Sometimes Life Tells You To Slow Down
Hi! I'm back. I still read my friends' LJ entries but I haven't had the time, energy or motivation to blog lately. The Yankees won the World Series, a really great WS as the Phillies fought to the end. In fact, I wouldn't have been surprised if Chase Utley had won MVP despite playing for the losing team (a feat not done since the Yankees' Bobby Richardson in 1960). He was THAT good. And of course, the play that will be talked about for a long time, Johnny Damon stealing two bases on one pitch. Both teams played very well, but the Phillies made one or two extra mistakes, and the Yankees were that much more heads-up. The better team won, but the right two teams were there.
In sports, well, as I've said before my sports fandoms (Yankees and Redskins) strongly tend to inversely correlate, and 2009 was no exception: the Yankees won it all, and the Redskins fell off a cliff. Both teams have had pretty active offseasons. I like the Yankees' offseason moves - the team has to get younger and more athletic. I also approve of the Redskins' offseason moves, but that's less impressive. No team wins more offseasons than Dan Snyder's Redskins. Color me skeptical, to say the least.
The holidays were really nice - for the first time in as long as I can remember, I took the week off between Christmas and New Years. We got our first real snowstorm in years on top of that, and it made for a White Christmas. Among many other wonderful Christmas gifts, eilonwydreams and I exchanged broadway tickets; because we are also celebrating eilonwydreams's birthday, we decided that for the Martin Luther Kings Day holiday weekend we would treat ourselves to a long weekend in New York City, staying in a nice hotel in midtown. She would take me to see Wicked on Friday night, and on Saturday I would take her to see Eddie Izzard at Madison Square Garden. Sunday, off to the Metropolitan Museum of Art to see the MoMA's Tim Burton Exhibit, with the balance of the day and evening to be spent meeting friends and relaxing before an afternoon ride home on Amtrak. To say that we were looking forward to it would be an understatement.
BTW - I'm not blogging from NYC. *sigh*
A few weeks ago I noticed a twinge in my right hip. I figured that it might be a result of my foot injury last summer. It wasn't that big a deal, but I became concerned as the pain gradually increased. Finally last week I went to see my Doc, and she sent me to an orthopedist. My secret fear was something degenerative, like arthritis. The x-rays showed no damage, though, and the diagnosis is tendonitis, most likely of the hip flexors. He prescribed high doses of ibuprophen and stretching. I did the stretches last night for the first time, and went to sleep looking forward to NY. I slept great, and woke up ready to go ... until I tried to get out of bed.
AAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHRRRRRRGGGHHHH!!!
The doc prescribed vicodin to knock out the pain, and eilonwydreams picked it up for me. It helps - it's merely very painful to move around now, instead of excruciating agony. But toting bags to the train, sitting on a train for three hours, walking around Manhattan, sitting through shows, etc? Not happening. Most frustrating of all, all of the evil little plans I had made to surprise eilonwydreams, done. Let's just say that there are a lot of roses in the hotel lobby tonight.
All in all, pretty crushing disappointment, probably even worse than the Queen concert/hospital incident a few years ago - that was scarier, but this is a shared disappointment. But as the day wears on, I can't help but balance the disappointment. After all, now I have time to blog (for once). Because for the next couple of days I'll be flat on my back, a heating pad on my hip and vicodin coursing through my veins. On the bright side I have a Diet Coke at hand, food clothing and shelter in place, and a health care and societal infrastructure firmly in place and ready to whisk me anything that I need. I have someone who loves me looking after me, and family and friends checking up on me. When I step back a bit, I'm really pretty lucky.
Although I still wouldn't mind being in NYC ...
In sports, well, as I've said before my sports fandoms (Yankees and Redskins) strongly tend to inversely correlate, and 2009 was no exception: the Yankees won it all, and the Redskins fell off a cliff. Both teams have had pretty active offseasons. I like the Yankees' offseason moves - the team has to get younger and more athletic. I also approve of the Redskins' offseason moves, but that's less impressive. No team wins more offseasons than Dan Snyder's Redskins. Color me skeptical, to say the least.
The holidays were really nice - for the first time in as long as I can remember, I took the week off between Christmas and New Years. We got our first real snowstorm in years on top of that, and it made for a White Christmas. Among many other wonderful Christmas gifts, eilonwydreams and I exchanged broadway tickets; because we are also celebrating eilonwydreams's birthday, we decided that for the Martin Luther Kings Day holiday weekend we would treat ourselves to a long weekend in New York City, staying in a nice hotel in midtown. She would take me to see Wicked on Friday night, and on Saturday I would take her to see Eddie Izzard at Madison Square Garden. Sunday, off to the Metropolitan Museum of Art to see the MoMA's Tim Burton Exhibit, with the balance of the day and evening to be spent meeting friends and relaxing before an afternoon ride home on Amtrak. To say that we were looking forward to it would be an understatement.
BTW - I'm not blogging from NYC. *sigh*
A few weeks ago I noticed a twinge in my right hip. I figured that it might be a result of my foot injury last summer. It wasn't that big a deal, but I became concerned as the pain gradually increased. Finally last week I went to see my Doc, and she sent me to an orthopedist. My secret fear was something degenerative, like arthritis. The x-rays showed no damage, though, and the diagnosis is tendonitis, most likely of the hip flexors. He prescribed high doses of ibuprophen and stretching. I did the stretches last night for the first time, and went to sleep looking forward to NY. I slept great, and woke up ready to go ... until I tried to get out of bed.
AAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHRRRRRRGGGHHHH!!!
The doc prescribed vicodin to knock out the pain, and eilonwydreams picked it up for me. It helps - it's merely very painful to move around now, instead of excruciating agony. But toting bags to the train, sitting on a train for three hours, walking around Manhattan, sitting through shows, etc? Not happening. Most frustrating of all, all of the evil little plans I had made to surprise eilonwydreams, done. Let's just say that there are a lot of roses in the hotel lobby tonight.
All in all, pretty crushing disappointment, probably even worse than the Queen concert/hospital incident a few years ago - that was scarier, but this is a shared disappointment. But as the day wears on, I can't help but balance the disappointment. After all, now I have time to blog (for once). Because for the next couple of days I'll be flat on my back, a heating pad on my hip and vicodin coursing through my veins. On the bright side I have a Diet Coke at hand, food clothing and shelter in place, and a health care and societal infrastructure firmly in place and ready to whisk me anything that I need. I have someone who loves me looking after me, and family and friends checking up on me. When I step back a bit, I'm really pretty lucky.
Although I still wouldn't mind being in NYC ...