Nudity is Only Skin-Deep

Two weeks later, and I think I'm finally over this cold. My lungs are still tetchy, but I am thinking of giving them a test drive by going for a run shortly. I've also finally scheduled an appointment with a sports doctor about my ever-problematic foot. I sure hope he can figure out a solution. Last week, it blew up after a dance class and was hurting like whoa and basically feeling like it was filled with a bunch of randomly-placed bones and tendons. When my foot is acting up, I can't dance for shit, not even floorwork.

I attended an ATS class with mystress yesterday. It was nice to dust off some old moves I haven't thought about in over a decade. I'd forgotten all about the tribal variations of the camel. I always liked those! It's too bad I won't be able to attend all of the classes, but at least I'll get a refresher. And now I am thinking about breaking out the kasiklar for the first time in ages. I used to play those, sometimes even in performance. I remember once combining them with floorwork, even, which was kinda neat!

I've been doing so much dancing lately, and I love it. I'm intrigued by the differences between contemporary dance and belly dance. Right now, the fashion in contemporary seems to be in keeping the movements clean and unadorned, whereas in belly dance, so much is decorated with flowery arm or hand movements. I want to look into taking regular technique classes, but think I might have to travel to Guelph to do so. I guess I have some research to do!

In case I haven't mentioned it, f00dave got hired on at a sweet job, and now I am planning on going back to school for the winter term. I only want to go part-time, but I'm excited. I'd start in the fall term, except that I'm going to the UK for a while in mid-September, so that screws up the term. In the meantime, I'm studying outside of a university environment. I'm taking dance, yoga, and art classes. My first sumi-e class is this Friday, and I'll be starting an advanced yoga class on Thursday. I'm excited! As for university, I'm thinking of fine arts, classics, and/or Latin.

I'm also looking forward to continuing my adventures in textiles and costume design. I currently have no projects on the go, but that's partially by design. My office is in a dreadful state, and I'd like to get some semblance of order before I mess it all back up again. That being said, I think I'll try my hand at making a Viking hat, next.

I'm contemplating putting together an introductory workshop on tablet weaving. I want to experiment a bit more, first, though, so I can figure out how to fix other people's fuck-ups. I could also put together a workshop on how to make Rus-style poofy pants, or how to make a Viking tunic, but I think those might be less interesting to most people.

I wanted to go for a run yesterday, but my stupid arthritis was making my feet feel absolutely dreadful. However, this morning, my feet feel perfectly fine, and so off I went on my first run since the late spring, I think. I was afraid I'd have lost all my endurance, since I haven't been doing any running at all, but it seems all those jumping jacks I've been doing have put me in good stead. I did have to walk twice on the way, but not for very long. And I was able to do two good sprints on top of the steady jog, so I'm pretty pleased with myself.

I saw lots of ducks and geese on the way, and also two cranes standing stock still in the pond. I ran through low piles of damp autumn leaves, and then took a detour through a wooded area and jumped a couple of small deadfalls, all while listening to Prodigy and Manowar. Not bad. Not bad at all.

Now, post-shower, I need to get dressed up into something presentable to go and talk to a fitness club owner about teaching dance at his studio (*hope hope*). And then I'm off to the gym to lift heavy things before teaching dance tonight.

Spaced out betwixt all that is the usual housework, job search, and some reading. I just finished reading Dragon Keeper (Rain Wilds Chronicles, Vol. 1) by Robin Hobb, and have just started Antony and Cleopatra: A Novel (Masters of Rome) by Colleen McCullough. I used to read a lot of her historical novels about ten years or so ago, and it looks like she's written a few new ones in the interim.

I only have a couple of links for you, this time:

Vengeance of the Honeybees: Not the bees, NOT THE BEES!

Dancers Are Genetically Different Than The Rest Of Us: I don't know that I fit into this particular mould. I am about as nonspiritual a person as they come.

Prize-Winning Whole Wheat Bread: I think I'd like to try this out tomorrow. It's been too long since I last made bread, and if it works out, I want to start making all of my bread instead of buying it from the grocery store.

I am very frustrated with my bad foot. The more I exercise, the more it hurts. The less I exercise, the worse shape I'm in.

How do I exercise without stressing my foot? When it's bad, it even hurts when I sit down.

This past summer, I've been having recurring problems with my left foot. First of all, my ankle feels weak. Secondly, I've been experiencing pain in the bones just under the ankle on the outside edge of my foot. I've suspected this is all a result of the sprain I had about three years ago.

I went in to see my family doctor. As usual, he was next to useless. He ordered an x-ray, but of course, there are no extant breaks or sprains. I already knew that. His diagnosis is general overuse, and I should just take pain killers when it bothers me.

So I also went to see a chiropodist. He believes my foot problems stem from pronation. That I can understand. I've always had pronated feet, and had to wear corrective footwear as a small child in order to walk without tripping over myself. The chiropodist told me I needed to purchase prohibitively expensive orthotics. I've worn orthotics before, and religiously at that, and they did SFA. So I kept looking....

My next step was to visit a massage therapist. He took a look at my left foot and told me my cuboid bone seemed out of place. He also so my muscles were very tight around my ankles and lower calves, which would explain the crippling charlie horses and foot cramps which have been waking me sporadically.

The very next day, I went to a physiotherapist, and she independently confirmed what my massage therapist told me. My cuboid bone is indeed out of alignment, as is the pinkie "ray" bone of my metatarsals. She, too, is highly suspicious of orthotics, and like me, she believes they treat the symptom rather than the cause of a foot problem. I'd much rather have strong foot muscles and correct alignment than a prop which merely holds me in place and encourages the surrounding muscles to weaken. I can't dance in orthotics, so that makes it even more pointless.

I've been given a course of exercises to do every other day. These exercises are calculated to improve the muscle tone in the area. And I've been given a stretching exercise which should help put everything back where it's supposed to go.

So let's see if I can fix up this cuboid syndrome, STAT, and get back to a pain-free foot.