A couple weeks ago I was feeling horrible, had a sore throat AND nasty cough AND pink eye.  I was constantly wiping the gross goo from my very painful eye so I could even see to drive.  I was the picture of health.  I had the kids with me, had just gotten my med’s from the pharmacy, and was SOOOO looking forward to going home and laying on the couch.  My deepest wish at that point was for the children to at least not kill each other once we got home.

We were SO close to the house, when I realized that both of them had fallen asleep.  This was not good.  If I’d gone home right then I’d either be waking two beasts, or carrying two angels up the stairs to their beds.  Either way, I didn’t feel up to it.  So with a heavy sigh, I opted for driving around aimlessly “wasting” gas, for at least 20 min.  I hoped they’d feel enough better when we got home to at least be civil when I woke them.

Pretty soon I decided that if I was going to drive around feeling rotten, I maybe should get a mocha to ease the suffering a bit.  (I go to Starbucks more often than Tim, but it’s still not a regular thing with me.  I hate paying those prices very often.)  Anyway, this day I decided it was worth it.  Imagine my delighted surprise to pull up to the window and have the “barista” say, “Well, today is your lucky day.  The man in front of you paid for your order.  Have a nice day, and enjoy your coffee.”

I’ve never had someone do that for me before, and I tell you what!  That made my day!  I felt lighter, and not QUITE as sick, and happier about things in general.  So thank you, random person!  And it WILL be paid forward.

Alright.  I love my husband.  I really do.  I have a lot of reasons to love him.  But I REALLY wish he could find a fellow philosopher to befriend locally, so they could go have “man dates” (he’ll look at me witheringly if he ever reads this) and discuss the kind of stuff he so often likes to discuss.  I mean seriously….  he recently purchased the book “The Faith of a Physicist” by John Polkinghorne.  (I know, quite the last name… but who am I to talk?)      This guy is British, president of Queen’s College (Cambridge), a former Prof. of Mathematical Physics, and an ordained Anglican priest.   He clearly has too much time to himself to think, AND spends too much time in academia.  (Apologies to Matt, Eric, JJ, Becky, and all my other friends who make a living in academia — but I think all of you would admit it IS possible to spend too much time in academia.)

Tonight I was handed this lovely tome, and encouraged to read about 1/2 a page because “he makes a pretty funny joke at the end there with some word play.”  Okay, I love him.  SO wanting to be a supportive wife, I tackled the passage.  Below, I will type PARTS of what he wanted me to read.  Read on, if you dare!

“Its basic category is that of event; what we consider as continuing entities are concatenations of events (‘actual occasions’).  Each event is bipolar.  There is a prehensive phase, in which the individual event is linked to all past events, ‘presented’ with a portfolio of future possibilities, and influenced by a divine ‘lure’ to go in the best direction…. It is difficult to write about the notion without the extensive use of quotation marks, because of the deliberatley volitional language which is used….. ”     It went on and on.  There were parts I read about 5 times, and still had no clue what he was talking about.  And did I “get” the joke, you may wonder?  No, indeed.  I did not.  Tim had to extensively explain it.  Then I agreed that, when said in plain English, it wasn’t a bad joke.  But the fact that it had to be explained like that, made it not funny anymore.

Tim really REALLY needs a philosopher friend.  Any takers?

I know I’ve got to get back to blogging one of these days.  I’ve got so many things I want to put up and never get to it… but right now I’d give a lot to be sleeping.  It’s 1:39 am.  Between coughing and the images running through my mind of the Harry Potter movie, I’m having a dickens of a time with sleep.  Finally got to see it!  Yay!  And unlike ALL the other HP’s, I WAS NOT disappointed!   Loved. It.  But now of course my brain won’t stop — well, and the cough is not helpful either.    grr…

Wonder if hot milk actually is useful as a sleep aid?   Maybe not so much when there’s tons of mucus already flooding one’s throat.  Hmmm…   Well, one thing’s for sure: blogging is NOT a sleep aid.