watching the classics

My brothers just watched Back to the Future, a movie made 6-7 years before they were born. Their response? "We've got to get the second one!"


delorean

withdrawal

While I was in school, I relied heavily on coffee to help me through the early morning classes and hours of studying. On weekends, I'd get out of bed just because I knew there was a pot of freshly brewed coffee waiting for me. I remember one lazy Saturday when I heard the voices of my friends in the living room and got up to pour myself a large cup of Cafe Verona. To my dismay, it was too hot for me to drink, even with the added milk. I went back to bed and got up an hour later to drink my lovely lukewarm coffee. Only then could I socialize as a less grumpy version of myself.

I decided that I would give up coffee after I finished school. I only drank one cup a day, albeit a large cup, in the morning. Still, I didn't like my reliance on a chemical stimulant. It took about two grueling weeks to give up my vice, but I did it. Then, after almost falling asleep several times during the 40-minute commute to my new job, I knew I had to do something. I started drinking green tea, chock-full of antioxidants.

This morning, I started work at 12 noon. My routine is thrown out of kilter whenever I sleep in. I skip my regular breakfast meal and go straight to lunch. I went to work today and felt unusually tired. After the staff meeting, I sat at my desk holding my head and wondering why my head hurt. Oh yeah, I forgot to have my tea this morning. Blah, I still haven't kicked the habit.

seeing clearly

After four years of wearing gas-permeable hard contact lenses, I'm switching back to soft. My hard contacts often go out of place, causing a great deal of irritation. I originally had a number of reasons for wearing hard contacts, but I find that many of them no longer apply:

1. Gas-permeable lenses allow more oxygen and better tear flow to the eye. In college, when my roommates (who wore gas-perms) chopped onions, their eyes would BURN, while I (wearing soft contacts) felt nothing. Scary. Now the technology has improved for soft lenses, even in the last year, to improve oxygenation to the eye.
2. Gas-permeable lenses hold the shape of your cornea to slow down the worsening of your eyesight. Once you reach your mid-twenties, your eyesight tends to stabilize anyway. At my eye exam yesterday, the prescription of my right eye remained the same while my left eye improved by .75 diopters, woohoo! Okay, so that's one argument for hard contacts.
3. Gas-permeable lenses provide crisper, clearer vision. I haven't noticed much difference, and with disposable soft lenses, I get a new pair every two weeks.
4. Maintenance is cheaper and easier with gas-permeable lenses. Now there are many one-step cleaning solutions for both soft and hard lenses.
5. Gas-permeable lenses are more cost-effective. After purchasing two boxes of Acuvue Advanced disposable soft lenses (the ones my optometrist recommended), I get a $50 rebate on my fitting fee.

So, I'll see how I like these soft lenses over the next week or two. My optometrist told me to hold off on buying boxes of lenses since it takes that much time for the cornea to adapt. She also suggested I wear hard lenses once a week to maintain my level of vision, similar to a retainer for teeth. After one day, I already feel the reduction in tear flow. These lenses feel like they are glued to my eyeballs.

plucking unwanted hairs

This morning, I was late for work because I caught sight of three ghastly white hairs near the front of my head and took my time isolating and pulling them out from the roots. When did I become this person? I never did believe that for every white hair you pull out, two grow in its place. Those suckers had to go. Where do white hairs come from? This link has some answers. I once told someone that when all my hair turns white, I'm going to DYE. He thought I meant DIE.

detaching

On Sunday, my brothers went swimming and inadvertently left the screen door open, allowing a lizard to enter the house. Gross. It remained safe until today when my mom saw it standing motionless in the family room. She said it was big--about 10-12" (I don't know how lizard stories compare to fish stories). She was holding my brothers' textbooks at the time and decided that she couldn't let this opportunity pass, that she had to sacrifice one of the books (those were her exact words). She took my brother's math book and whacked the lizard. Some of its guts splattered on the book. The lizard landed on its back and my mom grabbed one of the bricks she had prepared just for this situation. She explained to me that she had been waiting for that lizard to come out of hiding and when the time came, she couldn't spend it looking for something to throw. After she hit the lizard's body with the brick, its body broke into two pieces. Its detached tail flipped and wiggled sporatically. My mom put a brick on the tail and confirmed it dead. She was very thankful that she caught the lizard on a platic mat rather than the carpet. That should make clean-up a whole lot easier.

sucking out the fat

I met a mother and daughter who both had liposuction on their thighs. They were very vocal about their experiences and I was a captive audience. The daughter worked for a plastic surgeon and encouraged her mother to have the procedure done. I found their account fascinating.

First, lidocaine was injected into their thighs. It itches like a sunburn, even weeks after the injection. Then their thighs were filled with air and when they went to the bathroom, they could see and feel that their legs were all big. They each had 20 holes on each leg from which the fat would be removed. For the daughter, 2 pounds of fat was removed from each leg. For the mother, it was 3 pounds each, including some fat from her posterior thighs. After the procedure, they wore garments daily to hold the shape of the thighs (like tight stretch pants) and were encouraged to exercise immediately to keep the skin pliable. The same is necessary for skin after breast augmentation, though that must be done manually.

The mother said the daughter had the liposuction because she looked at her mother's (pear-shaped) body and knew what the future could be. Even though she was thin, about 5' 6", 110 lbs., she had pouches on each of her outer thighs. Alas, I have been warned about the fleeting beauty of youth (but in a different context).

sharing

showin' the love

Today I asked a florist about the most popular flower arrangement for Mother's Day. She said all different kinds of flowers. Yeah, I suppose it would vary depending on your mother's preferences, unlike Valentine's Day, which is all about roses. She agreed, and added that there is no limit on cost on Mother's Day. Really? I was surprised to find out that people spend more money on their mothers than their significant others. I guess that's the way it should be.

spanish

Tomorrow is Cinco de Mayo and what better way to celebrate than ... a potluck! Tonight yummy Mexican fare included 6-layer dip, homemade salsa, chicken enchilada casserole, Spanish rice, warm tortillas, and flan. For our activity, we played bingo in Spanish. I supplied the prizes--2 Fiesta de Colores puzzles, Boston baked beans, and party poppers that threw out streamers. What I really wanted was Mexican watermelon candy, but when I went to the local liquor store, the guy told me it was illegal to sell it. A lot of Mexican candy products have been contaminated with lead. Wholesalers no longer carry it. !Ay, caramba!


cinco de mayo

reading

When I told my brother I was in a book club, he asked if we sat around drinking margaritas and discussing why we didn't read the book, like Marge and her friends on "The Simpsons." No, last Saturday we sat around drinking tea and discussing Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden. I've been meaning to read that book for years and the book club gave me the motivation I needed. It was a popular choice and we got into some colorful discussions. This book club has made reading fun again!

Instead of meeting at someone's house as is our usual, the girls and I gathered at Sweet Divas Cottage Bistro in Brea. It's a cute place with wonderful teas, but I've had better scones and sandwiches elsewhere. Regardless, a good time was had by all and we each left with party favors.


book and flower pen