Phoenix Rising

Today, something exciting, in the sense of ‘whoa!’ happened.

Austin had a friend over, and the three kids (Serena, Austin and Katherine) were tromping around the house playing with the dog.  I’m sitting in the living room nursing a sore shoulder, and Laurette is upstairs cleaning Serena’s closet out of old clothes.

The three kids are in the room next to me, in my sight, when I hear a loud CRASH.  I immediately look over at the kids who all say “NOT US!” (well, effectively).  I can verify this, because they were in my sight when it happened.  So, I think la femme is hurt, so I start to get up, when she comes downstairs and says ‘uh, was that you?’

Well, no.  The Snow-pocalypse left a metric shitton of snow on the roof.  This of course melts slowly, which leaves these lovely icicles on the back gutter.  Which can’t quite handle the weight.  Which decides to detach itself from the roof and smash down on the supporting framework for our patio awning.

Hello, insurance claim!

Well, been a while, so here it is:

1>  I have kind of failed to do the photo thing I posted about a while back.  Still there, just on the back burner.  Fill in the excuse you like.

2>  Now that it’s been announced, I can talk about my new short-term Directing gig at Pendant.  The director AND assistant director for Umket Industries Presents: The Dixie Stenberg and Brassy Battalion Adventure Theatre both had to step down as of the end of episode 44, and I’m taking over as primary director, with assistance from Bruce B.  The show is ending as of Episode 50, so I’ll only have 6 episodes to direct (45-50).  Ought to be fun.

3>  Work is becoming challenging for me, because I’m doing more client-facing stuff.  Our current client…needs some direction, and we’re providing that, and I think my boss is attempting to get me in a state where I can manage the process myself so that the QA department (such as it is) is independent of his interference.  I think that’s a long way away, but an excellent goal.

4>  I think I need to do a sleep study, as I really have a shitty sleeping experience.  I’m always tired, and it’s long been at the point where I feel like I should have gotten enough sleep, but I am still tired every day.  Between deviated septum and fat, my snoring is probably getting worse and waking me up (or is a symptom that I have apnea).  I just hate doctors, so am putting that off far longer than I should.

Anyway.

project!

My current list of songs:

rosindust: Butthole Surfers - The Shah Sleeps In Lee Harvey’s Grave
shumashi: The Clash - Rudy Can’t Fail
lordjulius: Gregorian Chant - Victimae Paschali Laudes
ScottyV: John Williams - Superman Theme
TrinaS: Moondance (no specific artist mentioned)
Zarobi: INXS - Need You Tonight
traceracer: The Replacements: Achin’ to be
Basia: XTC - Senses Working Overtime
NathanF: Russ Childers - (Stop) Kickin’ My Dog Around
TinaT: 2Live Crew - Back at Your A$$ For The Nine-4 (I hope I’m interpreting the title correctly!)
Carneggy: The Magic Number (no specific artist mentioned)

Some interesting choices there. I haven’t heard most of ‘em, so I’ll have to go digging around the intartubes to get a hold of the songs.

But keep giving me songs! And, Z, fuck you.

OK, now that I have a camera on my phone that isn’t horrible, I have a project for myself, which YOU can help with! Give me a song title, and I’ll take a picture that is in SOME way associated with that song. I don’t care what the song title is, and you’ll just have to trust that I’m making SOME association. My goal is to do one a day, and I’ll post links to the photos as I take them and upload ‘em. And, I don’t promise they’ll be any good either. But it may be interesting all the same.

Crossposting this to Facebook to generate more song titles, too.

If you’re interested in Google Wave, do not have access to it, and want an invite, I have 16 available.

Less satisfying than I was hoping for, really. The doctor told me “stretch more, you should reduce the amount of clicking you’re hearing. If it’s still a problem after a month of stretching regularly, come back in, we’ll do an MRI.” and “It’s probably not a sports hernia, but may in fact be a regular old hernia. If it is still bad in a month, go see a surgeon who knows what to look for.” So, I’m not going under the knife after all.

It’s early September. The official soccer season is over for us old farts, and it’s the first week of ‘pickup’ soccer, where everyone who wants to gets together to play soccer. We have about 15 players per side, all of them on the field. It’s a bit crowded, to say the least. But, I’m not really THAT tested as the goalie. We play for about 2 or 3 hours. About 30 min before we’re done, I feel this pinch in my right hip, about halfway between my groin and the outside of my hip. At the time, I think nothing of it. But it keeps hurting for longer than it should. And when I sneeze and cough, it hurts too. So, I figure it’s a sports hernia, the initial treatment for which is “Don’t do that again.” for a while. Well, it’s been 2 months, and I still have some pain there. Probably a sign.

Also, two weekends ago, I went for a day event with the cub scouts, where there was a lot of hiking, and then the next day did a swim meet where I was standing on a pool deck for about 8 hours, give or take. Since those two events, when I climb stairs, I hear a loud *click* in my right knee when I climb stairs. This is new behaviour.

So, I have an appointment on Friday to talk to an Orthopaedic doctor (with the same last name as me, no less) about these two issues. I expect I’ll be under the knife within the month.

OK, the healthcare industry said that if the health care bill passes, premiums will go up by 110% within the next 10 years. All the “progressive” pundits seem to be missing is this:

A> NO SHIT premiums will go up. Every healthcare insurance company is gonna rake in all the profits while they can.

B> When premiums go up due to A>, everyone who wants to kill this bill is going to say, “LOOK WHAT HAPPENED, KILL THE BILL!” when it’s clear it’s bullshit political maneuvering.

Of course, the bill is flawed, but that’s not really the subject of this post.

My son had a choice on how to do his book report this month. One of the choices was ‘Radio Drama’ so he immediately chose that option, and then consulted with me as to how to do it. So I talked him through the process. Here it is:

Audio Teaser