It's a Vision Thing

"I've got real problems, don't I?" I said to the lady at the DMV this morning.

"I'm afraid so," she said.

She sounded cautious, as most people are who deal with the public when they have to give bad news. I recognize the sound because I sound that way sometimes in my line of work.

My wallet was stolen on Monday. I haven't really wanted to say much about it because it was stolen at school. From my office, from my purse, that was in my tote bag, that lives on the floor next to my desk wedged between the wall and side of the desk. Was it stupid for me to leave it there? Well yes. But I still haven't wanted to say much because I still want to protect the image of our school as safe place. But of course any public place...any high school...any school at all for that matter...is going to have this kind of thing happen.

I noticed it missing Monday around lunchtime but didn't report it until Tuesday because I wanted to make sure it wasn't home or in the car or wherever. But I finally reported it, the School Resource Officer made a report, MB and I cancelled my two check cards and one credit card Monday night. No harm done. Except for the missing $40, his movie gift certificate the youth at church had given him, my Olive Garden certificate from my boss...nothing else had any value. Well, the wallet itself had some value to me. It was a $32 Vera Bradley wallet.

I know my friends can't believe I'd ever have something as fem-my as a VB wallet, but it was black & brown. As un-fem-my as I could get. But it had GREAT FEATURES! It was just the right size, had just the right crevices. Everything.

Oh. So the DMV.

I had to get a new driver's license. I couldn't renew mine online because I had a CDL...commercial driver's license. So I went to the DMV and told them I wanted to surrender the CDL and just get the basic license again. My physical certificate had expired a couple of years ago and I never intend to drive those kinds of vehicles again, so why not? This was the first gingerly-spoken bit by the lady:

"Well ma'am, that means you'll have to pay $25 because we'll have to surrender this and start with a new license."

OK.

"And take an eye test."

OK.

And now we are at the beginning of this story. Yup. Couldn't pass it. It's the left eye. Did I not notice this coming on? No, not really. Sure, my eyes have seemed a tiny bit blurry in the past little bit. But they always do this time of year when stuff starts blooming. Giant Papillary Conjunctivitis. Get some Patanol eye drops from the doc, I'm all fixed up.

darnit.

Well, I have an appointment for Monday at noon at the guys' optometrist. (Mine is not available until March 25.) It seemed like I shouldn't wait that long. And he'll probably have to give me a contact or something for the time being. Then I'll go to the guy who did my Lasik in 2004 or whenever and see about having and enhancement done. Sheesh!

I also bought a new Vera Bradley wallet while I was out putting Charlotte drivers in mortal danger. I found the same design, but the fabric is nowhere near what I'd like. All bright, shiny colors with flowers and crap. A bit too fem-my.

So that's how I've spent my furlough day. A day in which I did not work at my job, did not get paid for the time off, and moreover shelled out and will shell out more money.

Morning Stretch

I began the day with Kundalini, my favorite energizing yoga style. On a good week (by that I mean a week where I get up early enough), I'll do kundalini 4-5 times. I have a recorded set I follow in the early hours, mainly because my brain is not turned on enough to read directions. We're talking 4:30 a.m. folks.

But today is FURLOUGH DAY! So I got up at 7 and started in on a practice that I picked out from my book. After a series of spinal warm-ups, I decided to follow a kriya that is supposed to "awaken the ten bodies." I don't have time, so I won't go into what all that means.

But the first pose, which I've done a few times in the past, just about sent me back to bed to hide under the covers. It's this one depicted above (I stole the photo from the Anmolmehta website. Thank you Anmolemehta!). The Stretch Pose. Looks simple doesn't it? WELL! IT'S NOT! And this fella doesn't seem to be doing Breath of Fire either, which my book instructed me to do. You're supposed to hold it 2 to 3 minutes while doing Breath of Fire. I'll explain that in another post sometime too. I ended up doing just one leg at a time and then held both legs up for about 10 seconds. I think I should maybe try to do this every day for a while so I can see if I can build up some strength.

So that's what I did. And a few other poses. And then I reset the security on our wireless router, cleaned up my desk, and now I'm going to get my new driver's license (which, of course, was in the wallet that was stolen on Monday...sheesh!), meet buddy Nannette for lunch, and shop for a new wallet (to replace the one I loved. I think I'm just going to go back to the same place and see if I can get another just like it).

And that's my day. Yours?

One Day, Two Creepy Movies

I don't actually watch these kinds of movies very often, so it's even more odd that I managed to watch two in one day. Joshua is about this little boy who is older than his 9 years, and whose parents have a new baby, Lily. Joshua is a gifted pianist and is very close to his maternal uncle.

Remember that Twilight Zone episode with the little boy Anthony, who could control an entire town with his thoughts? "It's a Good Life" was the name of the episode. This movie reminds me of that.

People around Joshua are going insane and animals...well...animals are experiencing something a little more permanent.

Good movie.

Then I watched "Knowing." This one has Nick Cage in it and it's pretty good. I'm glad I didn't pay to watch it in a theatre, though. It reminded me of "Sixth Sense" a bit. Little boy Caleb hears whispers and it turns out that a little girl at his same elementary school heard those whispers too 50 years ago. But these are whispers of truth and that little girl is hearing of events that will happen over the course of the the next 50 years. Caleb's dad is a professor at MIT and figures out what is happening. And of course is going to try to stop some of those things from happening.

It's a pretty good movie. A bit predictable, though.

Spring is Springing!

It's about noon on Sunday and I'm sitting on my patio grilling turkey burgers for my guys. Even though we've lived here over 7 years, I still can scarce believe it when I can do such a thing in March. It's a gloriously sunny day and should hit the low 60s. I'd like to go on a jaunt this afternoon. We'll see. We've had a very long run of nasty weather lately. Just five days ago we had snow piling up.

We are going to start the garden planning in earnest in the next couple of days. Our plan is to crew up with YogiLiz and garden on her property. Because...she HAS property! We don't really have a good situation for gardening here. Liz likes to garden but it's too much for just one person. MensaBoy offered his services as slave so why not? He'll prep the soil for us, with the able assistance of Riley and Taylor, and we hope to plant a big enough garden to sustain both families and put up some things, like tomatoes, for winter.

However, MB has a caveat. He wants us to plan moringa plants. And he's ordered the seeds already. Apparently this plant is a miracle. You can read about it here. Could be interesting. At the very least it looks like a pretty plant! I guess it's actually a tree but you can prune it to more plant-like. Stay tuned.