I Was Just Thinking That !

I have made jokes here about being psychic. Do you think there
really is such a thing? TV psychics are phonies to me. Especially
that John Edward. He may have some psychic abilities, but from
what I see on TV, he is fishing for responses from his audience.
I've read his autobiography, and it made me think he could have
some psychic qualities. But his show is a bunch of hooey. I am
more likely to believe Sylvia Browne, the Montel regular. I have
also read her books. At times she seems like an absolute nutcase,
but at other times I find myself believing.

But let's get back to ME ME ME! I don't have premonitions, I
don't read tea leaves, I don't have a crystal ball to forecast the
future. I have never been one of those people who have dreams
that come true, or one dream that occurs again and again.
But I do have inklings, and hunches, and coincidences. I think
maybe I'm just good at picking up nonverbal signals from people,
so I can tell how they're going to react, or what they're about to
say. I'm not like that guy in the Stephen King book who shakes
hands with people and has a flash of their deepest feelings shoot
through his brain.

Here's a tiny taste of my little inklings. Thursday, my best TV
night, I kept getting the urge to check my email. Not my regular
email account, but my school account. I never check that from
home. I check it at school at lunch, for the announcements before
I travel to my afternoon building. It happened through Survivor,
from 7:00 to 8:00. I was busy for the next hour, doing some
laundry and getting the boys' stuff ready for school the next day.
During ER, I kept getting that urge again. It wasn't a voice, it
was just a random thought at commercials, "Check the email."
Since ER was a rerun, I went in about 9:30 and checked. I had
a short message from a teacher I don't see very often--maybe
once every two weeks, because our schedules are opposite.
It was no big deal, nothing important. It had been sent at
6:38 p.m. Around 10:30 I sent a response. End of story, right?

But nooo...this is Hillbilly Mom's life, where nothing is that short
and sweet. Friday morning, I arose as usual at 4:20 (no, I'm not
a stoner--if you're lost, 4-20 is referred to around here as
"Stoner's Holiday") and packed the lunches, took a shower,
and settled down in the recliner for my morning nap. As I leaned
back the chair, I thought, "I spelled the name wrong in that
email." I looked at the clock to see how long I could sleep. It was
4:45 a.m. Again, no big deal. It did not disturb me enough to
disrupt my nap. I thought, "I'll send another one when I get to
school to acknowledge the name thing." I hate it when people
spell MY name wrong. It's like they don't care enough to know
who you are after working there for 7 years.

Anyhoo...I got to school, put up the posters that had fallen off
the wall overnight, turned on my computer that takes 10 minutes
to log on, checked my mailbox for inside teacher information,
and sat down for that quick email. I had another message from
that same teacher, sent at 4:43 a.m. Who knew that another
teacher was awake at the pre-crack of dawn? Now I want to
know why my psychic powers have a two-minute time lag.

Are you thirsty for more? Here's another example. Several years
ago, before a new stoplight was put in on the highway, I used to
make a right turn off the highway onto a little section of county
road. Because there was sometimes other traffic making a left
turn at this same crossover, I had taken to signalling my right
turn and pulling onto the right shoulder of the highway for about
100 yards. This allowed the traffic behind me to continue without
slowing down, just in case they were unable to pull into the fast
lane to get around me when I turned.

One rainy night I was headed home from my Hillbilly Mama's
house about 9:30. There was a car behind me as I approached
my turn-off, but I didn't pull over to the shoulder. I don't know
why. I did it every other time, but this night, as I got to the
section where I always pulled over, I thought "no". That was it.
Just an instant. And then I was to the road where I turn off, and
out of the rainy darkness I could make out an abandoned car
parked on the shoulder about 15 feet from my road. I would
have been cruising down the shoulder at 25 mph and would
have rammed right into the back of it. HooRah, Hillbilly Mom's
creepy psychic sense!

One more example. A couple weeks ago, at the end of my
2nd hour class, the secretary came on the intercom and said,
"Mr. So-and-So's class, report to the cafeteria." The first
thing that popped into my head was "Something has happened
to Mr. So-and-So." There was no reason for this. His class
could have had a guest speaker coming in, or survey to fill
out, or maybe he was tied up with a parent and they needed
to be supervised. I had been thinking about Mr. So-and-So
during first hour anyway. (That is his prep hour, and sometimes
he comes in to tell me about an assignment. Not often, maybe
once a month.) I had been thinking about how sometimes his
shirt is soaking with sweat, even before he has his first class
second hour. Again, I don't know why. It was a fleeting
thought that I had twice.

My third hour came in, two of whom had been in Mr. So-
and-So's class. They said he had collapsed. I looked out
front, and sure enough, there was an ambulance. He is OK
now, but I don't know why I had been thinking about him
that morning. I am usually thinking about Mr. K, wanting
him to come in and harrass my Do-Nots for slacking in his
class, and lying to me about it. I guess when the announcement
came, I picked up on something in the secretary's voice. It
was not like she had told everyone to remain in their second
hour class until further notice, like when there is a lock-down,
or the drug dog pays a visit. That would have been a definite
clue that something was amiss.

So there you have it. Some of my coincidences. Not specifically
psychic, just coincidences.

Not enough for me to be invited on the Montel show.