|
| < 10/11 10/12 10/13 10/14 10/15 10/16 10/17 10/18 10/19 10/20 > |
Wednesday, 20 October 2010 (childhood's end) 11:41am Feh. Same as yesterday morning: gym (and this time I did my usual crunches and cardio before Damiel's bootcamp), breakfast, long nap. And I even got eight hours of sleep last night. I've decided it's my body's way of fighting off the cold symptoms I was beginning to feel on Monday night. I just received the requested edits for my second make/shift review. It's nothing major, just the usual adjustments to words here and there, especially since I tend to use language which is not always...acceptable. But my overall voice remains, which is what's important. Marta's coming over after work, and tonight we're going to El Rio for her best friend's birthday. Going out into the world is a good thing. | ||
 | ||
Tuesday, 19 October 2010 (the gold it's in the...) 7:19am My agent wrote with another rejection. That's how it works, right? Right. 12:32pm So after going to the gym this morning, I came home, showered, had breakfast, got dressed, then napped for three hours. I guess it's what my body needed. 2:02pm My mom just sent me a scan of the paperwork for my surgery. It took place on October 16, 1978 at 1:20pm, and the official name of the procedure was Bilateral Proximal Tibia & Fibula Derotational Osteotomy. Though there are any number of variations, I can't find any evidence of that exact phrase on Google, so I'm guessing it's comparatively rare, since there's no shortage of medical stuff online No afternoon gymming for me this week, it seems. And that's okay. I'm continuing to shrink out of my pants, so all's well. | ||
| ||
Monday, 18 October 2010 (burning bridges) 5:12pm I did make it to the gym this morning, and then went to see The Social Network with The First, followed by lunch at the Liba Falafel Truck. I haven't hung out with her in over a year, since before I became employed again last November. It was good to see her again, and it's a habit I really need to get back into. I wrote my mom last week to ask her for details about the surgery I had on my legs when I was five years old. I ask her about it every few years, since I can never keep it in my brain, and this was the first time I actually thought to do so over email. Her reply: I wish I had kept notes at the time, alas, I have never been that organized. So we are going off memory from many years ago. There is a picture taken of you when you are maybe two, and it is very obvious what was wrong. Your legs not straight, think opposite of knock knees. Nobody really knows why this happened, but Dr. Janzen (our pediatrician, now passed) said possibly you were cramped in the womb and your legs grew crookedly instead of straight. On his advice we tried putting your shoes on opposite feet. When that didn't really work, we took you to physical therapy. Remember Mr Pepe? When that didn't work, you wore braces on your legs. And now that I think about it, it's possible that the braces came before the physical therapy. I think they did. Finally, surgery was recommended. We took you to Stanford Medical Center for a second opinion and the orthopedist there concurred. What shoved me over the edge was they told us that if we didn't correct the problem that you would most likely suffer from crippling arthritis in your legs as a grown-up. Please know the decision to do the surgery was not undertaken lightly. It was done at Valley Children's Hospital by Dr. Thaxter (now also passed) who was an orthopedic surgeon. Basically, and in layman's terms, what he did was surgically fracture your legs (tibia and fibula) and re-set them so they would be straight. You were in the hospital for I think ten days and came home in bent knee casts up to your waist. Taking care of you was pretty intense and we rented a wheel chair so we could take you places. We had a home teacher (Mrs. Shaw, very nice) for you because by then you were in kindergarten.So, basically, what I've been telling people for years about it is essentially correct: that I was born deformed, and in surgery they essentially broke my legs and reset them. And if that hadn't been done, I probably wouldn't be able to walk today. Whenever this subject comes up, my mom is always borderline apologetic about it, which I don't get at all. And then again, I kinda do. I don't have too many bad memories from the whole thing, but then again, my brain's always been pretty good at filtering out the bad stuff. (It's why, among other things, no matter how bad things turned out, I have mostly fond memories of my past relationships.) She probably remembers the actual trauma I went through a lot better than do. And all I know now is that I do not suffer from arthritis now, crippling or otherwise, and I can stand and run and walk and my legs have never given me any trouble at all for the past few decades, so the right decision was made. I'd been planning on writing about this as part of my essay Tightrope Books's Hospital anthology, but I realize now that this needs to be a separate piece entirely, and the Hospital story needs to focus on the more recent events. There's only so much I can cram into two thousand words. 9:32pm Just finished up this week's final rehearsal for Christmas in Hell. Jim, who's writing and directing it, gave me some more lines, and if all goes well, I should get the first laugh of the show. Here's to hoping. | ||
| ||
Sunday, 17 October 2010 (when you're in) 9:35am Feh. Did the thing this morning I where I got up (at six, being Sunday and all), got my gym clothes on, had my egg and tofu, then collapsed back into bed. Waste of a perfectly good egg 11:05am I don't know what's happening on the Great Highway right now, but in addition to completely fouling up the traffic and parking in my neighborhood, it involves "The Eye of the Tiger" being played on repeat. Plus, it's raining. Makes me glad I'm already heading Missionward. 12:14pm I'm pretty sure I just got hit on while browsing for tofu at Duc Loi. By a boy, of course. It's always a boy. 1:55pm This afternoon's rehearsal went well. The director liked the changes I made to the script—he told me to go ahead and have my way with it, so I rewrote it to sound more like my voice. Should be fun, and comparatively simple and low-pressure compared to Christmas in Hell. But I expect Hell will be more fulfilling overall. In any event, I'm just happy to be onstage. 11:13pm Pretty good Bad Movie Night turnout this evening for Silver Bullet. Afterward, a couple who were visiting from Australia asked me where they could buy some grass in the neighborhood. Sadly, I couldn't help, since I honestly don't know. | ||
| ||
Saturday, 16 October 2010 (obscured by clouds) 1:44pm At The Dark Room for the first readthrough of Christmas in Hell. Tomorrow, we're rehearsing my segment for I Never Fucked Mrs. G. Yay for rehearsal season! Last night, Marta and I had dinner at Balompie for the first time. First time for me, anyway, which is weird considering that it's right around the corner from The Dark Room and have walked past it hundreds of times. Afterward , we went to Pete and Sarah's to watch Caprica, a Friday night ritual which is going to change next week when Marta and I switch back to Saturdays rather than Fridays. It's all so complicated. (But not really, as these things go.) | ||
| ||
Friday, 15 October 2010 (a spanish piece ) 11:06am I should have done this several months ago, if not longer, but I'm finally reducing my Netflix plan from four-at-a-time to two. Change is scary! 3:13pm Time to set this particular story down and step away. It'll get written eventually, but this is not its time. And there are plenty of others. | ||
| ||
Thursday, 14 October 2010 (cymbaline) 12:01pm Went to Damiel's later-in-the-morning abs class after doing an hour of cardio first. I only stuck around for the first of the two classes, because really, that was plenty. There's a point where the returns start to diminish. | ||
| ||
Wednesday, 13 October 2010 (up the khyber) 2:11pm About to head out on my second gym trip today. Damiel is subbing for the bootcamp instructor, and since it's not really his style at all, he didn't have us do any cardio at all, and I hadn't done any beforehand since I didn't know. So. Going to do it now. On the plus side, when I was signing in, the woman behind the counter (who's seen me nearly every weekday for the past four months) told me that I've really been thinning out. Damn, I love hearing that. | ||
| ||
Tuesday, 12 October 2010 (cirrus minor) 1:46pm My agent just wrote to tell me that the manuscript is now in the hands of two more editors. I know how this works: they'll reject it or they won't, and I'm going on about my business in the meantime. | ||
| ||
Monday, 11 October 2010 (metallic spheres) 3:12pm At Mission Creek with Marta. It's been a long time since I've been here, since I do most of my writing at home these days (particularly when the plumbing is working), but it's a holiday, so different rules apply. And when it means I get to spend extra time with the girl I love, so much the better. | ||
| ||