Oh, Self, I am so proud of you today...

You know, sometimes you are in the shower. You get the heebie-tibba-jeebies because you think you feel something on your foot. Or, you don't have your contacts in, and you mistake a hair clog for a huge scary bug. Usually, it's nothing. Well, I've had a silver fish slide right on into my bath water before, and I've freaked out substantially. Today, as I was finishing my shower, thank goodness, I felt something in the arch of my foot. And it was THIS:This is the actual photo of the actual gecko, so I'm not crazy. I felt sorry for the guy. He was just sitting in the tub after I got...um, jumped...out. He was looking around like, "(in gecko accent) Where am I? How did I get into this nutshell?" Isn't he cute? Ok, I've gotten pretty good at kicking bugs' a$$es, but I couldn't do that to this little gecko. I got him, on his own accord, to walk into a glass. Then I put a piece of paper on the open end, and I took him outside. I let him out on the pebbles in the landscaping, in the shade, and the sprinklers were going. A gecko never had it so good.

And I'm proud of myself for only freaking out initially, and then being able to carry a glass full of gecko out the door, down the steps, and down the sidewalk a little way, without getting all jumpy.

-MsLin

Punky Brewster, Family, & Flowers

If I sat down and thought about how many things there are that I know will work out, but I'm not sure quite how yet, I would go crazy. It's like an abyss, where I know they must have the things that I need, but I'm not sure how I will get them or when after I arrive.

I've really be focusing on saying goodbye to people and to things that I know won't be readily or cheaply available in China, like brownies. Maybe as an effect, I've been more interested in revisiting my childhood favorites. One favorite was Punky Brewster. I watched every minute of it, including the credits to make sure that I didn't miss any of the show. It was probably this show about which my parents first said, "Don't plan your life around TV." I was 7-8.

I've also been thinking a lot about my family and esp. my uncles. There are a couple little flickers of memories of my uncles. One time I was making chocolate chip cookies with my Grama K, and ML was coming home. She said, "We need to add extra chocolate chips, or else ML will ask where all the chocolate chips are!" I remember being 3, and my uncle MX taking a picture of me in my white dress on the lawn. I remember sitting between them while eating spaghettiI was a flower girl twice, but it feels like it was more than that. The first time, I wanted to wear purple, but my mom said that the bride gets to pick out the color. It was quite disappointing because the bride chose this ugly peach color, which was all the rage for weddings in the mid-80's. I don't remember which time, but one of my uncles took me into the entry way at The Farm to personally ask me to be the flower girl in his wedding. I don't remember how old I was, but I was totally impressed that he wanted to ask me personally. When I was that age, people didn't ask my opinion on too many things, and I was a "go with the flow" kind of kid. Obviously, I agreed because I was in the wedding. I don't remember how things went down. I just remember that feeling of respect that I felt, and I still appreciate my uncles for letting me feel like I was making my own important choice at such a young age.

-MsLin

Everything is Illuminated

Dwindling supplies of solutions and enzymes for Rigid Gas Permeable contacts has led me down many paths. I've called the companies, who say they discontinued these products because of low demand and low numbers of people with RGP lenses. I love my RGPs and I love that they don't soak up anything, so in a pinch, any solutions will do. (I got stranded in Atlanta, and ended up storing them in eye drops, which kept them dirty, but wet.)

That is why when AMO stopped making ProFree/GP, which is a bubbly, fizzy overnight enzyme tab, I was able to start using another enzyme Alcon's Opti-Free, which is intended for soft contacts, but serves the purpose. Well, what's a girl to do when Alcon stops making Opti-Free?

This is where being a pack-rat comes in handy. I still have the ProFree box, so I called the number today. AMO said they sold the product to another company and here's their number. So I called the company, and they are setting up production and should be ready with supplies in 6 mo. That's awesome! I didn't know there could be good news like that.

Honestly, I had been getting a little stressed about everything. My contact prescription is way expired, but my new ophthalmologist said he would rewrite my prescription, since it hasn't changed. I called and got the expired prescription, despite the optometrist office's suspicions.

I called about my car because the registration is almost up, but my car is in another state, and I'm trying to sell it. It's up for an emissions test, and I thought it would be a mess, but I can get a 30-day general use permit, which doesn't require emissions.

I'm getting things done. It's just that I've been pleasantly surprised at the easy answers to my hard questions.

-MsLin