The big scare, or Heck Yeah, God Answers Prayers!

I spent a decent amount of money on some Flexon eye glasses frames, that were billed as "unbreakable". Well, it turns out that they're not unbreakable. I had my arm up on the armrest of The World's Worst Couch, and when I moved my hand, I hit the temple or arm of my glasses. Near as I can tell, that's all that happened, except what came of that was my glasses breaking at the bridge. One minute I had a pair of glasses, the next minute, I had left and right monocular lenses.

Since that was both sucktastic and unacceptable, I went to the Vision Center and made an appointment for an eye exam. I found out once again that I have an unusual prescription, in that my astigmatism, which usually runs up and down or side to side, runs at an angle, and a different angle on both eyes. When I had a root canal last year, I found out that the root of that tooth was unusual, too, and only .5% of the people in the world have that. I don't know what that means, other than that all this stuff probably costs me more in the long run.

Upon getting my eye exam, complete with dilating my eyes and making the whole world blurry, I was informed by my new optometrist that I potentially had a retinal detachment. That was not welcomed news. Knowing how expensive that is, and how crappy my insurance is, I was dreading that being the case.

So, I called my brother back from his Birthday message for me, and told him what the what's up was. He promised to pray about it, and I certainly was. I know it sounds like I was jobbin' the prayers, but that's not the case. I have always been a believer in prayer, as I've seen God come through for me and for others time and time again.

Today was no exception to that rule. I met with an excellent eye surgeon, who it turns out is also into shooting and hunting. He took some really cool photos of the inside of my eye-I'm always fascinated by those kinds of things-and took a look in there with some really blinding white light. In the end, he informed me that I would be needing surgery, but not for the detached retina that I feared. I do have a cataract, and it's growing, so it's gonna have to be zapped. But, it doesn't have to be done right away, which means I have some time to get some funds together (of note, I do take donations at hajipaypal@yahoo.com).

How I'm gonna get that deductible rounded up is another question altogether, but at least its not a detached retina! I may still go for the pirate eye patch. God answers prayer.

Happy Talk Like a Pirate Day!

Ahoy, ye crusty, barnacle-laden bilge rat! 'Tis Talk Like a Pirate Day! Celebrate the day teh yeh heart's content! Consume much grog...or straight rum, if ye be man-o-the-sea enough! Yarrrr!


OK, Pirate lunch break is over. Back to work!

Tough going in these parts

Having just watched the very good Casino Royale, I decided that Daniel Craig as Bond has some definate Piratical qualities. If we could get him away from Martini's, we might find even more of the Pirate Soul in that character. What he really needs is the Sonny Crockett of the Miami Vice movie pirate-ness; i.e. an affinity for rum.

Of course, I'm dying to see POTC: The End of the World, which comes out soon. I'm definitely feeling the Inner Pirate these days, after spending the first weekend in April in Vegas (see some of the fun that ensued in the previous post here). Most of the Monday that wasn't spent in bed was spent poolside in a cabana at The Molded Nugget...I mean...the Golden Oldie...I mean...the Golden Crunchlet. Its that one place downtown. They spent a sizable sum of money renovating the place, and its not the dump I remember from a few years back. The pool is pretty slick. The best part of that pool, though, was the bottle of rum that is no longer with us, because of that facilitator named Coke. Coke tries to be all smooth and mild mannered. Coke is supposed to be the can you can take home to meet yer significant other's family with. That sick bastard is wearing an aluminum veneer, though. He's all about egging on the other bottles. Coke's just sitting in the fridge, acting like he's not doing anything wrong, and all of a sudden, the Captain Morgan's bottle is empty, and most of the Coke's gone, too. He's a sneaky little cheat, that guy. Don't let him tell you any different.

After having watched Casino Royale, and not particularly wanting to sit home all day-I did get a lot of work done around here, but still-I decided that I was in need of some rum. The problem is, the one really big spirits dealer I know if is an 1/8th of a tank of gas away, and at current prices on a Saturday evening, it didn't seem like a good bet. I went to the next biggest one, which happens to be up the street just a little bit. Turns out their selection of rum is pretty weak. I knew I didn't want Malibu, and it was kinda downhill from there. I ended up bringing home a bottle of The Captain, Spiced. If you don't know who the Captain is, you're probably too young to be reading my blog. Shoo.

I have also rediscovered juice of late, and have a particular fondness for Dole's strawberry, pineapple and tactical banana blend. Turns out it works nicely with about half a glass of the Cap'n, and the other half of the glass being Dole's. Over ice, because even though its been raining today, its somewhat warm, and I wanted a Caribbean vibe anyway.

Still, I feel sort of let down by what I found at the store. The prices weren't even that great. Normally, I'd hit up the Intarweb and have some stuff shipped to me, but because there are dry counties here, places won't ship to K-tucky. Poop. There are some rather exotic rums I want to get my hands on...as well as some less exotic ones. Several have been recommended to me, the one most often so is Castillo. Supposedly better than the Cap'n, and about half the price. Good mixer, and probably better for that. Not as much a sipping rum; its very closely related to Bacardi. The Big B is a good mixer, but I find it harsh for sippin' purposes. But then, I'd rather shoot Jack than sip it, and it's allegedly *takes hat off and holds it over heart* Tennessee Sippin' Whiskey. I still like it, but others are smoother and more drinkable. That's important to me; proving how tough I am by imbibing has never been my way. Probably because I saw the Hero to Zero Effect so many times while working as a bouncer back in the day. I don't drink for effect anymore; those days are long gone. Even though I do have a whiskey story to go with my tehkillya story, I can still drink whiskey. I hardly ever touch Brother Cuervo's offerings. Ever. Been there, done that, got the bus driving license.

So I suppose the quest is on for more education in the rum arena. If you have any suggestions off the beaten path, I'd be interested in hearing them.