Thursday, February 08, 2007

Sometimes Reality Really Does Bite

I can handle reality in small doses, but as a lifestyle, it's much too confining. Lily Tomlin

Where to start? This has been an interesting week, which accounts for my lack of posts. First my cable modem went out. I’m in the middle of teaching an online class, so I had to take my laptop elsewhere to work with my students. While there, I discovered an irate letter from a reader of my newspaper column who accused me of being a racist because of things I never said, but he assumed I must mean. It just shows that critical thinking is an extremely rare commodity.

Normally, I am online dozens of times during the day. I rely on the internet for news, email, shopping, my library and bank accounts, and the television schedule. I was lost without it. Luckily, Comcast sent a technician on Sunday, who fixed it in less than half an hour. He is my new hero.

Monday, I had lunch with my old friend Barb Lundy. She is a poet and advocate for the disabled with whom I had lost touch almost thirty years ago. With some people, the years don’t seem to matter. Even after all that time, we struck up a conversation as if we had seen each other the previous week. She is now a certified hypnotherapist and gave me a session on abundance before we went out to eat and then for a walk. The day was an island of grace in the middle of a chaotic week.

Tuesday was my day for running errands, grading papers and preparing for class.

Wednesday, I took my parents to see my dad’s doctor. The arrogant asshole kept my 89-year-old diabetic father waiting for two hours. By the time he finally showed up, we had arranged to change doctors. I’m glad we never have to see him again. Doctors have never been on my list of favorite people, and this one just confirmed my impression of them as smug, self-important jerks (although I’m sure there must be one or two nice ones out there.)

Today I get to catch up on all the things I haven’t had time for, like this blog. I have movies to watch and get returned to the library, and I hope the weather is nice enough to go for a walk because the forecast for the next four days calls for more snow. This will be our eighth week in a row of snow. We’re praying for an early spring. I’d settle for one week of calm serenity.

©2007 Dixie Darr. All rights reserved