Beware the Ides of March
I leave from the conference in Reno tomorrow. My apartment is a mess because I’ve been in packing mode, and when I’m in this particular mode I start thinking of things I shouldn’t/can’t forget. In order to not forget these things I put them in the middle of doorways and in front of my apartment door; the theory is that I will have to walk over them a half million times while running around (making sure I have everything) and in order to open my door to leave, I’ll need to move them out of the way and thus will remember to pack whatever it is. (this only works when I don’t move them to the side of the door and leave them!)
All day I’ve had a dull headache; worse when in bright light (the sun) and better when I’m sitting or standing still. A double chocolate milano cookie and tea didn’t help it, and the Tylenol is taking it’s sweet time making a dent in the ache; which means that it’s probably pms. The timing couldn’t be better – tomorrow I take a three hour flight to Atlanta, GA, have a four hour layover, then take a 5 hour (and seven minutes) flight to Reno. I’m not one to overdo pain meds, but I will be armed with Tylenol, ibuprofen and Excedrin tomorrow!
Getting to Reno (and home again) will be an adventure. I love to fly – love love love airplanes, and airports, and people-watching and taking off. I don’t love the tiny seats (only thing I can afford at this point – first class has to wait until I’m a real doctor) and the silly excuse for a “snack,” but I do enjoy an “in flight movie.” The timing of one of my flights is perfect – they are showing “Finding Neverland.” A movie that I missed in the theaters, and have been waiting to see out on dvd. It will make part of that 5hr 7min flight go by much faster! (I am a dork who likes to plan ahead and so I got online to see what the schedule was; now I know that I need to find my earphones and make sure they are packed!)
Knitting on planes always evokes personal controversy with me; When I flew to Florida in December I was careful to pack bamboo needles for my carry on, and made sure all of my metal needles and accessories were in my checked luggage. I emailed the airlines and they said I could take metal needles on board, but I’ve always had my carry-ons searched and at one point held up the security line because there was a tiny pair of nail scissors in my backpack. (They don’t even cut nails that well, but were considered a “threat”) and I don’t want to risk having my metal needles taken away from me, so whatever I knit on the plane needs to be done on whatever bamboo needles I already have or I’m going to need to run by the yarn store or craft/crap/crack store (thank you Alison – see Feb 7th) to pick up some other bamboo needles, or plastic. At this point I’ll go for whatever is cheapest and what size will work for me.
The needle debate would be much easier if I could figure out what I wanted to work on while in-flight, and what type of knitting I think would be best for this trip. Initially I was thinking about small projects – socks, dulaan hats, the yoga bag I have to knit up for the winner of the auction, etc. But now I’m leaning towards starting a sweater - my Debbie Bliss cotton wool is tempting (due to be a striped sweater once I tried a few fair isle swatches and was disappointed in how they turned out).
Right now I think I’m definitely going to take the toddler sweater to work on, and another super secret project; with all the flight time/layover time I’ll have almost 12 hours in the air/ports tomorrow, and 9 hours on the three (yes, 2 flights to get there, 3 flights on another carrier to get home; it’s nearly impossible to get from the East coast to the Near West coast in one trip on a budget, trust me.) flights home again. I plan on reviewing for boards (which means studying from one of my two nifty board review books) and possibly knitting during the lectures/workshops, so whatever I work on needs to be somewhat mindless. (no lace for me!)
Finally, today is the ides of March (I know what it's from, do you?), and it marks three years since my roll-over accident on the Massachusetts Turnpike. I was hit/run off the road and miraculously went from hitting the guard rail on the left hand side of the road to skidding across three lanes of traffic facing the wrong-way or upside down (depending on where I was in the action of rolling over) and finally landing in the right hand “break down” lane (and on fire) without hitting anyone or being hit by another car. My car, Samantha the Saab, was completely totaled, and most of the things that had been in my car (I was on my way home from college for spring break) had spread out across the highway. My first thought when I came to a stop and found myself upside down in a car that had compacted itself around me? If I’m dead, my mother is going to kill me. I walked away, much to the amazement of everyone who witnessed the accident and the doc’s at the hospital who heard the story. Today I still have muscle aches and pains and my head likes to sidebend the same way it was thrown three years ago, but I’m lucky to be alive.
I am posting this here because it’s part of my own story. Please always wear your seatbelt.
3 Comments:
Holy schmazoley! You are one lucky chick to walk away from that pancake! Happy anniversary of sorts.
Lucky to have had that experience in a way....you certainly have been taught how precious life is. I suppose there are easier ways to learn that lesson but this is one way you'll never forget!
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