34 going on 70

If you're like me, you spend most of the time not thinking about all the things that can and do go wrong with the human body. I assume that if I get sick I will recover, if I fall I will get up, and so on. This is mostly true, but now that I am 35, I think I'd better pay more attention.



Last Saturday, before the sun set on 34, we went duckpin bowling with a few friends at the T-Bowl over on the turnpike. T is for turnpike! Right?



They were kind enough to place us in an "over 12" birthday corner, since the place was packed with kids enjoying alley-sanctioned parties. We just came to bowl a game, but there were entire party packages available for those who called in advance.



We got two lanes and split up into two groups and just bowled for a game in each lane. First-time for most of the crew, or so they said. Followed by an afternoon snack across the street at the Olympia.



Mike couldn't help pointing out the terrible headline on the New Britian Herald.



...which comes from "nor'easter", which might not even be something we actually say here.

I still had my appetite despite the headline, and enjoyed a classic BLT with a side of fries.



Since we were in the neighborhood, we stopped at Stew Leonard's, which was another first for many in the party. We hit the wine store section first for the free tasting, bracing ourselves for what lay ahead in the maze of food. Well, actually, FIRST we had to stop by the truck so Emily could get a closer look and brush the snow off the hood.



We took the "tour" of the whole store, with the samples and the animatronics and all, and took our meager purchases home for a break before dinner.

Dinner was at Udupi Bhavan, where they know me by name due to our frequent take-out orders. It was busy, and good, and someone dropped that it was my birthday so we got free dessert for the table. After that we were all quite full so we retired to Emily's for social hour/gift time/Val cake.

Social hour...



Gift time...



Val cake...



Thanks to Emily for taking some of those shots while I was otherwise occupied. And thanks to Val for the cake! And thanks to Heather and Bethany for taking the time to join us from points north and south. And thanks to Mike for pickin' up the tab at the Olympia! And thanks to all who wished me phone and email greetings! Especially since I woke up on Sunday, my actual birthday, and I felt like GARBAGE!



I was exhausted, feverish, ache-y, and expected the full-flu sinus treatment to kick in at any moment. It didn't. I kept all of my symptoms Sunday, Monday (stayed home, slept), Tuesday (stayed home, slept), Wednesday (stayed home, slept), and in the middle there somewhere, while things progressed and stewed, my vision got screwy. I could see fine in front of my face, maybe 12 feet in front of me, but past that point it was all double-vision. Sometimes I could get my eyes to behave and line things up, but not always. This was concerning. I talked to some medical advisers via phone, did "internet research", and decided something was wrong with my eye muscles. I tried some eye drops to clean out the crud, and some simple soothing techiniques. Cucumber! Feels good! Smells good! Tastes good!



Thursday, with my wonk-y eyes still wonk-y, Val took me to work and I got some crap done. I stayed almost a full day with no headaches or falling down the stairs, but my eyes were still not right.



Friday morning I called the doctor and was lucky enough to get in at 9:30 for an actual appointment. Val took me in and they gathered a few doctors around me and said "weird" and referred me to the nearest ophthalmologist, who ran some tests and administered some drops, and pretty much said "weird, but not unheard of, so let's schedule an MRI of your head" which I get to do next week sometime.

In the meantime, he suggested maybe some eye exercises. Here, for your viewing pleasure, some of my eye exercising. Video by Moto cell phone. Soundtrack is "In My Eyes" by Minor Threat. Get it? Minor Threat In My Eyes? So perfect...



This morning I decided to do something positive, creative, and hopefully curse-breaking, so, of course, I designed and knit an owl wearing a sweater.



Owls have good eyes, right? I made the owl by just following this "knit balls" pattern I found, and then I knit a little tube of a sweater for it. Talisman, curse-breaker, what-have-you, I hope it works.



Cute, right? At least it's got that going for it. Wish me luck with the MRI machine!