Seems to be working.

Wednesday, January 24, 2007

“Oh wad some power the giftie gie us to see oursel's as others see us! It wad frae monie a blunder free us, and foolish notion.”

So, I'd been taking it easy because my leg hurt. I don't really feel pain on the whole, so my pain response is largely psychosomatic either in terms of blocking pain or creating it and it's difficult for me to accurately guess how much pain I really am in — I don't really know. Either way, I can deal with unlimited pain if I believe I can, and I can't deal with minor pain if I believe I can't. So anyway, this cut through the muscle was a new kind of pain for me, so I didn't really know what was “permitted” and what was not… like… was my body “warning” me that I was about to damage it, or was I just sore?

Anyway, after my doctor told me that if I could handle it, I could do it, and that there wasn't really any way within reason I was going to cause damage, I just went full-on at it… I've been out driving, running errands, doing carpentry, programming, running around, taking walks, whatever I feel like. I'm not going to tell you that I'm not pretty sore and swollen, but I will also tell you that it feels great not to be cooped up any more. I don't like just lying around!

Other than that, I know Robbie Burns day isn't officially until tomorrow, but I went out today and celebrated by eating haggis (and I think Michael is actually at a lodge right now reading a poem about haggis). I'm not joking by the way — I grew up in small town Ontario and Robbie Burns Day is very much a real holiday as far as I'm concerned. I have to go downtown tomorrow, maybe I'll take a photo of the statue in Allan Gardens while I'm there.

My heart's in the Highlands, my heart is not here,
My heart's in the Highlands, a-chasing the deer;
Chasing the wild-deer, and following the roe,
My heart's in the Highlands, wherever I go.

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You can look him up in the dictionary!

Wednesday, January 24, 2007

Not that it's a perfect job or anything, but I had a lot of fun with the photoshopping for this ModBlog entry (you can click through for the entry, and then click through again for the original picture):

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You asked for it!

Tuesday, January 23, 2007

Sorry I've been offline — I made the mistake of seeing if the dual boot on my Ubuntu laptop (to XP) worked. Well, XP loaded just fine, but somehow in the process destroyed the boot sector and both OSs along with it. But it's back now (as a Windows machine for the time being) and I'm back at work. Big image update last night, and I'm putting together experiences right now, and ModBlog's been updated, and tomorrow I'll be able to do the form for the year end award addresses and all that.

I finally got a call late afternoon today from my surgeon because I've been concerned as to what's normal, what's not, and so on (seriously folks, the body piercing industry's knowlege in terms of its accessibility to clients as aftercare sheets, in depth explanations online and offline, and so on, is vastly superior to what I've experienced in all sectors of the medical community other than maybe mental health and addiction centres) — as much as I appreciate the mini-sadhu experience of going a week without straightening your leg, I'd rather not do that right now. Anyway, I described the various things I'm experiencing to my doctor and he said they were all within the range of normal but he was a little concerned that I wasn't walking fully and thought rehab might be required.

I told him I didn't want rehab because I prefer DIY solutions — I just wanted his permission to do stretches and otherwise be active (because no one had told me where to draw the line pain-wise — I don't know if it's perfectly acceptable to do a stretch on a muscle that's been cut through and is thus painful to fully extend). He told me I had to wait until after I see him next week for the followup before I actually go back to the gym proper, but that until then I was welcome to stretch and exercise the leg, and shouldn't worry unless there are either signs of infection (which there are not) or constant elevated pain (not really — the only really painful thing right now is this sort of phantom nerve thing that happens up my shin if I do any sideways motions with my knee).

So yeah, I hate just lying around, computer or not, so I'm pretty glad to have permission to hurt myself a bit. Definitely I'd rather be sore than bored. And as I understand my genetic code, attacking Larratts with cancer tends to make them stronger and crazier rather than weaker and more submissive to the darker twists of luck. Other than that, I have an idea for a BME shirt that I'm going to draw up in about half an hour while the experience update is building.

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Another day, another painting

Monday, January 22, 2007

I think my leg is getting better on the whole because it doesn't really hurt particularly badly (I hope I haven't just gotten used to it) other than the occasional shooting pain down my shin (like a nerve pinch sort of feeling). That said, it's still kind of swollen and I'm still missing most of the sensation in the left half. So I don't know. Until I crack a temperature or something like that I'm not stressing it, although I hope it hurries up because it's very boring not being able to walk quickly or particularly far.

I'm changing the dressing after I post this so maybe I'll post a shot of the bruised up incision.

I finally finished off that painting, which Nefarious sketched for me something like six months ago. I took a few pictures along the way (not on a tripod and with lighting that's different in every shot, oops), and made a video… You can watch the YouTube version below, or download a high-res WMV if you'd like.

That painting was a present for Jon (which reminds me, if you haven't already, check out the article on Jon's site that Adam wrote about catching and eating fresh fugu in Japan) because he's been helping me like crazy what with the gimpiness and all, and next (I'm catching up on presents long promised!) one we're wonding on is actually a triptych of the three sons of Hypnos, the Oneiroi — Morpheus, Phobetor, and Phantasos (that's for Saira and Michael). I've decided from now on to start framing all my paintings as well because they look so much nicer… I still have to frame this one. I'll post a final shot of it when I do.
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About 75% complete

Saturday, January 20, 2007

My leg felt a lot better today so I blasted through putting the undercoat on a painting that Nefarious sketched (on that canvas, at full size) for me something like six months ago — maybe not such a good idea because my leg, while not particularly in pain, is very swollen now. The incision is healthy looking and has no discharge or anything else that's a bad sign. I'll probably finish this painting tomorrow, but here it is about 75% done — it's not lined yet in this photo, and some of the colors may still change.

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