Flying Away

[shanmonster]

My cold is going away, and my energy levels are increasing. If I was in Gauntlet, I'd say I must have just run over a roast chicken. Mmmm.... Chicken....

I managed to get to the gym this morning, and had a workout devoid of blackout moments. It's about bloody time! While on the elliptical trainer, I caught my reflection in the mirror and was pleased with what I saw. My weight is back up again, and I'm in fighting trim. The cardio machine workout was exhilarating, and I felt like I could go for hours. Alas, I had only a meagre hour for my workout.

For the first time in years, I felt my pulse raise appreciably while pumping iron. I clocked it at around 140 bpm just after some heavy lifting. It looks like the Propranalol has finally released me, letting my heart speed up when it seems necessary. Now, if I can just get it to lower itself back down naturally, I'll be all set! My current resting pulse is at about 72 bpm, which is a bit higher than I'm used to, but not unnaturally so.

I think I'll live.

Let's see what happens to me tomorrow at kung fu, unless my raging stomach cramps stop me. Every night for the past few weeks, I've had crippling gas cramps. I have no idea what's causing them. I don't think I'm eating anything peculiar. Maybe it's a side-effect of my cold/flu/ebola. Or maybe my mysterious intestinal ailment is returning. I sure as hell hope not. One time, I was put on a gluten-free diet for a year because the doctor suspected I had celiac disease. That accomplished nothing, aside from putting a total kibosh on restaurant outings and most food in general. My doctors have been incompetent, and they won't admit it. Bah.

My days are filled with creativity and learning, but somehow, it generally feels like I'm not doing all that much. I think it's because my physical outlets have been so slowed down, lately. When dance classes begin again, this will change. In the meantime, I'm a jewellery-making machine. And today, I was a drawing and painting machine. Every Monday, I sketch finely crafted gold creations of thousands of years past. Today I drew late Hellenistic and early Roman jewellery, including diadems, wreaths, hair nets, and necklaces. This afternoon, I rendered a pendant in watercolours. I still have another to complete for next week.

The use of watercolours is new to me, but I think I'm doing a decent enough job. If I don't fuck my assignments up, maybe I'll scan one of them in. I'd really like to start doing paintings and collages again. Maybe I'll have an opportunity over March break. I did several at Christmas time, after all.

At lunch time, I decided to treat myself by going to a restaurant. I decided to check out the new Chinese place in town: The Preying Mantis. And yes, that's how they spelled it. Unfortunately, it is closed on Mondays, so I ended up going to the Snooty Fox again and having the Steak and Guinness pie. It's flavourful and just as filling as steak and Guinness ought to be. I especially like the bit of puff pastry that floats on top. Mmmm....

And now, just for the sheer hell of it, here is a 19th-century corset that doubled as an aerialist's harness.

Comments

Re: Preying Mantis

[shanmonster.livejournal.com]

Will do......

quack quack

[swirlingchaos.livejournal.com]

My doctor's a complete incompetent too. No matter what i go in for, ranging from sinus infections to atheletes foot to an allergic-like reaction or to mysteriously appearing bumps, he has only ever prescribed two things.

1.Antibiotics.
2.Corticosteroids.

(3. very occaisionally - 'Nothing, it'll just go away eventually')

Never mind that taking 2 months of antibiotics destroyed my immune system completely, which then had to be built up again from practically nothing, and overuse of corticosteroids can thin your skin. No no, thats fine.

But with the doctor shortage, i suppose i'm lucky to even have a doctor at all, quack or no.