# the $api object is declared up here in file scope

sub new {
 
    # return the stored object if we've already run new()
 
    if (defined $api){
        $log->_5('returning stored API object');
        return $api;
    }
 
    my $self = bless {}, shift;
 
    my $caller = (caller)[0];
    $self->_args(@_, caller => $caller);
 
    warn "API in test mode\n" if $self->testing;
 
    $self->_init;
 
    $api = $self;
 
    $log->_5("successfully initialized the system");
 
    if (! $self->testing && ! defined $events){
        $self->events;
        $log->_5('successfully created new async events')
    }
    else {
        $log->_5("async events have already been spawned");
    }
 
    return $self;
}