I wish everyone in the world would live by one simple rule.
Don't be a jerk.
It's so easy!
Friday, July 22, 2011
Monday, July 18, 2011
Knees, knees.
Well my knees are shiny and newly fleshed, so the world is looking like a much better place these days. The boyfriend and I were hoping I'd be all patched up in time to make the Parker County Peach Pedal the Saturday after my fall, but Thursday was the last day to sign up and I wasn't sure if I would have made it and we decided to forget about it for this year. My knees were still pretty painful up until Friday night, and then they turned itchy. Soooo painfully itchy. I took off all remaining bandages right there and this past week they dried out and flaked and itched and this weekend I was back in the saddle and making another go at the Trinity River Trails.
After 13 miles or so, I got a flat tire.
It's beginning to appear that I'm not meant to get past the 13 mile mark on a bicycle.
Fortunately, the boyfriend had brought things to fix the flat. Unfortunately, he was out of CO2 to air the tire back up and he rode back to get his car and retrieve me while I began the lonely walk of shame towards the park. Several people rode by and asked if I was okay and I responded in the affirmative. Bicyclists are so nice! Then a man coming in the opposite direction rode over and fixed the flat right up. His name was Eugene and he had ridden for 56 miles so far. I was impressed. After the tire was fixed and aired up, I rode to the edge of the park and watched people toil up the incline to the path over the river. Hills, how I loathe thee.
After 13 miles or so, I got a flat tire.
It's beginning to appear that I'm not meant to get past the 13 mile mark on a bicycle.
Fortunately, the boyfriend had brought things to fix the flat. Unfortunately, he was out of CO2 to air the tire back up and he rode back to get his car and retrieve me while I began the lonely walk of shame towards the park. Several people rode by and asked if I was okay and I responded in the affirmative. Bicyclists are so nice! Then a man coming in the opposite direction rode over and fixed the flat right up. His name was Eugene and he had ridden for 56 miles so far. I was impressed. After the tire was fixed and aired up, I rode to the edge of the park and watched people toil up the incline to the path over the river. Hills, how I loathe thee.
Monday, July 04, 2011
Decidedly less independent.
Happy Fourth of July, peoples. Mine has been not so great. The amount of pain that has result from what is basically skinned knees has been phenomenal. It's like a sharp, shooting, stabbing, biting constant whenever I stand or sit or lay down for the amount of time it takes for my skin to grow accustomed to whichever way my knees are bending. Boyfriend calls it road rash. I say it's more like my knees are little heads that have been scalped. Except one knee was scalped twice, so maybe it was a conjoined twin or something.
The backstory is pretty simple. I'm clumsy as heck and we decided to go biking on the Trinity River Trails in Fort Worth. We had been there the week before and had a lovely time, going about 13 miles. This time, I decided we should try for 18 miles--9 there and 9 back. The first half was fantastic, though I do have a terribly difficult time going up ramps. On the way back, we had gone about... oh 3 or 4 miles when some people passed on the left. They let me know they were passing, but I still panicked and ended up going off the pavement. Now, this happened when we were alongside the river, the bank appeared steep and I started panicking some more. The people who were going to pass were yelling at me to stay off the concrete but all I could think of was the terrific splash I'd make when I fell into the river and decided, heck, I should go on the concrete. I did not make it, to say the least and have assorted injuries to show for my lapse in judgement. A bump and bruise on my head (though the helmet did the job it was made for and kept me from, you know, dying), some scrapes on my hip and shoulder, a few cuts on my hands, a scrape on my elbow, three giant scrapes on my knee--two on the left and one on the right and what is probably a bruised rib and what I believe is at least a cracked toe on my left foot. My neck has been sore, my side has been sore, it hurts to laugh or cough, and I walk with a limp.
But the worst has been the knees.
So far, Tegaderm, Johnson and Johnson Advanced Healing Bandages and nonstick gauze with plenty of Neosporin has been tried. The Tegaderm has been the most effective, but unfortunately, since the little skinless patches of flesh tend to leak constantly, the Tegaderm falls off. The Johnson and Johnson bandages were applied next and they soak up whatever it is that's oozing out of my bared flesh, but they also fall off easily. The nonstick gauze? NOT NONSTICK. I saw that one was peeling off and when I looked closer, saw that it was stuck to the wound it had explicitly promised not to stick to. I went ahead and took all the pads off and they had all stuck to my skin (or lack thereof). Pulling it off resulted in pulling off little bits and pieces. It hurt. It hurt a lot.
So right now I have made do with a combination of all three and will probably end up going to the store for something else tomorrow, which goes against my original plan to stay in bed all day and hope that my knees magically regrew skin by Tuesday. It's been two days, is that so much to ask?
The backstory is pretty simple. I'm clumsy as heck and we decided to go biking on the Trinity River Trails in Fort Worth. We had been there the week before and had a lovely time, going about 13 miles. This time, I decided we should try for 18 miles--9 there and 9 back. The first half was fantastic, though I do have a terribly difficult time going up ramps. On the way back, we had gone about... oh 3 or 4 miles when some people passed on the left. They let me know they were passing, but I still panicked and ended up going off the pavement. Now, this happened when we were alongside the river, the bank appeared steep and I started panicking some more. The people who were going to pass were yelling at me to stay off the concrete but all I could think of was the terrific splash I'd make when I fell into the river and decided, heck, I should go on the concrete. I did not make it, to say the least and have assorted injuries to show for my lapse in judgement. A bump and bruise on my head (though the helmet did the job it was made for and kept me from, you know, dying), some scrapes on my hip and shoulder, a few cuts on my hands, a scrape on my elbow, three giant scrapes on my knee--two on the left and one on the right and what is probably a bruised rib and what I believe is at least a cracked toe on my left foot. My neck has been sore, my side has been sore, it hurts to laugh or cough, and I walk with a limp.
But the worst has been the knees.
So far, Tegaderm, Johnson and Johnson Advanced Healing Bandages and nonstick gauze with plenty of Neosporin has been tried. The Tegaderm has been the most effective, but unfortunately, since the little skinless patches of flesh tend to leak constantly, the Tegaderm falls off. The Johnson and Johnson bandages were applied next and they soak up whatever it is that's oozing out of my bared flesh, but they also fall off easily. The nonstick gauze? NOT NONSTICK. I saw that one was peeling off and when I looked closer, saw that it was stuck to the wound it had explicitly promised not to stick to. I went ahead and took all the pads off and they had all stuck to my skin (or lack thereof). Pulling it off resulted in pulling off little bits and pieces. It hurt. It hurt a lot.
So right now I have made do with a combination of all three and will probably end up going to the store for something else tomorrow, which goes against my original plan to stay in bed all day and hope that my knees magically regrew skin by Tuesday. It's been two days, is that so much to ask?
Saturday, July 02, 2011
Ow.
Skein of skin is all too few to keep me from you.
Unable to sleep, due to upstairs neighbors stomping around as well as upstairs neighbor's dogs stomping around. I've had this song in my head all day since driving home and hearing it on the radio. Or rather, on the CD that I burned that I listen to so that's kind of like being on the radio?
Anyway, I love love love the Decemberists. I got to see them in concert a few months ago, and hope to see them in concert again and again. Just like I like reading books over and over. And watching episodes of Spongebob Squarepants even though I've seen them maybe a dozen times already.
Can you blame me? Patrick Star is awesome. And that Gary... so wry.
Anyway, I love love love the Decemberists. I got to see them in concert a few months ago, and hope to see them in concert again and again. Just like I like reading books over and over. And watching episodes of Spongebob Squarepants even though I've seen them maybe a dozen times already.
Can you blame me? Patrick Star is awesome. And that Gary... so wry.
Heart-carved tree trunk, Yankee bayonet, a sweetheart left behind
far from the hills of the sea-swelled Carolinas.
That's where my true love lies
Look for me when the sun-bright swallow sings upon the birch bough high.
But you are in the ground with the wolves and the weevils all a'chew upon your bones so dry.
But when the sun breaks to no more bullets in Battlecreek.
Then will you make a grave? For I will be home then. Then...
When I was a girl how the hills of Oconee made a seam to hem me in.
There at the fair when our eyes caught, careless, got my heart right pierced by a pin.
But oh, did you see all the dead of Manassas--all the bellies and the bones and the bile?
No, I lingered here with the blankets barren and my own belly big with child.
But when the sun breaks to no more bullets in Battlecreek.
Then will you make a grave? For I will be home then. Then...
Stems and bones and stone walls, too, could keep me from you.
Skein of skin is all too few to keep me from you
But oh, my love, though our bodies may be parted, though our skin may not touch skin.
Look for me with the sun-bright sparrow.
I will come on the breath of the wind.
Yankee Bayonet
Decemberists
far from the hills of the sea-swelled Carolinas.
That's where my true love lies
Look for me when the sun-bright swallow sings upon the birch bough high.
But you are in the ground with the wolves and the weevils all a'chew upon your bones so dry.
But when the sun breaks to no more bullets in Battlecreek.
Then will you make a grave? For I will be home then. Then...
When I was a girl how the hills of Oconee made a seam to hem me in.
There at the fair when our eyes caught, careless, got my heart right pierced by a pin.
But oh, did you see all the dead of Manassas--all the bellies and the bones and the bile?
No, I lingered here with the blankets barren and my own belly big with child.
But when the sun breaks to no more bullets in Battlecreek.
Then will you make a grave? For I will be home then. Then...
Stems and bones and stone walls, too, could keep me from you.
Skein of skin is all too few to keep me from you
But oh, my love, though our bodies may be parted, though our skin may not touch skin.
Look for me with the sun-bright sparrow.
I will come on the breath of the wind.
Yankee Bayonet
Decemberists
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