In case you're wondering how my eye is doing, it's fine. A mere twenty four hours after it had initially swelled up and I looked like I had some sort of frog as a not too distant ancestor in the family tree, things returned to normal and I was able to deliver my Christmas fudge. Phew. But it took most of the day to get it to calm down and reduce the swelling. Very bizarre.
So, I hope you all had merry Christmases. I had a marvelous day myself. We had breakfast over at Nate and Penny's- a sumptuous affair, let me tell you. I had to go lie down on the couch for a little while towards the end, I was so full...The guys topped off the morning by seeing who could throw leftover tater tots the farthest in the backyard. Penny and I joined in a couple of times. High hilarity. I guess it will have to become an annual ritual: the tossing of the tots. Nate referred to one mighty throw as, " The Tot heard 'Round the World." Ah, that Nate. Such a wit. Too bad he doesn't keep up with his own blog. He could have one of the most sought after blogs in all blogdom- but if he doesn't care to maintain it, I will be forced to report his unique witticisms for him.
In the afternoon, we traveled over to the Pass parents' house and did the whole stocking thing, gift thing, card games thing, and dinner thing there. Great fun was had by all. I got tons of cool loot and it was a really good family time of making a lot of wonderful memories.
It seems like the world has heaved a collective sigh now that Christmas is over for another year.
Tuesday, December 27, 2005
Saturday, December 24, 2005
My thesis: Everyone is Someone Else. And I think I'm losing it.
If you know me or my sisters at all, you know that according to us, no one is themself. Everyone is a combination of several other people. And I'm not talking about the natural, logical phenomenon of children resembling their parents. Let me explain.
For instance: if Karena, Liane, or I watch a movie, alone or with each other, we are bound to note, and remark aloud, that someone in the movie looks like someone else. They resemble someone famous, or someone we all know personally. This is a strange family trait, which never ceases to annoy certain other people, I think. I mean- I think it took our husbands a little while to get used to this. No one is themself. There is no unique, original person. Everyone reminds us of someone else. Or a mixture of several other people.
Today, in a vain effort to cheer me up from my strange eyeball debacle( see story below), Brad was showing me some clips from a video blog he found. It was amusing. Kind of a mild form of a Brendan Leonard type thing, if you know what I mean, but not as knee slappingly hilarious. It's this one guy, Josh Leo, a twenty-something student in Grand Rapids, MI doing things like strapping a camera to his head and showing you his world. Or talking to cows and sheep in Germany, asking if they had video blogs.
Brad commented that he looked like, or reminded him, of Brandon. Yes, he does look like Brandon! Remarkably so, in fact. My habit has rubbed off on Brad! He has caught on! I would say that he looks 75% like Brandon, about 3% like Tim Fulton and a few percent like another history major in my class at Saint A's- Ian Brown. Huh. Then we said that he looked a little like Wesley. Maybe 4% worth. And I also thought he reminded me a little tiny bit of Andrew. And then- another Aldrich came to mind: Ryan.
So I mentioned this to Brad- " He reminds me a little of Ryan Aldrich." "Brian Aldrich?" "No - RYAN." "Who's Ryan Aldrich?" "You know! The son of Floyd Aldrich!" "No! Who's Floyd Aldrich??" "He's a brother of Andy and Warren Aldrich..." ( Although, now that I think of it- is he really their brother or their cousin?) Brad still didn't believe me. He's like: " Yeah- and the brother of Hank and Phil Aldrich. Riiiiiight!" I laughed helplessly. Hank and Phil Aldrich! " You know-- Floyd and Anne..." "No!!" I almost started doubting their existance myself. Desperately, I struck again..." Do you remember Amy Aldrich?" "What? Who's Amy Aldrich?" "She's their daughter! She's blonde..." No- he doesn't know Amy Aldrich. How can you NOT know Amy Aldrich? He thinks I'm making all these people up! He doesn't believe in Floyd Aldrich! To say nothing of Ryan Aldrich- the guy who started this whole thing.
Help me! I need validation! Tell him this family really exists! It does! I feel a little bit like I'm in, " A Beautiful Mind." Have I been imagining this family all my life?
For instance: if Karena, Liane, or I watch a movie, alone or with each other, we are bound to note, and remark aloud, that someone in the movie looks like someone else. They resemble someone famous, or someone we all know personally. This is a strange family trait, which never ceases to annoy certain other people, I think. I mean- I think it took our husbands a little while to get used to this. No one is themself. There is no unique, original person. Everyone reminds us of someone else. Or a mixture of several other people.
Today, in a vain effort to cheer me up from my strange eyeball debacle( see story below), Brad was showing me some clips from a video blog he found. It was amusing. Kind of a mild form of a Brendan Leonard type thing, if you know what I mean, but not as knee slappingly hilarious. It's this one guy, Josh Leo, a twenty-something student in Grand Rapids, MI doing things like strapping a camera to his head and showing you his world. Or talking to cows and sheep in Germany, asking if they had video blogs.
Brad commented that he looked like, or reminded him, of Brandon. Yes, he does look like Brandon! Remarkably so, in fact. My habit has rubbed off on Brad! He has caught on! I would say that he looks 75% like Brandon, about 3% like Tim Fulton and a few percent like another history major in my class at Saint A's- Ian Brown. Huh. Then we said that he looked a little like Wesley. Maybe 4% worth. And I also thought he reminded me a little tiny bit of Andrew. And then- another Aldrich came to mind: Ryan.
So I mentioned this to Brad- " He reminds me a little of Ryan Aldrich." "Brian Aldrich?" "No - RYAN." "Who's Ryan Aldrich?" "You know! The son of Floyd Aldrich!" "No! Who's Floyd Aldrich??" "He's a brother of Andy and Warren Aldrich..." ( Although, now that I think of it- is he really their brother or their cousin?) Brad still didn't believe me. He's like: " Yeah- and the brother of Hank and Phil Aldrich. Riiiiiight!" I laughed helplessly. Hank and Phil Aldrich! " You know-- Floyd and Anne..." "No!!" I almost started doubting their existance myself. Desperately, I struck again..." Do you remember Amy Aldrich?" "What? Who's Amy Aldrich?" "She's their daughter! She's blonde..." No- he doesn't know Amy Aldrich. How can you NOT know Amy Aldrich? He thinks I'm making all these people up! He doesn't believe in Floyd Aldrich! To say nothing of Ryan Aldrich- the guy who started this whole thing.
Help me! I need validation! Tell him this family really exists! It does! I feel a little bit like I'm in, " A Beautiful Mind." Have I been imagining this family all my life?
All is Calm?
Okay. I had a very unsettling experience last night and I'm still not really calm, nor have I returned to normal yet. This is the second strange occurance that I've had with an eyeball this month. So those of you who are like me, with an aversion to eye stories- beware.
I was sitting around, relaxing in the evening, and my right eye itched. So I rubbed it. It itched more. I rubbed it more. For a while. It started to hurt. Up until this point, it was sort of an unconscious, absent- minded incident. I started to get a little annoyed. I got up and went into the bathroom and took out my contact, and I think I rubbed my eye a little more. It's all sort of a blur in my mind at this point. My eyelid started to swell up. I started getting scared and moaning. I cupped my hand, filled it with water and rinsed my eyeball repeatedly. My eyelid got bigger and bigger. It felt very strange. I started to freak out.
Brad didn't know what to do with me, poor thing. He helped me find a phone number to call a nurse. I resisted calling but eventually, I called the nurse help line, fighting panic, and trying not to cry on the phone... and after a little chat, she said I should see a doctor in the next twenty four hours. WHAT? No way am I going to go to a doctor on Christmas Eve! But I didn't tell her this. I was in very deep distress. She told me all sorts of stuff like, wash your hands a lot etc. WHAT? I'm already bordering on OCD with the whole washing of the hands thing. This freaked me out MORE. Even now as I write, my stomach is tensing up thinking about it. She said the doctor might prescribe some anti-biotic drops for me. YECH! What good would THAT do? I don't think I have an infection - I just irritated the daylights out of my eye. She said something about not sharing eye cosmetics! WHAT? Who do you think I am- some ignorant thirteen year old waif from the fourteenth century?? First of all, wearing ANY kind of eye makeup is just tempting fate. For Pete's sake, it's practically an invitation to fate, asking for something to make you cry and then you look all gooky and horrifying. Second of all, SHARING it? *shudder*
My eye looked like it was a Chernobyl survivor who had just gotten beaten up. ( Not me- just my right eye.) I could hardly see out of it. It was tearing up and everything. Gross. So I went to bed, hoping that it would clear up on its own. I slept in this morning...Every time I thought about waking up, I said to myself, " No- give the eye a little more time to rest." I didn't want to get up and look at it. But I did eventually. It looks a little better. Now I just look semi-freakish. It kinda feels like my eye got bathed in a small vat of egg white.
I hate wearing my glasses all the time- they are not up to my current prescription so I can't see very well...and this makes me feel enfeebled. The problem is, I haven't delivered my Christmas fudge gifts to all my neighbors yet- two of them were gone last night. NO WAY do I want to show up at their doors looking like this. Hi! Merry Christmas from your scarily deformed neighbor!
Now I'm trying to figure out if I have permanently ruined my right eye. I keep closing one eye, and looking at something with the other and then switching and trying to evaluate whether I can see better with my left than my right. The problem is, I can't remember which was the stronger eye BEFORE this happened. My Christmas is teetering on the brink of ruin. Christmas 2005- the Christmas of My Maiming.
Brad said something really comforting like, "You can make it on just one eye. Your depth perception will be all thrown off but..." I practically threw something at him. You know how they say that women marry men like their fathers? Uh huh. That's just like something Daddy would say, in a vain effort to try to cheer me up. " Yeah- so you lose an eye? No big deal. You'll just lurch around and never be the same." We'll see. Ahhhhrrgh! No pun intended!
I was sitting around, relaxing in the evening, and my right eye itched. So I rubbed it. It itched more. I rubbed it more. For a while. It started to hurt. Up until this point, it was sort of an unconscious, absent- minded incident. I started to get a little annoyed. I got up and went into the bathroom and took out my contact, and I think I rubbed my eye a little more. It's all sort of a blur in my mind at this point. My eyelid started to swell up. I started getting scared and moaning. I cupped my hand, filled it with water and rinsed my eyeball repeatedly. My eyelid got bigger and bigger. It felt very strange. I started to freak out.
Brad didn't know what to do with me, poor thing. He helped me find a phone number to call a nurse. I resisted calling but eventually, I called the nurse help line, fighting panic, and trying not to cry on the phone... and after a little chat, she said I should see a doctor in the next twenty four hours. WHAT? No way am I going to go to a doctor on Christmas Eve! But I didn't tell her this. I was in very deep distress. She told me all sorts of stuff like, wash your hands a lot etc. WHAT? I'm already bordering on OCD with the whole washing of the hands thing. This freaked me out MORE. Even now as I write, my stomach is tensing up thinking about it. She said the doctor might prescribe some anti-biotic drops for me. YECH! What good would THAT do? I don't think I have an infection - I just irritated the daylights out of my eye. She said something about not sharing eye cosmetics! WHAT? Who do you think I am- some ignorant thirteen year old waif from the fourteenth century?? First of all, wearing ANY kind of eye makeup is just tempting fate. For Pete's sake, it's practically an invitation to fate, asking for something to make you cry and then you look all gooky and horrifying. Second of all, SHARING it? *shudder*
My eye looked like it was a Chernobyl survivor who had just gotten beaten up. ( Not me- just my right eye.) I could hardly see out of it. It was tearing up and everything. Gross. So I went to bed, hoping that it would clear up on its own. I slept in this morning...Every time I thought about waking up, I said to myself, " No- give the eye a little more time to rest." I didn't want to get up and look at it. But I did eventually. It looks a little better. Now I just look semi-freakish. It kinda feels like my eye got bathed in a small vat of egg white.
I hate wearing my glasses all the time- they are not up to my current prescription so I can't see very well...and this makes me feel enfeebled. The problem is, I haven't delivered my Christmas fudge gifts to all my neighbors yet- two of them were gone last night. NO WAY do I want to show up at their doors looking like this. Hi! Merry Christmas from your scarily deformed neighbor!
Now I'm trying to figure out if I have permanently ruined my right eye. I keep closing one eye, and looking at something with the other and then switching and trying to evaluate whether I can see better with my left than my right. The problem is, I can't remember which was the stronger eye BEFORE this happened. My Christmas is teetering on the brink of ruin. Christmas 2005- the Christmas of My Maiming.
Brad said something really comforting like, "You can make it on just one eye. Your depth perception will be all thrown off but..." I practically threw something at him. You know how they say that women marry men like their fathers? Uh huh. That's just like something Daddy would say, in a vain effort to try to cheer me up. " Yeah- so you lose an eye? No big deal. You'll just lurch around and never be the same." We'll see. Ahhhhrrgh! No pun intended!
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