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February 28, 2005
I 'Gin to Be Aweary O't'sun
Can I just say that I knew NOTHING last fall when I thought being a tiger was hard work? Because being a 3-legged tiger is so much more difficult I'm not sure it's even quantifiable. David, the director (and animal class instructor from last semester), said that it was interesting because it aged me instantly. And it also made me vulnerable.
Which was true. We spent some time exploring our characters' relationships while in our animals, and I had to depend on others to keep me safe from Macbeth. (I'm playing Duncan, and I know John is going to have some horrible bruises tomorrow in the shape of my teeth. I bit him hard in several places.) And I suddenly wondered if naming Malcom heir and Prince of Cumberland is partly a response to Cawdor's treachery.
Clearly I'm no judge of character, so another layer between the throne and other aspirants is a good idea. I'd never thought of it as a political choice, only as a choice made by a proud man who loves his son and thinks everyone else will understand. I had never given Duncan any points for shrewdness.
Posted by sally at 09:32 PM
February 25, 2005
Magnetic Resonance Imagining
You know you live in a small town when you give your name to the hospital registration desk and they say, "Oh. You have cats."
"Pardon me?" I said.
"You have cats," she said. "And you must have had lab work done on... Sunny and Katala."
Suddenly, all was clear. Our vet had ordered bloodwork on the cats, and unlike cities where there are labs that cater to vets, in Moscow, they send that stuff to the only lab in town: the lab at Gritman Memorial.
The MRI itself was both boring and unnerving. I mean, I had taken off all of my jewelry at home except my wedding ring, but I still wasn't expecting to have the form ask whether, among other things, I had metal dentalwork or tattoos (and the location of said objects). I had wondered about the whole tattoo thing, but I hadn't really expected it might contain metal ink. I mean, it doesn't sparkle. (Though a sparkly tattoo would be really COOL.)
Anyhow, I got ear protection, because it was loud, and it IS. VERY LOUD, even with the headset. And then I lay there in this thing, for roughly 45 minutes while it made various unpredictable loud noises. I couldn't even meditate because the noises didn't last for any specific length of time or go in any particular order. While a given noise was happening, I could slip into a qigong state, but as soon as it stopped, my focus would break. and then the next noise would start. So mostly I just looked at the ceiling. It was really boring. Considering the price, I'm surprised they didn't project a movie for me. At least then I'd have had some kind of distraction.
But afterward, the tech let me look at the pictures. And I was amazed at how clear they are. I was thinking it was those rainbow-y, blurry pictures. Or that it would be like an ultrasound. But no, it was like someone had sliced into my leg and taken black and white pictures. You can see fat and muscle striations. You can see the clear edges of my bones. You can see where there is still a lot of fluid in my knee. It was incredible. I looked at the first picture, and my jaw dropped. My mouth was open pretty much the entire time I watched.
I see the doctor on Wednesday.
Posted by sally at 06:19 PM
February 23, 2005
Updates and Etudes
Knee update
Finally scheduled the MRI for Friday at 1:30. When I called the doctor's office on Tuesday morning (2 weeks after seeing the doctor), I found out that the reason no one had called my cell to schedule the MRI was that the person who told my my insurance company needed to pre-approve it (they didn't) just filed my file without contacting them for pre-approval. So nothing had been done. Things got done amazingly quickly after that. And now I have an MRI scheduled for Friday.
I can't imagine it will be good news. A full 4 weeks after the accident, my knee is still swollen. Not as badly, but obviously still swollen. Something is definitely wrong there. But at least we're getting somewhere now.
DNA Update
For those of you coming to see DNA, it appears this year's schedule is different. There are only 24 plays this year and they will all be performed each night: Wednesday-Saturday plus a Sunday matinee.
Macbeth Update
I have finished my scene breakdowns and am ready to start writing the paper. It shouldn't really take too long once I start. I just have to begin. I'm guessing it will be a 10- to 15-pager. I already emailed a list of proposed changes to the director, things I think need to be either cut or put back in for clarity's sake.
And to show that I was not alone as I worked on this project, a picture of Quickly, my helpful assistant:
The green book? That's my script.
And now I must go work on stuff for my Not-for-Profit Arts Administration class. I'm glad JazzFest is happening so that it's cancelled tonight, because I haven't had time to prepare any of my arguments for discussion of the latest case.
Posted by sally at 03:10 PM | Comments (2)
February 20, 2005
Flotsam and Jetsam
Hard at work on Macbeth. Since I have only 2 more days before classes start again I thought I should get going at it.
Dave and I cleaned up the garage a bit yesterday, and the driveway. We were really beginning to look like white trash. And I was so enjoying being out in the sunshine that I cleaned up the porch too. Now you can walk across it without having to run an obstacle course. Dave did a dump run yesterday as well, and I'll be hauling stuff to recycling today.
Today's gloomy gray, perfect for sitting at my now-clean desk and doing some serious scholarly-type work. I've finished the scene breakdowns in the Arden and got up to Scene 12 in the OSF script, which is the first scene of Shakespeare's Act III. So things are moving pretty quickly now.
(Speaking of Quickly, she was a great hindrance yesterday as she "helped" me in my work by lying on the binder my scripts and notes are in. Every time I moved her, she moved back again as soon as possible. It was really sweet and completely exasperating at the same time.)
And because I do adore the beasties, here's a picture of Poly taken yesterday morning. I got out of bed to see what havoc he was wreaking in the bathroom and he obligingly stayed where he was while I hobbled for the camera. (Artistic Disclaimer: The shower curtain came with the house. We have kept it because I hate throwing away useful stuff. But it is no indicator whatsoever of my taste. Nor is the color of the bathtub.)
Posted by sally at 08:51 AM
February 18, 2005
Cats Cats Cats
Imogen Eyes
I realized I hadn't posted any beast pictures for a while, so here are a couple taken over the last few months.
Poly and Imogen
Poly and Quickly
 Katala and her chair |
 Dad and Imogen |
Posted by sally at 09:26 AM | Comments (2)
February 17, 2005
In Search of a Good Home...
It was hard to leave Portland yesterday. Not only did I get a marvelous acupuncture treatment from my friend Judy, I picked up some art supplies and books, ate fantastic Thai food, and got to spend some quality time with friends, one of whom is moving to NYC at the end of next month. And I ordered a new copy of the turtle qigong sitting meditation tape that accidentally got tossed out with the broken boom box.
But on the way home, I looked into the rearview mirror of the car and saw Mt. Hood silhouetted against the sunset. And I cried. Because I still love Portland and would love to move back there. And I can't. My sinuses plugged up around Hood River, and my nose ran the entire visit. If I hadn't been taking the steroidal inhalant, my lungs would have been in bad shape too. But it's still home in a way this place will never be.
Though this little house is definitely home. This sweet little house and the slowly beautifying yard. With my husband and beasties.
Hopefully we can find a new place someday that feels like home to both of us.
Posted by sally at 01:12 PM
February 15, 2005
Now You See Me...
I'm back in Moscow, but not for long.
We got home Sunday afternoon, had a nice, quiet evening with the beasts, who were thrilled to have people to drape themselves over again. The boy was very confused, though. He was so overstimulated with our return that we couldn't look at him without being chewed on.
Seattle was lovely. I got to visit Pike Place, as well as buy books and underwear and stationery and all the stuff I can't get in this stupid, podunk place. Well, I can buy that stuff online, but I can't just browse or get the sale items like I can if I'm actually in the same city as the store. And the food was lovely. All of it. Every. Single. Meal. Whether room service (yay!) or eaten at a restaurant.
We were on the 31st floor of the Westin, with a view straight down 5th Ave. Gorgeous. Even when housekeeping set the alarm for 5am in retaliation for a complaint, the city was gorgeous. I sat and watched it sleep for about 45 minutes before I finally got sleepy again myself. (We did mention, quite casually, to the front desk that the alarm had gone off at 5am, and since it was our 3rd night in the room and we hadn't set it we were "a bit surprised." Foolish, foolish housekeeper. If we were annoyed enough to complain about your not making the bed in the first place, we'll be annoyed enough to complain about the alarm.)
And now that I've been home for a day and 1/2, it's time to leave again. I'm off for a night in Portland with friends I haven't seen since I moved here eighteen months ago. (I realized this weekend that at this time two years ago, I hadn't even thought about graduate school, and in six months, I'll have my degree. Whoosh time flies.) I'm having dinner with them and with some friends who are moving to NYC (which means I won't see them for a long, loong time.) We're going to have really really good Thai food and I'm gonna get an acupuncture treatment from someone who isn't a freak and then I'm gonna go to Powells.
And then I'm going to come home and work for 5 days straight so I can be ready to go with Macbeth rehearsals and DNA rehearsals and finally, finally, the mask making project I'm doing this semester.
Posted by sally at 08:33 AM | Comments (2)
February 10, 2005
Goin' to See the Show...
Taught my last class of the week this morning/afternoon (it's 11:30-12:30). Took my last class of the week yesterday evening. I have no classes to either teach or attend until after Presidents' Day because the theatre department shuts down for ACTF.
So we're going to Seattle for the garden show. It's all about taking better care of myself, and I can't think of a better way than a weekend at the Westin with my honey, dinner at Tulio and the NW Garden Show. And did I mention that a weekend at the Westin includes room service breakfast, which has got to be the very best way to eat breakfast EVER?
Gonna buy lots of garden-related stuff, gonna see amazing landscaping work, gonna get more garden info. Not attending any seminars this year, though. All the seminars that interested me are on Saturday, and there's no way I'm going to wander around the convention center on Saturday with 70-bajillion people. Friday's the best day to attend, in my opinion.
Posted by sally at 12:44 PM
February 09, 2005
And Did I Mention the New Knee Brace?
It makes me feel like I'm turning into one of the Borg. But my knee doesn't move when I'm in it. I mean, it bends, in the way knees are supposed to bend, but I can't hyperextend it and it doesn't bend sideways. When I wear it, I can move almost as fast as I did pre-poppage and there's none of the unsettling feeling that it's about to stop supporting me.
Based on the way my foot feels right now, though, I may have it on too tight.
Posted by sally at 08:18 AM
February 08, 2005
And the Doctor Says... (Take 2)
...that he's not completely sure, and that I need an MRI. Only my insurance won't approve an MRI until they get his writeup on my exam today. So probably no approval from insurance until Thursday. Which is the day Dave & I leave for Seattle. Or I can do it next week. Only I'll be in Ashland for ACTF. Yeah. At least I have a much better brace now and won't need crutches for the garden show.
Anyway, he's pretty sure it's my meniscus, and about 60% sure it's also my ACL. He didn't say 60%, that's just a vibe I got from him. So chances are good, unless the MRI indicates that the ACL is just stretched, that Sally will be getting orthoscopy during spring break.
He was a bit surprised at the extent of the damage, based on someone just running into my knee, but then he remembered that I was also holding at least 100 lbs of additional person in my arms and said, "That's a lot of extra torque." So I told Adam (the guy who connected with my knee) that it's not just his fault. It's also Maggie's. I'm not sure that made him feel any better.
Posted by sally at 03:38 PM
February 05, 2005
The Boy
Polyphemos tends to attack feet when he's bored. You're sitting on the couch, typing industriously away at a breakdown of Act V of Macbeth (Arden version), and suddenly this warm lump thumps onto your foot and starts chewing on your toes. When you move in response to the biting (to get away, to make it stop), the paws wrapped around your foot suddenly sprout claws, the biting gets harder and the hind paws begin rabbit punching your foot.
This is a game he loves, and no distractions seem to work. If he wants interaction, no other toy but your feet will do, until you start playing with him with some other toy. But the minute you sit back down on the couch, he goes for the feet again. (Socks are now a must in our house, for obvious reasons.)
However. I think I have found a solution. I have a pair of wool socks with holes in the heels that I was going to try to fix. Instead, I stuffed one inside the other, along with a bunch of dusting rags, and gave it to him. So far, he likes it a lot, though he'd still rather have the toy move in the way it does when someone else (me) is involved with it.
Posted by sally at 11:45 AM
February 04, 2005
My Father Would Be Proud
We have a water filter at the kitchen sink. The kind with its own faucet. I was filling a glass of water, and as I reached for the handle to turn it off, I stuck the spigot down my sleeve.
I thought of you immediately, Dad.
Posted by sally at 05:44 PM | Comments (1)
February 03, 2005
Things Are Getting Better All the Time
The swelling has now gone down enough that the furrows in the skin of my knee are visible. And you can tell it IS a knee, it's vaguely knee-shaped. I can bend it more and walk faster too. I only wish the kneecap wouldn't pop all of the time. That's the most frustrating and annoying part of the whole thing.
Well, aside from not being able to participate in the things I'm supposed to be participating in, like my movement and acting classes, for example.
Posted by sally at 08:26 PM
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