| Photo courtesy of Morguefile.com |
Do you ever do something so lame-brained that you wonder if your brains are oozing out your ears or evaporating a little bit every time you blink?
I do. I really, really do.
Last week I took my daughters to see “One For the Money,” a movie based on a series of books by Janet Evanovich. (If you haven’t read any of the books, you’re missing out. They are fun reads.) We arrived at the movie theater early afternoon, splurged on buttered popcorn, and settled in to be entertained.
After the show we returned to our car. I opened the compartment that houses my sunglasses, but they weren’t there. I hunted through my purse, checked every other location I could think of, to no avail. It was my youngest who finally said, “Mama, you’re wearing them.”
I blinked at her through the darkened lenses.
“Did you have those on this whole time?” She asked, laughing.
I sighed and shifted uncomfortably as realization struck. “Through the whole damn movie.”
The laughter that ensued was hyena-worthy.
My daughters thought the whole thing was hilarious, of course, compelling me to point out that the apples do not fall far from the tree, since neither of them noticed that I was wearing my sunglasses in the movie theater. I couldn’t see myself, I pointed out, but they could. How did they miss the shades? These aren’t the sunglasses that go from light to dark. These are regular sunglasses, always dark no matter the environment. How could all three of us be so unobservant?
I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about this and I don’t have a good answer. As with most things, though, I compare it to my writing. Many is the time I have edited and re-edited, proofed and re-proofed, thought my submission error free, only to discover a week later that I missed a typo or misplaced word. The best explanation I have is that we see what we expect to see, and so anomalies hide in plain sight.
So what is the answer, when we miss an error that is as plain as the shades sitting on our nose? Is it possible the recipient, like my daughters, also sees what he/she expects to see and glides over the error? We can only hope.
I’m going to ask you to tell on yourself now. C’mon, spill a shade story. Everybody has at least one!
See you next for Book Blurb Friday --
Lisa
13 comments:
I am laughing so hard, I am afraid I will wake my husband.
My funny story is having to sneeze in McDonald's and reaching in my pocket for a tissue and pulling out a pair off staticky granny panties that must have lodged in there in the wash.
Oh, Lisa. You are a hoot.
I once had a bra malfunction, and the underwire escaped while I was at work. I had a v-neck shirt on, so the curved wire kept trying to have a peek at the outside world, while I tried to wrestle it back in place until I had a break. Then I pulled that wire out, leaving one boob supported and the other droopy.
I once had on a pair of glasses and discovered at the end of the day that one lens had fallen out, unbeknownst to me.
There are others, too many to recall...
First, that IS kind of hilarious. And I feel for you because I do that kind of thing all the time. There's no room in my brain for common sense and attentiveness of that type. Second--yep, you're right. We see what we expect to see, and there's a lot of neuropsychological research to prove it.
Hi Lisa,
How funny! Oh, and I love Janet Evanovich's books and loved One for the Money. You were probably laughing so hard during the movie you didn't notice the sunglasses.
Okay. Now on to some embarrassing moments. Back when I used to work--and wore dresses or suits and panty hose--on at least two occasions I wore two different shoes to work. I had bought the same style of pump in navy and black, and because I started work very early in the morning and it was dark in the bedroom I slipped on the shoes without noticing they were different colors until I went to the gym at lunch time. Tells you how long ago that was.
And once I wore a dress inside out to church--again getting up early and dressing in the dark. Didn't notice that one until I was walking back to my pew after Communion.
Donna
Oh, Lord, Lisa. My sunglasses are prescription--I've watched many a movie and wondered why it was so dark!
You know I do stuff like that all the time--and I'll also pull the "you saw me do it, why didn't you say anything" with my kidders/hubs. But we have to have something to write about, right? Even if we mess it up when we're writing it. (Which I also do. ALL THE TIME.) :-)
I wrote but don't where the comment went! Will try again to tell you how funny the glasses in a movie story is. We all do those things but as we get older they are less funny. My last goof was after an event that I did not realize how stressful had been for me. After running a red light, I tried to be calm. At the next light, I sat through a green one and started to go on yellow!
Many years ago I worked for a fabric chain and was in one of the stores I supervised re-draping a table of fabric bolts located in the front window. We had a dress code that required hose and dress shoes. I had visited the ladies room and apparently caught the hem of my full-skirted dress when I pulled up my pantyhose, leaving my rear quarters fully exposed. I looked fine in the front .... A customer approached me and suggested that I pull my dress out of my butt. I had to leave the sales floor, not because I was humiliated, but because I couldn't stop laughing hysterically. I have no shame. I am thankful that I wore panties under the hose, it could have been worse.
Awww I could totally picture this happening! :) You're too funny!
Haaaaaaaaaaaa---so funny. And I've been known to do many similar things as well... usually walking around with the glasses on top of my head asking, "where's my glasses?" DUR. I don't even want to think about the goofy things I've done! Oh wait, that's because I can't remember! Forgetfulness has its advantages.
Linda - Haha! Too funny. I bet you made someone's day!
Sioux - I can see I'm not alone in the "shades" business. Nice to know I'm in such good company!
Sarah - I can always count on you to make me feel not so crazy. :)
Donna - That's a riot! I once wore my slippers to work. . .realized it about halfway to the office and had to turn around and go back home for my shoes!
Cathy - Mine are prescription, too, which is why I never took them off. I keep blaming middle age for my wackiness...eventually I'll have to just go with, "hey, I'm old!"
Claudia - Oh, my! You must have been really rattled. I'm glad you didn't get hurt!
Kathy - Hahaha!! What a riot! Good for you that you weren't embarrassed. That's something that would happen on a sitcom!
Kristin - Yeah, it really did. *sigh* And you know the girls will never let me forget it.
Lynn - Amen to that! LOL
Too funny, Lisa! I can just imagine the look on your face when you realized what had happened. I lost my keys in walmart once and spent an hour looking, talking to the manager, etc. I was in tears when I just decided to call Nathanael for a pickup. I pulled the baby's hood up to go outside and the keys plunked him on the head. It was a weird mixture of relief and annoyance! But it always makes for great story fodder. :)
Another early morning of laughing myself silly. Thanks everyone.
Lisa, that is so funny! Mine is similar to Kathy's ... we were being wined and dined by a bunch of lawyers over a big workers comp case and I was so sick with a bad cold that I couldn't even be nervous. I had a lightweight long skirt on and it got caught in my pantyhose after I used the restroom. I was too sick to even be very embarrassed about it, even though I traipsed through the restaurant with that get up!
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