Playing catchup

I know I've been out of pocket for a while, and I apologize for that. It's tough to admit it, but when I'm busy or wiped out, updating the blog is one of the low items on the priority list. And it shouldn't be. I started it mostly as a diary for myself, since I have a terrible, terrible memory for dates and times. I remember events; I just don't remember when they happened or when they happened in relation to one another. So the blog was supposed to help me keep track of what happened and what I was thinking when. Anyway, not to make excuses -- a definite refocus on this forum is in order.

So what have I been doing that's keeping me from pounding away at the keyboard?

• Well somehow, my busy schedule isn't keeping me from the computer, as I still find time to play World of Warcraft. I haven't been playing it as much as I had been -- I'm down to about one night a week now -- but amusingly, my inner nerd sometimes would rather level my orc hunter than bitch here about this and that. One of the things I like about playing WoW is that it's challenging, but at the same time, relatively mindless. It's an outlet for me to unwind, a night's escape from grown-up things like jobs, responsibilities and obligations. I certainly don't live my life by it like many, many others do, and I don't take it seriously in the slightest. I just occasionally enjoy the one night's escape from real life, grouping and questing with friends (yes, I've met them face-to-face) online, and don't consider my weekly game night any different that someone who spends every Sunday of the fall glued to NFL Ticket or who likes to live vicariously through reality TV.


• I'm still working at the orthopedic surgeons' office, and yes, I still like it. The pessimist in me -- and it's a very big part of me -- says that I'll get bored of it at some point, just as I've eventually gotten bored of every job I've worked before it. But I'm going to enjoy this while it lasts, and hopefully that lasts for some time, because I really do consider myself very lucky to have found this job. I'm still learning a lot -- and still often feeling inadequate in my schooling. The physical therapists there have four-year degrees and higher in their field, and I often am embarrassed to ask them what they mean by this or that. I don't necessarily blame the school to which I attended, because it did more than prepare me for a life in massage therapy. But I've found that the environment in which I work requires a bit higher level of medical knowledge than school prepared me for, so I've developed a bit of an inferiority complex about working there. To reassure myself, I've been doing a bit of studying via my school textbooks. I'll feel more comfortable at some point, I'm sure -- I just hope that's well before my attention span drops off.


• I'm still working out and am on target to enter a mini-triathlon in October. Every Friday, I've been biking on a stationary bike for 8 miles, then immediately hopping on a treadmill for a 2-mile "run." It's challenging, but I've been getting progressively faster. So I don't anticipate problems with those legs of the tri. I'm still apprehensive about the swim, at which I'm very weak. But after talking with a coworker who used to do regular-length tris, she assured me that since I'm not going for time during the race, I should just find whatever stroke works for me -- doggie, sidestroke, whatever -- and plod away at it on the outside of the pack of swimmers, just to get through that leg without getting kicked in the head by real triathletes.


• My sculling single is back from Canada! After much consternation, it's safe at the ORC boathouse. I've been meaning to take and upload some pictures. It's beautiful. It no longer can be dubbed the Red Racer, because it's Volkswagen Gecko Green. (So it needs a name. Suggestions, anyone?) I've rowed it a few times, and it's fabulous. I'll save my comments on it for a separate post about it when I get the pictures online.


• I'm competing in a regatta this weekend in Daytona Beach. I'm not racing the single just yet as I don't think I'm an experienced enough singles sculler. But I'll be in an eights race (women's master/open 8+) and a double (women's master 2x). My aforementioned sculling partner, J.D., oddly backed out on me in that event, so it'll be me and another woman from my eight who has less 2x experience than me. But The Other Woman was one of the best rowers in an eight on her college team, so perhaps we still have a fighting chance.

Well, my laptop is near dead. Will catch up with you later.