The Geekess

I got my cast cut off today! My wrists and knuckles are stiff and sore, but at least I can type with two hands again. :D Unfortunately, after approximately 3 hours of typing, my wrist is getting sore. The doctor showed me how to stretch my knuckles, but didn't comment on wrist exercises. Jamey has shown me several from Aikido; I might try them tomorrow.

My bone will take about 2-3 months to fully heal. In that time, I'm not supposed to lift weights. It's kind of a catch 22; the doctor said my hand will let me know when I've picked up something heavy, but at that point I've already picked it up... So far I can pick up a tall starbucks coffee, but a wet towel is painful.

It's ok for me to swim, jog, and do exercise that doesn't involve punching things. :) The doctor did mention he didn't want me to ride a bike, since I'm more likely to fall in the rain. I think that means I'm done biking until winter is over, since I probably won't want to bike in December.

Ah, well. It's been a learning experience. There's two things a cast is good for: cracking peanuts and filing nails.

I'm attempting to learn to type on a Dvorak keyboard. I'm using the right-handed keyboard layout at Mike's suggestion. (Mike is back from his extended vacation.) It's a slow process to learn a new layout, but I'm getting faster as I type this. Mike seems to think it will take about a week to learn.

I met one of our neighbors, Lisa, at a neighborhood gathering today. She also fractured a bone in her hand. She was in a splint for two weeks, and then she switched to a wrist brace. She's supposed to use that for 4 weeks. So I have hope that I'll be typing normally soon, but I will be in traction long enough for this layout to be useful.

I've been commuting to work by bike and MAX for about a month now. Yesterday I did this:



( The Long Story )

In summary, I have a bruised chin, a sore left shoulder (from my tetanus shot), and a fractured bone on my left hand.

However, I will ride again! I love biking too much to let this stop me. I'll just be more careful around the max tracks.

I'm experiencing spots in my vision. I thought at first that it was the lights blinding me or the text in my PDF being rendered oddly, but then I started looking at the words harder and realized that large chunks of them were simply missing. Now it's changed to swirling white mist to the right of my vision. I'm terrified.

The last time this happened, about 20 minutes later I was hit by the biggest migraine I'd ever experienced. Trying not to barf on the Max train back home was hard. So far I've been experiencing this for about five minutes and nothing bad has happened yet.

It's just so terrifying to face the prospect of losing my vision, along with my ability to read and use a computer. I can only hope this will pass. I have been using my computer too much lately; I've been experiencing occasional carpotunnel and eyestrain headaches. Anyway, I'd probably better get home in case a migraine does hit.

*Edit* It was a migrain, and it was bad. I feel better now though.

Current mood: scared

I have my first official cold of fall term! Woo. I feel like there's little dwarves inside my sinuses pounding the walls with tiny hammers.

School starts next week, and it looks to be another stressful term. I have classes only on MWF, which I initially thought was really great. However, all my professors' office hours conflict with my other classes! I go basically from 11:30 to 6pm on Mondays and Wednesdays, with a break from 12:35 to 2pm. Wednesday is going to be an especially long day, since the rocketry club meeting goes from 7pm to 11pm. Friday isn't so bad, I only have my statistics class from 11:30 to 12:35.

I'm also not too sure about my book situation. I bought the book for my online technical writing class. The other two books are on reserve in the library, so I didn't buy them. I've never been very comfortable studying in the library, but if I can avoid spending an extra $200 on books, it might be worth it.

I've been packing the guinea pig supplies so I can donate them to the Oregon Humane Society. I made a list of all the supplies and how much they cost me, and it was close to $400. I had some idea how much stuff I bought my pigs over the years, but to have that much on hand is just rediculous. I had no less than three opened bags of hay, two bags of pellets, and tons more towels than I ever needed. There's going to be a big gap in my apartment when Jamey's dad comes to take it all to OHS tomorrow at 10am. However, I see it as a step towards healing. I'm doing much better now, and I'm kind of glad this all happened before school started.

I looked another possible wedding location today. It's called the Church in the Woods. It's not in the woods; it's actually located in a suburb by Lake Oswego. The view of the lake was pretty, but the place was very unfinished. The guy kept saying, "We'll have sod put in soon," or "We're going to level the slope and put in some plants on the walkway." It was way too small, and the chapel was just ugly, IMHO. People should not do paint jobs on their own. I might post some pictures we took, but it's definitely off my list.

I also have a book review I want to do, but I need to get myself back on a school sleep schedule.