more miranda july

in collaboration with Blonde Redhead: one second poseur (link goes to video). via, a new find

in other collaboration news, another dissertator and I are emailing each other with our daily assignments in the morning and then reporting back on our success in the evening. even though it was my idea, she's having more success thus far, but we're both thinking & working on the diss every day, which is a good thing.

still having neck/arm issues, with the occasional worrisome tingle in my left hand. I really do need a more ergonomic setup.

lunch was this fantastically easy recipe: 5 ingredient chickpea salad.

and now, back to work.

posted by: schoolsmelt at 11:54 | link | comments (2) |

collared*

So, I'm giving my neck a break, here. I'm spending only 15 minutes at the computer, then getting up, walking around, getting a drink of water, making a mug of tea, stretching, or something else as a pause before I get back on the computer.

I won't be like this forever, but my practice of claiming "I'm fine", "Really, it's not that bad", or "I'll just take a couple more Advils" for the past three weeks has finally caught up with me.
*If it had a ruff, and I were in Elizabethan England, I wouldn't mind it so much. But, in this case, it really isn't that bad - just a little support while I learn to be a bit more attentive to the world outside my brain.

posted by: schoolsmelt at 14:51 | link | comments |

little things mean a lot

So, yesterday, a friend intervened for me and got me an emergency visit with her chiropractor. I was going to be seeing him this coming Monday, but she didn't want me to wait that long (it had been over two weeks by this time). The chiropractor called and we talked for a little while on the phone, and then he went in to his office on his day off to help me before the pinched-nerve damage got any worse.

And today I woke up without pain for the first time in way too long. I didn't need to take the muscle relaxant to get a good night's sleep followed by a fuzzy morning. Amazing. It could've been the buckwheat pillow, the "traction" exercises I was advised to do, the ice and heat, or, as I believe, the gentle manipulations of the chiropractor in his empty office on the 12th floor of a downtown building--in tandem with the above.

More importantly--life lesson alert--it didn't really feel like much was happening while I was there. There were smallish tweaks and pushes, some micro-manipulations with something that felt like a pachinko ball on a lever, a few cycles of lying face-down and face-up, and a sending me back into the world in slightly less pain than I'd driven in with, but grateful, and hopeful, although also somewhat dubious.

I went to the store (I was craving bananas), then came home and took a two-hour nap, accompanied by ice and heat. Woke to worked on the diss for a little bit, begged off my evening commitment, watched a bit of telly (ask me how pool tables are made!), and hit the hay feeling a little better, but not cured. And yet, this morning, I am (cautiously) fine. I feel not much more stiff than I do on a regular morning, which seems like faint praise, but is saying a lot.

Little movements plus time, and great things get accomplished. It's worth commemorating.

posted by: schoolsmelt at 06:50 | link | comments (3) |

blessing or curse?

I've just discovered that the snackshop in the student center sells the following import candy bars: Cadbury Flake, mint and regular Aero, Toffee Crisp, and Lion.  I only bought one, but I know the rest of them are waiting for me to return...

posted by: schoolsmelt at 14:55 | link | comments (1) |

morsels

• My thesis is now listed in the library - because I have an unusual last name, I'm first in the keyword list. the other entries are kind of amusing in terms of subject matter.
• Flexeril is a muscle relaxant that works so well, half a tab will knock me out for several hours. It's possible that I've logged more hours sleeping than awake this weekend. I do feel better the more sleep I get, but I can't live like this.
  
• I just bought a used AlphaSmart Dana Wireless via eBay, since I've been coveting one for a while. It's fantastic and I can't wait to use it more when I'm back on my game.
  
• On the fortunate side, I can use my dictation software, so if it turns out that my body issues don't resolve soon, I still have a means of getting material into the computer. This is a far cry from the horror story of a fellow sufferer who regaled me with tales of how she finished her masters thesis flat on her back, keyboard on chest, with tears running down the side of her face while she typed.
  
• This morning's dream included a fantastic book idea that I think would be a useful reference in these troubled times. Problem is, I don't want to write it. If you're interested in following up on my brainstorm, reader, please drop me a line.
  

posted by: schoolsmelt at 19:56 | link | comments (1) |