Being as I’m about to be a student again (twice over! I’ve decided to take a psych course this fall, too. It’s just before and on the same campus as my A&P class. I pretty much have to take it because a) it’s required and b) while I did take psych years ago, I got a not to stellar grade in it – why is it that the lone TWO courses in which I received less than stellar grades over 20 years ago are now highly relevant pre-reqs for my continued education? – so I thought I’d best take it over. But I digress), I decided to do some shopping for school clothes the other day. I wasn’t really looking for anything specific, other than short or no sleeved shirts that seemed appropriate and maybe some non-jeans pants, since I have exactly two pairs of them, one of which is part of my official karate travel uniform. (Yes, we have a travel uniform; grey trousers, white shirt, blue blazer, and red men’s tie – even for the women. Must be worn to all special trainings, unless special dispensation is given.)
I came home with two bras, a pair of running shorts, and three very non-descript tee shirts. Woo! I also came home with a renewed sense of WTF? when it comes to dressing room mirrors. I don’t really have serious body image hang-ups. I’ve been with this bod for a long time and I do have an actual mirror installed in my apt., so I do have a clue as to what I look like, generally. There are things I’ve always liked and things I’d love to change, except they’ve never changed and I’m cool with that, too. So imagine my surprise when I looked into the dressing room mirror, and had to do a double take. My shoulders looked about as broad as I do high, and the overall effect was that I looked about two feet tall. WTFF? I don’t look two feet tall at home, and IRL most people think I’m taller than I am (not quite 5’3”) – I’ve always had people several inches taller than me tell me they think I’m taller than they are. So I kinda had to wonder about that mirror…. I know this isn’t an original thought, but wouldn’t you think WOMEN’S dressing rooms would have the most flattering light, and the best mirrors, if there are such things? The point is to sell clothes, not give women complexes, no?
I’m happy with what I got (love, love, love the shorts, especially) and I’m kind of glad that the majority of the remaining clothes in the store were fugly enough that I didn’t feel as if I were missing out by just grabbing a few t’s. Spared the wallet, for sure. The money I didn’t spend can go to textbooks. (Just priced those out – jeezy creezy!)
OK, ghost story time. I think I might have mentioned in my previous blog (and I know I’ve mentioned in one forum) that my folk’s house, the house I grew up in, has a ghost. We don’t know who it is or why he hangs there; we just all seem to know it’s a he, and we all “experience” him in the same way. He’s not mean or destructive; we usually hear him walking around the first floor during the day and on the stairs at night. (I know. Sounds creepy. But after 40+ years of peaceful co-existence, it’s not.)
My folks recently had some work done to the house, an energy up-grade. New furnace, new central AC, new weatherproofing, the whole lot. They got a fantastic deal on it, plus a tax rebate. They were subsequently contacted by the state (which subsidized part of the upgrade under a green program that is about to go by the wayside) to arrange an energy audit, mostly to check up on the contractor’s work. The guy came out and spent a couple of hours there, doing an energy and safety audit. For some reason, he decided to go into the back yard and take some photos. My folks have a gated fence toward the middle of the yard; it separates the yard into two sections. This is an artifact of days LONG gone by when we had an above-ground pool in the back half of the yard. Well, the guy was standing by the gate (which has a trick latch, due to a clever cat’s figuring out how to open the regular latch), when the gate swung open and slammed shut. The guy jumped about a foot into the air. He then tried to take a picture of the back part of the yard, but couldn’t; he aimed out, but the photo was of the ground.
Freaked him the hell out, and he made some comment about a ghost. My mother replied that the ghost had never done anything like that before (he hasn’t). I’m not sure if the guy was trying to pull someone’s leg, or if he was in retrospect glad he didn’t find out about the ghost until after he’d been in the attic & basement.
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