Rumors of a gig at the ODIC are greatly exaggerated. (I had a standup comedy routine planned for ODIC amateur night, but it fizzled when my membership expired. Rumors of the content of that routine may have contributed to my expulsion...) I have, in fact, been very, very busy.
Last week, for example, I was busy feeling old. Very very old. Old old old old old, with a mildly achy knee, and my stoopid cane, and generally blah energy and frequent napping ... oh, it was a big ol' pity-party at the Bone-obo household, let me tell you! The first line on my personal diary for Thursday is: "Life sucks." Seeing that in print made me think that maybe, just maybe my thinking had gone off the rails at some point, so before I retired to bitterness and a rocking chair, I resolved to try something. First priority: the knees.
"Bone-obo Wife," I said to her. "I think I'm gonna call the PT folks and eat some crow to get this knee situation looked after."
But I'm stubborn and ornery and despise the aftertaste even the best-prepared crow leaves in the mouth, so I looked up knee exercises on the 'net instead, and set to work with a will, dipping and spreading and just generally sweatin' it up. And by Thursday afternoon, by golly, my knees were feeling better! My evening mall lap was still only .3 miles, but by the time I went to bed I was worn out in that mildly satisfied good way, and slept like a tiny baboo.
And lo! Friday morning the knee hurteth not, nor the hip, nor any of its family, and I walked the carpeted halls of mine abode unaided, abjuring the hated company of the Devilstick.
And. It. Was. Pretty darn good.
Still not good enough for outdoors (the mall walk was still stickifed) but definitely a step (ha!) in the right direction. And my total mallage (in discontinuous laps) went up to a mile. "Here I am, ODIC!" I cried defiantly. "Come and get me!"
Saturday morning they sent me a kneemail, so I chilled a bit, played video games, wrestled with work, and read. But for the first time in a week, my hip was sorer than my knee! Yay! Exciting! Pain where it's supposed to be! The unexpected excitement of the expected! Woohoo!
Sunday was Adventure Day: we drove to Washington, DC for the day, to see a play by one of my favorite playwrights, and eat at two favorite restaurants, one a Tex-Mex place right by the theater, the other an old-style NC BBQ shack in a small town on the road back. Even though the parking garage in DC was only a couple of blocks away from the theater, I used my cane, just to be sure I had the poop to walk it with no discomfort and no lingering afterburn. And that was the only thing that went as planned.
The Tex-Mex place had been converted into a pricey Spanish tapas bar with merely good food at exorbitant prices, the play was a disappointment that let its political message take precedence over its story-telling, plus it was so long that we couldn't make it back to the BBQ restaurant before it closed at 8 (!!!!). And at the end of a very long day, when Bone-obo Wife and I pulled into our driveway, shut the car off and looked at each other, we broke into grins, and agreed that, misadventures or not, the day was still fun!
Old age? Yeah, I don't think so. Today's Monday, and I've miles to go before bedtime.
. Oh my stars....
United States
