Bitter pills may take longer to swallow and scrape and scratch your throat, but eventually, they do go down.
Want to hear something funny about me? If I order a drink from a fountain, I cannot drink it unless I can hear the ice clinking around in the glass. If the ice has melted or there is not enough ice to shake around, I just don�t enjoy it as much until I fill it up with ice. I know you all have your weird habits too� I guess it�s just what makes the world a unique place.
Want to hear another funny story about me? I bought one of those yoga or �stability� balls to use at my desk. I had heard that they are great to use on occasion as a desk chair because you use your abdominal muscles to remain stable and that they also improve your posture so I thought, why not� and I figured I could also use it at night when I�m watching TV to do some stretching and strength training (and hopefully help some of this intense muscle pain). So I filled it up with air and gave it a whirl. I was wearing some mesh sweat pants. This is an important part of the story. When I sat down on it, I didn�t sit far enough back on the ball, so I went to adjust myself. I stood up and intended to sort of launch my ass back on the ball. Unfortunately, the mesh pants caused me to stick to the ball and when I launched myself back, what I really did was push myself into the ball. Now we�ve all heard in physics that every action has an equal and opposite reaction. So my launching into the ball caused the ball to launch me. Right into my desk/bookshelf. Where I hit the shelf right with my nose. I have a nice purple and red swollen spot on my nose and a little bit of blackening on one eye, but mostly I�m okay.
I�ve been missing several days of work each week trying to deal with this horrible muscle pain (exacerbated when sitting at a desk) and headaches. My doctor submitted paperwork for intermittent leave which means that even though I�m not missing work continually, I am covered as a leave of absence on those days that I do miss work. This means I can get the rest that I need without fear of losing my job. Very important.
I cut my hair. It�s just below the shoulders and all one length. I like it, it�s swingy and healthy. I tend to go so long between haircuts that my ends get totally fried. I also got a new color, a reddish brown instead of the intense red I�ve been sporting. It�s the new Loreal where you do the highlights yourself. I did an okay job, it looks pretty good as long as you aren�t looking too carefully. When I was at the hairdressers (cheap hair cut place because it was a last minute thing), I was killing some time looking through one of those hairstyle books. I stopped to notice the salon that had one of the featured pictures and it was my old salon. The stylist was my old stylist. A part of me thought that was so cool. The other part of me hurt. See, I loved my old stylist and when she did my hair, I went in regularly. I loved going to see her as we would chat and have such a good time. She became a friend to me and she knew most of my secrets. She also did my mom�s hair so I had to warn her not to tell my mom! If I was having a bad day, she could always brighten it up. She just had the warmest personality with a great sense of humor. A total stranger would feel like a friend within minutes of meeting her. Jill died a year and a half ago, a victim of a very aggressive breast cancer. She was diagnosed in March 2004 and was gone by October. I still hurt at her absence. It was strange seeing her name in the book. I still have one of her business cards, I just couldn�t bring myself to throw it away.
Today I�m leaving for San Francisco for the weekend with my friend Jana and her husband Ken. Ken is taking a photography workshop so Jana and I will go �play�. We�ll also be spending some time with Ken�s old roommate who still lives up in the bay area. Should be a fun weekend. And a much needed getaway.
Oh, and you know what else � remember that cheese? You know, the cheese I had in Seattle and have been craving ever since? Well, the place that makes it is up in the bay area so there are several places that sell it up there. I shall get some cheese!
I�m sure I�ll have pictures to post when I return and you can all see my new hair cut as well.
