Road to Recovery ~ Week Two

It is Monday so where is my damned morning bun? Caffeine withdrawals are brutal. Obviously her morning routine hasn't changed...

Before I rant about the week, I would be remiss if I didn't also mention here that my cohort in crime and collaborator, Beth, has posted an absolutely wonderful first piece on a companion blog called Passages. It is gorgeous and the style has an edge to it that I really like. Like Rising Above, it will enhance and offer insight to characters that are not always in the forefront at Sessions, primarily Rayne. Please check it out. It is wonderful and Beth did a terrific job with it.

Looking back at this past week there really isn't a lot to report. More pain this week than last but I have been pushing harder than I should. I also noticed that my skin is drier than usual but I think sometimes people have odd reactions to anesthesia and so things like that can happen. I have had to enforce limits to my time online, more than I did last week. It is so easy to push for a few more minutes and then get carried away. You don't realize it until it is too late and then you pay for it.

I have done a lot of walking, a lot of thinking about loose ends while on those walks. It has been 4 months since my last update at Rising Above and 5 months since a Chameleon update. Chameleon has been written for awhile; it just needs shots. Wyatt's story has 5 paragraphs that have been written since August 23rd. I am itching to get them finished since I don't want what I wrote to become no longer relevant but I have to pace myself. So I freak out about it and mope. Poor me.

I ordered groceries online for the first time ever. I am not patient so waiting for the kids to get around to doing something doesn't always work for me. Free delivery so why not, right? And it beats giving teenage boys carte blanche with my ATM card which is a very scary thought. I can safely say I won't be doing that often. Won't say never but...I was less than thrilled. Do the personal shoppers read the notes? I ordered firm tomatoes and slightly green bananas. Perhaps my idea of firm and the personal shopper's perception of firm are based on completely different expectations. Perhaps I should have used the term hard.

Week Two Lessons Learned:

• It is very difficult to eat ice cream at the bottom of the carton without making a mess using my right hand
  
• It isn't iodine on my shoulder, it is bruising
  
• If I dangle my arm like I do when I exercise it, I can successfully apply deodorant
  
• I make a terrible passenger in a car (talk about white knuckles)
  
• By carefully tucking part of it under my arm and swinging my hips a la hula hoop I can wrap a bath towel around my body
  
• I am totally addicted to morning coffee and am having withdrawals. Thankfully I found some instant mocha cappuccino in the cupboard.
  
• Eat before medicating, medicate before exercise, nap shortly after
  
  That's pretty much it. I had a lot more to say but honestly I'm not feeling it right now. If I think of it, maybe I will add it to next week's update. I am still behind in my reading and falling further and further back. Please know I will catch up before the next millennium.
  
  Leaving you with a blogthing. I don't really part my hair; I just flip it forward and throw it back letting it fall where it wants. In case you wondered where the result came from...
  
  
  

  Your Unpredictable Part Says You're Experimental and Rebellious

  You're the type of person who likes to shake things up. It's easy for you to become bored. You like to be spontaneous. You prefer to lead a very exciting, fast moving life. You are outspoken and bold. Your opinions change frequently, and you never have any problem expressing them. Your wild ways always have people guessing, and that's fine by you. You really don't care what others think.

  
  
  What Does Your Part Say About You?
  
  
  Blogthings: Quizzes and Tests and Memes, Oh My!
  
  
  

Road to Recovery ~ Week One

At least my sim-self can sleep comfortably. I love how she sucks in her lower lip when she sleeps.

Had my first follow-up with the surgeon today. Got the stitches removed and added a new exercise to my recovery routine. Mind you, they are by no means hard to do and require little effort but should help maintain some flexibility. So I manage to rotate my arm like a pendulum, do "curls" (no weights involved) and walk my fingers forward on the desk to gently stretch my arm forward.

Then she lightened the load on my sling, it had a pad to allow some airflow under my arm but made me look and feel like a linebacker.
The surgery went well. She repaired the tear, shaved a bone spur along with some other bone for added space between the clavicle (?) and the tendon. If all goes well I should start PT in a month.

Week One Lessons Learned:

• It is nearly impossible to sleep upright on my back
  
• My kids can cook, really, really well
  
• My kids also know way too much about my drugs
  
• Daytime TV blows chunks
  
• It isn't too hard to read in bed one handed with a pile of pillows. It also helped me fall asleep
  
• Mens shirts are NOT made for women with full breasts, unless they are 'wife beaters'
  
• After 4 days I finally mastered pulling my pants up and down with one hand
  
• Having paid time off is not all it is cracked up to be when you cannot do a damn thing

And the biggest lesson learned...rest and do not push too hard

I really miss my online friends and think of you often, especially Beth who keeps me up to date and off the PC when she knows I am pushing too hard.

Taking a Bow

Neither of us was sure we were going to pull this Sessions update off before tomorrow but we made it!
We had a great deal of technical difficulty with the original arena we intended to use. Some of the critical CC would not show up so we opted for a revamped outdoor arena that crashed and burned continually. And that doesn't even scratch the surface of catalog crashes and the like.

Again this is both mine and SB's handiwork in writing and screencaps. The piece is called Sacrifice.

Song in the playlist is by Theory of a Deadman.

I don't know when I will be back online or for how long when I am finally able to login so I want to thank everyone now for your constant and continued support of our work. It means so much and helps us keep going.

Special thank you to B for hanging in there with me. You rock girl!

It Is Monday, Right?

Just a heads up for anyone who reads these blog posts of mine. Some of you may know I am having surgery on the 14th to repair my left rotator cuff which is 75% torn. I won't bore you with the details except to say that my arm will be immobile for 4-6 weeks which means I will be hunting and pecking at best. I am left-handed so managing anything at all will be a challenge. Especially eating. I've been practicing with my right hand. I have yet to master the skill. Funny how you don't realize how much you use both arms until the use of one is taken away.


B and I have been working on our next update which I hope we can have ready before then. I have also been working off and on to get Rising Above updated as well as posting a piece for the Chameleon series but Sessions is definitely my first priority.

While I will be keeping up with everyone's updates as best as I can, please do not be surprised if my comments are less wordy than normal.

With that I will leave you all with my blogthing for the week!

You Are Fantasy / Sci Fi

You have an amazing imagination, and in your mind, all things are possible. You are open minded, and you find the future exciting. You crave novelty and progress. Compared to most people, you are quirky and even a bit eccentric. You have some wacky ideas. And while you may be a bit off the wall, there's no denying how insightful and creative you are.

What Kind of Book Are You?

Blogthings: We Have a Quiz for Almost Everything

Nickelback ~ Dark Horse Tour

AN: OK maybe the shots are a little too big. But I can't fix them until tomorrow.

I was thrilled to have snagged a seat at the Nickelback concert through a good friend and wanted to share some of my evening with you along with a few of the shots I took. I kept them at their original size so if you click on them you get the full effect. Trust me, you will love them full size.

This first shot is the "control booth" which has lots of sound, video and lighting controls but isn't exactly a booth, is it.


Showtime was at 6PM; it was a warm evening and stayed that way. Traffic was terrible getting to the amphitheatre...


...so I missed the opening band, Saving Abel. By the time I stood in line at Will Call and wandered around the kiosks full of swag, food, memorabilia from the Winterland and Fillmore days of Bill Graham as well as recent performances at Shoreline, and made it to my seat they had already finished performing.

It didn't take long though before Papa Roach took the stage. They were ok, a little disappointing to me actually because they totally messed up my favorite song of theirs, Forever (Jacoby was off key something awful) although they did a bang up job with Getting Away With Murder. I have to give them props however since they are a local band.


Papa Roach warming up the crowd.

Next up...Hinder. Their stage presence was definitely bigger than Papa Roach's from their gear to their stage setup and their sound. And they were incredible. At one point Austin Winkler took to the audience and roamed through the crowd singing Up All Night. I was disappointed they did not perform Better Than Me but they really got the crowd going. They warrant three shots.


I'm so sure that is "water" that Austin Winkler is drinking in this shot...




"We're gonna be up all night..."

Having been a Nickelback fan since their beginning, I have waited and waited for an opportunity to see them live. It meant so much to me that I had the chance to see them on stage. And they did not disappoint. Nickelback took the stage and performed Something In Your Mouth amid screams, pyrotechnics, smoke and lights.

Chad Kroeger has a very easy-going, relaxed and engaging way about him as he works the crowd. He is funny, nasty, and just plain entertaining. Absolutely adorable in my book. At one point during the show he introduced 4 guys from their crew who came out with these huge cannons (similar to nerf guns but WAY bigger) as well as a cart full of red plastic cups full of beer (vaguely reminiscent of beer pong). While the crew blasted stuff (I assume they were t-shirts and possibly a thong or two with the Dark Horse emblem on them) Chad and some of the guys tossed the cups of beer out in the crowd. Yes people, cups full of beer! After all, Chad reasoned, if they were going to be all sweaty we should all be just as wet. Yeah. He bit back hard on the next remark. Honestly, and to quote Chad, it was "one huge jam session" with a whole lotta drinking.

At one point Austin Winkler and Joe Garvey (I think) from Hinder came on stage and performed Highway to Hell with Nickelback and it rocked! Better than AC/DC when you combine Austin's voice with Chad's deep rough voice.


Chad's easygoing style. This is during Highway to Hell

One thing I think people overlook about Chad is that he is quite the accomplished guitarist. He has an amazing voice and his riffs were on fire! He sang a few bars of a ballad that I didn't recognize (shock) and my jaw dropped. Chad also performed one of my favorite drinking songs, Friends in Low Places. Watch out Nashville, he might be at the Grand Ole Opry soon! He uses numerous electric and acoustic guitars when he performs from his signature line of PRS to Gibson Les Pauls, Martin, Gretsch, Fender and Yamaha. That's a lot of guitars folks!

And Daniel Adair is a premier drummer. He makes it look so easy and having a son who is a drummer, I know the strength and stamina it takes to be a balls out rock drummer. To perform the way he did, like it took no effort whatsoever, was impressive. His kit was a DW (Drum Workshop) with Sabian cymbals. Beautiful rack. My son was drooling over it.


Daniel's drum solo. Again, the endurance and stamina it takes is impressive.

Additional shots from their performance.


Taken from the control booth. I wanted to get a shot of the entire band including their gear.


Burnin' It to the Ground. The heat from these things blasted across the fans.



An aerial shot of Shoreline Amphitheatre taken from Wikipedia. Bill Graham fashioned it after the Grateful Dead's Steal Your Face image. There is a lot of memorabilia backstage at the amphitheatre too.


A piece of memorabilia from the Grateful Dead days. This piece sits backstage along with a few other special pieces from various concerts.

I will never, never forget this. It was an incredibly special and meaningful evening that will be with me eternally. From the music to the electrically charged atmosphere to the heat of the pyrotechnics you could literally feel when they blasted on the stage (at least where I was sitting and this is an outdoor arena). Love them or hate them, they put on one hell of a show. I guarantee the next time they come around here I will snag a front row seat or a backstage pass. Might even bring my own Patron and do shots with the boys in the band! Hell yeah!

Pure Magic

I will come back later to leave a proper post. Right now I am too ramped up to think coherently.

B, I am sending it all your way tonight, the only way I can share it. Thank you.

Sessions Chapter 14 ~ Epiphany song by Staind