Onwards and Onwards

Two weeks ago school concluded and I miraculously passed everything, and I continue quite busy, though without the extraordinary stress of school. Thursday I went back to the dr about my knee for the results of the MRI, and was told I have a Grade I tear to my meniscus-- not really a complete tear but a bunch of tiny tears to the tissue. He said it's also stretched out which is why it keeps wanting to pop out so easily into that unnatural movement that caused so much pain in the first place.  I will start spinning class on June 2, so yesterday for the first time I went to the gym at school and got on a stationary bike, and it was a revelation. I limped the 150 yards or so from my car to the bike, and after 20 minutes on the bike, my knee actually felt much better and my limp was gone. Looking forward to strengthening my knee and getting back to normal. I haven't worn anything but sensible shoes for two months, a state which feels wholly unnatural to me. I miss all my hooker shoes.  This needs to be ended ASAP.

I'm working part time back at my old job at the salt mine, and I'm grateful to be back there. It's better , though, because I'm doing a broader variety of things. I'm on the phones taking incoming calls and sometimes placing outgoing, but when I arrive, I tidy up the correspondence emails and faxes of paperwork, so I'm able to do those woodshedding things at my own pace. I find I enjoy working steadily at my own pace, and I'm untroubled by boredom or the personal politics that seem to plague office environs. Then again, it's possible that some folk there are not happy about my presence and status, but no one has voiced this to me. It's been generally nice to see everyone again.

Last weekend was the May installment of the antique market where I have a booth. Business was very slow.  One weekend a month from Thursday through Sunday, I'm quite occupied with this task. I enjoy it, but over the next three months, I'm going to need to see a serious profit, or I'm going to have to pull out before the Fall semester. It's one thing for summer, even if I have a job, but I can't afford the time drain from valuable study time if I'm not seeing a bigger return on the time investment.

Today is my first fully free day since school ended, and I have quite a bit of cleaning and organizing to do. I also have a couple of small writing projects I need to work on, so I've got a full roster, if I can but keep myself motivated.

I finished a book I started in the middle of the semester, American Gods by Neil Gaiman.  I bought this book when I still lived in Dallas and a friend a couple months ago mentioned that it's an excellent book.  I was pleased to see a character therein who was pivotal in Gaiman's Anansi Boys, which I loved. If you like fantasy or magical realism, I can't recommend strongly enough the audio version of Anansi Boys read by the brilliant Lenny Henry.  I loved Lenny in the Beeb's Chef!, and he delights with brilliant accents for the many characters in this book.

Today during my first couple hours of cleaning, I'm listening to the movie Perfume: The Story Of A Murderer. The narrator in the film is the ever-compelling John Hurt, and the soundtrack is sublime. The film features passages of overwhelming beauty, but contains some ghastly bits as well, so it's not all sacred, and there is rather much of the profane. Still, it makes for nice listening, and when one of the surpassingly beautiful scenes occurs, I can stop my task and gawp a few minutes. 


Have a great day!