I was talking to a friend recently about how quickly things can change, and how old age always has a surprise up its sleeve. One day I noticed that my eyelashes are turning white. A couple of weeks ago after washing my hair, I saw that it was curly—but only on one side. Seriously?! My hair has always been straight—with a very slight wave—but never curly. Well, it is now—unless that changes, which it could.
Now? I have shingles. Not the ones on the roof. I have the ones that are a nasty burning rash on the body that make it painful to sit or lie down or stand or move. I’m exaggerating a bit, but you get the idea. I kept putting off getting the vaccine, and now here I am: stuck in the house until it’s comfortable to wear anything but a nightgown.
And I’m bored.
I’d like to say I’m reading more, since I’m stuck at home, and that is my plan, but first—to distract myself from the discomfort/pain—I had to binge-watch some TV shows, and by binge-watching, I got to see some patterns that might not have been as obvious if I had been watching one a day. Here’s what I noticed on “FBI”: When they’re searching for the perp and they see him coming around the corner of a New York street, they don’t hide and jump out at him as he passes and wrestle him to the ground; no, they yell “Stop, FBI!” giving him plenty of time to run, knock over pedestrians, dash into the street and over cars, race down an alley, and climb a chainlink fence to freedom. The other show I binged was “Sky Med,” about a team of medics and pilots in a remote area of Manitoba who rescue people who are sick or wounded and can’t get to a hospital any other way. I was interested in the whole rescue operation part, and I like the characters and got to know who they were and why they were doing their jobs out in nowhere, but here’s what happens when about 10 people are living in a lodge together: they kiss, they have sex (often literally jumping on each other), they argue, break up, hold grudges, get over it, get back together, and then—more kissing. When I could see what was coming, I’d yell at the TV: “No more kissing!” Then I’d fast-forward to the interesting parts: fly to a remote landing strip, bump along a stony path through the woods in an ATV, pry people from under fallen trees or out of crashed ski-mobiles, escape bears and bad guys, shuttle the fallen, crushed, slashed, broken patients back to the plane, take off, and more drama ensues in the plane: poisonous snake, bomb, fever-crazed patient trying to get out the door of the plane—you know, just another day on the job.
Between naps today, I returned to reading. (No kissing. No sex. No stupid FBI agents.) So far my symptoms are mild, and I try not to freak myself out by reading about possible maybe probably probably-not side effects of shingles. ACK!!
I’m almost finished reading Elfie—hey! There’s a map inside!
Next I’ll move on to Silas Marner, which I downloaded onto my Kindle. What are you reading? How are you?