Saturday 9: Stay

Saturday 9: Stay (I Missed You) 1994

Unfamiliar with this week's tune? Hear it here.

1) In this week's song, a woman is accused of only hearing what she wants to. "Selective listening" is when you choose to focus on what's important to you and ignore what isn't. Are you often, sometimes, or never guilty of selective listening?

A. I think we are all guilty of this sometimes. I learned to listen better when I was a news reporter; I hope it's a skill that I have kept up in conversations with friends and family. But there are times when you simply have something nagging at your brain and you only hear the important parts.

2) She turns the radio up when she hears her favorite song. What song have you recently sung along to?

A. Guitarzan by Ray Stevens. My husband was playing it on Alexa. I have no idea why.

3) This week's featured artist, Lisa Loeb, has always been a big reader. Her band was called Nine Stories as a tribute to her favorite author, JD Salinger. If you were to name a band to honor your favorite author, what would you call it, and why?

A. The Rivendell Ryders. Rivendell is the elven city in The Lord of The Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien. Ryders would refer to the nine ring wraiths, also known as the Nazgul or the Black Riders, who rode fell beasts that flew them around Middle Earth, as well as to the horse masters in Rohan who helped defeat Sauron in the battle at Gondor.  I think if I were going to do a heavy metal band, I'd call them the Nazguls.

4) This week's song is her first and biggest hit. "Stay" was on the soundtrack of Reality Bites, a movie starring her friend and one-time neighbor Ethan Hawke. Ethan gave this song to the film's director, Ben Stiller, who agreed it was perfect for the film's closing credits. When you watch a movie, do you stick around for the closing credits?

A. I do. I always have. I remember going to a drive-in movie with my parents and getting angry at my father because he left before the closing credits ended. I hate to start a movie any place but the beginning, and I watch through to the very end and the screen goes dark.

5) In the 1990s, Lisa was popular for her style and appeared on many magazine covers, causing People magazine to comment, "Though she rose to fame as a singer, she's probably just as well known for her glasses." Do you wear glasses? If yes, do you consider your eyewear purely functional, there to improve your sight, or are your glasses an extension of your personal style?

A. I wear glasses. I consider my glasses to be both functional and an extension of my style, although I've never really thought about it like that. I always get titanium frames because they are so lightweight. I've had the pair I have on for 8 years, and they look almost exactly like the new ones that are out, so I haven't needed to replace them. 

6) Today Lisa does a show on Sirius Radio, and she enjoys broadcasting while her favorite collaborator, her cat, sits on her shoulder. Is there a pet in the room with you as you answer these questions?

A. No pets indoors. Barns are for animals, houses are for people, or so says my husband. If I wasn't allergic, I suspect we'd have a little dog, though.

7) Lisa raises funds for SCOPE, a charity that helps children from low-income families attend summer camp. When you were a kid, did you go to camp?

A. No. I went to Grandma's. She kept my brother and me over the summer. I guess camp was a thing in the late 60s and early 1970s but I don't remember ever hearing of anyone going to one.

8) In 1994, when this song was popular, the nation's attention was riveted to a white Bronco driven by a man named Al Cowlings. Without looking it up, can you recall why this was newsworthy?

A. I assume this is a reference to the O.J. Simpson chase, where the cops followed a white vehicle for miles because of Simpson's alleged involvement in the death of his ex-wife.

9) Random question: Can you do a cartwheel?

A. I couldn't do a cartwheel when I was young and agile. I'd probably break my neck if I tried one now.

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I encourage you to visit the posts of other participants in Saturday 9 and leave a comment. Because there are no rules, it is your choice. Saturday 9 players hate rules. We love memes, however. 

Thursday Thirteen

1. We've been having very warm weather for April - a few days it has been 80 degrees! It's not supposed to be that warm until the end of June.

2. We have a lovely sky this morning; baby blue with fluffy marshmallow clouds. The clouds have a hint of pink to them as the sun is still rising as I write this. A line of clouds cover the top of the mountains in the distance.

3. We've been having trouble with vultures again. This time they apparently killed a six-week old calf. We don't expect them to attack a calf that old, just the newborns, so this was a surprise. Or maybe something else killed the calf? My husband thinks not, though.

4. I feel bad for the momma cows when they lose their babies that young. By the time we haul the calves off to the market, the mommas have weaned them so they don't miss them too much. But they do miss their new babies when they don't make it. Their milk hasn't dried up like it has with the older ones.

5. I like to watch the calves when the mamma cows leave them all with one cow. She is the babysitter of the day; she generally lays down and has 4 or 5 calves around her. The other mammas wander off to eat or drink water while she looks after all the young ones. I find it amazing what nature can do.

6. I've seen deer do the same thing; one mamma will have 3 young ones with her, but if you look you'll see the other mothers not so far away. I think at a certain age the little ones can't be trusted to be left alone because they'll roam. Kids are kids, no matter what kind of mammal.

7. I am certain the raccoon I saw on Monday was a mom with new babies. She acted like she was starving and I'm sure if she had a full litter of kits, she probably is quite hungry. I understand raccoon babies eat a lot.

8. We did not have much of a spring. We went straight from winter to summer. The redbuds came out briefly and the dogwoods barely bloomed around here. The trees grew leaves instead of blossom. I fear for the fruit crops. If they did like the dogwoods and didn't bloom, apple and peach prices will be out of reach this summer.

9. I don't care if climate change is a political hot button; anyone can see that the weather is different. We have more wind than we used to, for one thing. Earlier and hotter springs. What difference does it make whether it's created by man or not? Shouldn't eradicating pollution be a good thing regardless? Who wants to breathe in all of that bad air? After all, it's not good for children. Or their mothers and fathers.

10. We have a little birdseed left so we are still filling the feeders. The cowbirds have been hitting it recently. I saw a pair of cardinals out there yesterday. The female was much bigger than the male. He's pretty, with his red feathers, but she could take him out in a fight, I think.

11. When I was watching the eagles in California, I noted that the female eagle was bigger than the male. I wonder if that's a given in most bird species, that the female is larger than the male. A search says it varies by species.

12. My irises are not blooming; other people's are, though. Mine are quite old. I planted them over 30 years ago and have not done anything to them since then. They may need to be separated. I brought them over from my parents' farm. My mother was fond of irises. Some of hers came from my great aunt, so I am sitting on generations of irises here. Sometimes mine bloom later than other people's and I look for that to happen this year. Maybe because they are older stock?

13. And thus endeth the foray into nature for the Thursday Thirteen. Enjoy the sunshine!

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Thursday Thirteen is played by lots of people; there is a list here if you want to read other Thursday Thirteens and/or play along. I've been playing for a while, and this is my 857th time to do a list of 13 on a Thursday. Or so sayth the Blogger counter, anyway.

Raccoon

This raccoon popped up in the field in front of the house yesterday. I took loads of photos of her (I'd bet the house that this is a mother raccoon looking for food because her kits are making her thin) but these two were the best.

I don't generally see these animals in the daytime so this was a treat. She wasn't acting like anything other than a hungry animal, digging up grubs in the ground, so I felt sure she was ok.

She even hung out with the deer for a bit.

Deer at the top, raccoon at the bottom.

Closed Eye Hallucinations

Image by Copilot/Bing

This weekend I learned that other people do not continue to see images behind their eyelids when they close their eyes.

I always have. Generally, it's an outline of whatever I was looking at before I shut my eyes, with the white or lighter color showing up and giving me sort of a negative of the object.

No eye doctor or regular doctor, or anyone else for that matter, has ever mentioned this to me. And before this weekend, I'd never mentioned it to anyone else, either. Like my tinnitus in my ears, I thought it was something everyone experienced because I've experienced for as long as I can remember. (Then I began reading about tinnitus and realized it wasn't normal.)

Saturday night I shut my eyes to a particularly vivid negative image of the dresser because my husband had had the overhead light on instead of the bedside lamps, and I asked him how it looked to him.

"When I shut my eyes, all I see is dark," he said.

"All the time?" I asked. "You don't see outlines or white streaks?"

"No."

I rolled over and asked Alexa what it was called if you saw things behind your eyelids when your eyes were closed.

She came back with "closed eye hallucinations."

Also called "CEVs," this is apparently not something everyone experiences. It is not a dream, either. Unlike dreams, CEVs occur when individuals are fully awake and conscious. These hallucinations, therefore, can range from simple geometric shapes to complex, lifelike scenarios. (Fortunately, I don't have the lifelike scenarios, although I do daydream quite a lot. But not with my eyes shut.)

Common triggers include using psychedelic drugs (which I do not use, although I am on a lot of medication for blood pressure and chronic pain) or sleep deprivation and fatigue. I don't know what the trigger for me would be, since it happens all the time. 

I suppose it could be something else. I found these possibilities:

• Image Burn-In (Afterimage): Not to be confused with CEVs, image burn-in occurs due to bright light and fades away as the retina heals. (Maybe I looked at the sun when I was a kid and my retina never healed? But wouldn't an eye doctor have noticed?)
• Entoptic Phenomena: CEVs exclude phenomena like floaters, wiper ridges, and vitreous movement, highlighting the distinction between controlled hallucinations and involuntary visual experiences. (I have floaters. What I see when I close my eyes is not a floater. It's an image.)
• Blue-Sky Sprites: CEVs are unrelated to bluefield entoptia, which involves leukocytes migrating through retinal blood vessels. (Perhaps this is a reference to that white line I see in the sky when I look up with my eyes open?)
• Physical Retinal Stimulation: CEVs are independent of visual noise caused by physical retinal stimulation, such as pressure phosphenes, which result from mechanical stimuli. (I think that refers to the weird things you see if you push on your eyeballs.)

I am not sure what this is, honestly, except that apparently not everyone has it and I'm 60 years old and just figuring that out. I place it up there with my photographic memory, which was something else I thought everyone had only to learn they didn't, and auditory hallucinations I sometimes have. (I hear people calling to me, like when I'm in the car and there is no way anyone is actually calling to me. It's weird. It doesn't happen often. Usually, I am highly stressed when it does happen.)

I have something screwy in my brain, I guess. Maybe I should leave my brain to science. As busy as it is up there, there must be something interesting going on.

At any rate, next time I see my eye doctor, I will mention it to him and see what he says, now that I know it's not normal.

Sunday Stealing

1. What was the best toy you ever owned?

A. I'll go with the set of Johnny West dolls and accessories that I had before my tweens. I lost it all in a flood at my grandmother's, but they were fun to play with.

2. When in your life have you felt the loneliest?

A. Usually in a crowd.

3. What is your strongest emotion?

A. Sadness.

4. When were you the most disappointed in yourself?

A. I was most disappointed in myself when I was unable to have children, even though that was no fault of mine. It certainly felt like a fault or a failure on my part.

5. Which law would you most like to change?

A. The Second Amendment could use a rewrite.

6. Who is the person you have hated the most in your lifetime?

A. I try really hard not to hate people. 

7. What has disappointed you the most?

A. My mother's lack of empathy and love.

8. What's the best possible attitude toward death?

A. It's going to happen to everybody sooner or later. Make the best preparations you can for your stuff. I mean, basically your body rots and other people take your stuff. That's what happens on the barest of levels. The only thing you may be able to control is what happens to your stuff.

9. What's been the longest day in your life?

A. The day my husband had his hand caught in the hay baler was a very long day.

10. What is the biggest coincidence in your life?

A. 

11. What's the oldest you'd like to live?

A. I don't know. It depends on my health. I have chronic pain and I'm not sure I want to put up with that for another 40 years to make it to 100.

12. Who is the most amazing woman you know personally?

A. I know a lot of amazing women. My friend Teresa amazes me constantly. She does all this household stuff to perfection and takes care of herself, volunteers for things. She's terrific.

13. What was your best experience in school?

A. Having Tina F. for my math teacher was by far the best experience I had in high school. She made everything better, even the math.

14. What's the most meaningful compliment you've ever received?

A. We just had this question a while back; my former editor told me I was fearless when I went after a story in my younger days. I still think about that.

15. What is the most you've spent on something really stupid?

A. I am not sure. I'll go with a guitar; I can't play but one of them at a time, I don't know why I have several. I surely do not need another.

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I encourage you to visit other participants in Sunday Stealing posts and leave a comment. Cheers to all us thieves who love memes, however we come by them.