Everything Is Clear…except my vision

I went to the eye doctor today; it turns out I should have gone a solid six months ago.  (Confession: I do not follow the official guidelines and am on my own biennial plan.)  I’m due for an appointment next month, but since my right contact seemed a bit foggy I decided to go early, so as to get a current prescription and buy new ones.  (You cannot order contacts with an expired prescription; prescriptions are valid for one year.)  I know my contacts are old and assumed that to be the issue.  Contacts don’t last forever, you know.  Um, there were other, greater, issues.

1.) My formerly stable vision?  Yeah, no so much.  Ol’ righty is a disaster.  My left eye didn’t change much, so it’s still all right for me to drive wearing my contacts.  (I asked.)

2.) I knew my lens were a little dated, but turns out they are four YEARS old.  Whoops.  I gave new meaning to “extended” wear.

3.) I was wearing my contacts on the opposite eyes from which they were intended.  That explains a lot.

I ordered new lenses.  Going forward, I will be following the standard “annual exam” guidelines.

Effective ICE Contacts

My family bought our first cell phone – “for the family” – in the early 1990s.   It was roughly the size of our smaller cat; the battery alone outweighs my current phone.  And actually using that original cell phone?  Emergencies only!  Quick emergencies only!  Quite the opposite of my current life, in which my phone is where I check and send emails and text messages, find recipes online while at the grocery store, ask “The Goog” pressing questions, get directions, play games, study for the GRE, and yes, make the occasional call.  Despite all of its fancy tricks, emergency calls remain its most basic and most important function. 

 

I’m going to try not to get overly dramatic, but the most important thing your cell phone can do is aid you in an emergency.  Whether it’s a life-saving call to 911 or a call to a contact during a rough situation or medical info stored in notes; your cell phone can help big time.  If you do not already have an ICE (In Case of Emergency) contact stored in your phone, do it.  Do it now. 

Five Good Things

1.) I made a deposit at the bank on Sunday.  My bank recently changed its hours and the teller decided to give me a random quiz on the new hours.  (I was the only person there = likely bored.)  When I got the answers TOTALLY RIGHT, the teller was not only impressed, but convinced by another teller to give me a prize.  Yay for free grocery bags!

2.) My bank is open on Sundays.  

3.) Indian Summer.  Now is the time.

4.) I booked my tickets for Thanksgiving vacation!  AND I get to cut out of town midday on Tuesday.

5.) I got lab work results and I’m all good.  (Maintenance appointment.)

Five Good Things

1.)  There are a large number of “great books” that my dad and I have both neglected.  We are going to be our own sort of book club and read them.

2.)  I disagreed with a LEGITIMATE ROWER about oarlocks.  Nobody ever gives me an oarlock and she gets one (if not two!) alllllll the time.  You know what though?  I was right.  I love being right.

3.)  Due to a food allergy, I can’t eat granola bars.  That fact is a constant source of sadness for me, as my lifestyle pretty much requires quick, frequent refuels.  But!  Nature Valley now makes a nut and seed bar – which I CAN eat!  I am excited to return to the world of pre-packaged, cheap-o bars.  These are even tasty.

4.) My subscription to the Sunday paper started last weekend.  I feel a little bit guilty about the amount of paper in a paper, but I’m working on getting over it.  Honestly, I repurpose a lot of it and recycle what I don’t. Anyway!  The comics, crossword, and coupons all satisfied me.

5.) I am having an adventure-fun day on Thursday! Depending on the weather and whom I can wrangle, it will probably be ice skating, a museum, or mini-golf.  Basically, it will be super fun.

In Foods I CAN Trust

I conducted my experiment and the results are in. 

Food As Far as I Can Gently and Consistently Throw It, Due to Space Considerations

I conducted the Trust Toss Test in my backyard, using the brick edging to ensure I planted my feet in the same spot every single time.  I determined twice my height (which isn’t really that much) to be the trust boundary, for no logical reason.  Honestly, I just needed a cut-off, but as I love food, I did not want to set the bar too high.  I figure if I run into troubles I can reevaluate my (low) standards.  I marked off my height (One Me and Two Mes) with empty flowerpots.  They are empty because I killed the plants, whoops. The pot with the polka dots is The Trust Line.

Throws were done with my right hand, by drawing it across my body, with a slight hip pivot, and releasing around 150 degrees with my arm fully extended.  No additional force, as “weak” is easy to keep constant.   I am VERY into fair play, except for the exceptions – and in those instances, I am usually making a statement and am open about the whole thing being pretty bogus.

In order of trustworthiness, here are the results:

Oh, Good Things

1.) I got to go to Michigan, and I didn’t have to drive!  I like Michigan, but I do not like driving.

2.) I ate all of my meals outside on Saturday.  Pleasant times one  million.

3.) I love hiking, but the tundra is not for hiking.  Depending on the season, it’s for ice and snowbanks and yetis or for marsh and corn/wheat/soy.  Flat for tractors.  However!  I found some great possibilities within a few hours.

4.) I found a natural soda that I LOVE.

5.) I found a satisfying answer to my Fathers’ Day Debate!  More on that later.

Mental Health Conspiracy Theory

A few of my friends and I noticed that children of mental health professionals – e.g. psychologists, psychiatrists, counselors, social workers – tend to spend some time in therapy.  We debated whether the cause of this might be a greater awareness of their mental states, a comfort/acceptance of therapy, or that their parents “nurtured” issues in them.  We didn’t really come up with a solid hypothesis, but I have one now: mental health workers are making sure that their peers remain employed/have a source of patients.  Of course!

Kidding aside, I’m glad there is a demographic that embraces therapy.  I’ve yet to meet someone who at some point in their life would not benefit from a professional, unbiased, healthy influence.

Allergy Shot Fail

I did allergy shots as a kid and believe them to be the BEST THING EVER.  Well, maybe not the best, but up near the top with penicillen and definitely above the chicken pox vaccine.   Pollen used to make me miserable; these shots made me (feel) invincible. 

Too bad when I moved my pollen situation changed and now I am back to medium miserable.  At first I thought I was just sick, which was confusing as I’ve already been sick this year.  Then, I realized my eyes itched, my throat burned, and I am as congested as the Tappan Zee Bridge during rush hour when both the Mets and Yanks are playing.  That’s pretty congested.

Chia Pet Ice Cream

Yesterday I ate – and enjoyed – some lime and chia seed sorbet.  I live down the street from this fantastic little ice cream joint, which I visit rather often.  It’s important to support local businesses.  I love going there and not just because I’m an aspiring fatty.  See, pretty much everything they make is totally delicious, the place is bright and clean, the employees are a less annoying version of Ned-Flanders friendly, and they have a great variety of constantly rotating sweet and savory flavors. The friendly staff is more than generous with the samples; some of them are almost like sample pushers – do I really want to order something I didn’t sample?  I really appreciate this as while I’m curious to taste the olive oil and black pepper ice cream, I probably don’t want a whole dish of it.  (That was my suspicion and then confirmed as truth.)

Spring into Good Things!

I’m up late, so this week’s positivity posting is materializing early!

1.) My team gets to drink for free at trivia this week.  Do you know why?  Oh, it’s this silly little reason called WE’RE THE REIGNING CHAMPIONS!  (Cue Queen)

2.) Let’s put up something else about beer, so people can worry I might have a problem: My current favorite beer has been pretty elusive as of late.  But, um, I found it.  After three stops.  And then I bought a whole six pack.  Way to persevere, me! 

3.) So!  Much!  Daylight!  Le Sigh.  I know the dark, dreary, drudgery of winter isn’t as horrific for me as for others, as I can (must) go outside as part of my workday, but it is so nice to see my house in the light on both ends of the workday.

4.) I can breathe out of my nose.  Thanks, Claritin.

5.)  I accidentally turned a white towel pink, but I *intentionally* returned it to white.  I am amazing – and so is Clorox.