Shells

I was in the lunch room at work the other day and some people were talking about seafood… so I started telling this story from long ago… and I realized that I had never told it here.  NaBloPoMo seems the perfect time to rectify that situation…

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There are a few things you can be sure to find here in Prince Edward Island in the summer… one is the Island’s famous cultured mussels, and the other is Japanese tourists.  This story has both.

It was about 20 years ago, and my younger self had a couple of jobs, one of which was working the front desk of a lovely local inn.  The inn was very popular with Japanese tourists, and most typically young Japanese girls who would come to experience the Land of Anne.  The Inn was very reminiscent of Anne’s time, so I’m sure that was part of the draw.

This particular sunny afternoon a large group of Japanese men came clammering in the front door and flopped themselves in the chairs at the front desk.  They had obviously spent a busy day sightseeing and were tired.  It was the first time I had ever served a group of male Japanese visitors.  The guest with the best English approached the desk.  He was obviously the designated speaker for the group.

Me: Did you have a nice time?

Guest: A leely nice time.  You got muzzooos?

Me: Of course we have mussels!  I’d be happy to get them for you.  Would you like them in the dining room, or up in your room?

The guest paused.  I pointed to the dining room.  Then I pointed to the room.  Guest smiled.

Guest: In the room! The room! And up the stairs he went.

One by one each man ordered and went up the stairs to their room.

So I went in the kitchen and placed my order for all those mussels, and when they were ready I loaded a tray and headed up the stairs to the guest accommodations.  I knocked and Guest answered.  They were all in the room in various states of attire.  I passed them the tray and made way back to the desk.

After some time, Guest came down the stairs and approached the desk.

Guest: Ummm… The shells….. Are they included?

Me: Well yes, you take the shellfish out of the shell, then put the shell in the bucket. I used charades to demonstrate.

Guest: So the shells are included?

Me: Well… yes.

Guest nodded that he understood and back up the stairs he went.  Again some time passed and Guest again comes down the stairs and stood before the desk.

Guest: You got muzzooos?

Me: I brought you mussels.

Guest: Muzzooos? It’s his turn for charades.  He starts rubbing his shoulders.

It was a sickening moment of realization.  I think my blood rushed to my toes.  He was asking for a masseuse.  And I had offered to fill his order in the dining room for crying out loud.  Chances are he had never even heard of our famous mussels before that day.

Guest: You muzzoos?

Ummmm… no.

True story.  The mussels were on the house.  That was fun explaining to the guys in the kitchen.

Hmmm…

I actually had a story to tell you today, but I have just figured out that yesterday’s post was my 500th blog post.

Who’d have thought when I started that I’d have that much to say…

I’ll tell you my story tomorrow… (it’s about 20 years old but still classic Sock Girl stuff, and I can’t believe I’ve never told it here before)…  But right now, in honour of my 500 milestone, I think I’ll go find myself a treat.  I think we need some cake around here or something.

Fear and Self-Fulfilling Prophecy

There is no question that I have a deep seated fear of unemployment, and that the pending end date on my current job weigh heavy on my mind.  It flashes through my mind at least 100 times, even for a second, the thought:  you will be unemployed again at Christmas.  And I feel a little sick inside as fear momentarily overtakes me.

But the rational part of me knows that everything will be ok… that I have found enough weeks of employment that I will qualify for unemployment benefits to help keep us floating for a time… that maybe, just maybe, the job I’m meant to find will emerge somewhere, somehow.

But some days I have more fearful thoughts about the matter than rational ones.  It truly never leaves my mind for very long.

And now I wonder if that might be part of the problem.  If, as many of those consultants who teach manifesting one’s ideal life might suggest, we are focussed on the negative, how can we bring ourselves the positive?  Am I so fearful that this could become self-fulfilling?

So I think I need to do some work to turn this mental train around.  While it may not bring me the job I need, it will certainly alleviate the stress I feel.  I need to:

1. Live in the now.  When I hear that little voice in my head say, “December 16th is coming, get your fear on,” I need to shoo it away and say, “Today I have a job and I am darn grateful.”
2. Recognize my own strengths.  I truly lack confidence.  While I mask it, this entire experience of joblessness and job hunting has left me feeling battered, betrayed and incompetent.  And I have to recognize that this is the result of other people’s projections and behaviours and not reality.  I need to recall what I excel at and celebrate that.
3. I need to visualize what I want and hold that in my head.  I might even make myself a vision board.

So that is one of my goals for the rest of this month.  To let it go, and make that the habit instead of the fear.

Thanks for listening.

Pearls – Response

So in response to my own blog challenge, here is my list of 5 things I have learned from a child or teen:

1. Plugging your nose will not make yucky medicine taste better.
2. Colour can add joy.
3. A twirly skirt is worth hours of entertainment
4. Clothing that goes into the washer with halloween candy in the pockets can come out dirtier than they went in.
5. Hugs heal.

Again?

Is this another post where Sock Girl moans about how hard this NaBloPoMo thing is?

Why yes, yes it is.

But I feel all achey and tired, and I’ll be back tomorrow… hopefully having considered my own “Pearl” challenge a tiny bit more.  Thank you for your patience.

Pearls – a blog challenge

Tonight’s warmup in family taekwondo class was led by the instructor’s young (pre-teen) daughter, a black stripe (which is the belt before black).  Now typically, when her father does the warm up, it starts with general loosening up, then some more vigorous activities like laps &/or jumping &/or kicking, then there is a longer session of stretching once we’re all warm.  During the final stretching he usually discusses some aspect of stretching, tells some story about when he was training, or perhaps mentions some sport related thing coming up.

So tonight we go though the light stretch, do some laps and kicks and lunges, and we sit on the floor to begin the longer stretch portion.  The wife of our main intructor says to her daughter, “This is where you give us pearls of wisdom.” “Yes!” I add, “tell us a story.”

Our young leader paused.  “I don’t have any pearls of wisdom,” she stated, “because none of my grandparents are very old.”

This strikes me very funny… that wisdom can only be passed on from the elderly.  Now, that is not to say that we don’t have a huge amount to learn from our elders, because quite obviously we do, but I think wisdom can come from a great many places.  Of course, at the moment, I’m drawing a blank, but I’m sure it’s true.

So this week’s blog challenge, and I welcome you to join me, is to come up with 5 things you have learned from someone young (like a child or teenager).  If you post your response on your blog, drop me a comment and tell me where to look.

Stretching Already

NaBloPoMo is hard.  Day 3 and I’m struggling for content.  I think I need to get out more, remove myself from my routine, and see what life shows me.

And oddly, I am actually encouraged by the difficulty of this blogging task.  I signed up for this challenge to get over this hump, knowing it would take work, and clearly the work is at hand.  It’s a good thing to stretch.

How do you find inspiration?  What do you do to inspire creative thought?  Do you have a plan for the challenge or are you flying by the seat of your pants too?

How do you spell relief?

Hello.  My name is Sock Girl.  And I get migraines.

It is now official.  Today I finally had my appointment with a neurologist and he confirmed the diagnosis I have long suspected.  Migraines.  And he provided the reassurance the the right peripheral blindness that I experience a few days before onset is not an uncommon symptom (though its timing is not as usual).  You have no idea how comforting it was to hear that inexplicably and periodically losing a portion of one’s vision had a reason that could be dealt with.  It’s been a very disconcerting thing.  There is still the matter of a CAT scan just to be sue, but I am now far more relaxed than I was previously.

So, for those who may suffer migraines also, this is my plan of action.

1. Wait for the CAT scan referral.  Hopefully that will not take nearly as long as the appointment to see the doctor.
2. Visit these websites (recommended by the neurologist) to learn more about migraines and their triggers (all will open in  a new window):
   • The Migraine Association of Canada
   • The International Headache Society
   • The Centre for Headaches and Facial Pain
   • Help for Headaches
   • National Library of Medicine
3. Start a headache journal to attempt to figure out triggers. (Something like this one, I think)
4. Start using medication to stop the headaches in their tracks before they get to the point where I no longer function (something no other doctor had ever prescribed for me).

So, tonight I am feeling calmer than I have in a long time.  I feel a little more in control of my head.

It was a good day.

Halloween Karma

Perhaps I will begin the NaBloPoMo adventure by telling you about our Halloween.  Dolittle, being 13 now, had made plans to be with friends, but Rainbow, being 9, still planned to stroll the neighbourhood with me.  Now our house typically gets very few children… I think our record since living here up until this year was 5, so I was a bit surprised when the first children arrived at 4:30, still in daylight.  They were tiny though, so perhaps bedtime was really early, but it was certainly an indication that the evening would not be typical.

So when supper was over, I rather expected that she would anxiously be setting about preparations for our outing, but that did not appear to be the case.  No costume.  No makeup. Instead I find her folding oragami parrots.  Apparently, it was her plan to knock on doors and offer her parrots to people as a thank you for buying candy for children.  I have no idea where this all came from, but apparently that was the Halloween plan.  And when enough parrots were folded, she put on her costume and painted her face, and we set off trick or treating.

It was a lovely evening for the kids… warm and not raining.  And I was a bit surprised by the fact that Rainbow had suddenly developed a bit of a phobia to other trick or treaters.  If there was anyone at a house, she would not go there.  If there was someone coming down the street, she would go the other way.  I really don’t know where that was coming from, but the result was that the pattern of houses we visited was very random.

The first house she chose to go to with her paw full of paper parrots was a neighbour who often just drops by the house with a bag of cookies for the kids.  We don’t even know his real name as even he calls himself ‘Cookie Monster.’  So she knocks and Mrs. Monster comes to the door, Cookie right behind her, and Rainbow gives her a parrot, explaining that she had made it for them.  They tell her to wait for her treats and she says, “no. I just came to give you a parrot,” and then leaves.  Cookie is saying, “you have to get treats!” but still she refuses and continues to the next house.

And so it continued.  Sometimes she took treats, sometimes not.  Each house was as surprised as the last.  Once all the parrots were gone, the trick or treating as I expected actually began.  And after about an hour, she had had her fill of the holiday, and we went home to examine her loot.

In total we got 34 trick or treaters.  I was glad I had bought extra treats (mostly planning for leftovers, ahem).  Today Cookie Monster sent a grocery bag full of his left over treats to our house for the kids.  All, I expect, part of Halloween Karma.

How was your Halloween?

Tales of Spinning and Spinning Tales

Am I spinning too fast?  I’m spinning, there is no question… every waking moment seems to be filled with some activity, or crisis aversion, or preparation to avoid future crisis.  I am the preparer of sustenance, nagger of homework, social and sporting chauffeur, labourer of laundry, shepherd of hygiene, soother of booboos, purveyor of discipline, finder of lost things, unclogger/unplugger/untangler/unwhateverer… Apparently what I am not these days is a reader of books and writer of blogs.  There has been no time.

I need that time.

This thinking is, of course, exasperated by the fact that November looms, and with it the two Nano challenges…

First, NaBloPoMo… National Blog Posting Month…. A post a day for thirty days.  I have tried this for the last few Novembers, and some years actually managed to pull it off.  Can’t say the content was top notch, but it was there.

The other is NaNoWriMo… National Novel Writing Month… A 50,000 word novel in 30 days… I have tried this twice, and failed dismally both times.  Each year I think I’ll have a larger plan for my characters before November 1st, and each year I enter with no clue where the story eventually goes, and invariably where it goes is down the tubes.  This year, however, a character from a kid’s (unpublished and rarely submitted) story I wrote when my own children were little has been popping into my head advising me that his tale is much much bigger than I originally told it.  Dare I go down the road again?  And how do I do all this with all the life spinning going on?

Perhaps I will spin myself silly.

So my dear blog friends, what do you think of these crazy notions.  Am I just so punchy from tiredness that I am actually considering these?  And would any of you jump into these spinny games with me?