other weekend notes

1.

I may not have been forthcoming to my friends, my loved ones, and my readers here as to how much my shoulder actually hurts sometimes. Sometimes, not all the time. Well, OK, it hurts all the time, really, or at least every day. Sometimes it's just sore and tender when touched, and sometimes it's tight and achy and twingy and horrible.

This weekend (well, Saturday), it was the latter.

So, I bought a heating pad. And I started on some upper body exercises again. And I'm working on going back to regular massage.

For Mother's Day, I called my Mom (whose birthday is today!) and asked her about her history with heating pads. She used to use one all the time, but I couldn't remember why. Turns out it was for a stiff neck. "Try changing your chair," Mom told me. I told her that I'd switched chairs with the job, and switched chairs at home, and it didn't seem to help. Which brings us to our next point.

My shoulder has hurt on and off for almost as long as I have been an adult. It got worse when I went back to work full-time, and I took a short course in physical therapy which helped relieve the pain (and gave me tools for future relief) but not resolve it. There's something weirdly wrong with my body posture such that I carry my left shoulder higher than my right naturally, and while I am trying to retrain myself the results are middling. So some of the reason I don't talk about it all the time is precisely because it's there *all the time*, and it never resolves, so what's the point of mentioning it now?

Anyway, the heating pad did wonders and I hurt hardly at all on Sunday.

Also, sometimes when I seem vaguely irritated, I might just be in pain. Remember, hurts all the time.

I promise to talk to my new doctor about this (again) when I finally have a new doctor.

I cried a little while I was sitting on the heating pad, because it was such a relief.


2.

Instead of shoulder pain, I had a migraine on Sunday.

Migraines I don't mind so much, because if I hold still they don't hurt, plus they tend to go away. Eventually.

I'm glad this one did, so I could spend some time in the sun and seeing a friend. I am sad that it made me miss smashing things, though. Well, OK, I chose to miss smashing things because I thought it would be prudent.

I think the migraines are the result of allergies plus braces. I hate these rubber bands, man, with a passion.


3.

I would like a make-up weekend, please.


4.

Good weekend things include:

The shrimp and snap pea stir-fry I made for Sunday dinner was tasty. I added marmalade and black bean garlic sauce as seasonings. It ended up neither as tart nor as sweet as I expected, but that's OK.

I have surprise cheeses in my fridge.

I made strawberry shortcake for dinner on Saturday (not dessert, just dinner). The lads say they couldn't tell the difference, but I threw out the old baking powder and bought a new tin, and I think it made a difference in terms of tenderness. Also, I added a little bit of vanilla to the whipped cream this time, and that was quite nice. I'm having fun just cutting the shortcakes into different shapes instead of using a biscuit cutter (which I don't have, I use a can or a drinking glass). Also, the dough is fun to pat out (see cooking, hands, below) and also a good metaphor and thus a palpable reminder for my writing process.

The heating pads are stored right above the vibrators at the drug store. I swear. there was even a Pocket Rocket.

The weather was glorious and I got to walk around in it twice: farmer's market on Saturday and Mission-Dolores on Sunday.

I have a new bead in my earring, and two new earrings on order so that I can match soon. The bead was free. Also, it was hard not to contemplate new holes in my body. Not sure what that's about. I'm having ink cravings too.

A bunch of white irises so gorgeous, I got complimented on them just carrying them home from the market.

I set up the barbell and got the pad out of the closet. My wrists as well as my shoulder are going to appreciate the attention, I can already tell.

My nasturtiums are coming up.

(no subject)

OK, so I'm still kinda made at Jason Curious for that awful poll he posted a little while back, but here, he nails it on the head (link NSFW):

"No one had anything to say about gay porn stud Roman Ragazzi's performance as an Israeli consulate until now. How his being gay and having sex on camera has anything to do with how well he performs his job I am not sure, but it really says something about our culture.

We can't deal with anything outside compartmentalization.

A slut can't be anything other than a slut."

And, apparently, a gay porn performer shouldn't have a day job. Or a real life. Certainly not a private one.

You all understand why I'm a little tweaked about this whole "scandal," right?

P.S.: GayVN reports that "Roman Ragazzi will be available to meet fans at IML in Chicago (May 26) and at Gay Pride in San Francisco (June 24)." Hm. Maybe I should try to score an interview...

(no subject)

Monday morning script flipping.

I like the fact that Salt and Pepa's hairstyles are mirror images of each other, especially after running into three girls on BART with the exact same ponytail-to-the-left on Friday night. Mirror images are cooler than pure symmetry. Just sayin'.

It's also interesting to note how natural and casual the ladies look. But what the heck is hanging off of the back of that dress in the opening?

P.S.

I knew there was a reason I kept ahold of all those Russian books.