Month: September 2013

Like my use of British English spelling? I’ve already switched over to saying “takeaway” instead of “to go,” “mobile” instead of “cell” and “kilometers” instead of “miles.” If this continues, I’ll be off having tea with the Queen (or Princess Kate and baby George) by next year!

Last week was a rough week. Non-stop, in the car, a bazillion appointments, just as hot as always, roadblocks (life ones, not literal ones) constantly appearing in front of me . . . battles to fight, things to be aggravated about, and no time to myself.

So far this week the 4 month heat wave has broken, the house is quiet, dinner is in the oven, and there’s only one item left on my TO DO list for today. Much better.

If I were going to guess what this post was going to be about, based on the title, I would imagine some stirring prose about how my children are surrounded by kids from other cultures, how they are getting a diverse eduction both in the classroom and in the lunchroom; how beautiful it is that we can give them a foundation that exposes them to such a wide variety of experiences . . . yeah, not quite. It turns out my boys are somewhat colorblind. Color deficient, to be exact.

Calvin has been asking to go to the eye doctor to get his eyes checked because last spring he had a teacher who wrote on the white board in red pen and he said it was hard to read it sometimes. Good mom that I am told him to sit up closer so he 1) wouldn’t be distracted and 2) didn’t have to strain to make out the words. I knew there was a possibility that any of the kids could inherit Josh’s less than perfect vision (no longer true thanks to laser eye surgery) and since Josh was about 13 when that happened, when I made my eye appointment, I also made one for the 2 older boys.

I mentioned to the tech that Calvin had trouble reading red on the white board and he dismissed it saying, “That’s not likely.” So we were both stunned when he pulled out his color book and instead of seeing a brown 47 inside the green circle, Calvin stared at it for a few seconds and said, “Um . . . hmm . . . 21?” The next one was 7, but he couldn’t see anything in that circle. The technician raised his eyebrows at me and I laughed and said, “I guess he couldn’t see red very well on the white board!” Then Carter walked over and said, “There’s supposed to be numbers inside those circles?” Oh gosh.

 Both boys appear to have similar red/green color deficiencies, but not enough to impact their daily lives (one of the reasons it has gone undetected for so long). As far as we can tell, it’s very mild and there isn’t anything to do for it. Except to make jokes like, “I hope you like the red peppers on your sandwich” when they are actually green and watch them do a double-take. Yes, I’m mean.

As far as regular vision, Calvin has one pretty good eye and one bad eye so it will be interesting to see how glasses/contacts help him. I couldn’t believe when he went to read the eye chart and had to go 2 lines bigger than normal to read back the letters. Poor kid. Carter has a very mild prescription and doesn’t need glasses, but he wants them for reading so we’re getting him a pair (inexpensive at Zennioptical.com) to try and see if it helps him to focus.

They are certainly a mix of Josh and I — the colorblindness from me (it’s genetically passed down from the mother) and the less than 20/20 vision from Josh. Our next medical adventure: sports physicals.

I had my very first eye exam today. It was a little like this:

Seriously?! How is anyone supposed to decide between 1 and 2 when they flip the lenses back and forth so quickly? And I could tell she wanted me to say 2, but I wasn’t sure if 1 was actually clearer or or if everything still looked fuzzy from having to cover each eye with one hand during the normal E C D B A part of the test. And this “cover your left eye with your left hand bit” is practically the hardest part of the test anyway as I freeze to figure out which hand is which. (I’m always the one in Pilates class that turns to the left when the instructor says, “Stretch to the right . . . 2 . . . 3 . . . 4.”)

Thankfully in my case it didn’t really matter because it turns out I’m a bit far sighted which explains why I’m noticing that I need reading glasses earlier than I might have otherwise. The guy explained it that my eyes naturally focus further away and now that my lens is getting less flexible, I need even more space between my eyeballs and what I’m looking at than before. At least I think that’s what he said. Either way, there’s nothing technically wrong with my eyes, they’re just 40.

And for no reason other than because they are cute . . . kitty pictures!

My neck/back is getting better. It still feels not quite right, but I’ll take that over stabbing pains and the inability to take a deep breath. 

For the past two weeks I’ve had a pinched nerve in my neck/shoulder and the constant pain is dragging me down. I’ve tried: heat/ice/immobilization/exercise/Motrin/Coke (the legal kind)/homeopathy/essential oils/Epsom salt baths/Osteopathy/massage/whining and complaining.

One day I think things are improving — the next I’m back to walking like C3P0.

Subtitled: Toddlers and Tiaras

You know how toddlers misbehave to get attention? And if you ignore a particularly annoying behavior they’ll get bored and eventually quit doing it? I think the government here needs to go to parenting classes. Every stupid little thing here is a power struggle between the government/police and the people.

The people protest at the Pearl Roundabout — the island’s most famous landmark, so the government bulldozes the symbolic sculpture, rebuilds the road, but then sits on it 24 hours a day with tanks and guards, not allowing anyone to use it. It’s like putting the cookies right out of reach, but still in view.

The people throw tires in the street and light them on fire and the police come and close the road and try to chase them down and it becomes a game with no winner. Just teasing back and forth, back and forth. Never ending.

I run into tire burning every so often. It usually comes in waves and then dissipates for a while. It’s not a big deal, just an irritation and an interruption. I’m more annoyed with the government who should know better than to antagonize the people. They are doing this in their own neighborhoods — there’s no reason for the cops to set up camp and run around shooting rubber bullets or tear gas at people. The tires would burn out or people move them out of the way and drive around them. If they didn’t generate such an immediate and excited response from the police there would be no point to doing it.

The purpose of this video isn’t to freak anyone out — as you can tell from my voice (as I’m on my way to school to try and pick up poor Calvin who is sitting out in the heat) I find the entire event ridiculous. But you want to know what it’s like to live here? This is a taste of it.

PS: The dudes with the masks are the tire burners and they are always helpful in directing people away from the action. So when he crosses his arms, it’s him telling me to avoid going down that street. Yes, I know how insane this all sounds. I guess the craziest part is that this is normal and not anxiety provoking?

For reference, the school is about 200 yards past the tires and I’m bummed because if I could have gotten by before the police came I could have hopped the curb or driven around the tires in 2 seconds, but the cops just drove through on the sidewalks and shut it down so I have to detour.