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I got an email from a friend of mine who has three bosses. One of the bosses was in a business relationship with a woman. That relationship went sour, and she was in the process of suing him for a million dollars. He had recently been saying that it was a frivolous lawsuit and that he would countersue. That woman was found dead in her apartment over the weekend. Murdered. Needless to say, buddy betta getta hella good lawya. 0 scrawls at the end of this hallThe look: The feel: The taste: ________________________ Tuesday, Nov. 05, 2002 - 8:44 a.m. The Italian Job This is a letter, an email from a friend currently living in Rome. She's having quite an adventure there. Some of you know that my Dad's family in Italy is living in Campobasso - that's right, earthquake land. and yes, i was in Campobasso (CB) on friday and yes, felt the earthquake. like i've said before (and like i've been told) i have bad chi! why did i go after i knew that there had been an earthquake thursday afternoon... good question. i called campobasso and all the other cousins who were travelling into CB were already there, or already on their way. i figured: it's safe if they are going. The 1st of November (friday) was a day off, so we had planned that i would visit for the long weekend... a cousin i hadn't met yet was also going home that weekend and i was going to meet another uncle also for the first time (he lives outside of CB, but also close enough to the earthquake, his town was also fine (no major damage) So, all ok thursday night and friday day... did manage to hang out with the cousins a little and have some fun. we had a very nice long afternoon meal (typical Italian "obligatory lunch" is what i have called it in the past) ... about 4pm i leave my aunt's place to go catch up with carmelina - she's my cousin's cousin, the one i stayed with for over 1 month. She was also in CB and i was going to go over to her place, so hi to her parents.... all the family is still inside/i am outside, alone, walking towards carmelina's car, where - earthquake. i am in the street surrounded by 4 high buildings, and i see them shake, glass is breaking, people screaming. my first thought was that if the building crumbles the whole family is in there - guilt! ... and the only reason people were screaming is because this was stronger than an aftershock, this was a new earthquake... the phone lines don't work for quite some time after an earthquake, even the cel phone's b/c *everyone* is on a cel phone... so, i take my phone quickly before the connections get cut off and called my cousin sergio (he's the one who visited us in Canada this May, with his wife Wnada) he told me they were coming out and i had to stay put. i called carmelina, she was driving home to see her parents. and from then on, from 4:30ish friday, we all hung out outside. We (whole group) did separate to go see in-laws, aunts, to go get gas, etc... it was about 6pm when i started getting cold, sergio and i went inside his parents' place to get sweaters, when the rest of them arrived too. then my mom and dad called ... spoke with zio vittorio (his brother) and obvously, told him to get me to leave. we were going to have tea and i'm getting ready to say that i wanted to go to Zia Anna's to pack my little bag and go to the train station in case there was a train leaving soon when, yes, aftershock. we all go back outside. at least i was happy that it didn't happen when we were on the phone with my dad, he would have freaked out. we are back outside. sergio and i went to pick up wanda, who left us at 4:30 to go be with her parents for a while... and at this point, i say, sergio, help me leave. we get back to the reunion place and sergio says to zia anna (my father's sister... if any of you remember all the stories about my dad's stubbornness, well this woman beats him!!) sergio says: zia anna, give me the house keys, trish and i will go pack and then go to bus station, if a bus is ready to go, she's leaving. zia anna say "why? you want to leave so quickly?" uh ??!!?? were you not here at 4:10? which is what everybody else interjected for me... they all told me to go to rome and practice my swimming (since they were announcing that rain could cause floods in Rome) so she gave over the keys... pack... bus terminal ... missed the last bus, b/c of the aftershock at 6pm. so now, we are all hanging out outside... aunts and uncles eventually go inside and sleep in their own homes... before that though little groups of people were all hanging out outside and hang out we did. now, there was no damage to any buildings, residential or other in CB. there was some damage to something in the historical centre of CB but that was it. so we were basically hanging out outside only becuse you don't feel the aftershocks and it makes the worry pass... and, being true Italians... guess what they came up with. My cousin Giuseppe drove back to his house to get the mother of all extension chords... plugged it into the hallway of Wanda's building and it came all the way out to the sidewalk, and then some... Wanda's dad brought out his TV and the plugged it and we watched tv. then somebody went back in to get bread and capicollo... sandwiches for everybody, wanda's dad brought out the famous wine... we hung out watched tv and ate and drank! only in Italy, really!! later that night before my uncle (my dad's brother) went back home, he took me aside when it was a little quiet, and in a typical move that reminded me of my dad... said, "listen my girl, it's not that i don't want you around, but do me a favour, do your father a favour, and leave." ok, good plan, but i *missed* the last bus, so i got to wait til morning. the 3 brothers, and the 3 of us girls (me, Wanda, Claudia, massimo's wife was not with us this weekend) go to the corso to walk a bit, try to get a coffee... and it's almost midnight, sergio wanda and i decide to sleep outside, massimo and giuseppe went home, they took claudia home. so, we go back to wanda's parents place and the cars were all out, people were in their cars or still hanging out... 2/3 of CB slept in their cars that night. we were 2 per car, with blankets and pillows (i slept in wanda'a parents car with wanda's sister) and then at 6:45 am sergio and wanda took me to the station, the train left at 7:15am. and then i felt guilty all of saturday b/c i left and they were still there. i was jumpy, but i only realised it in Rome, where the "disco lights" from a store made me jump! so i called CB over the weekend and all is fine. they had other tremors and aftershocks but they didn't even leave their houses for those. i called last night and they told me to stop calling they were all ok. what an adventure - then, of course, i came back saturday to the "appartment" situation... she's a freaking dirt machine! even after she's supposedly "cleaned" it's not clean. or maybe i'm sensitive... so my friend Carla from Montreal is here with me in rome, we met up on sunday night and sunday night sophie (roommate) and i had "discussion" about cleaning... nothing was resolved (yet, give me time!!!) and monday night, last night cathy came up to me and said - ohmygod, your emails are true, she cleans but leaves things dirty! - so at least i feel reassured that i'm not crazy!! work is work - i don't talk much about it b/c it's a tough project and if i open up that can of worms i'm sure to depress all of you with my "woe is me" troubles so, no need to mention work - i *do* work, and that's all i'm willing to say. that's it for me. so now i want YOUR news!! miss you all Trish P.S.: 25 points to anyone who can tell me exactly what the title for this entry refers to. P.P.S.: I have made minor changes to the guestbuch as well as the archives. I may consider making major changes to this space. Feel free to leave suggestions. 0 scrawls at the end of this hallThe look: The feel: The taste: ________________________ |
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