Parallel Universe

Put your blinker on, pull forward, shift to reverse, apply the gas, turn the wheel, turn the wheel again. Put the car in drive, straighten the wheel, pull forward. Maybe back up a little.

We have a massive parking lot upheaval – both literal and figurative – that started right before classes started. There was hubbub about where we would park and having to wear sneakers just to walk to our building. Perhaps the real hubbub should have been about teaching people how to parallel park in those spaces along the street!

Just yesterday as I was walking to my office, I spied a man trying to parallel park. He did it the right way by pulling forward first but he seemed to think he was goofing up the “turn the wheel” part of the process. He wasn’t. He tried to park at least 3 times when he would have made it during the first try. I really felt the urge on his first go-round to help him out and wave him in. But I didn’t. I thought He’ll get it eventually… then I stopped looking over in his direction, knowing that if he saw me, I was probably making it worse.

from mto.gov.on.ca

What is it about parallel parking? Any other time that we park, we don’t get nervous when people look at us. Do we? I’ve known people to break out in a sweat trying to parallel park. (Oh, did I say people? Maybe I meant me.) Sometimes it’s so much pressure that you leave a perfectly wonderful parking space to go find another where you can pull in normally. And it’s particularly nerve-wracking when someone is waiting behind you. You wedge the car in part way hoping to provide enough passing room and wave them to move on.

Luckily, as long as no one is watching, I do just fine and I rarely have to attempt it more than once…. How about you? Are you a nervous parallel-parker? Maybe you think you’re a pro?

Friday Night Lights

Do you watch this show? It’s quite excellent. Drama. Sadness. Great characters. Football.

The hubby and I usually watch the show on DirecTV but we missed a bunch of episodes this season for one reason or another. Tonight we caught up. And I wanted to share a really great scene from one of the episodes we watched.

The background of the story for this season is that Coach Taylor is now at East Dillon High School, which is a school in a less affluent area of town. He has some troubled players on his team. One player in particular is trying to turn his life around. He’s trying to stay out of trouble so that he can have a brighter future. In this scene, his mother is in the hospital after a drug overdose. She is an addict and is all the family that he has.

Clicking the image will open the video at NBC.com.

I have to say that I’ve liked Michael B. Jordan’s performances on the show. His character, Vince, faces so many struggles. Watching him grow and make tough decisions is really compelling. And he story line is just one of many great ones. Jordan does a really good job of showing a large range of emotions.

Also among the cast are Kyle Chandler, Connie Britton, and Taylor Kitsch. Check out this season’s finale Friday at 9:00pm on NBC.

Sadness

This morning I got the news that my aunt died. (In American culture, she would be known as my dad’s cousin, therefore, my cousin.) She had been battling cancer for some time, and I wrote about her a little bit in a previous post.

The hubby and I took a road trip down to visit her just yesterday. I had promised her that the two of us would come and see her before the hubby’s busy season started. And I had to keep my promise. When we arrived at the house, her husband came out to greet us and said that we could visit for just a little bit since she had just been given some medication and was really out of it. And the hospice nurse had said in so many words that it was her time to go, and that visitors will keep her coming back, so to speak. Most of her family had been at the house earlier that week and left for a hotel to provide some peace and quiet.

We went in to see her and the change from her condition two months ago was apparent. I didn’t have much to say and didn’t know what to say, so I just held her hand for a while. After visiting with her husband and his sister, we left.

This morning my sister called to see if I got to see auntie, and I told that we did see her and how she wasn’t in good shape. I guess something about the way I spoke clued my sister in. She told me that she died around 9:30 last night.

I don’t know…. Death always freaks me out…. This is the second time that the hubby and I have gone to see someone who we knew was not doing well. Both times, the person has died that night. Is it possible that my auntie was waiting for us? On top of that, my sister said that my niece woke up around 9:15 last night and said out of nowhere that she did not want auntie to die.

Rest in Peace, Auntie.