Life, the Universe and Everything: Black Friday Edition

Life

I'm writing this post in the car on the way home from spending the day with friends. We headed out around lunchtime and hung out, had a nice dinner, hung out some more, watched the kids play Jenga and then got in the car. These are friends who used to live two blocks away and when they moved (five years ago?), it was quite an adjustment. It was a perfect day-after-Thanksgiving day to have. One fly in the ointment was the onset of another migraine. I think this one was triggered by my looking at too bright of a light. I know that I am extremely light sensitive at times and I am pretty sure when the disharmonic convergence of too much stress and/or hormones happens, a bright light will set off a new headache. I took my medicine and just worked through it, at times stopping to lie down and close my eyes.

When I get into one of these migraine cycles, I really start to lose my positive attitude. I forget how minor my migraines are in comparison to some. I forget that I have a lot of excellent support to take over for me. I forget that there are worse maladies in the world. I just start to get into my "woe is me" mode. I want to shout and shake my fist at the headache gods. Only my fear that the headache gods are as capricious as the Greek and Roman gods holds me back. I'm afraid I'll be sent on a 20 year odyssey or made to push a rock up a hill, only to have to repeat the task the next day, and the next, and the next. No, I'll not risk their wrath.

(No longer writing from the road. The roads were too bumpy and a shaky screen coupled with a migraine makes for car sickness extraordinaire!)

Marley is shipshape today. No fever or sore throat. I think she might end up with a stuffy nose but that is preferable to the fever.

Let's see… oh! On the way to our friend's house, we got a close up view of some of the fire damage from a couple of weeks ago. On the south side of the freeway we saw completely blackened hillsides with charcoal trees and burned out condos. On the north side of the freeway, it was looked more like a culinary torch had been at work, the hillsides looking more like a crème brulee. It was hard to imagine what it would have been like when the flames were burning. Seeing it on television just can't be the same.

As we head into the weekend proper, we will be very busy. Our church is moving tomorrow and Sunday we'll have services in the new location. There is homework to do and laundry to do and, of course, with all this on the agenda, I want nothing more than to go see some good movies. I doubt I'll get the chance. It may have to wait until Christmas break.

the Universe

Paul was asking me why the day after Thanksgiving is called Black Friday. I don't know the real reason, but after today, I might say because people die the day after Thanksgiving. A Walmart employee was killed when a crush of shoppers pushed through the entrance of a store. I think that was in Florida. Here in California, two women broke into an apparently bloody fight. The men they were with brought out guns and shot each other. Both men died. This was in a Toys R Us. I guess this isn't any more mayhem than happens on any given day in this or any other country. Somehow, though, I associate it with this mad consumerism that has people up at 4 a.m. to wait in line for a Nintendo Wii or Furby or whatever it is they have to buy. I also know this is a case where I am taking evidence and using it to support my extreme prejudice against the holiday shopping frenzy. However, I can't keep thinking about that Walmart employee. Did he have children? Will the holidays ever be the same for his family? Ugh. It is just so sad.

While all this gift buying madness was going on, there are situations all over the world which are scary and heartbreaking. The most recent hostage taking rampage in India is one example. The names and stories of individuals are beginning to be known. I once read that it takes the individual to bring the horror of any larger situation to life. I think there is some truth in that. Over 100 people shot and killed sounds bad. A rabbi and his wife killed, leaving behind a small child? The tragedy comes into a fine focus. It is harder to gloss over it all once I've heard a specific story like that. I still remember, during the Bosnian-Serbian conflict about 10 years ago one story I heard on the news. A young couple was separated in one of the refugee camps. They tried so hard to stay together but she was sick with pneumonia or something like that. In order to get treatment, she had to leave to go to another camp. Her husband called her his Juliet. At the time the story was aired, he had not been reunited with her. I wept over that and I still wonder sometimes… did he find her—his Juliet?

Everything

I don't know if this post is coherent at all. I am pretty nauseous. The nausea tends to be worse when I do what I did tonight, push through and try to function. It doesn't feel so bad when I am doing it. I was able to enjoy my conversation with my friends, eat dinner, have a good time. Now, though, I feel sick.

So why am I blogging? Because it's NaBloPoMo 2008! This is really ridiculous. What is it about this month of blogging that has me so committed I will blog through homework assignments, child illness, migraine, holidays, birthdays? I can't keep a commitment to myself to exercise regularly but I better not miss a day of NaBloPoMo. I'm not sure I understand it all. Anyone have any ideas?

Until tomorrow…

 

28 down, 2 to go