Reflection: A Farewell to Bags

Tomorrow is July 1st, the day plastic bags become illegal in Seattle check out lines.  Paper bags will still be available -- for a price. It wasn't that much earlier that a law was rejected that would have merely put a price on all shopping bags, plastic and paper.  That one wouldn't have even sent plastic bags packing.  Then they passed a tougher one. Times change. Seattle becomes.

At Trader Joe's today, there was a sign at the checkout, reminding people of the legislation that would go into effect July 1. There were no canvas bags sitting at the check out. So the sign was...?  A reminder to bring yours next time?  A reminder to stock up on paper bags while they're free?  (Traditionally, plastic has been for carrying out trash, paper for carrying out recyclables.)

Plastic bags for bulk items... I believe you will still see those.  But I took a picture of the canvas ones in Whole Foods.  The Squidoo-ing life. I've taken a lot of pictures inside stores. And inside my apartment. (Which keeps it cleaner...)

Reflection: Auntie Histamine

Histamine is a brain chemical. Some people say it's an important one; others call it quack science.  It's interesting to me because so many things fit. I've read that the high histamine person tends toward obsessive, phobic fear while the low histamine person is more likely to be paranoid. I also read that the high histamine person can have an unusually still energy on the outside while on the inside their brain is going fast, fast, fast.

I imagine histamine is one of many neurochemicals that can have an effect on a person's functioning -- though of course that doesn't mean that a particular behavior is always associated with a particular imbalance. In my case, histamine does have an effect.  Some foods speed up my mind in a bad way.  Food that's past its peak will set my mind racing. I think about the food I ate during my years at the housing co-op: nearly spoiled produce bought at $2.00 a (large) box. Not so good!

The effects of caffeine?  Caffeine seems to calm my mind.  Antihistamines and caffeine can have similar effects on me.  Both can be somnolent.  And both, oddly, can be conducive to work... at least at extreme moments.  There was a point where I took stronger medicine, but I told the doctor the antihistamines worked better.

On histamine, my thoughts are like molecules in a solid.  They tend to move around in a tightly packed space. I can get to the point where it's hard to complete a sentence or action; those fast thoughts are repeating or going in circles instead of moving forward. On caffeine, they reach escape velocity.  There's forward motion.

Reflection: State Boards

Writing articles that require me to spend a lot of time on state licensing boards... Occasionally, I laugh out loud. And it isn't just when one declares that candidates must meet the following "eight (9)" standards. State boards seem to have their own character; some become characters in my mind. One will give detailed instructions about the documentation that a person must send to prove a name change; another will treat the process much more cavalierly. One included, in the frequently asked question section, things like, "You mean you're evaluating the ability of my state to..." (I gather that out-of-state applicants were not always happy campers.)

Ah, but the state of Indiana has managed to come across as chipper and cheery. I see that they write 'copy':

The Behavioral Health and Humans Services Licensing Board is excited to offer this new testing opportunity to all future mental health counselors in the State of Indiana and as always, “we work to keep you working.”

Home again... and home again. I went to Arizona to, among other things, cultivate relationships with the little girls before they stop being little girls.

Two red-haired girls. Their mother, my sister-in-law, has honey colored hair, a mixture of blonde, brown, and red, though I don't think she was ever a true redhead. In our family... well, I know there was a great aunt on my mother's side who had red hair; I believe there was also a redhead in that generation on my father's side. I was the only redhead for two generations.

The elder one... Well, I knew I wasn't overstaying my welcome in her eyes. She was glad to have an someone to play with, read her chapter book, direct activities. The little one... well, maybe she'll like me when she gets older. A year and a half ago, she buried her face in her father's chest when she saw me; this time, she buried her face in his chest. In the interim, she learned to speak complete sentences intelligibly, but she hasn't yet reached the stage of abstract thought...or of doing a lot of focused activity. For her, familiar faces are the best ones. And Daddy knows best.

Reflection: Flexibility Revisited

I am revisiting once more the concept of flexibility: How is it that I appear unusually flexible -- indeed hyperflexible -- to friends, yet never scored well on test of flexibility? I was sub-par throughout all my years of P. E., and was, in fact, the worst person in my class in gymnastics activities, performing like a person with joint limitations. (Flexibility wasn't the main reason I was eventually placed in adaptive P.E., but let's just say it wasn't helping.)

Sometimes it takes years to define the perimeters of something; some crucial detail eludes me. Here goes: Tests of flexibility are generally done with the legs straight/ extended. It appears that, for me, though, the ability to bend at the waist depends, to an unusual degree, on also having bent legs. In P.E., students are asked to sit with their legs extended and then touch their toes. The act of sitting with my legs extended is in itself uncomfortable; my range of motion in this position is pretty limited. But if I bend my legs deeply -- sitting on my feet, say, or sitting in yogi position -- then everything changes. I can not only bend my body flat against the ground, but I'm so comfortable I could sleep that way. (Sometimes I do.)

Pictures taken here and there, across my life, are suggestive of loose joints. If you look at the picture in With Legs Crossed, you'll see a small child with some unusual posture. In that pose, it almost looks like my legs detached. Either that or they were pretty durn short... which they weren't. I doubt I could do a toe touch, though, even then. By the time I started school, at any rate, that task was way out of reach.

Once again, I've got to get on my soapbox and say that it's not just about physical capacity. If we look at how a person acts in one context, striking as it may be, we can get into some trouble generalizing or making predictions about how they'll perform in other contexts.

Reflection: Those (Very) Protective Anti-Virus Programs

September 18 was the day Toto's free trial of McAfee ran out (or so it told me). It was hard to use the little netbook in the days leading up to September 18 as McAfee kept flashing dire warnings. I felt I had things under control, but the security program knew how to tug at my heart strings.

On the evening of the 17th, I looked up security programs, some free, some in the neighborhood of $30 to $40. It seemed like the free version of AVG did less than it used to -- understandable, I suppose, in a freemium world. Still, the free program would stave off crisis. Windows gave us a firewall, and AVG would at least momentarily give us our anti-virus; later I could decide if I wanted to purchase something additional for Toto and Snookums.

Now here is where things got curious: AVG proceeded to download more than it indicated it would -- or so it seems. (It wouldn't want to see anything happen on its shift.) Also, it is the 20th now, and McAfee is hanging around longer than indicated. It appears it is thoughtfully giving me a grace period. (Will it win my heart yet?) It put up an icon that we were in a state of alert (no protection? low protection?) But when I plugged my camera in, it warned me that there was this device connected... and did I want it to scan the thing? Perhaps McAfee has downgraded itself, but it has not left. I picture it like the Cheshire cat -- some part remaining.

Choices, choices... I guess most security program companies offer some sort of free download that's separate from their trial. Some offer more, some less. McAfee has a curious program that will let you know whether the security program you currently have installed (whatever it might be) is behaving properly. It will tell you things like, "CA Security reports that things are peachy keen. But if you want even more protection, you can upgrade to McAfee TOTAL Protection now." Snookums-the-Netbook has one of those programs. So far I have not felt the need to get Toto one.

photo: pittaya