Dream with Our Eyes Open

So on my way to work yesterday, I came up the escalator at the Metro station to find that a train was just pulling in. The guy ahead of me was going slow and blocking my way, so as soon as I got off the escalator, I ran around him and headed for the second car, which drops me off right at the bottom of the stairs at Union Station (where I get off).

As I bounded along, I felt something catch and then pop free at the bottom of my pelvis, where my butt joins my leg. Man, it hurt!

And still hurts, although it's a little better this morning, after some Alleve overnight. From info I found online, it looks like I may have slightly torn the tendon(s) at the top of the various hamstring muscles, which attach at that point.

So here I am, literally butt hurt. Ow.

Gotta remember that I'm too old (or at least, not in good enough shape) to be running for trains. :-(

I took the day off for a couple of medical appointments and ran some errands mixed in between ... was going to finish by hitting the vet's office for some more cans of pricey "kidney diet" cat food for the critter, but apropos of nothing decide to call and see what their hours were today. And lo and behold, they are closed the first Thursday of every month "for training." Lucky, huh? My iPod agreed:

ETA: At the end of this Salon intervew, Merchant talks about "Wonder" and what it has come to mean for some people. And yeah, I got a little teary watching the video just now, especially in the light of the positive outcomes today.

We had our usual New Year's Eve date, a luxurious gourmet dinner at my friend Michael's. He loves to cook, and his wife Sharon makes the sweets. We had:

• Ceviche of grouper and scallops
• Salad of beets and goat cheese mousse with coffee (powdered, sprinkled on the mousse) and microgreens
• Squash mezzaluna (filled pasta crescents) with hazelnut butter
• "Duck, Duck, Goose" - roast duck breast, duck sous vide with the skin crisped, and goose liver pate, with Hoisin sauce and "Asian slaw" of vegetables, apples, and pears
• Cheeses with salty biscuits and gingersnaps: petit Basque ewe's milk, red Leicestershire, Le Fromager des Clarines, Long Clawson Limited Edition Stilton (only 100 of these were made)
• Black Forest Boule de Neige (dense chocolate cake with kirsch and cherries, covered with whipped cream); lemon bars with Chambourg cream; chocolate peanut butter pretzel bites and pecan turtles

Each course had wines, most of which I did not touch (not so good with the meds).

Today we had our usual New Year's Day date, a brunch at my friend Kat's that starts with a core of bagels and lox and then spins out to encompass whatever people bring. The Young Lady made pumpkin streusal muffins, smillaraaq made soft rolls, and I brought a bag of clementines (hey, the kitchen was all busy and I was doing paperwork!).

And I lost a crown on one of my back molars. That will teach me not to eat fleur-de-sel caramels.

:-(

Fortuitously, the host had some over-the-counter dental adhesive, so it's stuck back in for now. I'm trying not to chew on that side.

"Many of you have heard that the Susan G. Komen Foundation (the folks who do all that pink-related branding regarding breast cancer) is withdrawing its financial support from Planned Parenthood, which in the past did breast cancer screening and education for lots of poor women with funds offered by the Foundation. The Komen folks swear their choice to do this is not politically motivated ... ."

- SF Author John Scalzi

You can read the rest at Scalzi's blog, Whatever. And if you like his writing or were thinking of trying his stuff, he has arranged to give the proceeds of the sales of his eBooks for the next week to Planned Parenthood. He has links for lists of the books in question on the blog.

And if that's not your cup of tea, or you don't yet do eBooks (*raises hand*), you might consider giving Planned Parenthood a donation.

And if you have religious or other reasons not to support Planned Parenthood, then you might do some legwork of your own and try to find some other organization that will provide these types of services for poor women - and give them a donation. Because fewer poor women are going to be able to get these services now that SGK has cut off their contributions to PP.

Thanks, you all.

— cho (stage 1 breast cancer diagnosed September 2007; post-lumpectomy, wide re-excision, and radiation; Tamoxifen therapy continuing)

February is Heart Month, and today is Wear Red Day, to draw attention to heart disease in women.

You may not think you know any women who are affected by heart disease, but yes you do, because you know me. XD I had an angioplasty more than 20 years ago, at the tender age of 31. I was pretty active and only a bit overweight, but heart disease runs in my family.

I decided to post this today after hearing about the death of Melissa Mia Hall.

Of course, heart disease was only the thing that actually killed her - she really died of a lack of health care and the insurance to pay for it.

This is the regular ol' seasonal flu shot, not the N1H1 swine thingy.

>shows off sore arm with the enthusiasm of an 8-yr-old<

Reply to this meme by yelling "Words!" and I will give you five words that remind me of you. Then post them in your LJ and explain what they mean to you. These are the words given to me by redbrunja:

Yesterday I spent close to two hours digging out of the bottom of my compost bins. Last year, when I was out of commission, the Mr. did it, and he just piled it up near the bins. I don't know whether that encouraged the evil English ivy to grow into the bins, but the older bin, especially, was a wad of tiny rootlets, and it was hard to get anything out. Still, I got out about a dozen pails-ful, and poked and turned the upper stuff a little so that it fell down into the empty spaces I'd just made. Then I started planting bulbs, with lots of nice compost in the holes, but didn't finish. I have 30 narcissus (3 kinds), 20 crocus, 20 miniature iris, and 10 squills (pushkinia). The narcissus need to be 4-6 inches inches apart from each other, and the ground is tough - it's ground that's now getting some sun since the big dead oak came down and no one's dug in it for decades at least.

So today my hands and forearms are all stiff and sore. But I was outside in the daylight for about 3 hours, so that's got to be good. I hope to plant the rest at the end of the week, when I'm off for Thanksgiving.

And on Saturday I got a therapeutic lamp for phototherapy for Seasonal Affective Disorder. Man, that thing is bright! I have it in the kitchen because the first thing I do on weekdays is made breakfast and pack lunch for the Young Lady.

I came back from Katsucon about 3:00pm on Sunday, and by midnight (despite a nap) felt wretched and was going through Kleenex like I had most of my savings sunk into their stock. There followed low-grade fever (100-101°F) and really nasty aching muscles that made it torture to go up and down the stairs - it felt like I was carrying a 40-lb. pack. Now I'm just tired and still sniffling a bit. But the Young Lady has it now, too. Interestingly, she has a higher fever (which is typical of children - but she's not much of a child at this point ...) and hardly any aches.

Feh.