My Day of Good Karma

They say, "what goes around, comes around." They also say, "you reap what you sow." I have no idea who "they" are, but they appear to be right.

I've had days like this before. On an impulse, I did something compassionate or charitable that had no apparent reward attached to it, and somewhere else along the path of my day, something pleasant and unexpected happened.

At the moment I'm unemployed, so I'm usually home during the day, sitting at the computer, with the TV on for company. Today being the anniversary of Katrina, it was all over the tube. At one point I was watching Ellen, and even though the show was a rerun from May, it was all about Katrina, and the people affected, and the efforts being made, and those still needed, to help the thousands left homeless. Being the powderpuff I am about stuff like this, when they showed Ellen visiting the lower 9th ward and talking to folks who'd lost everything, I got all weepy and decided to go online and make a contribution to one of the relief efforts. I probably donated more than an unemployed person should, but it was much less than I wanted to give.

I'm not telling you this to toot my own horn. This is just by way of illustrating my point. So, tonight, I headed out to Trader Joe's and Panera Bread to get some dinner and a few other items. I'm new to this area and when I got to the shopping center I noticed a music store. I've been wanting to pick up a set of earphones and an extension cord to watch TV with (I have noisy upstairs neighbors I'm trying to drown out), so in I went. The fellow who waited on me was very pleasant and extremely helpful, offering to order the cord I needed (they didn't have one in stock), and cutting me a huge break (35%!) on the earphones when I said that they were more than I wanted to spend.

Then, I went into Panera Bread to order some dinner. I forgot to ask for the caramel pecan brownie that I spotted on my way in, and wanted for dessert, when I ordered my soup and sandwich. When I remembered, after the cashier had rung up my purchase, I said, "Oh, sorry, I meant to order a brownie, too." She said, "Don't worry about it," and went off to get the brownie. I thought she meant, "Don't worry about forgetting to order it." But then, when she came back to the register and I started to hand her money, she said again, "Oh, no, don't worry about it." I got my brownie for free!

So, there you go. Karma. Good karma, for a change. Who'da thunk it?

Life's To-Do List

Bloggers seem to be very fond of these sorts of lists and surveys. I stole this one from my friend Kathy’s blog. As she did, I've bolded those I've done and made comments on some that I came close to doing.

01. Bought everyone in the bar a drink
02. Swam with wild dolphins
03. Climbed a mountain
04. Taken a Ferrari for a test drive (I delivered a Nissan 350Z to George Clooney once…I think that should count for two Ferrari test drives.)
05. Been inside the Great Pyramid
06. Held a tarantula (I held a myriad of sea creatures while volunteering at the National Aquarium, but no tarantulas yet.)
07. Taken a candlelit bath with someone
08. Said 'I love you' and meant it
09. Hugged a tree (Well, I AM a commie-pinko, tree-hugging, liberal Democrat.)
10. Bungee-jumped
11. Visited Paris
12. Watched a lightning storm at sea
13. Stayed up all night long and saw the sunrise
14. Saw the Northern Lights
15. Went to a huge sports game
16. Walked the stairs to the top of the leaning Tower of Pisa
17. Grown and eaten my own vegetables
18. Touched an iceberg
19. Slept under the stars
20. Changed a baby's diaper
21. Taken a trip in a hot air balloon
22. Watched a meteor shower (The weekend before I left for Chicago, with all my closest friends. I’ll never forget it.)
23. Gotten drunk on champagne
24. Given more than I can afford to charity
25. Looked up at the night sky through a telescope (Seeing the rings of Saturn is unbelievable.)
26. Had an uncontrollable giggling fit at the worst possible moment (In church: “What a friend we have in Jesus, Christ Almighty, what a pal!”)
27. Had a food fight
28. Bet on a winning horse (I’ve been to the racetrack once. If I’d bet my hunches I’d have cleaned up. I was unemployed and just watched. )
29. Asked out a stranger (And he said “yes!”)
30. Had a snowball fight
31. Screamed as loudly as you possibly can
32. Held a lamb
33. Seen a total eclipse (Both solar and lunar.)
34. Ridden a roller coaster (But never again!)
35. Hit a home run
36. Danced like a fool and not cared who was looking
37. Adopted an accent for an entire day
38. Actually felt happy about your life, even for just a moment
39. Had two hard drives for your computer
40. Visited all 50 states
41. Taken care of someone who was drunk (Andree after her “Good luck in grad school” party.)
42. Had amazing friends (More than I could have ever imagined.)
43. Danced with a stranger in a foreign country (I’ve danced with a foreigner in a strange country, does that count?)
44. Watched wild whales (I just recently saw a school of wild dolphins while on the Cape May Ferry. Since dolphins are a species of toothed whales, I think this counts.)
45. Stolen a sign (Would you settle for a traffic cone?)
46. Backpacked in Europe
47. Taken a road-trip (“No Dylan in the car!”)
48. Gone rock climbing
49. Taken a midnight walk on the beach
50. Gone sky diving (Almost. If that girl hadn’t died the week before because her chute didn’t open, at the place where we were planning to go, I would have.)
51. Visited Ireland
52. Been heartbroken longer then you were actually in love
53. In a restaurant, sat at a stranger's table and had a meal with them
54. Visited Japan
55. Milked a cow
56. Alphabetized your CDs
57. Pretended to be a superhero
58. Sung karaoke (Not even if my life depended on it. If I’m going to die I’d rather it NOT be from embarrassment.)
59. Lounged around in bed all day
60. Posed nude in front of strangers
61. Gone scuba diving (This is just wrong on SO many levels. Ha!)
62. Kissed in the rain
63. Played in the mud
64. Played in the rain
65. Gone to a drive-in theater
66. Visited the Great Wall of China
67. Started a business
68. Fallen in love and not had your heart broken
69. Toured ancient sites
70. Taken a martial arts class (Does T’ai Chi count?)
71. Played D&D for more than 6 hours straight
72. Gotten married
73. Been in a movie (I was the vampire’s victim in a student film in my first year in college. I did the credits and the editing, too.)
74. Crashed a party
75. Gotten divorced
76. Gone without food for 5 days (Are you insane? I can’t go 5 hours without a snack.)
77. Made cookies from scratch
78. Won first prize in a costume contest
79. Ridden a gondola in Venice
80. Gotten a tattoo
81. Rafted the Snake River
82. Been on television news programs as an "expert" (Not as an expert, but I was recently on the evening news on PBS as part of a “man on the street” segment on high gas prices.)
83. Got flowers for no reason
84. Performed on stage
85. Been to Las Vegas
86. Recorded music
87. Eaten shark
88. Had a one-night stand
90. Bought a house
91. Been in a combat zone
92. Buried one of your parents
93. Been on a cruise ship
94. Spoken more than one language fluently (I’m not sure I even speak my native language fluently.)
95. Performed in Rocky Horror
96. Raised children
97. Followed your favorite band/singer on tour (I’ve seen Leeroy Parnell 10 times in 5 states, does that count?)
98. Created and named your own constellation of stars
99. Taken an exotic bicycle tour in a foreign country
100. Picked up and moved to another city to just start over (I’ve done that twice – first Chicago, and now, North Wilmington, DE.)
101. Walked the Golden Gate Bridge (I drove it twice. You’d have to be crazy to walk, the traffic is atrocious!)
102. Sang loudly in the car, and didn't stop when you knew someone was looking (I’ve done this and didn’t stop when someone was LISTENING…Sorry, Kath.)
103. Had plastic surgery
104. Survived an illness that you shouldn't have survived
105. Wrote articles for a large publication
106. Lost over 100 pounds
107. Held someone while they were having a flashback
108. Piloted an airplane
109. Petted a stingray (Well, not a poisonous ray, but I’ve petted other kinds.)
110. Broken someone's heart
111. Helped an animal give birth
112. Won money on a T.V. game show (I won $50 on a radio contest once.)
113. Broken a bone
114. Gone on an African photo safari
115. Had a body part of yours below the neck pierced
116. Fired a rifle, shotgun, or pistol (A Brown Bess, and a .38 revolver)
117. Eaten mushrooms that were gathered in the wild
118. Ridden a horse
119. Had major surgery (Is a hernia operation major surgery?)
120. Had a snake as a pet
121. Hiked to the bottom of the Grand Canyon
122. Slept for more than 30 hours over the course of 48 hours (Bronchitis and codeine cough medicine knocked me out for about a week.)
123. Visited more foreign countries than U.S. states
124. Visited all 7 continents
125. Taken a canoe trip that lasted more than 2 days (One rafting trip that lasted a few hours was enough for me.)
126. Eaten kangaroo meat (No kangaroo, but caribou, once.)
127. Eaten sushi
128. Had your picture in the newspaper (At Andree’s wedding.)
129. Changed someone's mind about something you care deeply about
130. Gone back to school (About twelve times. I’m going to finish if it kills me.)
131. Parasailed
132. Petted a cockroach
133. Eaten fried green tomatoes (As only my grandmother could make them.)
134. Read The Iliad - and the Odyssey (The benefits of a Catholic school education.)
135. Selected one "important" author who you missed in school, and read
136. Killed and prepared an animal for eating
137. Skipped all your school reunions (I caved and let a friend talk me into the 20^th.)
138. Communicated with someone without sharing a common spoken language (I had a French pen pal in high school. He wrote in French, I wrote in English.)
139. Been elected to public office
140. Written your own computer language
141. Thought to yourself that you're living your dream (When I was living in Chicago. I had always wanted to live there.)
142. Had to put someone you love into hospice care
143. Built your own PC from parts (I built PCs from parts for a living. Does that count?)
144. Sold your own artwork to someone who didn't know you
145. Had a booth at a street fair
146: Dyed your hair
147: Been a DJ
148: Shaved your head
149: Caused a car accident (I’ve been in several, but have never caused one.)
150: Saved someone's life (Along with about a dozen other people – I was a pherisis donor, and together we saved the life of a person with a blood disease. I still have the letter s/he wrote to all of the donors. It’s probably the best thing I’ve ever done in my life.)

Surveying the State of the Soul

So here I am in the blogosphere, but I'm not sure how I got here. My two closest and dearest sister-friends have blogs, and I enjoy reading them, so maybe they (and perhaps others) will enjoy reading mine. Who knows? At the least, this will give me a place to put all those thoughts and ideas that come to me in the wee hours. What happens after that is anyone's guess.