A Week of Awareness.. Or.. 'Doh!' Moments NEVER Go Away, They Only Rest For Awhile
You know, every time I think I’ve become all that AND a bag of chips, I do something that levels my own playing field that brings me into a very humble attitude.. and I also laugh at myself so much, I actually look for a place with a big sale on Depends.
Ok, some back-story, I drove myself, in labor, to have my totally beautiful daughter. I worked hard to bring her up on my own and finally married when she was 9 because I fell in love and the by-product of that was I was able to get some help raising my girl! Win-win situation!
When she was little, my dad and I installed window drapes in condos with no previous knowledge of how to do what we needed to do. When I was married, I decided to publish a magazine (again, of course, having no previous knowledge of how to produce one, I figured having my daughter with no prior thought of how to do it worked out ok, yes?) . Well, since no one told me I couldn’t, I did. With the help of my great friend, Vera, we struck out, unencumbered by any clue as to how to do it, and we did it perfectly well for years!
I have learned to take apart, repair and put together again, computers and laptops. I teach beginning computer, I build websites. I’m an award-winning wildlife artist, musician and vocalist with a 4-octave range. I CAN DRIVE A STICK-SHIFT!!!! I’m pretty darned clever most all the time! Well read on, intrepid traveler.. I will disprove this theory, big time!
At the age of 16, I was tested and was shown to have an IQ of 132.. I am thoroughly convinced that it comes in waves and when the tide is out, so is my common sense. Watch as the story of this weekend unfolds..
My dad’s 82nd birthday celebration took place up in the panhandle of Florida this last weekend. I come from a hearty stock of “If you want to do something, figure it out and get it done!”. My brother, who is a musician, incredible chef, computer guru, recording studio maven and artist as well, and his wife decided to put a musical tribute together for Dad. I said I’d drive up and film the event (cause he’s cooking and I love the area and he offers a fabulous place to stay that’s breath-taking.. yeah, I’d not turn that down AND I get to see Dad and the rest of the family as well!).
The day of the party dawned warm, perfect and exciting. Musicians who promised to show up said they’d be there about 3 pm and were! My brother, Robin, of course had started cooking a night or two before and the cooking smells were worth just standing around breathing, but we did have work to do. A friend of his came over and helped him move his entire drum set out to the pool area and I was getting ready to film the monumental event for posterity.
Everyone started showing up, I was meeting and greeting and then the first of the musicians came and set up. OK!!! I’m READY!!!!! I get my digi vid cam out and opened the little viewing door on the side. I started the cam and O GOD! O GOD! O GOD!!!! There was NO picture!!!!! I went inside and Robin’s wife, Lori, was in the kitchen (Lori is a Deputy Sheriff who weighs about a pound, is totally gorgeous, and can take down a giant in two moves, and her thinking is quick and turns on a dime.. Fab Lady!) I wandered casually inside and was talking to her and CASUALLY entered into conversation with her.. CASUALLY I began looking over my camera to see what could be horribly wrong and HOLY CRAP!!!! The lens cover was on!!! (Lori promised not to tell anyone and totally kept her word, but of course, I had to blow my own cover.. pun intended.. a true “DOH!” moment..). The rest of the day filmed perfectly and with much fun and great views of the event. (ok, some of the views were of people’s butts who decided to stand in front of the camera.. I call parts of the film the “Posteriors for Posterity Tour” ~ not sure who’s posterity, but the posteriors were frequent and in full view many times..)
But wait, it gets better…
Yesterday afternoon (and back home after the Family Fun Fest), my cell phone battery ran low and the phone shut off.. WHAT??? I’ve never had it off before! YIKES! Well, I had no phone on my long trek home. I got home and plugged it in and could look at the screen really close and barely see the little battery icon on the dark screen re-charging. I push each of the parts that I thought would turn it on, but it didn’t.. O GOD! O GOD! O GOD!!!! What if I have to buy a new battery, a new phone, is my service off? No, I just paid the bill .. O GOD! O GOD! O GOD!!!!.. what if there’s an accident (not of my own creation or involvement of course..) and how can I help someone else?? .. on and on and on.. (keeping the paper bag ready to over throw hyperventilation) Then in a fit of pique, I just said, “Ok, you stupid phone, you mean NOTHING to me.” And I ignored it for the rest of the day.
So, I got off work early, found the telephone store, read my book for an hour while I waited for my name to be called and when it was, the lady who’d sold me the phone the first of the year was there for me again (she’s totally beautiful, a writer, got great hair and was wearing FABULOUS shoes!). I told her something was wrong with my phone.. O GOD! O GOD! O GOD!!!!
She looked at the phone, did something to it and said, “Hmm.. nothing seems to be wrong with it. What’s it not doing?” “Uh, coming on? It’s dead.” She then turned the screen to me and there it was.. ON.. What the…? “It was just turned off.” Well, HOLY CRAP… Was my face red.. Ok, well, not really. I’m sort of used to Numb-nut moments. She then patiently told me how to work my own phone, especially the on and off part. Sheesh.
So, now I’m back in action with my phone. I’ve learned where the on/off button is on it and I’ve been reminded to check the lens-cap on my camera. It’s been a great week of getting back to simple basics. It seems that having all that technical stuff in my brain really doesn’t leave room for little, simple things any more. Of course, those two very simple things will stand out in my brain for a while.. maybe.
You can see my comedy and singing on youtube.. check it out.. http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=bekki+shanklin&search_type=&aq=f
Bekki Shanklin, copyright 2007, from her “Thinking All The Time” series
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