Music I've Been Listening to Lately

Toderick Hall has way too much fun with this melody!

TGIF!

After the cataract surgery on my left eye on Wednesday, I'm no longer seeing double. Distance vision is awesome. Medium vision (like being on my laptop) is doable. Close vision is bleah at the moment. Doctor G canceled my second followup because he thinks I'm doing awesome.

He also scored brownie points for intelligent discussing Star Trek.

So, I go back at the end of January for an eyesight check-up once the swelling in the left eye goes down. I may need reading glasses. I may not. We'll see. (Pun intended.)

In the meantime, I have enough visual acuity to complete the publishing and Kickstarter tasks I had to put aside back on December 13th. I'll finish writing the Millersburg Magick Mysteries holiday story, but I'll probably save it for next Christmas.

(Anybody besides me get that anticipation hangover after Boxing Day?)

In the meantime, I'm also wrapping presents and shipping those and cards to family and friends. My depth perception (or rather, lack of it) during the two weeks between surgeries made me leery of using tape or scissors around the gifts. Ironically, this was the year I tried very hard to have my gift shopping done well before Christmas. Maybe I should have stuck with gift cards for everyone as I have in previous years. I could have given DH the forms, had him print out labels for me, and made him sign the cards for me.

I guess being late is better than never showing my peeps how much I appreciate them!

Once More Into the Breach!

I need to be at the surgical center early this morning for my bionic left eye. Keeping my fingers crossed (until the sedative kicks in) that this surgery goes as well as the last one. Another three weeks of eyedrops, then we'll see where we are. (Pun intended.)

I'll probably need reading/computer glasses, but I'm still amazed how well I can see with my right eye when I wake up in the morning!

When I get home from surgery, I'll have one of my homemade cinnamon rolls.

Assuming GK hasn't eaten all of them!

Music I've Been Listening to Lately

One of my favorite songs for this time of year.

(And if you're one of those kids who doesn't understand historical context, please leave my blog.)

Happy Holidays

No matter which holidays you celebrate, I hope you and your families have a joyous and wonderful time!

My Favorite Hotel

I'm still talking about my vacation because I cannot write at the moment.

Let me amend that. I'm having difficulty seeing my laptop screen while I type. My mismatched eyes are causing double-vision and headaches if I stay on the computer more than a few minutes at a time.

The issue will only last until my surgery next Wednesday. So, I do a little bit here and there and spend the rest of my time watching my very long list of programs I've saved. I can close my eyes and listen to Kevin Hart, Wanda Sykes, and Gabriel Iglesias's comedy routines.

Or I imagine DH and I are still in Las Vegas for a much needed vacation.

The Luxor is still my favorite hotel. It's not just the fabulous architecture. It's set up in a way I don't have to deal with too much smoke from the casino.

Before any smokers jump on my case, I stay away from you and your habit for the same reason I stay away from cats. I'm frickin' allergic. If I'm sufficiently forewarned, I stock up on allergy meds and decongestants.

The first time I stayed at the Luxor was the year after it opened. My friend and I had a room on the south side of the pyramid. At the time, construction had started on Mandalay Bay, but for all intents, the Luxor and the airport were the edge of the city.

These days, you can't tell where Henderson ends and Las Vegas begins as you drive over the Muddy Mountains and into the desert bowl. But damn, if you can't still see the light at the top of the pyramid the entire way.

Mismatched Eyes and One of the Greatest Singer/Songwriters of All Times

I'm still having a problem focusing on my laptop for long periods.

Which means only a few minutes of writing or anything else at a time.

So, here's my favorite thing from our vacation! DH took me to see Barry Manilow at the Westgate (formerly the Las Vegas Hilton). I've been a Fanilow since I was nine. Surprisingly, over half the audience were in their 20's and 30's. I'm glad the Gen Z's appreciate his talent.

Music I've Been Listening to Lately

Some light pop to counteract all the grunge at the time.
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Sunset in West Texas

As we headed into El Paso the Saturday after Thanksgiving, I found myself wishing I'd brought DH's 35mm film camera. The one on my phone didn't do the sunset colors justice.

What surprised me was the clouds. The West Texas mountains acted like a wool card, stretching the clouds into filaments as they blew towards the rest of the state.

You also don't realize how big El Paso is unless you go through it at night. During the day, the buildings blend into the desert landscape, and the city seems much smaller than it is.

We also had to go through border patrol checkpoints, once just west of El Paso and one in Arizona. At first, it confused DH. We hadn't gone anywhere near the bridge to Juarez. I had to remind him that not everyone passes into the U.S. via the bridge and are checked by customs.

On the other hand, I was more interested in the Border Patrol's change in techniques. We merely stopped on a plate in the highway before we were waved on, which confused DH further, but it's been twenty years since he's been out of the country. They either have infrared sensors or scanners like at the airports to check vehicles. Like I told DH, the B.P just makes sure we aren't smuggling five Mexican children in the trunk of our car.

The last time I went through a checkpoint was near McAllen, which is just a few miles north of Brownsville, another major crossing point. I was on my way home after a probate hearing in McAllen. That time, the B.P. agents ran a K-9 German Shepard around my car and checked under it with mirrors. Luckily, the German Shepard wasn't interested in my iced mocha from Starbucks. *grin*

But yeah, I need to find some 35 mm film for our next roadtrip. The sunset above was more beautiful than it appears.

While I'm in Surgery...

Depending on what time you read this post, I might be in surgery getting my eyeball sliced with a laser. For some reason, I'm more nervous about this surgery than I was about the mastectomy five and a half years ago.

Why? Because this only affects the quality of my life, not my survival.

Sounds stupid, right? Except humans are irrational at heart.

That idea is difficult to write about because we humans also want things to make sense. If I wrote about some real life incidents from my own or others I know of, most readers would do the proverbial "throw the book against the wall". Those incidents make good barroom tales, but most readers would write the idea off as unbelievable because it is so outrageous and there's no satisfying ending in real life.

We humans are the ultimate paradox.

Which is why, after wearing glasses and contacts over the last fifty-one years, I'm scared that I might see clearly without visual aids.

Gain, Loss, and Change

I didn't realize how much both DH and I needed a break from all the stress in our lives, not to mention the everyday routine. He was practically giddy the morning we left for our trip.

What I didn't expect that day was Kristine Kathryn Rusch to announce she would no longer be posting her business thoughts on her blog. Her business blog had been a staple for me over Thursday morning breakfast for the last thirteen years.

However, I understood her reasoning. It was costing her time that she'd rather put towards her fiction. Not to mention, the people who really needed to hear her message ignore her.

Yep, things have changed in publishing over the last thirteen years. A lot.

I no longer get the sniff of disgust for publishing my own works. Even today at my dentist appointment, my hygienist asked about my job. When I needed to separate business and home purchases, the clerk at Meijer asked what I did and if I had my own store. (The online store will be the big project for 2024.)

Even Texas is no longer avoiding renewable energy sources. We passed a number of windmill and solar farms as the terrain changed from the Hill Country to the West Texas Desert. I tried to grab a picture of one such windmill farm as we drove by it.

DH asked why I was taking pictures of windmills. It wasn't like we didn't have plenty around our home town. I said I was marking the change in Texans behavior. The gas and oil companies can hang on with teeth and nails, but when Texas is embracing alternate energy sources at a time when California is trying to put the kebosh on solar energy, we're definitely in the middle of a major change in behaviors.

Just like we were after the Kindle was introduced.

Music I've Been Listening to Lately

The Funky Divas live!

Exploding Tumbleweeds

Two and a half weeks ago, DH and I took our first real vacation since GK was born.

Over the last 20+ years, all of our vacation time was used up visiting family. We were the ones who moved 1200 miles away. I get the trade-off. But we never prioritized an immediate family vacation.

We tried this year. DH and I would drive to San Antonio. GK would cook Thanksgiving dinner. Then the three of us would travel together to Las Vegas,

Uncle Sam had other ideas.

GK passed his noncom boards and was immediately sent to a leadership course held at a different base. His class was a month-long and started on November 15. Yep, the week before DH and I were to head to his apartment. No, it was not something he could get out of.

Luckily, GK was sent to Fort Cavazos which was only slightly out of our way. We did have Thanksgiving dinner with him, and I've never had a better meal at IHOP. And we generously tipped the poor waitress who handled all the tables in our half of the restaurant, all service people with their families who had traveled to the fort to spend an hour or two with their loved ones.

Sadly, DH and I continued on to Las Vegas by ourselves. As we left the Hill Country for the West Texas desert, I warned DH to watch out for tumbleweeds blowing across the highway. I need to watch what I say.

About five minutes later down I-10, we were following another white sedan in the left lane as we passed an SUV. Sure enough, a tumbling tumbleweed rolled north, heading for the asphalt. DH tapped the brake, but the car in front of us had no place to go. They hit the tumbleweed dead on.

It exploded.

DH and I laughed as dry, brittle branches rained down. No harm was done, and a few miles later, another tumbleweed rolled across the interstate well ahead of us.

But now, I know what happens when you hit a tumbleweed at eighty miles an hour. As I roll along in life, I'll try not to spin and dance across a freeway and get hit.

Music I've Been Listening to Lately

It took a long time for this tune to be sorted, but I believe it's brilliant.