WNBP: Wednesday's Back!

Greetings, All!  I trust this Wednesday night finds you well and happy.  It's sometimes hard to believe how quickly midweek rolls around.  Why it feels like only a scant seven days ago, I was sitting right in this very spot and blathering on about whatever nonsense was occurring around me.

Funny thing, time...

Any-hoo, I guess it's time once again to run through the week's events in bullet point format.  Let's see where we end up on this particular W-day!

*I make no promises about blog length tonight.

*It's not so much lack of motivation or material as it is lack of chair stamina.

*Can't sit for too long.  Or lie down.  I can stand pretty darned good, but that gets kind of tiring after a few hours.

*My back hurts.  It started aching last week and I thought, "Oh, woe is me!  For I am surely the most pathetic and put upon creature in the world what with this aching back of mine!"

*Yesterday it felt better.  And I rejoiced for no one likes an aching back.

*And then, right there in front of the microwave, breakfast paraphernalia and various cats scattered about...

*I sneezed.

*I would like to take this opportunity to apologize to anyone who has ever had lower back pain.

*Deeply and sincerely apologize.  I'll grovel and weep if you'd like.

*Because if I ever compared my occasional lower back pain to actual, honest-to-god Pain, I am now truly humbled.

*One sneeze.  That was all it took.  Suddenly, I was seized with a pain unlike anything I have ever experienced.

*Driving to work was fun.

*Not.

*I moved the stupid seat into about fifty different positions before I found one that didn't make my back scream and my feet go numb.

*I was relieved when I took the last right turn towards my school.  Until I realized how one's body reacts to right turns in the car.

*It tries to use its core muscles to remain upright and not go sailing into the car window.

*Which hurts a lot if you've managed to tweak your back.

*And how did I tweak my back, you may ask?

*Picking up my cell phone.  Turning to the left and reaching for an item that weighs less than an apple.

*This will be funny someday.  Not now.  But someday...

*Back is markedly better today.  I know because I don't suddenly find myself wheezing, wincing and squealing every time I perform some mundane action that I never really thought about until my back got all old and dysfunctional.

*We've had several weird things happen at school this year.  The staff has taken to naming some of the bigger ones to save time should we need to reference those days.

*For example, the day of the gas leak is now referred to as Gasoline Friday.

*I've heard the day when the powers that be failed to notify people that the school was having a two hour delay due to the black ice as Bus-capades.

*Lots of late buses sliding about and trying to capture children who didn't know the day's school schedule.

*I hope that name catches on.  I rather like it...

*We don't have a name for last Friday, though.

*No one has the heart to make light of the meeting where we learned of the effects our governor's recent curtailment order will have on our staff and students.

*The governor is not a fan of public schools.  Not by a long shot.  Nor is he particularly tactful about it.

*Which is why no one was particularly surprised that the state's schools took a fairly hard hit when Daddy stopped handing out the allowance money he promised.

*Programs are shut down.  Positions are going unfilled and we anticipate around thirty or so layoffs within the next month to cover the monies we thought we were getting but aren't.

*I liken Mr. Governor's attitude towards school reform to the guy with the car that needs some work.

*Instead of performing routine maintenance and replacing the worn parts, he drains all but six drops of oil, lets the air out of three tires, dribbles water in the gas tank and keys his doors.

*Then he drives the car to its breaking point through the driest desert at high noon and, as a final measure of disdain, smashes it with a sledgehammer a few times.

*Finally, he points to the car and says, "See?  I told you it was a piece of crap.  I want a new one."

*Yeah.  It's kind of like that.

*I am a delightful person and a reasonably good conversationalist.  I have a basic understanding of table manners and I never once blew my nose on a tablecloth.

*I am not, however, anticipating an invitation to dinner at the governor's mansion any time soon.

*There's a snowstorm on the horizon.

*If it comes this way and does what they say it's going to do, we should be left with over a foot of snow.

*I wasn't particularly relishing the idea of driving in that.  Nor was my back since I anticipated a lot of tensing up and turning around to watch the cars going off the road all around me.

*But it seems I have a doctor's appointment on Friday so I might be able to work out a day off.

*A snow day isn't a guarantee here.  The timing could be tricky.  Best to take the sick day, assuming I can get coverage.

*The one down side to this upcoming lack of commute is that I started a new audio book today.

*I finished Undead and Unemployed (Undead/Queen Betsy) yesterday and the book I was wait listed for at the state library hadn't come through yet.

*Just when I was resigned to listening to Cat's Claw (A Calliope Reaper-Jones Novel), a miracle occurred in the form of a well-timed email!

*One Foot in the Grave (Night Huntress, Book 2) was ready and waiting for download!!

*Not that a few days with Calliope would be a bad thing, mind you.  I just really wanted to hear the other one.

*Perhaps the library knew of my back issues and took pity on me...

*Now I'll miss a day of uninterrupted listening should I take time off for the doctor's appointment or snow day.

*Whichever comes first...

*But I'll find a way to live with it.

*I'm tough.  If I can survive Gasoline Friday and The Sneeze That Shook Me To My Very Core, I can get through this.


Well, that's it for me, I'm afraid.  The back is saying that it doesn't like the office chair anymore.  It wants to wander around the living room for a while, clenching and knotting and being generally disagreeable.  I don't think it's going to be patient for much longer regarding this demand.

I am currently being very kind and accommodating to my back.  One never knows when the next sneeze will roll around...

SA