Where I miss my blogging

So, I miss things around here. Blogging is far more than an electronic journal for me – it’s a community. I post, but I also read – and with that reading, I comment, and I start up conversations, and that gives me more ideas for what to post. When blogging is at its best, it’s a zero-effort exercise – it may be online, and it may involve a lot of typing, but it’s just a great big cocktail party on the Interwebs. And, at any good cocktail party, every now & then, it’s your turn to tell a story . . . and that’s what these posts are.

Only, well, life has gotten in the way of attending said party, lately. And that’s no fun – but it’s not all bad, either.

And yes, I chose the word “cocktail” because it makes me giggle.

So, what’s been going on?

• The babies are getting bigger – like, far too fucking big. They’re kids, they’re not babies. It’s bullshit.
• I’ve cut my workouts way back from where they were – but I have a newfound focus. I’m running & cycling less, but lifting more, and, when I lift, I’m lifting heavier. Until my shoulder injury (see next bullet), I was committed to the Strong Lifts program — I’m still logging every bite of food I eat, but my weight has regulated and, well, my body is getting better.
• Just before heading out to my cousin’s wedding, my right shoulder started hurting — I can’t point to any specific incident, but I’m a fucking human jungle gym, so there are several dozen points during the day where I can be injured. Anyway, I thought I just slept funny. But a 10 hour road trip didn’t help. And, in the hotel pool, I found that I couldn’t extend my arm to swim. And then, putting on a suit jacket actually hurt. And then 10 hour road trip back left my arm still “hurty.” And then I went to the doctor — and we decided that a cortisone injection was warranted — but, when the injection started, the steroid wouldn’t enter the joint — there’s too much scar tissue in there. So, I’m on a diet of high-dose ibuprofen and ice, and looking at a likely orthopedic consult some time in the very near future.
• The biggest issue with the shoulder is that I’m no longer doing push-ups every day — I was having fun, finding a few minutes here & there, to push out a couple of sets in empty conference rooms, while at the office.
• I went camping with the family and found that peanut oil will congeal in very cold temperatures. And that my kids are absolutely not afraid of snakes.
• My when-I-was-a-child babysitter’s daughter is suffering from Diffuse Intrinsic Pontine Glioma, and I’m going “home” over the weekend to attend a benefit party) with the kids. Part of me is very afraid to really travel with the kids (I’m going somewhere, voluntarily, where they outnumber me!), and part of me is excited for the adventure. Just like part of me is afraid to see old high school friends that I haven’t seen in years — but a bigger part of me is excited to catch up.
• Choir just wrapped up for the summer, meaning that I may actually be able to start sleeping in on Sundays. Or, I may actually be able to put in a little bit of extra time doing yard work. I wish I was better at sleeping.
• I ran a half-marathon before work last Wednesday, and I’m thinking about trying to maintain the practice, once a week, every week. While I’ve cut back on the amount of time I spend working out, there is nothing that allows me to collect my thoughts like a good, hard run.
• We’re entering the time of year where there are races left & right, and it’s really, really hard to not sign up for everything.
• I’m wickedly excited for my vacation at the beach. In the two weeks prior, I have tech week for 9-5 , where I’m playing bass in the pit (meaning rehearsals every night), a weekend of performances of 9-5, a “Pops” concert with the West Shore Symphony Orchestra, and then practice & a gig with Landslide, my classic rock band. All of this, of course, is on top of my work schedule & being a father to two rather rambunctious kids. By the time I get to the beach house, I’m going to drop. But I’ll be in the sun with a beer in my hand, so all will be just fine.