More health complaints - I'm really falling apart. I think I've pulled a
muscle in my chest, or back. What was weird was how I felt it
developing, like being stabbed slowly, just as I got up early
this morning - it was very similar to a temporary ache/pain
episode from a couple years back. That time it happened while
I was running on the treadmill - sudden, severe pain which
didn't seem related to any of the muscular areas one exercises
while jogging. Right then I had to stop working out, and didn't
feel completely normal (ie pain-free) again for a few weeks;
but just like my more common strain or pulled-muscle
episodes <1>
the pain eventually receded. This time, being an early morning
wake-up, I went along to the gym anyway, and didn't feel
constrained. (The treadmills were engaged; I had to use the
Versa-Climber instead.) It's damned annoying, and even scary,
but it's muscular, not pulmonary - I gotta believe the
doctor's recent assessment of my
lungs' health (although the obvious symptom is slight pain
while inhaling, in addition to a general interior ache). I
did make a medical appointment today, but not for
that - this is for a return visit to the podiatrist - one
of the plantar warts he removed with the laser
has returned.
Phone call with G at work today - possibilities exist for his coming out
here for a couple months' TDY work, but nothing's firm as yet. He gave me
more details about his & D's Thanksgiving trip to New Orleans, where he had
an encounter with that region's dreaded fire ants.
This weekend I should buy several family Christmas presents, but since I
can't figure out what to get, instead I'm planning on seeing art up in the
city, and movies; and to buy new bike wheels. The hope is the ideal gifts
will appear as I do these other things. D thinks my present for my sister
K is entirely inappropriate and must be augmented, although I bought it in
Germany just for her. (Tools are seldom considered acceptable gifts among
women; I find it difficult to understand why.)
When I got home I listened to some Motown:
... you feel that you can't go on...for reasons of nostalgic regret which I won't detail here, these sounds can really bum me out, which happened this time too. However I'd been thinking about that animated Czech/French film "Fantastic Planet" ("La Planète Sauvage"), and when I checked this
Because all of your hope is gone
And your life is filled with much confusion
Until happiness is just an illusion
And your world around is crumbling down... <2>
weekend's listings, behold: there it was, opening
today, a 25th anniversary re-release. I had to drive
on down to the San Jose "Towne" cinema this very
evening. The other two places I saw this film were
the "art houses" of Washington: the "Janus" and the
(closed for years) "Cerebrus" <3>.
That first screening was quite inscrutable - I
talked T into seeing it with me upon its initial
release, and the version we saw was so new it didn't
even have sub-titles - a weird experience for both
of us, who spoke no French. A little later I saw it
again with U's sister; then we did get subtitles so
I understood almost everything going on. This
screening, I had full comprehension (even of the stray
French phrase) and best of all by the time it was over
my new chest-pain had receded almost entirely. There
were previews, but I missed all except the last, which
I've forgotten. Did catch the short opening film
"L'esgargot", apparently now a traditional
accompaniment to the strange planet, but I'd
never seen its weirdness before.
Today's phrase that stays: