Thankfully I do not have a broken knuckle or damage to other bones in my hand. According the the doctor who poked and prodded my hand while I grimaced and screeched like a bean sidhe, I have a soft tissue injury. This appears to be doctor speak for “we have no clue what’s wrong but you’re obviously in a lot of pain and there’s a large amount of unexplained swelling in the affected area.”

I should be fine in a few days with the help of an anti-inflammatory medication. I was warned that if the swollen area turns bright red, throws off heat, and swells more that I’ll need to get my butt back to see the doctor as it’s possible I have some sort of infection. The doctor didn’t think this was likely though.

I’m just happy to know that it’s not a repetitive strain injury from typing. My iPhone has been ruled out as the source of the problem. *whew*

While holding the doctor captive I also got an adjustment made to my sleeping pills. I really don’t like the ones I was originally prescribed. They knock me on my ass for a long period of time and I don’t like how they make me feel. They do work but I find they work far too well. I need a good 24 hour period to ensure the drug is out of my system so I can drive (or think) again. I dislike the way they make me feel so much that I tend to suffer through long bouts of insomnia rather than take the pills. The new drug is supposed to be much milder and non-habit forming. Hopefully I’ll have better reactions to them and won’t be so afraid to take them.

Double bonus – no ear infection. Hey, if I’m going to make the trek to a medicentre I’m going to get my tax dollars worth and ask all my medical questions in one sitting.

mcpyper played an important role in today’s trip to the medicentre. Shortly after I figured out how to dress myself she arrived at my doorstep to play chauffeur. She kept me company throughout the wait to see a doctor before kidnapping me and bringing me home for dinner and to watch a local short Bollywood style film – Breakout of the Masala kid. Her husband helped with some of the prop work in the film’s production and the family got to watch the filming. While not up to Mumbai standards of film making it’s a cute and upbeat little story and we laughed quite a bit while watching it.

2009 started out filled with pain but is morphing into a much better time. Here’s to constant improvement throughout the year.

Odd that I managed to blog Christmas day but missed blogging on Boxing day. Then again I did spend a good chunk of yesterday cleaning up after the cookie stealing puppies and the sweet and innocent kitties. Add to that the time I spent converting videos from our camcorder to a format that can be viewed on a computer and the personal video messages I recorded for Drew and I’m surprised we still found time to go to Karaoke.

Despite the bar being almost empty Loxley and I had fun. When the place is empty it provides a great opportunity to try out new songs and practice ones you haven’t sung in a long time. K, the host, had brought Christmas presents to hold draws for but since so few people were there to sing everyone ended the night with something fun to take home.

After karaoke we braved Wally World after midnight. I needed to pick up some more things to include in Drew’s package and there was no way I was going to head out during daylight hours to go shopping on one of the busiest shopping days in Canada.

Shopping at Wally World after midnight is a bit like grocery shopping at 3 am. Freaks come out in their pajamas and there are boxes of “stuff” all over the aisles. Drunks have been known to stumble around disturbing the peace – or maybe their voices just seem overtly loud because there are so few shoppers in the store.

Me thinks I’ll spend the rest of the weekend pretending to clean, recording more video messages, working on another letter to Drew, finding books to add to the package, and wrapping up the box in shipping paper. If there is time left to breathe I’ll likely get some more pre-reading done for next semester’s Military Psych class.

What will you be doing this weekend?

Cause I just don’t have the patience today and there are many others who are far more talented than I can ever dream of being – go here, here and here.  While you’re distracted by the cool stuffs on the Interweebs I’m going to find homes for my list of soldiers who need “adopting”.  Enjoy.

I love listening to music. My iPod has thousands of songs. A few hundred of my favourites have also been transferred to my iPhone. At work I’ll load up iTunes to distract me and keep me motivated when the workload becomes too heavy.

When it comes to music my tastes are pretty ecclectic. I love traditional Celtic folk music. Pipes and drums. Blues. Opera. Classic rock. Alternative. Electronica. You get the idea. There’s not much in the way I won’t listen to.

The song is a bit different when it comes to purchasing concert tickets. The price of tickets means that we can’t afford to see all the concerts I might want to so I have to be more discerning.

Over the past year we’ve managed to see Ozzy and Rob Zombie, LIVE, Elton John, and Buddy Guy. Did I mention the Buddy Guy seat was in the 3rd row?

Tonight I picked up tickets to Gordon Lightfoot. The show isn’t until April but the tickets were going fast so the best I could manage to Lightfoot were tickets in the first row balcony. I’m all aflutter.

Now if only Leonard Cohen would tour out west. I’d be in heaven.

Yesterday I got tickets to a show at the Edmonton Fringe Festival and, based on local rumour mills, just could not pass up the chance to see the show.  Besides, the tickets were a birthday present. Who am I to say no to presents? Especially presents with exciting Browncoat related rumours attached. And presents that straddle multiple days. The show started on the evening of the 19th and ended in the wee hours of the morning on the 20th. I started my birthday with a bang this year.

We’d originally had plans to go out for wings and beer on Tuesday with P, W, & A – it was a weekly tradition that seemed to fall by the wayside over the summer – but hadn’t actually managed to determine the time and place to meet.  As I was walking in the door from work yesterday, Drew was on the phone.  Drew explained the Fringe situation and apparently the decision was made to put wings and beer night off for a week.

Drew continued to struggle with the garage door opener situation.  Today’s door opener turned out to be a model from another part of the globe.  Rather than using standard North American power plugs the power cord on this machine was a round two-pronged plug similar to those I used in India and the Philippines.  Guess that one will be boxed up and sent back as well.

After some veggin’ in the basement – ’twas stinkin’ hot again today – we headed to the Fringe to take in the sights.  We were lucky and easily found parking across from Drew’s Lodge.  I’m told that week nights just aren’t as busy as the weekends.  Worked out well for me since I’m not a huge fan of crowds and was pretty much all crowded out on Sunday.

Drew immediately found his way to a green onion cake vendor and I wandered aimlessly checking out the various artists. I did end up purchasing a print while I was there and may go back to check out the work of the spray paint artist before the end of the festival. Time sufficiently wasted, we entered the line up for the show. You know you’re dedicated when you enter the line-up over an hour before the show is scheduled to begin. While in line we met a local Browncoat, Bev, who is also a volunteer at the Fringe.

The show was awesome.  I love improv and some of the actors were just amazing at thinking on their feet.  I didn’t catch the names of most of them; you’ll have to forgive me for using descriptions of their characters instead.  The men who played Anderson Cooper and Juggling Castro were hilarious and the man (woman?) who was Mrs. Steele – a wheelchair bound antiquity with a mind as sharp as a bat – was just splendid.  Special mention goes out to the woman spoofing Nancy Grace and her continual bursts of song.  Of course we can’t forget the special guest star Captain Tightpants himself.  He’s got a wonderfully expressive face but, despite the shiny glow, was upstaged a number of times.  It definitely looked like he was having a ball – both on and off stage.

At the end of the evening we managed to catch Nathan on his way out the door and get out photo taken.  He’s quite the pro at holding the camera up and taking group portraits!

I’m old today but what a great way to start my birthday!

Apparently Alan T was there for the Monday night show.  I wish I’d known as I’d have loved to me him.  I just know in my bones he’d have been awesome to watch in an improv situation.