A tsetse fly stole my iPhone

Phylum:	Arthropoda
Subsection:	Calyptratae
Superfamily:	Hippoboscoidea

***

I have to write this post very quickly before I become narcoleptic again. It happens so suddenly these days.

But for the record:

I AM TIRED OF NAPS.
I HATE TEA.

Other than that, life is peachy.

***

When I was in grade school, there was a National Geographic or NOVA program that made quite an impression on me. It must have been about Africa, or bugs, or bad things that happen to people in Africa when around certain kinds of bugs because that is when I learned about the tsetse fly and sleeping sickness, otherwise known as Human African trypanosomiasis.

I especially became enamored of the word tsetse (you know how little kids are) and although I don't ever intend to get sleeping sickness and obviously I wouldn't wish this disease on anyone, whenever I catch one of these little colds that renders me unconscious for days in a row, I just figure I've been bitten by a tsetse fly's lesser cousin.

To the extent that my imaginary tsetse fly bite has made me cognitively useless for an entire week so far, I also could not find my cell phone for a solid day. I figured that the fly stole it, but then hours later I found the phone hiding in my bed between my duvet and my blankie.

(Yes, this is one of those silly posts that I occasionally write when in altered mental states caused by various illnesses. Normally I would go full on into Woody Allen mode right now, like this post or this post but today I am leaning more towards science. I wish I could write a real post today but that is not to be... I will have to blame my dearth of ideas on the tsetse fly as well.)

And on that note, I am off to make my 250th cup of tea.

xoxo

Sometimes the weaker ones will panic.

Mickey (Woody Allen): "I got the classic symptoms of a brain tumor."
Gail (Julie Kavner): "Two months ago, it was a malignant melanoma."
Mickey: "The sudden appearance of a black spot on my back?"
Gail: "It was on your shirt."
Mickey: "How was I to know?"

***

I don't know if it's because I've watched this movie too many times and it's turned me into a hypochondriac, but last week I went to the doctor and she called on Friday and left me a voicemail on my cell phone to call her back at my earliest convenience, but didn't say what it was about.

I didn't get the message until 5pm on Friday so of course all weekend I kind of thought that maybe I was dying (a little bit). In between watching movies at the Silent Film Festival.

Tell me you do that sort of thing too.

The Universe Is Expanding

I woke up this morning with a sore throat, which was very distressing to me, considering the fact that I spent most of December with the plague.

Previously I'd tried the Chinese food/Marx Brothers cure and the Preston Sturges/Coen Brothers/hot soup cure. I'm going to try to take this scratchy throat in stride and not worry too much about it, and since I don't have a valid driver's license right now, I wouldn't be going to a milonga tonight anyway. So now I've decided to try the bacon/Annie Hall cure.

For some reason, having a plate of bacon and watching Woody Allen at his finest seems like something that might work this time.

Plus, it's kind of a Valentine's Day movie in parts:

After that it got pretty late, and we both had to go, but it was great seeing Annie again. I... I realized what a terrific person she was, and... and how much fun it was just knowing her; and I... I, I thought of that old joke, y'know, the, this... this guy goes to a psychiatrist and says, "Doc, uh, my brother's crazy; he thinks he's a chicken." And, uh, the doctor says, "Well, why don't you turn him in?" The guy says, "I would, but I need the eggs." Well, I guess that's pretty much now how I feel about relationships; y'know, they're totally irrational, and crazy, and absurd, and... but, uh, I guess we keep goin' through it because, uh, most of us... need the eggs.

If you want more, click here. And here. And here.

Ablution

At 3am on Sunday morning, I woke up to the sound of rain pelting against the windows of my bedroom. So much water this weekend: tears, mist, fog, rain, being very aware of the great expanse of the Pacific Ocean so near to my house. The rain this past Sunday was really powerful; big fat drops that streaked and splattered across the windows. There are more storms predicted this week and I'm looking forward to them.

The hard rain made me feel a lot calmer. Your thoughts and wishes and advice did too.

***

I am learning that events like this past weekend that cause introspection end up being so helpful to me, even if they are very difficult or very sad events. They are catalysts for change, focus and direction (or redirection), and in my life, I'm trying to always be open to change. These times feel to me like being in a very dark room, not knowing what's in there, afraid you might bump into some furniture and maybe even hurt yourself. And you grope around in the dark and then you find the light switch on the wall, and in an instant, you flood the room with light.

And then you can see what is before you and around you. Then you can decide if you like what's in the room, if you want to move the furniture around, or if you want to throw everything away and start over. Even if you turn the light off again, at least you know what's in that room.

***

Obviously I don't have any more answers to my big questions than I did a few days ago, but I do have a great support system and a mind that doesn't stop working, which to me are very good things indeed.

I remembered one of my favorite scenes from one of my favorite movies. I won't say that I get all of my life advice from Woody Allen, but there are times when I certainly can relate.

Eternity is really long, especially near the end.--Woody Allen