Life is Just a Bowl of Cacti

[Succulents, Tower Hill Botanic Garden; July 8, 2006]

At around 9:30 this morning my parents left my house to go visiting elsewhere for the week. About an hour later I threw out my back (not sure if it was the parental visit in general or just sleeping on the sofa bed for three nights). I'm starting my job tomorrow morning. Can you say "pain meds"?

Another annoyance: games won on penalty kicks, especially World Cup games - although I think all the players would have collapsed on the field if it'd gone on any longer. (WTF happened with Zidane? Good grief.)

Actually, the visit went fine overall. Tiring. Will write again when I can. I have more pretty pictures from Tower Hill Botanic Garden, too.

Comments

[maria]

"Grief" is the right choice of word here in relation to Zidane's selfish tantrum ... you could see the effects of it in all his team mates' eyes at the end.

I am so sorry to hear about your back -- just as the new job is starting. Take it easy, take a hot bath, and take lots of deep breaths! And, oh yea, a couple of those pain meds, too!

[Jean]

Will be thinking of you today at the new job, Leslee. Take care of yourself, take care of your back, and warmest best wishes.

[mary]

Leslee, I have been thinking of you today. In my experience the back often goes out at times like this .... grr. I hope it is on the mend.

[leslee]

Thanks, Maria, Jean & Mary. I got through the first day - albeit light, with introductions and orientation and the like. Still, very hard to sit. Light traffic on the way home helped! Hopefully tomorrow it'll be better.

The last time my folks were here (which included packing up their condo for a couple of days) I ended up with severe back trouble - lower back/sacrum, all "root chakra" stuff. Needed several acupuncture treatments. Sigh. This was a muscle pull in my hip/side mostly. Should go easier this time I think with the big muscles. Bad timing, though!

[Sara]

You were very brave to have them visit at all, considering how complicated it seems things can get around them. Sorry you hurt your back, though. I'm just glad that's all you hurt!

I still love Zidane. And I still love the French team (especially since I know its multicultural success really really chafes on the nationalist extremists), and I still believe that throughout the series every single French teammate behaved better to other players on other teams than the Italians, who I saw cheating and dramatizing at every opportunity. I think, exhausted, Zidane was just sorely pressed by those guys. Zidane is a brilliant player and an icon of sportsmanship and unity, but, you know, only human. And for the first 90 minutes, my true love and I were convinced that the French team was playing as if all of them had the flu or had been out partying 'til dawn the night before, only tightening up when the game went into overtime. If any of us had been running for almost two hours straight, were already exhausted, were in the last five minutes of our career, had had a shoulder injured half an hour before by someone slamming into us as hard as they possibly could, and now someone else was all over us physically, I submit that we might have snapped, too, even after years of exhibiting more polish. I think we shouldn't judge him too harshly, though I was sad that they lost, too.

But all that notwithstanding, hey, good luck with your new job (which I guess started yesterday). I'm sure you'll do brilliantly.

[leslee]

Sara: You're right, and I commented elsewhere about Zidane being provoked. It's too bad, though, because I'm sure he feels badly that this could be the last thing he does in football and what he ends up being remembered by, plus the loss, and no doubt feeling he might have been able to make the difference if he'd stayed on the field. Ah, well, such human drama!

Thanks for the wishes and your vote of confidence!

[ernesto Priego]

I really envy your ability to see and communicate the beauty around you. It's like you literally take what's in your immediate surroundings and make it matter, not only for you, who have the immediate experience with it, but to others, who may be completely "detached" from that reality. That's why I keep showing up again and again over here.

(Thank you for your words over at my blog, btw!)

[leslee]

Thanks, Ernesto. Sometimes I wonder - maybe we all do - why we bother to blog. Your sweet comment makes it seem worthwhile again.

[fin]

That looks good enough to eat