Good Pain

So last week I mentioned that I have some significant pains in my back. Over the past week I’ve deliberated to myself, to friends, to co-workers, and to anyone who would listen as to what I should do. The choices came down to going to the doctor, having a massage, or doing nothing and waiting for the pain to go away on it’s own (or until I was so accustom to it that I didn’t notice it anymore). After enough discussion to annoy everyone (myself included) I decided to have a massage. As luck would have it, a friend of mine that lives in the neighborhood is a certified massage therapist. I gave her a call and scheduled an hour of what I intended to be an intense relaxing of my muscles.

At this point I need to mention that I’ve never had a real massage. I wasn’t entirely sure what to expect but I figured it would involve me on a table getting karate chopped across my back. Lucky for me, that’s not what happened. What actually happened was an hour of pain in areas that I didn’t know could have pain, and it was incredible.

It’s only been about an hour and a half since things wrapped up and it’s safe to say that I feel like pudding. My head is dizzy, I’m having trouble walking, and I can barely keep my eyes open. My muscles are kind of twitchy and it seems like I might fall over at any moment. It’s like I’m disconnected from my body. I guess I’ll need to wait a little while before I know if it did any good but at this point I don’t really care. It was so worth it and I’m fairly certain I’ll be scheduling another beating soon.

Death by Wood Stove

This has been an interesting week for me with many epiphanies occurring. Some have been personal, some professional, but the most significant one is about me and my future plans for greatness. As I’ve mentioned before, I’ve thought about being a lumberjack (of sorts) where I go out into the forest every year and cut wood to be used as fuel to heat my house. Well, this past week may have slightly altered those plans.

First, I have to say, I really do enjoy my wood stove. It provides a ridiculous amount of heat and does a decent job keeping my house relatively warm (at least by my standards). The big drawback, however, is getting wood from the backyard into the basement where the stove is located. My current method of lumber delivery is to load up my arms with timber, walk down the outside steps, and stack everything next to the stove. It’s not the most convenient method but it’s the best I have right now. Well, this past week I realized a significant flaw in my system.

The day after transporting the requisite load of oak to get me through the week, I noticed a bit of discomfort in my lower back. In this instance, when I say discomfort, I really mean excruciating pain the causes me to lose the ability to bend at the waist. To make matters worse, a giant knot decided to form in the middle of my back as well. It’s like someone is beating me about the back with a broomstick only this broomstick is made out of pointy rocks and sized for a twenty foot tall person. Apparently my method of wood delivery may not be the most forgiving on my joints and muscles.

You would think I’d take this as a sign and do something about it. Well, you’d be wrong. I continue to use my current and foolish method to bring firewood into the house. I know I’m not doing myself any favors but I don’t want my house to freeze. It’s a vicious cycle and the outdoor temperatures aren’t getting north of about twenty. My new plan for heating the house is to hope for an early spring (not you Spring, the season).

101 Faces

Last night I finally had the world premiere of my little movie. Since the show is only about five and a half minutes long, I decided to have a pseudo housewarming in conjunction with the screening. I’ve been in my house now for almost two years and haven’t had any kind of shin-dig so I thought it was a good idea to combine the two events into one big super event.

So here’s how it all went down. The red carpet was rolled out and like all good movie openings, the paparazzi were swarming the house making it difficult for people to get through the door. Fortunately I made sure to have ample security and velvet ropes allowing easy access for the celebrities that were attending. The first guests arrived about seven thirty and merriment ensued for several hours before the big event. I made sure to have plenty of food and drink so people would be fat and happy to hedge my bets for a successful evening.

I think overall the screening was a hit. People laughed, some cried, and I was told it was better than Cats. I guess in a perfect world I would have had a giant studio to do all the professional style editing and end up with a bonzer production that would launch my career as a movie executive (because I’m clearly not going anywhere with my mountain biking career). Since I didn’t have any of that and given the circumstances under which I was working to finish the flick, I’d have to say I’m happy with the way it turned out. I may still go back and do some additional tweaking, but for now, it’s finished and that’s the most important part for me.

Cool Breeze

Well, it’s happened again. I’ve decided to embark upon a new adventure sport that will inevitably cost me money, time, and some damage to myself during the learning curve. So you’ve heard me talk about the fact that I want to be a surfer but don’t like getting the crap kicked out of me as I use all my energy to inadequately paddle out beyond the break. Well, thanks to Mother Nature (and I have to assume others like me), I don’t have to worry about paddling anymore. I’m going to make an attempt (for better or worse) at becoming a kite surfer.

That’s right, I’m going to become a kite surfer (maybe). I plan to attach a massive sheet of material to my body by 80 foot long cords, let the wind pull on it with gobs of force while standing on a version of a surf board, and hope that I don’t get skipped across the water like a rag doll. How could any of this be a bad idea?

I’ve seen plenty of kite surfers in my day on various trips to the coasts but never really thought much about it. Then, this summer, while on a vacation at the beach, I met a few guys that were kiting around and that’s when I began to realize just how much fun it could be and how easily they moved around in the water, not just making shuttle runs. Granted, these were seasoned veterans of the sport but still, it seemed to be just the ticket I needed to get me out of the spin cycle and actually surf (kind of).

At a recent New Year’s Eve party, I was talking with a friend who is an experienced kite surfer and has even made his own board. He gave me a few tips on the gear I would need to get started. Then, a few days later, he sent me some interweb links to trainer kites that would help me learn to fly and get comfortable on the kite without dropping a pile of money or ripping my arms from my body or slamming me into the side of a building.

So last week I ordered a three meter kite that should arrive sometime in the coming week. I’m both excited and apprehensive about this but either way I think it will be a barrel of fun. Of course in the near future I might also be looking on the interweb for some additional medical insurance.

World Premiere

For the avid readers of this little distraction I call my blog, you may recall that several months ago I did a little mountain bike race. While I was pedaling along through the woods exploring pain thresholds that I didn’t know existed, I was also working on a movie. See, I had a camera mounted on the stem of my bike and I was taking pictures of myself every minute of the day. My plan was to take all the pictures, throw in some video, and end up with a movie that chronicled my day.

Well, after several months of editing and finding a computer that could process all the high definition video and photos (thanks Cathy), I have finally completed my little attempt at cinematic history and managed to finish it before the end of the year. Granted, it’s not going to set the world on fire with its quality or topic matter, but it turned out to be fairly okay. Of course most of the movie is ending credits, but I wanted to make sure everyone got their props.

While I would like to post the video here or provide a link to where it can be found, that’s not going to happen, at least not yet. First, I plan to have an opening night gala with full-on pomp and circumstance to debut the six minutes of mountain biking bliss. After all, the whole point of being a film maker is to skew reality and give people a perspective that may or may not be true. Besides, what other reason would I have for making a movie that is all about me?