(Ouch. This sucks. Photo courtesy Johns Hopkins Medical Center.)

It was a quiet day on most fronts. There was an unseasonal burst of warm air and fair skies, and driving in to the office I saw my first shorts and first bare arms of 2013 interspersed with spasms of pain.

I don’t know what I did to provoke it- sleeping in the Brown Chair awkwardly? But I have one of those stiff neck things happening. This is the second major occurrence. The fall of 2011 featured an episode of the same thing.  Old Jim was still drinking in those days, and regularly occupied his place at the apex of the Amen Corner at Willow. He told me I was a stiff-necked bastard anyway and shouldn’t be surprised that it manifested itself physically once in a while.

I had committed to be up in Michigan for Thanksgiving (or something) to check on the state of the Great Decline. I had no airline tickets, and was not competent to drive but did it anyway. The episode lasted a few weeks- much more intense than the usual aches and pains. I wondered if the thing had anything to do with the collisions attendant to youthful football. I suppose if we knew we would live this long we might take better care of ourselves.

This interlude of periodic shooting pain makes even the lingering pain from the leg diminish in significance.

I suppose I should go see the doc, but I do not know who that is. I relied on Military health care all my career and the TriCare For Life plan after retiring. That meant going to Bethesda Naval Hospital, but my health has always been robust and the long drive wasn’t much of an issue since I rarely had to do it.
The agony of getting myself there regularly during the 86-day post surgical recovery was instructive. Thank God for Dad’s handicapped placard. Not being able to walk convinced me to sign up for the company health plan- but now I don’t know how it works or where to go, and the last thing I want to do is sit in an ER with all the people sick from the flu. This went away by itself the last time, so maybe I will give it a day or so and see if the symptoms diminish.

Anyway, I am in one of those loops of periodic pain that precludes much attention on things beyond the limited range of motion of my shoulders, and I apologize. I need to peek at the calendar and see what is lying in wait and if there is anything for which I need to be present in person, or can cancel or defer. Sorry this is boring.

Not much else to report that even breaks the threshold for irony, humor or entertainment.
The Comcast bastard replaced the cable box, but determined that the problem was at the junction box out in the all. So the problem remains. The Mexican Ninjas were scaling the side of the building, but humidity and light rain ruled out painting, and they may stall out until March and better weather with all my balcony furniture stacked up in the second bedroom. Ugh.

Senator Kerry is going to be our newest Secretary of State. Ugh.

Well, for all that, here is Wednesday in all its glory, and I guess it is time to start to deal with it. Hope yours is better than mine- we are in for some weather as this teaser of spring gets chased out of town and we get raw and cold again. Spring is coming. I saw the bare skin that proves it.

Copyright 2013 Vic Socotra
www.vicsocotra.com