Friday, July 25, 2008

Bad mean things (in jest)

There is a billboard near my work that changes rather frequently. Right now, it happens to be promoting my credit union. I rather like my credit union, but this ad leaves a sour taste in my mouth. It is a picture of a smallish TV on a stand, with a dotted outline of a big-screen and built in entertainment center around it. The text is “Imagine the possibilities” and underneath that “Home Equity Loan”. My response is “really? You are encouraging irresponsible loan usage in this particular time of trouble for the economy? Do you really think you should be encouraging people with falling home values and no way out to take out a Home Equity Loan for a TV?!? You have got to be kidding me.” Ok, I understand you need to make loans to make money, but at least encourage responsible use of the loan. Maybe renovating an old bathroom or adding an addition to increase the square footage and value of the home. But a TV? That is not going to help you when you sell your home. When will people wake up and start making more responsible choices? I am not against TVs in general. If you have the money, in cash, sure, buy it. But not on credit. What happens when it breaks or you want a new one? Will the old one be paid off before then? Maybe I just don’t put enough stock in owning a big TV. We only have the monster we have because my mom very generously bought it for our wedding present. Otherwise, we would probably still be watching the little 13” in the kitchen. I am probably one of those people that could not have a TV, and be totally happy.

Alann did a really mean thing to me last week, and I only recently figured it out. He moved the bed about 4 inches towards “my side”. He doesn’t understand why it was mean, and when I explained it, he laughed at me. Maybe you guys will have more compassion. Most of you know, I am pretty much blind without my contacts. I can see about a foot clearly, then everything blurs out. Driving without contacts or glasses is out of the question. Going outside my house at all is pretty iffy. So like any self-respecting blind creature, I memorize the layout of a room so that I don’t make a fool of myself and run into the furniture. This is why when we first move or if Alann rearranges the house as he is wont to do, I run into things A LOT until I can memorize where the things are. He thinks it’s funny. I think it’s painful. So last week sometime, I started running into the corner of the bed with my knees. Luckily, not my toes. I probably would have broken something. But my knees have been getting rather beat up. I could not for the life of me figure out what was going on, and attributed it to the baby messing with my coordination (which is not that great normally). (Yes, I blame everything on the baby. Ask Alann.) Then Monday night (I think) I realized that there was less space between my side-dresser and the wall. This was the original plan, but it had been moved away from the wall pretty much since we got the furniture, thanks to our water system needing constant attention! (The shut-off is in the bedroom. No one knows why it isn’t in the foyer, which is just on the other side of the drywall.) So he moved the bed, didn’t tell me, and then laughed every time I ran into it. Last night, after asking him about it and explaining why I keep running into it, I smacked my knee, again, and started bleeding, which made him laugh more. He just doesn’t understand that it takes time to learn new placement of furniture. Just knowing that it is in a new place doesn’t help until I remember that it is in a new place subconsciously. My knees will heal, eventually, and I will learn where the bed is, but it is a painful process. So please, if you come to visit, don’t move the furniture into the “safe walking zone” on me. Or I will run into it. Continually.

2 comments:

Alann said...

I am not really laughing at her i am laughing at the fact that she apparently no longer moves around the house by sight, but by memory and even though she has hurt herself a couple times, still refuses to look around before she moves foreward to see if something is in her way.

Anonymous said...

As for the credit union's message about a TV - it's a fact that, when times get economically tough, people are more comforted by the "luxury" and "frivolous" items they possess. The credit union has to make money, so it is astutely playing to the pulse of the average working soul.

As for the baby messing with your coordination, it'll be no comfort to you, but it is factual, that pregnancy wreaks havoc on depth perception. It was the only time in my life that (while I thought I was driving well) I could not negotiate the barricades in a construction zone, and caused the demise of several.