I spent several more hours working on the night vision ideas, but ironically, the best result I get is an itchy and burning left eye and a blinding migraine headache. It's possible that it worked when that happened, but even if it did, the side effects of random strobing light flashes, nausea, vertigo, and the pounding in my head made it unusable. That result called a halt to the day of attempts, and sent me to my room to lie on my bed and pray for sleep to come soon and the pain to end, even though it was before supper time. I couldn't even muster the concentration to try any healing techniques.

When I woke up, the pain had subsided and so had the itch. I may not be able to do this by halves after all. The itch wasn't the problem, but I'm guessing that trying to process vision differently in my brain was not going to work out well. The external technology of the old world made it so I could process the same way, but had better inputs. So do all of my successful sense attempts. I'm basically forming telekinetic structures that funnel extra sound to my ears. I'm not exactly sure how the telescopic stuff works, but I suspect I'm making lenses out of distortion fields or something, so maybe I need to uncomplicate this one. I have no idea how I'm making psionic lenses, so I just need to focus on the same concept as my telescopic or microscopic vision, except for I want to have the 'lenses' work to shift the spectrum instead of zoom in on an object. Sure it's more complicated, but it's magic or psionics or whatever, so perfect understanding isn't actually the requirement, it's clear imagination and visualization are more important. Because I'm stuck in a mode of thinking that night vision optics are complicated technological miracles, I may be overdoing the complication bits in my visualizations and stepping on my own toes. Telescopes and microscopes are complicated too, but are not as 'modern', so even though I can't make or repair one, I don't tend to think of them as complex as the newer technology items. I don't know for sure if that will make a difference, but that kind of testing will have to wait for next enddays. I can't skip out on Heinrig during this last week, and the rebound effects of failure laid me flat out for more than half a day.

Well, all the conjecture is fine, but it's time to head off to work again, soon. Training, tutoring, and finishing up what I've started are on the docket. I also need to pull myself out of the self-centered mode I'm falling back into. I'm almost entirely ignoring my parents again for the last tenday, because I don't have the issues bearing down on me, and have a shiny new toys to play with whenever I'm not working. Without something I need from them, I'm letting psionics stuff get in the way of everything but work. I don't have any problems I need them to help me solve, but I shouldn't only talk to them when I need something. That's not a healthy relationship, it's being an emotional parasite. Since I'm awake early, I think an apology breakfast might be in order.

After I unbanked the stove, I scrambled up some eggs, sliced and diced up the sausage, and threw together some simple drop biscuits. I skipped the billnut gruel because that's the normal breakfast, not much of an apology. A quarter hour later, I've started to hear some sizzle from the sausage so I pour the eggs into the pan and put the biscuits into the oven section.

While the biscuits baked, I got the table set and filled the water pitcher. Once that's accomplished, it's back to the stove to stir the eggs and sausage a few times, sprinkling on some herbs from the planters in the kitchen, just a quick pluck and hand shred sufficing to make the herbs into small enough bits to season and not overwhelm.

My timing was fortunate, or the smell of the food was good enough, that just when I was getting the biscuits out of the oven, the parents showed up.

"Hey Grint, what's the occasion?"

"No occasion, Mom, just saying thanks for the help and support."

"Of course, dear."

"Mmmphh," Dad mumbled from his seat, having already started on his perusal of the daily broadsheet, with a bite of stolen biscuit in his mouth. Sadly, I'm afraid I get most of my couth from him, but I can't say I had a whole bunch of couth in the last life either, so that's at least partially a cop-out.

"I know I'm heading out again soon, hopefully. So I just wanted to spend some time to say thanks again, for all the stuff you've put up with and sorry for the crap that I'm possibly bringing down with my strange ways."

"Mmmhmmm."

"Don't worry about us, Grint. Go and make your mark, we'll be fine."

"Will do, at least after all the stuff gets worked out with Wilhena and the Omni. I've got one more tenday or so with Heinrig at the store, then hopefully I can spend some time packing up, practicing with the expanded psionics skills I'm developing, and preparing for next season's 'research' on telekinesis.

After that we didn't talk much, we just enjoyed the food in companionable quiet and Dad's occasional grumblings at the "state of the world" or "what stupid thing will they do next." Breakfast (and the broadsheet) done, they headed off to work while I ate the rest of the food and then cleaned up the dishes, the pan and the baking sheet.

Then, it was off to work I went. I may or may not have whistled a familiar tune from a movie about seven short fellas and one sleepy gal. This was the last Onesday for this position, then if it all works out, I'll get into a whole new but old mess at the Omni.