Monthly Archives: March 2013
The Aurorae are coming! The Aurorae are coming!
“Amanda Revere here, reporting on something I know very little about.”
Rather than mount a trusty stud steed and yell at perfect strangers (what does that mean? What is a ‘perfect’ stranger?) thought I’d blog it.
The sun is sending us a present.
The irony in this is that I watched a B movie with some similarity last weekend.
Pretty sure the ‘end’ isn’t actually here (although, I have heard a few helicopters this morning … hmmmm) And if it IS here, I’m a little ticked that I didn’t toss some desserts into my shopping cart last night. Wouldn’t say no to some key lime pie for breakfast.
But I digress.
A coronal mass ejection (CME) has actually occurred. (let’s hope for the suns sake it wasn’t prematurely.)
For realsies.
Weather forecast? Partly magnetic with a chance of green skies.
‘They’ are also saying there could be some satellite and electrical interruptions. (Better not be interrupting my Candy Crush game! Or the coffee maker.)
A sun spot that is estimated to be bigger than about 6 Earths, has erupted and is sending a massive solar flare our way. (Definitely puts the new ‘freckle’ okay, ‘sun spot’ I have on my hand in perspective.)
Anyway, what that means for us, is that charged particles are headed our way at over 1,000,000 miles per hour.
I’m not going to pretend I know what that means. I just know I’m not going to panic. I’m going to keep my camera close and my eyes on the sky.
EHarmonious enough in my house alone.com
There are still single, attractive, sane people in the world you know. For all of us who have at one time lamented “All the good ones are taken”. Oh no they’re not.
They either have ‘I have run out of $#%&’s’ to give about dating’ syndrome.
Or have decided, ‘Its lovely to be able to pee with the bathroom door open and not have to put down my book when I’m reading in order to engage with someone needing attention’
Or both.
Some, like me, started out with ‘I will focus on raising my child first, then worry about dying alone’ then found that peeing with the door open and reading uninterrupted in the bedroom was something she could get used to.
Others, like a few friends of mine, refused to settle and THEN got comfy not having to adhere to anyone elses schedule, cater to anyone elses desires and needs and also, enjoy being able to pee with the door open.
Don’t get me wrong, it’s still nice to be appreciated.
Went to Wal-Mart yesterday, and a man looked at me and said, “What a beautiful woman”. It didn’t creep me out. He said it in earnest and with no apparent ulterior motive. Nice. I told him ‘thank you’ and you bet I posted it on my Facebook page. (At first I left out the part where he said it from his seated position in the electric shopping cart. It was still really nice getting a compliment.)
Received a message from a friend in California that evening. And I quote:
“so, i was at CVS tonight, when i ran into to a guy i use to date in my late teens, early 20’s. I hadn’t seen him for years, we chatted for a few minutes, etc. and he asked i wanted to get dinner sometime. i said yes, as no just seemed rude, and i was intrigued. i get outside and he shows me his ankle bracelet………..he was busted for growing pot last year. He said it was legal for the medicinal marijuana, but they got caught with too much, WHATEVER. he also lives with his parents again…………….SERIOUSLY UNIVERSE WTF, the first time i get asked out in years and this is what i get!”
After I was finished literally laughing out loud, I did point out that at least she got asked out. Besides, he’s self-employed, close to his family and has great taste in women! I then laughed my arse right off.
The fact of the matter is, this friend of mine is drop dead gorgeous. She’s also smart, compassionate, employed, and funny as hell. But is afflicted with the same lethargy as me.
It’s just SO nice to be HOME!
AND we don’t mind being alone. Crazy as it might sound. We actually like ourselves. Neither of us are lonely when alone. We both did our ‘thang’ in our 20’s. Trust me when I say we were no wall flowers in those clubs. So there’s this ‘been there, done that’ factor to toss into the mix too.
(The blog is called debauchery soup for a reason friends)
I have decided that our destiny will be to share a home 50 years from now with an abundance of cats and there will be porch time to spin a yarn or two about our 20’s … and 30’s.
Maybe there’s even a chance we’ll create some stories about our 40’s.
There is someone who has caught my fancy, but long distance things don’t tend to work out. Although, to be fair, at this point in my life, and with my energy level, across town is long distance.
First step I suppose: make the effort to go beyond the comfort of home, and learn to shut the door when peeing.
P.S. I’ll have you know that today I DID have a date. Here I am with it.
Step 1 of Operation send NIC to the UK
Downloaded, completed and printed passport application.
I have decided to tell myself “Nic is going to England”.
No ‘maybe’, no ‘if I can’.
“Success is sequential, not simultaneous” it says on a white board in our office building … One step at a time for a goal I’ve already decided WILL be realized. 🙂
If you love someone – get them out!
Nic will be 18 in 18 days. I’ve struggled with this, of course, I want to keep him close. I don’t want his childhood to be over. I don’t want to lose what we have.
But God doesn’t have grandchildren.
Nic has his own life waiting for him. AND, it is HIS life. I can want things for him – as parents, we do that. But unless he wants something for himself, it’s not going to happen.
I could hand him a golden ticket to an Ivy League university – all expenses paid, but unless he WANTS to pursue academics, it would be a waste.
Tonight, my sons eyes lit up and I saw in him a ‘want’. A want that I can totally get behind.
My mom just returned from England. She was visiting my Nannie who just turned 90.
I was born in Windsor, England. Lived there until 1980, when we immigrated to the US.
Before that move, my mom and I traveled. We went from France to India cross-country. That deserves a post of its own. But suffice it to say, I experienced A LOT. We were crossing borders before they shut them down, Argo had nothing on us.
I digress.
Nics eyes were shining. We had been to my moms to collect the bits and pieces she brought back for us.
Photo time!
The English sweets I requested.
Nic with the Union Jack he requested
Me counting the English currency left over. No, I didn’t get to keep it.
Now look at this photo – this was taken around the corner from my house.
It says ‘Get Out’. I don’t know why. I don’t know who sprayed that on there. I’m sure there’s an interesting story behind the tagging.
Get Out.
Back to Nics shining eyes.
I still have a lot of family in England. And friends.
Nic has said before that he wants to go to the UK.
He’ll be graduating High School in May. My mom will be returning to England in July-ish.
I will be getting paperwork for a passport.
I will be saving every penny I can save.
I will push Nic out of this desert nest and into my home country.
I want him to have an experience. I want him to make some memories. I want him to be submerged in other cultures, other languages, other ideas and lifestyles. Nic wants this too.
I imagine him traveling to France, perhaps staying in a Hostel. (Hopefully not one out of that horror movie!)
Meeting family members he’s never met before. Spreading his wings and figuring out what he wants next.
I will miss him. I don’t want him just going for a few weeks – I want him to take complete advantage of being overseas.
I WANT to miss him. I want him to return (if that’s what he chooses) and have a purpose. Not be stagnant in a small town and enrolled in community college, while vying for one of a few part-time jobs in this area.
Hopefully, he’ll return with memories of adventures and an idea of what he wants to be and how he wants to achieve that. And I’ll support whatever that is too.
My mind is reeling trying to think of how to make this happen for him. What can I sell? How can I save? I will do this.
I will do it as if his life depends upon it – because in a lot of ways, it does.
Like pulling teeth … (Or, ‘don’t go into the light’).
I had never given the term ‘like pulling teeth’ much thought until yesterday. I think I equated it with having to do something difficult due to the task not being pleasant.
I no longer think that.
Yesterday I got the tooth that was the root (ha!) of my mouth problems pulled! YAY! It only took 2 years of putting off, saving up for and bitching about. But it’s out now.
Let’s talk about that.
I brought a friend, or rather, a friend brought me. I was playing it pretty cool all day until it was time to leave for my appointment, at which time I started getting silly and nervous.
I’ve never had a tooth pulled while I was awake. And the ‘Queen of Googling’ wasn’t touching that with a 100 ft pole. Fear of the unknown is pretty bad, but fear of online tooth extractions trumped the unknown. Hell no was I going to subject myself to such images … add my imagination to a little information and there is no way on this green earth my arse would have gone to the oral surgeon. Nope.
I got in the truck.
Some small talk, some laughs. We arrive.
Crap.
Funnily enough, I knew the receptionist. We both gave each other a ‘I know you from somewhere’ eyebrow and we figured out from where. A bank we both used to work for.
Nice. I had two friends with me now.
The doctor (do you call dentists that?) was running late. We ended up waiting almost an hour in the reception area. Enough time to render me deer like – ready to gallop off at the crunch of a leaf.
My turn.
Okay. I can DO this. Besides, my friend has better things to do and has waited with me – it had better not be for nought!
I’m in the chair and I’ll fast forward to the actual procedure, because there was lots of nervous chit-chat in between sitting in said chair, and procedure.
The shots. I have to admit – this guy was good. No matter how you stick a needle into someones mouth, it’s going to smart a little. But, he was quite gentle. Had a knack. Guess if you’re going to have ‘Surgeon’ next to your name, you’d better have earned it. Thumbs up for his hypodermic skills.
So I’m numb now – and of course, we have to test this out. Oh, I should mention, I’m not going to be naming any instruments. I have no idea what he put in my mouth. (hey now!)
I did not want to psych myself out by having a peek at sharp scary objects or grabby looking gripping things.
So he’s pushing something into my broken tooth. Nope don’t feel it.
Hey – this is going alright! I can do this!
Then he said: Because it’s an upper side/back tooth, it’s actually positioned by your sinuses. If there’s a hole afterward, I’ll repair it the best I can.
Wait, WHAT?!?!
I almost threw up. The idea of a ‘sinus hole’ for Gawd sake!
Believe me when I say – if my friend wasn’t sitting in that waiting room, I would have left the building. I would have saved up more money and insisted on being asleep for the procedure. I did not want to witness the discovery of any ‘sinus hole’.
But I did have a friend sitting in the waiting room. And I was not going to see her until my mouth was 1 tooth less.
I’m ready.
Back to that term – ‘Like pulling teeth’. Yeah. Ummm …. I was told to expect ‘pressure’. Pressure. Press-ure.
To me, that’s like someone poking me in the cheek or arm. Or pushing down on me.
Not, in any of the ‘pressure’ examples I was conjuring, was there a version where my entire head was bounced and yanked around by the tooth!
Holy COW! This pulling teeth deal is a violent thing! Those puppies are IN there.
I didn’t realize how hard someone has to pull to remove a tooth! How do they just come popping out during a fight in the movies? (I think I would have rather the dentist just used a left hook)
There are noises that accompany the yanking. Noises that apparently only I can hear. (He told me this).
Cracking, breaking, crunching sounds.
And just when I thought I couldn’t bear anymore, it was over.
No sinus hole either.
I left with a cheek full of gauze, minus 1 tooth and $200 lighter. Oh, and also came out with a little bump on my head – from hitting that light thingy above the chair while getting up. What a nice way to end the session – I wanted to giggle, but couldn’t really open my mouth. I think that smack on the head was the most painful part of the whole visit.
If you must have a tooth pulled, just go! Get it over with. You’ll be okay. Just watch out for the light.
Do NOT go into the light.
Debauchery Soup 