Perfect Vision, Shedding and What I Learned Over the Holidays

My new supply of contact lenses for my left eye came in yesterday, and I cannot express adequately how much better it feels to have both eyes corrected appropriately.  It literally makes me see 2013 differently.  That might be a bit of hyperbole based on my euphoria at not having to squint or hold my head a certain way to avoid eye strain, but I almost did cartwheels down the hallway at work this morning after I put in the new left contact.  I’m fairly certain that doing so would have ended up badly, especially since our hallways are narrow and I haven’t done a cartwheel in years.  Feel free to picture me doing cartwheels though.  Beautiful, straight-legged cartwheels much better than anything I ever did in reality.

While our 17 days off were hellacious, they weren’t doom and gloom every minute.  Since we declared our independence from the scourge known as Time-Warner cable, we have been taking advantage of the free shows on Amazon Streaming and watched a ton of great programs over the holidays.  And bonus, they were primarily educational!  We got in some learnin’.   It’s funny because I used to scorn Nova on PBS when we had cable, but now the 8 seasons available are our go-to viewing.  I was also excited to find out that several seasons of Deadly Women as well as Infested were available for free as well.   Here are a few things I learned over the holidays:

• All of our heavy metals came from space
• If you start to detect iron from a dying star, get out of the way because it’s about to collapse and may go supernova on you.
• Humans have only 23,000 genes.  Ears of corn have more genes.
• It is possible to injure the brain in such a way that you no longer dream
• It’s possible our brain cases expanded, allowing our brains to grow larger because in humans, the gene for a strong jaw was deactivated unlike in primates
• If you live in an apartment complex infested with cockroaches and only one apartment refuses treatment, that’s enough to allow the infestation to grow no matter how much the complex is treated
• Saturn’s rings are made up of the remnants of an early moon ripped apart by the planet’s gravity
• Time does slow down slightly if you are moving
• If you discover multiple life insurance policies on you of which you were unaware or your spouse has been married several times and is vague about their whereabouts, you might want to check into it
• Pluto will always be a planet in our house, damn it

In all seriousness, I highly recommend Nova’s 2-hour episode “What Darwin Never Knew.”  It is fascinating and mind blowing.

***

I didn’t come up with resolutions for 2013.  I have some specific ideas of what I want to accomplish and/or change, but I don’t want to codify them.  Some friends have come up with a word or theme to describe their focus for 2013 and after thinking about it, I decided my theme is “to shed”:

• Shed weight
• Shed negativity
• Shed doubt
• Shed baggage
• Shed distractions

Usually I dislike January because it is such a come-down after the holidays but this year, I like it.  I appreciate how squeaky clean and new it is.  It makes be believe I can bathe myself in it and wash 2012 away.  It makes me think I can have a better year than last.  It makes me think of snow and how pristine and cleansing snow is.

Three days into the new year, and I already feel better.