Day 127 Alien Invasion

I love to learn - all sorts of things at random times.  I spent nearly three hours yesterday listening to a master salesman give a presentation on persuasion.

I also spent a little down time watching a show produced by the National Geographic Society.  Some of you may be familiar with Monster Fish, the show hosted by Zeb Hogan.  The show has been on for at least four years, so it must be doing reasonably well.

The episode I watched last night was about carp. These carp came to the US from China back in the 70's. They are big head carp and Asian carp. Personally, I've never been a fan of any type of carp, and these are no different.

Day 126...and there will come Soft Rains

I'm not really sure where the above quote came from. I remember hearing it or reading it and it always stuck with me. I have a sneaking suspicion it came from a Ray Bradbury story, perhaps the story, "All Summer in a Day." (To hear the story - about 11 minutes long, click on the title).

The story is getting to be pretty darn old. It was published in March of 1954 in the science fiction magazine, The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction. It must have been quite the wild story at the time. A young girl is taken to Venus from Earth where she played in the daily sunshine.  On Venus, the sun only comes out once every few years, so seldom in fact that the children don't remember it. They can't conjure up any idea of what the sun looks like because they have only experienced rain. Only our young heroine does.  When she describes it to her classmates as a bright shiny coin they don't believe her.  The day they are to see the sun they lock her in a closet and forget about her.

It's a story, a sad one, about being different.  It captures the capacity of children to be abusive and their inability to trust something their senses can't confirm. It depicts how that inability to relate and handle something/someone different plays out in their everyday lives.  The following link is a visual depiction of the story. It is about 25 minutes long.  It is a very good adaptation of the story if 

you have the time. 

I remember reading this story, many, many times. I read it to my class. Their reaction was often like the reaction of King David when he heard the story about the wealthy man who stole a sheep, a family pet really, from one of his tenants, and then butchered it for a feast in honor of one of his guests.

Say 125 And I'm Praying for Rain

As I write this post, the thunder is rumbling in the night sky.  I haven't seen any streaks of lightning, but with all the noise I have to imagine the sky is cut with shards of bright light.

There is no rain here tonight, just a lot of empty promises.

It wan't that way earlier this afternoon.  Another spate of storms rolled through. A lot of noise at first, like so many of the others, but then the softest drops started to fall.  I could smell the wet dust on the driveway and so I found myself looking out the upper story window of my office.

There is a giant cottonwood to the north. It's been a bane for so many years.  In the spring it drops sticky yellow seed coats. Then the cottonwood comes.  For a few weeks during the summer it provides shade, until the really violent storms come and shake all the dead branches loose.  Some fall to the ground, but a good number just hang in the tree waiting to fall.

Day 124 On Waiting

As I've mentioned a few days in the last couple of days, my right foot is now enjoying the confines of a cast.

The cast is a whopping five days old and is already teaching me now things - one of them is waiting.  I probably got the basics of the lesson with the casting of my left foot, but now, being unemployed I am more aware.

For instance, it takes me longer to traverse terrain, so when I go somewhere I need to plan for extra time to actually get there. The knee scooter terrifies me. I toppled off it this past winter and broke my tailbone. So I go even slower than some of the 70 year olds I've seen on one.

I've learned to appreciate, really appreciate what permanently handicapped people have to deal with on a regular basis.  Every little seam in a sidewalk, a carpet, cement poses a risk for people who rely on walkers and wheelchairs.

Day 123 Turned Inside Out and Exploded

One of my favorite movies is "Galaxy Quest."  It's a quirky science fiction movie that is about a science fiction television show.  The movie pokes a lot of fun at television series like "Star Trek." 

At one point in the show, the hero, played by Tim Allen, needs to be transported to the ship in a manner called "digitizing."  The ship has been carefully recreated based on the aliens watching the science fiction television show. Only, they have figured out how to make everything work.

Day 122 New Norm

The last two days have been days of adjustment.

Friday, I got the cast on my right foot.  It's interesting what losing your dominant foot does.  You don't realize the little things like getting out of bed - your first step is with your dominant side. Same

with walking up steps/stairs.  You go to your dominant side first.

Life in the tri-level is interesting because I have to deal with stairs on a regular basis.  I may end up sleeping on the family room level just to avoid one longer set of stairs, as opposed to the five steps into the kitchen/living room level.

So, I'm getting used to doing things differently - again.