with the phone off the phone will emit a weak signal, if you're in La Jolla the police should be 5:18 PM

Me: I'm on with 911 right now and they are attempting to ring you too. Please pick up unless you've aleady called them. WAIT hang tight they say they have a fix 5:19 PM

Me: on your location. Hit and run I 5:19 PM

(619) 555-0436: Man someone took my phone u hav the wrong number 5:26 PM

(619) 555-0436: 5:27 PM

NOTE:  Other than my modifying the actual phone number and removing a foul word, the above text conversation is copied exactly as it appears in my Google voice text record.

Failure is Fun

Oh, how sweet the smell of failure in the morning.

As I struggled through the exam, I remembered the time during the online course that I watched a simulation of some feature of Access 2007, the database portion of the Microsoft Office 2007 Suite, and laughed out loud.

"What?" I had thought, as the demonstration played out onscreen. It was funny because it was all gobbledygook to me, and I wondered "who can understand this stuff?"

Yeah, funny at the time, but now as I floundered during the timed 50-minute online test, it dawned on me that those who hope to get a job using Access 2007 probably can understand "this stuff", or at least they'd better.

Mercifully the fifty minutes of sweating went by fast, and soon the truth was at hand, visible for me and Shane, the CertiPort test administrator, to see:

It felt strangely good.  It smelled good.  The smell of failure in the morning.  The sweet smell of failure.

Why?  Because all my life, fearing failure, I usually avoid anything that I suspect will result in failure.  

"Hey, let's do this certain thing! Where's Steve?"

Hear the screech of my tires and see my rapidly diminishing taillights.

So failure is rare for me since I never attempt anything too difficult.

This failure made me feel a certain pride.  I tried something that I had no real chance of succeeding at.  Study and study and more study gave me an overconfident feeling based simply on the time I'd "spent" on it.  Yes, it was hilarious to see all the "mumbo jumbo" in the lessons.  Sort of a shock to find that they don't give you a passing grade just for showing up.  This paragraph is all messed up and confused.  What I'm trying to say is that I'm happy to have a Failure because it means I had a Try.

Failure is fun!