ode to joy

i couldn't sleep last night. i tossed and turned and dreamed and plotted and analyzed and (despite giving up worrying for Lent) fretted in a fitful, joyful conundrum of agitation.

which is dangerous.

because sometimes i do really stupid things when i get all worked up.

but.

with good reason.

i left work early yesterday because i had to finish prep work for the "eat with 8" dinner i was hosting for my church. 7 (in my case 6) people from the congregation who don't know each other get together for dinner at someone's home to hang out and make friends. i was excited, and i had a lot of work to do before 6 people i had never met before entered my messy home for some polenta lasagne.

but first, i had to run by and see an apartment. it's just a studio, and the exterior of the building leaves much to be desired, but it's actually bright and fairly spacious for a one-room-house and kind of adorable. 2 HUGE closets! score! i would have to do some ruthless pruning of my belongings, but i could definitely live there. in my price range, near my friends. and the woman who showed me the place was a sweet and friendly girl in her 20s, from romania, who asked me if i would consider being a roommate with her and her boyfriend in the 3 bedroom condo they had just bought. they are looking for a roommate, i'm looking for a place, and she liked me immediately, she said. now, i have little to no interest in living with a dating couple that i do not know, but the request was kind of sweet. i invited her and her boyfriend to come to the dinner that night, but they had plans. whether i rent that place or not, i'd like to hang out with Emma again sometime i think.

so part of the sleeplessness was my brain arrangeing furniture and filling a donation bin in my head all night, excited about the possibility of that apartment.

but not all.

a quick trip to the eastern european market for supplies for the night's dinner, and i'm in my car in the parking lot, fishing for my ringing phone from the front seat. i don't recognize the number, so i answer it in case it's one of my soon-to-be dinner guests. it is not.

it is Paul, from WXRT, calling to tell me that i have WON 2 passes to the super secret U2 party!!

i am so excited and dumbfounded that i can barely get it together. i never win anything, and certainly not the hottest ticket in town! but i had registered online for my chance to win, and wouldn't you know it, after all these years of stalking the band, i've been invited to hang out with them at a party where they will play DJs.

the surreality of the moment warps my logical thoughts and i ask the XRT guy - "this is at 7 at night, right, not the morning?"... which causes him to crack up and assure me that this is not an all day event. but how am i to know??? it's the radio! they do weird things at weird times. i didn't want to just ASSUME it was at night and then miss it somehow! so i embarrassed myself.
then he told me that i would have to check my cell phone/cameras/etc. at the door, and i was audibly deflated. there goes my chance at getting the picture with BONO that i've been pining for for all these years. but at least that's a good sign that this is the real deal, and not some weird bait and switch. i just said "oh, really?? bummer!". then quickly got all giddy again, lest random radio intern think for a nano second that i was ungrateful.

and then i immediatly called my work friend with whom i had had an "if you win, you'll take me, and if i win, i'll take you" deal to let her know of our good fortune. admittedly, there are other friends who are bigger fans who i would LOVE to shower with this fantastic prize, not to mention at least 2 crushes with whom this would score major points, but i promised Ro, and i would expect her to keep the promise if she had won. plus, i guess it helps dispel the agony of choosing someone.

so that was the other reason why i didn't get any sleep.

that plus a thoroughly lovely evening with 6 people i had never met, enjoying some food that turned out really well, hearing people's stories, laughing, loving, feeling like a room full of souls colliding in a warm and unexpected way. LOVE it. my brain was on overdrive thinking about ways to envelope each of them into my circle of friends, i liked them all so much.

and so, the ode to Joy. and its Source.