Dying in your thirties or forties?
“Tragic.”Fifties?
“Such a shame.”Sixties?
“Too soon.”Seventies?
“A good run.”Eighties?
“A life well lived.”Nineties?
“Hell of a ride.”
Axe and Wags indulging in a bit of smart, cynical, light-hearted banter, probably mixed with a hint of gallows humour, while standing at Wags’ future burial spot – Billions S03E04
A long long time ago
I can still remember how
That music used to make me smile
That’s how I wake up every day – listening to the first few verses of Don McLean’s American Pie.
I have three alarms set within 15 mins. The first one is set to American Pie, the second one is that horrible default alarm tone, and the third one is Sigrid’s Everybody knows from Justice League OST. I never get to the third one.
On Saturday, I tried to climb a slippery tree, while at Virginia Water lake. I slipped and fell. The left foot landed partly on an exposed root, twisted, and went under me. I heard a crack, and feared the worst.
It wasn’t the worst1. I was able to manage, in severe pain, to hobble another 2+ miles around the lake, back to the car. The ankle was badly swollen, and the whole area was a mix of blue, black and red by the next morning. Still, I did all the right things – RICE – and it started to recover.
I saw the GP today morning, and he confirmed that it looked like a bad ankle sprain, and not a fracture of any sort. Still, he ruled out running for at least a month. He did allow swimming, as long as I don’t kick much.
Later in the evening, I was playing with the boys in the backyard. It rather, a boy was playing. Duds was enjoying chewing on the antler while lying on the grass. I was standing at one end, chucking the ball, while Chewie was enjoying catching and fetching it.
Once, the ball landed close to Duds, and he grabbed it before Chewie. He then placed it between his elbows, and went back to chewing on the antler. Chewie, the wuss, refused to get the ball back from him, so I had to go get it myself.
I was lazy. I didn’t want to walk a few extra steps to get on to the grass softly, so I went in where the drop from patio to the grass is 3 feet. The left foot was injured, so I went in with the right foot.
The drop was higher than I’d expected. My left foot was less stable than I’d hoped for. The ground under the grass was less even than I’d planned for. My right foot twisted, the ankle gave way, and I was down on my bum, about to roll down another 3 foot drop on my back. The rose bushes stopped my rolling, and saved me.
They couldn’t save my right foot.
I now have two hurting ankles. One swollen, but recovering. The other paining more, but not yet swollen.
Spent the evening cursing myself. Over and over and over. It wasn’t enough!
I’d planned to do a short walk tonight. Then to short walks tomorrow, a longer walk on Friday, and a swim on Saturday.
And here I am now – crepe bandage on one ankle, and an ice pack on the other 🙁
Idiot, idiot me! 😡
In a series based around two big, super smart egos, and many swinging dix, she is the boss.
Love her.
Sitting under the table to catch any droppings from my lunch.
Came and lay down under my bum while my leg was in the air as I stretched the hamstring. Chewie happily hugged the other leg (one on the ground), and lay down. (TK the drawing)
Gave them antlers to chew on, so I could stretch in peace. Since Duds didn’t have his bed here, the boys got cosy on Chewie’s bed. Happy 15 mins of chewing for them, and peaceful stretching for me.
Later, while I groomed Tango, Duds picked up the small antler and came to us. He’d tried to hide it in his mouth, so his mouth was swollen up, with a tiny bit of the antler poking out. Reminded me of my own childhood – fluffy cheeks with rasgullas stuffed in them 😁
I gave both the boys carrot batons while they were waiting for lunch. Duds ate his, but Chewie took one bite and spat his out. He wanted the good stuff – his salmon kibble. Before I could react, Duds went over, and gobbled up the carrot Chewie had just spat out. True Labrador!
Late in the evening, Duds quietly pointed at the freezer with his nose a few times. He wanted his Kong dessert early, so he could have it, and still return home for the night 🙂
I run, I swim, I practice yoga and pilates, and I spin & bike.
I do this to stay fit. Everyone understands that.
Few understand that these workouts are far more important to my mental health, than to my physical health. I may survive physically without these workouts – unfit, but alive. I’m not sure I’d survive mentally.
That is why I preach. Not for the physical benefits, but for the mental.
(Exercise) it’s distracting. And, distraction is a universal human motivator.
Alex, in Casual
P.S.: I’m not working out today, and am bored the heck out!
The human brain is so easy to fool – just mix up absolutes and relatives.
I use Oral-B’s electric toothbrush with the CrossAction brush heads. Last week, I noticed that the brush head had worn out, and we’d run out of replacement stock at home. We still had an unopened Pro White (teeth whitening) brush head that came with the toothbrush, so I started using it. I also ordered an 8 pack of CrossAction brush heads off Amazon.
I’d been using the new brush head for a week when got this niggling feeling that maybe using a whitening brush head daily isn’t that good for my teeth. What if it was hurting the enamel or some such thing? (I’m no dentist!)
So, I opened one of the new Cross Action brush heads as well, and started alternating between the two. At the same time, I (re)started brushing teeth twice a day. In the morning, I’d brush with the whitening brush heads as before, and in the evening with the new Cross Action brush heads.
Of course, in absolute terms, I’m still using it at the same frequency as before. So, if there was any damage being done by it, it’s still being done at the same rate. But by looking at it relatively, I’m only using it half the time. So, it makes me feel good.
We, humans, understand relatives easily, and are pretty rubbish at absolutes (or at least it takes an effort). This makes the mixing of absolutes and relatives as one of the most common ways to fool us – something that marketers and politicians employ quite well.
And when there’s no marketers and politicians, we fool ourselves. With toothbrush heads.
100 consecutive days of learning Spanish on Duolingo.
100 consecutive days of climbing at least 10 floors1 a day. Average daily floors climbed over the period: 33.
100 consecutive days of recording weight (Google forms) and food intake (Myfitnesspal).
100 consecutive days feels like a good number to celebrate streaks.
