The physiatrist has diagnosed a stress fracture on my right foot, and I’ll be seeing a podiatrist in the near future for more on that. No running or jumping vigorously for me in the near future, but in the scheme of things, it’s good. My back has been given the all-clear. Hopefully this will be the last status update on my health for a while!
It’s my birthday today, as it is this day every year. I have the feeling 33 is going to be a good one.
Previous years: 2007 | 2006 | 2005 | 2004 | 2003
Thanks to much spining the back is much better, though the foot is still acting up if I’m not incredibly careful (and even then, at times). I’m going in for an MRI tonight, and am slightly nervous for reasons I can’t quite pin down.
In other news we’ve been without electricity in about half of the house (including my studio) since yesterday morning. Electricians are due in tomorrow. In the meantime, there’s an extension cord running from the kitchen providing much needed power to the computer and the fan.
Also, moose in a sprinkler.
Feeling a lot better today, though still tender in spots. I’m getting some flexibility back! Still taking it very easy. Yay.
I’m at home waiting to hear from the doctor, taking it easy. My lower back is a morass of varying kinds of pain, from a dull one which feels like it’s coming from the base of my spine to some more spectacular muscle pains when I try to bend in certain directions. My right foot starts to get wobbly if I stand on it for too long, though it’s not too bad at the moment. I can walk, but very slowly and inelegantly. Something is not right, but I’m confident that things will sort themselves out.
Update 7/22 8:00pm: The x-rays didn’t turn up anything strange, which is very good. I’ll continue resting as much as I can to see if things rectify themselves, and we’ll do a few more tests to see if there’s not anything lurking. I’m relieved.
I am having some back and right foot problems. More information after x-rays, but hopefully nothing dire.
I was up at two this morning, and couldn’t get back to sleep. I sat for an hour, illuminated by the street lights bleeding in through the blinds, and enjoyed the whirring of the various fans and motors wafting in through the window. I got a bit more sleep before dawn, but I feel especially translucent today. I don’t know if I exist.
I’ve agreed in theory to participating in a short course Triathlon in 2010. Unlike its big brother, the Ironman, the short course (1.5km swim/40km cycle/10k run) is a challenging without requiring a sacrifice of all of one’s free time for training. This looks like it’ll be a blast, and as I’ve never done a multi-sport event before, a new experience.
It’s so very easy to let the tendrils of possible futures and pasts to make a mess of the present.
In previous years I didn’t have a great way of handling this other than getting depressed and waiting it out. Zazen has helped my focus enough so I can, with a bit of effort, bring myself back to the present. The act of going through my normal routine is all it takes to untie the knot.
“Is there a large block of cheese in your bag?” the TSA agent asked me. “No, it’s a fruitcake,” I said, to a bit of sniggering from the other passengers. The agent shook her head and said “that’s the second fruitcake today” as she let me through the checkpoint.
I boarded the small prop plane which would take me from Colorado Springs to Denver (approximate air time, 16 minutes) where I would have a 1 hour layover until departing for Boston. The computers in Utah that oversee the complex dance of arrivals and departures had other ideas, and insisted that our small plane was too heavy to safely take off with more than 2 passengers. We waited on the tarmac until a team of programmers hit the computer with a clue-bat. Finally we took off, and soon I walked off the plane in Denver with approximately 7 minutes until my scheduled departure of 4:55.
I had to get from gate 95 to gate 26. The red line traces my bolt through the terminal.
I don’t know exactly how far it was, but between the suboptimal shoes and the luggage (avec fruitcake) strap over my chest, I arrived at the gate severely winded exactly at 4:55. The plane had already left. Fortunately I was able to be rebooked on an earlier flight, which had been delayed a few hours. After a very long and strange day, I arrived in Boston only 20 minutes later than I was expecting to.
I’m glad to be home.
Home for a day or two before heading out to a family gathering in Colorado. I can’t say that I’m looking forward to flying, but I travel without much baggage these days, and without a sense of urgency. I’ll get there when I get there.
I’ve been spending some time with Zen Master Dogen this week, getting to know him a little better. His work is deep and profound, is the ground on which my order of Zen is built. Much of it requires a more intimate understanding of Zen than I have right now, but even though I don’t always understand, his words are beautiful in themselves and nourishing in the way being in a beautiful place is nourishing. Writing in the 1200s, his words still retain so much vibrance.
What different types of beings see is different; and we should reflect on this fact. Is it that here are various ways of seeing one object? Or is it that we have mistaken various images for one object? We should concentrate every effort on understanding this question, and then concentrate still more.
— Dogen, Mountains and Rivers Sutra
I’m on vacation this week in the Catskills (in a familiar place). There’s wifi here now, which is a mixed blessing. Previously this guest house was a remote place where the world had a difficult time intruding. Now there’s urgent email and google. Still, when on vacation one can take the opportunity to look at technology with fresh eyes.
The Catskills are in their full Summer glory right now. A wave of thunderstorms passed by earlier this week, but now it is endless green and breezy and cloud-specked sky. It’s an ideal setting to catch up with friends and recharge.
