threeplusfire: (short david bowie)
three ([personal profile] threeplusfire) wrote2004-01-16 07:25 pm

scar on my palm

Rain is pouring down outside, the first real rain I've seen in months. Good for the trees, not so good for the smokers. The security guard said instead of running out into the rain to get to the parking garage, we could smoke at the far end of the front of the building. It's covered, and more than the requisite 25 feet from the door mandated by law. All was fine until one of the bosses decided she wanted to assert her authority and ordered us to move. It was exceedingly petty.

My right hand aches, thanks to last night's goofing around. When I was 13, I crashed my bike badly on a park trail, and ripped myself up pretty badly in the gravel. One rock, a little smaller than a dime, became lodged in the muscle that controls my thumb in my right hand. I had punched a hole almost through my hand trying to stop my fall, and true to my fear of doctors and needles, I didn't tell my mother. A few days later she noticed I was walking around with my hand curled up in a fist. One of the few times I've ever fainted happened when she tried to clean the wound out with a Q-tip. She dragged me off to the doctor soon afterwards, and I refused to let anyone cut open my hand or give me stitches. Doctor King pronounced that the wound would heel up fine on it's own, and that the rock would eventually dissolve or work its way out. On that gruesome note, we left the office.

My hand did heal up just fine, and I have a scar about half an inch long on my palm. I write with my right hand, and it's never given me much trouble other than the unsettling shift of the stone when I swing on monkey bars. Flash forward to last night when Alan and I are playing around, tickling each other and the usual sort of tired-but-still-awake antics before bed. He grabbed for my hand, and must have pushed his thumb across my palm. Somehow he put too much pressure on the rock inside the scar, and I felt excrutiating pain bloom. It was a few minutes before it abated enough for me to consider taking ibuprofen and stop biting my hand in desperate hope of off-setting the pain with other pain. The tension produced an instant headache, and I slept with my hand curled into a fist.

Today it's better, but still a little touchy. More often than not I catch myself tucking my thumb under my other fingers.

Because the Social Security office never answers their phones, and the weather was awful, I stayed home today. I did find an eye doctor who accepts my insurance and offers glasses in-house, so I can take care of that Monday. Just recently I've noticed how badly scratched my glasses are. My recent headaches are also a warning sign that my eyes are getting worse in front of all these computer screens and books with small print.

I'm halfway through Rasputin: The Last Word, and about ready to cheerfully maim this translator. The problems with the translation have continued, which seriously impairs my ability to enjoy this book. I was puzzled at how fast the book skipped Rasputin's life, compared to Moynahan's work, but Radetsky seems intent on pulling as many quotations from the Lost File as he can. Curiously, he delves deep into Rasputin's religious sayings, his philosophy and his religious fervor. He makes an excellent case for a man who flew close to enlightenment and then crashed hopelessly.

In the 70s, the author spoke personally with a woman who had been a prostitute in the pre-Revolutionary era and had been paid by Rasputin. She claimed he only looked at her naked body, and went away. He also told her something was wrong with her kidneys, and strangely enough in 1940 she had to have one removed. Her story fits in with secret police interrogations of the prostitutes patronized by Rasputin, who also claimed to have not had sex with the man. It is a very curious thing, but it seems as if Rasputin was engaged in a constant test of his body against certain temptations. This idea fits in well with the teachings of the khlysty, which he was frequently accused of being. Later, Rasputin would lose his battle and sink definitively into debauchery.

Still raining hard out there, tapping on the glass beside me. I want to be at home.

[identity profile] alainn-sorcha.livejournal.com 2004-01-16 08:20 pm (UTC)(link)
So what's the plan for Sunday? Do we know yet?

[identity profile] tsarina.livejournal.com 2004-01-16 09:45 pm (UTC)(link)
I was thinking sometime between 5-7pm I would head up to Metro. I hadn't decided on a definite time. What is good for you?

[identity profile] alainn-sorcha.livejournal.com 2004-01-16 10:03 pm (UTC)(link)
I'm free all day Sunday. Sometime between 5 and 7 works for me.

[identity profile] tsarina.livejournal.com 2004-01-16 10:09 pm (UTC)(link)
Cool. I will keep in touch over the weekend, and I'll give you a ring or send you an email early Sunday. I'm trying to allow for the possibility of hangover recovery time. ;)

glasses

[identity profile] feu-de-fripe.livejournal.com 2004-01-16 08:32 pm (UTC)(link)
i read an article recently that reading in the dark and small print only hurts the eyes periodically and doesn't cause permanent damage. i was excited to hear that since i have to use a book light in the evenings to read while kirk tries to sleep. i wait until it gets pretty dim to change the batteries. new glasses always made me happy, though it seems that pregnancy made my vision better so i don't think i need them anymore, i guess it could have just made me more delusional so maybe i do need glasses and i am just fooling myself.

maybe i should get my eyes checked.

Re: glasses

[identity profile] tsarina.livejournal.com 2004-01-16 09:50 pm (UTC)(link)
Pregnancy made your vision better?!? *boggles*

Wacky. Maybe it's one of those secret mother super powers. Have your sprouted an eye in the back of your head yet?

Re: glasses

[identity profile] feu-de-fripe.livejournal.com 2004-01-16 09:59 pm (UTC)(link)
no eyes, but super hearing

maybe the eyes will come when she starts running

[identity profile] meallanmouse.livejournal.com 2004-01-16 09:34 pm (UTC)(link)
:: shifty look ::

:: got here from [livejournal.com profile] melyndabelinda's LJ ::

Just a note to let you know I friended you. ;)

:: runs off! ::

[identity profile] tsarina.livejournal.com 2004-01-16 09:56 pm (UTC)(link)
Bonjour, je m'appelle Amanda.

And who might you be?

[identity profile] meallanmouse.livejournal.com 2004-01-16 10:11 pm (UTC)(link)
Bonjour! Je m'apelle Willow. Je suis enchantée de vous rencontrer.

:: grin ::

I tend to stick to my net name online as am leery of letting real name out in the wide world, quirky soul that I am. And Melynda was singing your praises earlier so I just had to wander on over and have a look. ;)

[identity profile] tsarina.livejournal.com 2004-01-16 10:35 pm (UTC)(link)
Aha. Dobre.

Did you meet Melynda through one of the RPGs or just randomly? And I so wish I remembered more of my French. I can understand a lot of it, but speaking is pretty intimidating these days. It gets blended into my other languages, and then no one understands what the hell I'm saying. ;)

[identity profile] melyndabelinda.livejournal.com 2004-01-16 10:38 pm (UTC)(link)
Like when you randomly throw Russian words into Czech class?

[identity profile] tsarina.livejournal.com 2004-01-16 10:40 pm (UTC)(link)
Exactly! And in Russian class I would stick French articles in all over the place! It was a mess. I don't know how I ever learned any language at all.

[identity profile] melyndabelinda.livejournal.com 2004-01-16 10:42 pm (UTC)(link)
I just wish you'd learned a language I had a prayer of understanding. You and Gene's little czech conversations drove me CRAZY!

[identity profile] tsarina.livejournal.com 2004-01-16 10:43 pm (UTC)(link)
Well I can start throwing in French again if that will help...

[identity profile] melyndabelinda.livejournal.com 2004-01-16 10:48 pm (UTC)(link)
Yes! At least I can still remember some, not to mention that Spanish and Latin will help me figure out the rest. With Czech and Russian I have no hope...

[identity profile] tsarina.livejournal.com 2004-01-16 10:58 pm (UTC)(link)
I'll do my best!

[identity profile] meallanmouse.livejournal.com 2004-01-16 10:40 pm (UTC)(link)
:: grin ::

Through an RPG, yes. Am very glad for it. :)

Hee! I'm like that with the Spanish (ie understand yes, but speaking oh so no!) When I was a kid I learned Spanish and English at the same time and then spent about three months speaking a pidgin of all three that drove my parents absolutely nuts.

[identity profile] tsarina.livejournal.com 2004-01-16 10:43 pm (UTC)(link)
Rocking. Melynda thought I was crazy at first, but then I convinced her to play, and it was all downhill from there....

My Russian and Czech get mixed up because they are so similar in many respects. I speak a hybrid language on a daily basis. :D

[identity profile] meallanmouse.livejournal.com 2004-01-16 10:45 pm (UTC)(link)
:: is crazy, randomly ::

She's already complaining about state secrets being spilled, you know. ;) Do go on. >:D

I do that when I code all day! End up thinking in code which leads to very amusing answers every now and then when people ask me an unexpected question!

[identity profile] tsarina.livejournal.com 2004-01-16 10:58 pm (UTC)(link)
Haha, so you know!

Oh Mel just thought I was insane when I took up playing Lucius Malfoy while unemployed and living on her couch. Kept telling me how crazy I was for staying online all the time... and now she has more wizards than I do!

[identity profile] baseproduct.livejournal.com 2004-01-16 09:41 pm (UTC)(link)
Completly off topic, but orlystar has a Lupin icon that cracked me up. If you're bored at work. :)

[identity profile] tsarina.livejournal.com 2004-01-16 09:49 pm (UTC)(link)
If? I think we can make the assumption that we are always bored at work. :P

Love the icon!