Driving to Distraction

Diving Into Distraction

‘Just sit down here.  We’re going to put a patch on one eye and then I’ll explain the test.’  Very serious.  Prim. Proper. She is a

young woman in a fancy lavendar garment designed like hospital scrubs, a white lab coat giving  her and air of officiality.

She’s getting ready to do a test on my peripheral vision in my one good eye.  I am not a fan of clinics, or for that matter, medical facilities of any kind.  I always feel one down.  Holly says I mumble at them and appear to be mad about being here.

Long and short.  I sit there with a little joystick like thing in my hand.  I hit a button every time I see a light.  She puts on the patch so I can’t cheat with my blind eye.  The test takes about four and a half minutes – not quite an eternity.

I am confident I can handle it.  I’m cool.  I mumble, “No problem.”  How hard can it be? I’ve pressed buttons before.

Prim n’ Proper positions my chin on some sort of shelf and I’m looking into a miniature version of the Hollywood Bowl.  What I am writing here, however, isn’t really about the test.  It’s about distraction.

I sit now, wondering, were these lights hypnotic?  Was I in a trance?

Drifing Away

I’m sitting in front of the bowl, clicker-joystick thingy in my hand.  I am doing well, I see a little light. I hit the button.  Suddenly – at least it seemed like suddenly – she is saying, okay, the test is half over.  I am jarred back into the present, not having any idea how long I’d been daydreaming.

You may have read or heard of late that attention is the new currency.  I am not exactly sure what that means, but at times it seems like I am if not bankrupt, certainly broke.  My little brain does not like to pay attention sometimes, especially when it comes to the tedious.

‘Good job.’ I wonder shy she would tell me this.  Can’t she see the big gap on her readout, or is she being condescending?  ‘All done,’ she continues in sing-song, a language that has always been irritating to me.

Holy crappers, I see I am not only inattentive, I have become a curmudgeon.  Back to the mindfulness drawing board for some brain grwoing.  I just hope it is in the right areas!

Mike

Art by acaben