Procrastination, Dinner, and a Poem, but Not AWP

For all writers of all kinds: Shauna talks about procrastination.

Yeah, I might not eat meat anymore. Like for real.

How good it is to have burritos with a friend, and some wine, and some assisted paper-cutting.

Enjoy AWP, yall. Maybe I'll see you in Denver next year. I do love Boulder.

I wrote a poem today; my hands ached like crazy after handwriting for a few hours at work today; I had tasty dinner; I had tasty wine; I did not make truffles. I really want to adapt this recipe to make cardamom-infused truffles. Yum, cardamom and dark chocolate.

Yeah, I did write a poem today. I'm back to my every-six-months routine, unlike some people I know, cough adam cough. It's a poem about winter and losing earrings in snow-covered parking lots and finding them in spring. Mashed flat by your car.

Talk about spoilers ...

Newsprint and Fountain Pens

Today I discovered I really like writing on newsprint with a fountain pen. And if I listen to Vaughn Williams' "The Lark Ascending" while I write with those two things, I can write about difficult things without freaking out too much. So, big yay for newsprint and its cheapness, the fountain pen I already own, and last.fm having "Lark" easy to find.

Okay weird right hand middle finger knuckle aching, I will go to bed.

Victory! I think!

My worker's compensation claim was finalized today, in my favor, as in, "yes this is work-related." I will really believe this when I get a check for 66% back pay, and I see that the medical bills this has already accrued are paid.

But really dudes!

I see a doctor next Thursday who is going to treat me!!!

The final final final word on my diagnosis seems to be:
radial tunnel syndrome
de Quervian's tenosynivitis
and more tendinitis
and maybe there were carpal tunnel symptoms, but maybe not, early on.

Which means treatment is blessed hot packs, massage, and ultrasound, and stretches galore.

Today, though, is sinus headache day, which I've been hitting back with yogurt and granola. And decongestant etc. Off for more of that.

Activity!

Today I am doing things!

I want to be eating these cookies. Maybe I will make them and THEN eat them.

I'm about to be dyeing yarn in a orange red pale color. Hard to explain. I have the image in my head and can maybe make it happen--which makes me feel like I'm composing again (I composed classical music for strings for a very short time a long time ago) because I composed multiple parts in my head and then had to figure out how to write it down.

Also I hung some art for the first time and switched out some other art today in my apartment, and it is like I have a new apartment. Or at least I'm noticing a wall now that I didn't notice before because it's white like the other walls ... suddenly my apartment is bigger.

Perhaps I am reading a little too much design*sponge, or not enough, but I want to do everything. Or at least hold stamping classes and charge $90 a person per hour.

My arms are starting to feel better than they did a week ago, when the pain went crazy. Doing nothing at all has been good to them. Imagine that--stop using a body part that's injured and it heals a little. Rest = less inflammation and compression. Insert a Neo whoa here.

I am also about to purchase a book holder. Holding books open is proving to be pain-inducing, which is what happens when your thumbs are injured ... and palms ... and elbows ... anyway, since all of you readers are also readers of books, I may end up recommending the thing if it is as good as it seems. Suspend judgment for now.

Shout-out to Kelsey Keyes! And food!

I'm going to be writing today about my friend Kelsey, that's Kelsey Ann Clough Keyes, who is great in a multitude of ways. This is going to be different from the kind of things I usually write about my blog, so you may want to stop reading now. However, if you have some time to waste, I'd appreciate it if you click on the links I'm going supply below. This is all in an effort to spread peace and love about Kelsey throughout the Internet, with a secondary purpose of manipulating Google’s search algorithm.

My favorite things about Kelsey have a lot to do with some of my favorite things in life -- knitting, eating food, watching good television, and hanging out with friends. Today I'm going to focus on eating food and how awesome food itself is and how awesome the food that Kelsey feeds me is, in particular.

There is a memorable roasted garlic soup. I think it was winter. I remember it was just as salty as it should be, and there were a lot of tomatoes in it, and that bread plus that soup made for a really tasty time of eating.

I should also mention the hot buttered rum, the very messy mango lassis, and the bars of chocolate, and a plate of ridiculously good cookies and confections that she left me before Christmas. She also left a plate for my neighbor, which almost did not make it to him because I was going to keep them all and eat them. By myself.

Let it be known that my friend Kelsey is ridiculously awesome, a really good baker and cook, a friend to vegan food, and a friend to me. You can read more about her at the following blogs:

http://kelseyanncloughkeyes.blogspot.com/
http://spiridontrepka.livejournal.com/2138.html
http://kelseykeyes-kelseykeyes.blogspot.com/
http://kelsey-keyes.blogspot.com/

An Unnumbered List of Beautiful Things

"Yes, the springtimes needed you." -- Rilke, first elegy

Empty glass jars.

Winter overcast light.

Bare branches.

Sleeping faces.

Creaking, drafty, unevenly-sinking homes.

Water.

All the candle holders I received as wedding gifts: the glass block ones, poured in a mold that left edges like a milk carton would; the single piece of sandstone for four votives in a grid; the small mirrored tray with glass votive holders and molded glass edging. How they all fit on the edges of my bathtub.

Books with their set type and unmoving written language.

* * *

Do the springtimes need me? Do they need me to survive the winter, to witness their arrival? Will they happen if I don't watch?

* * *

Big spike in pain this week, no reason why. Lots of baths with epsom salt and lots of painkillers. Think anti-inflammation and anti-compression thoughts for me.

The People Have Spoken

You get an updated blog.

The updates are not so big, though. It's winter. I finished all my grad apps. My arms still hurt all the time.

I haven't had a migraine since I stopped drinking red wine and champagne. This is both great and terrible news. Not too important, though.

I made the no-knead bread today, and, perhaps because I am a multi-generational and amazing bread-baker, it was really good. And my arms do not hurt. And my 8-quart stainless steel stock pot survived being in my miniature oven at 450 for an hour and a half. Nothing died! I made bread!

So ... I haven't wanted to update because I want to tell you all about a terrible thing, but I don't want to, but I do, and I am. One of my cousins in Texas was killed in a car accident the week of Christmas--it was the morning, he was driving, he got distracted and swerved into oncoming traffic and collided with a gravel truck. He was killed instantly. He was 26. 500 people went to his funeral. I did not go; I stayed in Missouri/Illinois. We were close in a way; I'm closer to his immediate family, but he's in the group of cousins I'm closest to. His mom has been battling pancreatic cancer for half a year; I heard Danny, her youngest, had been killed and figured she would die within a month. Instead, her doctors can't get any visual confirmation of her tumor. As in, her tumor disappeared the week after he died. Her doctors told her it was a gift from God and to accept it. He was my responsible cousin, the one who had a professional driver's license and drove trucks full of explosives for a living, who was quiet and handsome and tall like his dad and loved his niece and nephew and was nearly engaged and ... was 26.

I want you all to be safe, and not swerve, and not be killed.

Okay? Okay.