Taboo

On monday, I was in a little pain, and it really made me think - what the hell made this topic so taboo? What part of history just made it the worst topic?

Ok, so I had my period - and still do (4 days a month guys, no getting around it), and I just don't get the fuss. I mean, it's a bodily function, right? Albeit, with a slightly grosser product than urine, I'll give you that. But the fuss? I don't get it.

I've had conversations upon conversations with guys (AND girls) talking about pee, poop, vomit, sperm, ..... as soon as the word "period" comes up, everyone makes a face, plus their ears "lalalala - I can't hear you". Really? blood is grosser than poop? grosser than VOMIT? Don't even get me started on the grossness of sperm - I've been in conversations that included such sparkling phrases like "drop my load" or "squeeze one off" and have even been a party to the "never use the towel next to a guys bed" topic. Gross in their own ways, but hilarious nonetheless.... Does anyone not understand the hilariousness of uncontrollably bleeding for 4 days every month? I mean COME ON!!!!!

(I think it's a hilarious coincidence that today of all days my favorite humourous blog is dedicated to the internal lady parts - please go check it out and laugh!)

Busy, Busy, Busy

I often disparage others for not updating their respective blogs, but then I don't update for days and it's ok?

Alright, alright....
I spent all of May working on Throwing Heat, which closed on 5/30. I then jumped right into production meetings and planning for Video Project #2. The pics are from Day One of filming - we do our second day of filming this Saturday! :) Once the whole project is done filming and editing, I'll post a link to the final piece!
I'm running lights & sound for WNEP's 10th Annual SKALD this coming weekend, and I just booked a stage management gig for Trap Door Theatre's fall production of "12 Ophelias". I'm excited about the show and the process, and I'm hoping to blog more about it when we start up.

In between all of this, Sara's Uncle Dick passed away last week, so we had some very sad family obligations. Dick had had a hard time since his wife passed away just last year ,(http://allthingsdianna.blogspot.com/2008/05/stop-all-clocks-cut-off-telephone.html) so while it was very sad to see him go, we all knew he was ready. Funeral Mass and burial was this past Saturday, followed by the ubiquitous Polish pig-out meal (dude, pierogi, smoked sausage...yummmm). Plenty of tears were shed for Sara's only Uncle from her mom's side....but an equal amount of laughter and memories were shared. Sara'snfamily are some great people, and I'm always humbled and thankful for how much everyone has embraced me as one of thier own.

Florida or Bust? Bust....

A lot of folks knew (and some didn't, sorry), that Sara and I were completely planning on moving to Florida next year. When people said "Why?", our answer was simple - we desperately want to start a family, and houses are completely cheap down there, Sara has some family down there already, and I have some friends down there too. It all seemed to make sense for us - we wanted a nice house, the standard of living is lower down there, so Sara would be able to complete school only working part time probably, and there's a hotel from my chain located right there (we were looking at Tampa/St Petersburg). So, we started making plans - a time line to let jobs, landlord, and others know. We slowly started telling family, some friends. Everyone knew where we were coming from - they all said they'd miss us, but that they were glad we were making the leap.
We had initially made the "Let's do it!" decision late in February.
Fast forward to about 3 weeks ago.
Sara had done some thinking - she just couldn't see herself living so far from her sister, brothers and her mom & dad, especially if we have a kid. She was also really worried about leaving well-paying jobs up here (and good bennies), and having bad luck down there. She didn't want to go.
I was pretty crushed for a little while. We had been planning it for a long enough period that my heart was really set on it. I had been looking at Craigslist almost daily - seeing what kind of apartment deals could be had, keeping an eye on the job market, etc etc. I had myself on mailing lists for local theatres to keep my ears open for any kind of job opportunity. ANd now we weren't going.
After a period of morose-ness, I started feeling a little better.
I only had ONE BIG caveat when it comes to staying in Illinois.

I am NOT NOW, NOT EVER going to move to the suburbs. End of story.

One positive thing? I now don't need to "squeeze in" as many Chicago theatre jobs as posible before leaving (just for money's sake), and I can go back to being more selective. (Hence, my meeting tonight for possible Fall show - more to come), and also I can plan for other projects in the future (WNEP, I'm looking RIGHT AT YOU in regards to the Hopper piece...or, anything really)

That's it, I guess... no Florida.

Rob K brings the funny

It's been awhile, I know.

I've been enjoying some theatre-free time off, thankyouverymuch.

I had to break radio silence though to point out one of the funniest theatre related blog posts in awhile. Man, does Rob K hit the nail right on the fucking head. Read it, my theatre peeps and have a nice Friday laugh on me.


(fear not, 3 or 4 people who read my blog, I'm meeting with someone next week to iron out the fall show i'm working on. Until she and I "shake on it", I don't wanna jinx anything by talking about. It's looking to be a very interesting project, so looking forward to blogging on the topic - stay tuned)

Birthday, Birthday, who's gotta Birthday?

Well, 2 of my favorite peeps have a birthday today....



First off.... my MOMMA!!!!!!

Happy Birthday Ma! She doesn't read my blog, but I'm sending birthday wishes out across the interwebs in the hope that she will somehow know I'm doing it...







Second?
My good friend Mace!
In honor of the occasion, I have to re-post one of my favorite pics of us:
(yes, the labels are correct...we were totally drunk)

Growth and Moving on

Now, I'm not sure if one actually "moves on" from the death of a parent, but I guess finally this year, after 21 years of sadness, refelection, stories (and blog posts), May 11th kind of came and went.
Don't get me wrong - I thought of my dad. But the thoughts were quick and pointed. "Wow... 21 years" and "It's been so long - really miss you", and then my brain moved on. Not in a push the thoughts away kind of way, but in a Jed Bartlett-esque "What's next?" kind of way.

I think the point is that the DAY no longer holds the trauama it used to. When I was 23, for the 10th anniversary, I took the day off of work (I think for the 5 year we went to church and had a mass said?). I don't NEED those things anymore. My thoughts of my dad are now scattered throughout the year in a more reflective manner. I wish Sara could have known him, for one. I wish I could just hug him ONE MORE TIME.

My older brother Danny, is now older than my dad was when he passed. That always weirds me out a little. My dad was almost 36 when he passed away, and Danny is 37 now. I wonder at times how he feels and what he thinks about that.

Anyway... I guess the point is, my thoughts of Dad are a year long thing, and I'm thinking it's high time for me to stick a fork in May 11th. The date means very little now. It's those day to day thoughts that hold more meaning, not some silly date.

A while ago I set up my phone to post to my blog. This is a test, this is only a test.

Let's be clear...

.....I live at the tab labeled "A"......and "B" is the school with the first Chicago-land reported swine flu is located. I'm not afraid...not afraid at all....

::starts VIGOROUSLY scrubbing her hands::

How do we build a future from a present we didn't expect?

Last night, I attended an "open rehearsal" for New Leaf's new show, The Long Count. It was great - just a handful of us, plus the cast and a few of the New Leaf artists. First off, the Curator of the event, Marsha Harmon, spoke a little about the process so far, how the company had been writing and collaborating for awhile, then they cast the piece, etc etc. She also went through the structure for the night - they were going to warm up a little with a Viewpoints exercise, then work on one piece from the show, take a break, work on another piece, then questions (if you had them), and then close out the rehearsal.
First off, Jessica Hutchinson led the cast in a quick Viewpoints exercise. Now, lots of people have opinions on Viewpoints - whether it actually helps or not, etc... In this case, however, I think it was an invaluable exercise. Mostly, because of the style of the piece they were doing - the show is completely dependent about group dynamics, with movement, etc. And it was wonderful to watch a group of performers come together an work so cohesively - it set a great stage for the rest of the rehearsal.

Jessica then led the cast through a particular scene that they needed to work on - they ran the scene once with lights and sound - then they talked as a team and discussed new ideas, and new methods to achieve the look and feel they were hoping for. Then they ran it again, with the new ideas in place, and every one ended it with a nod of the head indicating "yeah, that feels so much better...".... I found I was nodding along with them, as both an observer and a participant.

We took a break (when the stage manager Rebecca said "Let's say 11 minutes then", all the folks watching said "thank you 11"...brilliant...)

Then after the break, Kyra led them through another scene to be worked. Again - ran the scene once with lights and sound, then talked about ideas to tighten up, etc etc, then a couple of trial runs to see if the ideas worked, then running the scene again.

When it was done, Marsha invited all of us to come together in the center, we made a circle with our arms aournd each other, Marsha took a moment gave some words of thanks, then we all took a deep breath in together, and then let it out together, cast & audience TOGETHER. Wonderful.


(And then we went to Stanley's and drank beers. )

Earth

In celebration of Earth Day yesterday, Sara and I went to see "Earth", the new Disney - Nature movie. It's sort of a kiddie version of the BBC "Planet Earth" series, if you will. The Planet Earth folks were involved (and if you're a fan of the series, there are a couple of filmed scenes that will look a little familiar). Most interesting to me were some of the time-lapse photography of how rain affects a dessert delta, or how the ice melts over a season. The animal stuff is great (particularly the footage of the humpback whales --- there was a preview on the film of the next Disney-Nature film for next year's earth day - a similar movie called "Oceans", and the whales figure greatly - very excited for that one), but some of the animal footage is similar to stuff I've seen before - the nature stuff was better, in my opinion.

Warning - even though there is a "G" rating attached, there are some definite "circle of life" moments, if you will.... so it might be scary to the youngest kids, so be aware.

Overall, I thought it was great. It merely scratches the surface in some areas, but it was still beautiful to watch. Plus, it's narrated by Darth Vader/Mufasa/God/Terrence Mann, so how can it be bad?

long in the tooth

Man - that last entry was long!

Well, Once I started, I wanted to be sure to say something complete about everyone - make sure it was all even and fair and such.

So, root canal happened - and overall it wasn't too bad. I was a little sore and throbby on Friday once all the drugs wore off overnight, but it passed by quickly - the only thing that was consistently sore was my jaw from the entry points of the anasthesia, not much else.

I'm glad I am a know-it-all who has to go online and see how something works before I try it. So, I already knew exactly what was going to happen to me. The process is still really WEIRD (the actual retrieval of your root - very sci-fi), but it didn't really freak me out. However, I can see how people who have no idea what is about to happen can freak out. Seriously, the process is totally sci-fi.

Anyway - my tooth feels great (for now) and I can chew on that side again, which rocks. I'm still taking it easy because I don't want to lose the temp filler thats in there, plus without the roots the tooth is technically dead, so its a little more fragile with chewing. When this is all over, I will most likely bite the bullet and get a crown - its a lot of money, but I'm more likely to keep the tooth if its protected correctly.

Now I need to move to the other side of my mouth and get another tooth removed.

(Can you tell I recently came to that "Why do I pay all this $$$ in dental insurance if I'm not using it?" epiphany?)

Then after that, I want to get on cavity and filling patrol.

I foresee a few more dental related entries in the future...

People.....people who need......people.....

As I was re-reading my post I just posted, I was looking over my blog layout, and I started thinking about all the people I link to..... ya know..... over THERE..-------->



might as well take them in order, eh?



1. Chris Bohjalian - fantastic author, just discovered his blog and added it a week or 2 ago - I keep forgetting to pop him toward the bottom in the "famous people blog" zone. SO, love his books (yeah, yeah, Midwives was an "Oprah" book - don't let that dissuade you. ) His blog is more topical, though, which I enjoy.



2. Sara - my love & partner in crime. She hasn't updated her blog in FOREVER, but she has to be there or else I'll get in trouble. (in fact, she SHOULD be first, hence the need to pop Bohjalian down a few notches.) Personally, I wish she'd use it to write again. When we first got together, she wrote poems (good ones) and hasn't in a long time. Well, now I've thrown the gauntlet and mayvbe she'll respond. We'll see.



3. Toxic Blog's Bag - written by my pal Joe Griffin, this is his production company. Joe's one of those "all around great guys" everyone should have in their life. But go find your own - you can't have my Joe. His list of talents and accomplishments are many. While lots of folks identify him as "sound guy Joe", he is first and foremost a talented musician. And yeah, he'll design sound for your show or dance program. But he is also a good friend. When I was younger, I always felt smart around some of my social circles, mostly because I was one of the smarter people there. Now - my adult social circles have me with people who are FAR smarter than I, and through I at times feel dumb in their presence, I heartily enjoy the conversation. Joe is one of the smart kids.



4. Brownlee? really, I have to talk about Brownlee?

Brownlee and I used to joke that we had the same brain and it was cleaved in half and seperated into the 2 of us. We usually think the same, and quite often when we're hanging out we'll make the same sarcastic remarks at almost the same time. Creepy, I know. Anyway - he's a funny guy, a good friend, a good writer and a fantastic photographer.



5. Don is the strangest mixture of person out there. He is the most lewd and crude and yet smartest guy I know. My "Bostonian language skills" (read: cussing like a sailor), are supremely attracted to his unique brand of blue humour. On a serious side, he's one of the most passionate artists I know. When he's involved in a project, he attacks it balls out (LITERALLY). I am both grossed out and in love with the guy. I heart Don Hall.



6. Jen Ellison. Dude, the chick makes me laugh. And she's SMRT. And we both like funky socks. And have shameful choices on our respective iPods. What's not to love?



7. Joe Janes is a brilliant comedy writer. We worked together last summer on Metaluna, and will be working together in next month's Throwing Heat at the Atheneum (plug). Another one - funny, smart, talented. He recently changed his regular blog over to a personal challege of "365 sketches". He's going to write and post a comedy sketch/scene every day for a year. He's on day 86 so far, which adds up to being almost a 1/4 done. He's the man.



8. Paul Rekk (AKA Bries Vannon). Bries and I worked on The Crucible back in the fall of '05 I think? It was an artistically awesome production to work on, and Bries was a big part of that. He's a great guy with some very thoughtful theatre discussion on his blog - love him.



9. Rebar - WNEP company member, she was also in Metaluna last summer. Her posts are hilarious, and I love her political points of view. She's a funny gal and I hope she follows through on her latest promise and posts more :)



10. Bob Fisher is a director & writer, founder of The Mammals and company member of WNEP. I've only met Bob twice I think? He was the director of my favorite piece at last summer's Raw series (Boneweaver), and he's directing some friends of mine in next month's Devil's Don't Forget, which I will unfortunately be UNABLE to see (pout). Great blog, cool guy. One of these days we may actually have a conversation :)



11 Dan Granata - thinking about his performance in Touch at New Leaf a couple of months ago STILL makes me misty. (I wrote a little about it here) . He's most well known for 2 things (in my head, at least). He's the boyfriend of my favorite Texan, and he co-founded the Chicagio Theatre Database. He's super smart, and a great guy.



12 Nick Kennan. Funny story, when Nick and I finally met face to face this past winter, the first thing I said to him was "man, I totally thought you were shorter". Am I a dork, or what?

Nick is taking the theatre world by storm, with his amazing sound designs (still can't get over how good Dining Room was...), his great theatre ideas (hence name of blog) and his involvement with the Chicago Theatre Database is awesome. He's a good guy to know - and again, like all the poeple listed above... totally smarter than me.



13. Diffraction - Beth Cummings. Beth is married to Regan Davis, who was in (you guessed it) last summer's Metaluna. She is not only a funny gal, but a talented artist (see items on her website), and she's a GREAT COOK!!!!!!! If you ever get invited to Regan & Beth's for anything, GO for crying out loud.... and bring and empty belly.



14. Rob K - Rob writes about theatre AND old films on his blog, which is great. Rob is one of those great online folks whom I have actually NEVER met face to face. And he's the only guy (other than Tony) who talks football on his blog too, during the appropriate seasons.



15. Bilal... I love that I follow Bilal's website (on old-school LiveJournal, natch), and we follow each other on Twitter (and comment back and forth to each other), and yet, have NEVER met face to face. I feel like it would be a tremendous let down for each of us - I'm not nearly as funny in face-to-face settings - so I think we should keep this relationship online.....FOREVER!!!!!
MUA-HA-HA-HA-HA!!!! ok, enough of that.

16. GreyZelda - Rebecca, whom I've never met either, this is her blog for her company GreyZelda Theatre. She actually linked to me FIRST, and I was all a-flutter about it. Rebecca seems VERY cool, and I'm looking forward to meeting her one of these days.

17. Tony Adams - Tony is AD for Halcyon Theatre, and we've worked together (WAY back in the day). He's married to my old college buddy, who is the one who moved to Chicago with me in the first place. We haven't spoken in a long time (my fault - see my post that sheds light HERE), but I REALLY enjoy his blog - he's a smart guy and we used to have some great conversations about THeatre. Plus, he's a fellow Beastie Boys man.... I'll never forget the 2 of us rocking out to the Beastie's at he & Jenn's wedding. Classic.

18 - Chris Jones - Tribune Theatre Critic

19 - Kris Vire - TimeOut Theatre critic - this blog isn't affiliated with TimeOut, and Kris has some great theatre insights and info on his site.

20. My friend Stacy started a blog when she headed to Mongolia for the Peace Corps. You feel lazy now just because of reading that. Yeah, me too.

21. My friend Valerie started a blog to post all her travel pictures (her goal is to be on all continents before 30 - she's almost done). But then she wasn't able to update for awhile. She recently changed it over to be a "one great picture a week" kind of site, and she's doing great so far. She's a great photographer and she has the cutest damn dog.

22. Yeah, so this is Rosie O'Donnell's blog - yeah, so she's a little crazy, big deal. She does great work for the LGBT community, and she's a pretty cool role model. I love her....

23 Wil Wheaton - supergeek. His blog awesome, his twitter updates are great, too. He's developed into a great writer (I own a few of his recent books) and it's great to see a child star doing positive things with their life and not blowing it on Porshes, Red Bulls & drugs.

24. Margaret Cho. No explanation necessary, the woman freaking rocks.

wavering

I can't decide if I really do have an upset stomach right now, or if I'm nervous about tomorrow's scheduled part 1 of my ROOT CANAL.

I just took a couple antacids, and they seem to be helping, so we're going with "upset stomach" right now. Don't get me wrong - I'm still nervous about the root canal, but that appears to be a seperate irritation. I keep trying to tell myself that AFTER the root canal my tooth will actually feel better (i.e. I can chew on that side of my mouth again...), but thats hard to remember when the image of what they are going to do keeps going through my head. Best part? (if there actually CAN be a best part) I took the Friday off a while back for a tentative road trip - the road was cancelled unfortunately, but I kept that day off in place when I made the appointment for the Root Canal - I figured an extra day of rest would be great.
And by "extra day of rest", Sara interpreted that as "make appointment for cable guy because Dianna will be home". No worries, I will answer the door and happily say hello with a mouth full of gauze - sometime between the hours of 1-4....

huh?

I will ring in my inaugual April post with the following absurdity.

The name applied to the scent of my dish soap is beyond ridiculous.

Seriously, ALPINE PURITY???

I don't even want to BEGIN to know how someone comes up with that name. For reals.

things are A-OK

Work is doing ok in terms of business - one way they've been able to offset any drops in business is to have everyone use ALL of their accrued vacation days.

So now, I have to take a day or 2 off in April and..... I dunno.... go to the dentist?

I'm an "accruer". I enjoy watching the hours stack up, and then take a PLANNED vacation of a week, or a long weekend, etc.

The whole idea of "Uh, I guess I'll take off the 17th, and I guess the 27th", doesn't work well for me.

FIRST and foremost.... what the hell happens if I get sick and can't come in? I always like to have at least one day sitting in my "bank" so I can use it for emergencies. (If I have 6 days, I'll take a 5 day vacation so I have something left). So, I guess the practoce worries me about having a back up plan.

Although in the long run I should be pleased I have a job.
You know, one where I'm able to access Blogger???

Red Noses, and more

How cool does this show look? I'm ashamed to say I've never been to a Strawdog show, but the description of this show sounds so engaging!

I have a little time in April before my next show -- I think I need to cram some good theatre in there. This one is at the top of my list.

I also need to go see my favorite diminutive Texan in this


I won't be able to see D-Ray or Adam in THIS, becaue it runs during my show in May.
Maybe I can finagle my way into a rehearsal before I go into tech on the 27th.
(Bob Fisher, I'm looking RIGHT AT YOU)

I'd also like to squeeze in Bries-y in Prime of Miss Jean Brodie

Busy Busy Busy April!

the vague stops here

There's a subject close to my heart that I've discussed on my blog from time to time...
here:
http://allthingsdianna.blogspot.com/2007/08/regret.html
and again here:
http://allthingsdianna.blogspot.com/2008/05/want-to.html
and for the last time, here:
http://allthingsdianna.blogspot.com/2008/08/good-karma.html

Each time, I've been vague to the point of pulling my hair out - inserting vague pronouns, deleting names, being vague about the circumstance(s).

Well, I'm not going to do that anymore. I'm too old to be the "beat around the bush" gal.

Let me explain the posts once and for all.

The regret? I did something awful to my old best buddy, Jenn Leavitt Adams. I was trying to put into words (albeit, code words) how awful I felt about it and how there wasn't anything I could do. I was already toying with apologizing somehow back then, but was afraid that it would be too self-serving (or appear so), so I didn't.

Then, about 8 months later, I posted that I wanted to apologize again. I felt that it would still be kind of dumb. (more for me than for her, you know?)

That last post? "Good Karma"?
Well, I had finally mustered up the courage to email an apology letter. I also asked if there was anyway I could be a part of her life again?
And the spectacular thing that happened? Jenn emailed me back, and thanked me for apologizing. She didn't think we could be friends again, but thanked me for apologizing, nonetheless. While I was dissapointed that she didn't see us being able to reconcile, I was pleased that she had even taken the time to respond to me - something she had no need to do.


Now - we have a couple of friends in common (duh, theatre is a completely small world, so thats not surprising), and one of those friends, Kevin, was in the show I was just stage managing, and Jenn came last Sunday to our closing performance in support of Kevin. She brought along her mom, and another mutual friend, Jessica. Now, not wanting to make anyone's time uncomfortable, when the show was over, I just popped my head into the lobby really quick - gave Jess a quick hug hello and thanked her for coming. I didn't want to assume that it was at all OK to hang out and chat, so I was slowly inching back towards the theatre and out of the lobby when Jenn's mom Pat approached me from the side, and gave me a hug hello. In hindsight, I can say that I was so blown away by that, that I actually nearly fell down.
Meanwhile, while all this is happening, Jenn is in the bathroom. So basically, I'm just trying to say hello, and catch up before Jenn comes out of the bathroom!!! No, no - not in a bad way! Basically, I just don't want her to feel uncomfortable - and if she doesn't want to be friends, perhaps she'd react strangely? I don't know - I just wanted them all to have a good time and enjoy the show, and I didn't want my stupid drama to interfere with that.

Then Kevin comes over to say hello, so now all 3 of us are chatting, and then Jenn comes out of the bathroom - and all is good. Casual, catching up kind of conversation - the usual theatre banter "what are you up to?" "what's your next show?". Discussion, laughter, eye contact - all things that others take for granted and that I was relishing. I think I had a little diahhrea of the mouth for a few minutes, but all was good.

Jenn, Pat & Jess - I'm so glad you all enjoyed the show, and best of all it was LOVELY to see all of you!

Strangely interested

After watching LOST tonight, our roommate wanted to watch the latest episode of "The Real World" she had taped (yes,that show is STILL on...)
Well, there's a kid on the show who is an Iraq war vet, and the whole episode is dealing with him educating his roomies on The Iraq War, and what he went through. And it showshim learning about some different veteran groups and support groups.
Strangely proud ofMTV of having such a great episode.

Glutton

So here's what I usually do.

I do something dumb and hurt myself (slip, trip, fall, you name it), and I don't take it easy enough and my healing time goes slow (see last post...).

Then, as the twinges and pain subside in whatever area, and I'm on the road to complete recovery, I invariably re-injure the affected area and I'm right back where I started, and usually in more pain than when I started.

So....my hand.

My poor right hand.

Yesterday (for some reason - I have NO idea what I did), the joint of my thumb and my pointer finger started to THROB. And I mean, arthritic-style throb. I ignored for a bit because I figured it was a twinge or strain of some kind and would subside.
No such luck.
Hence one of the most tossy-turny nights I've had in awhile. So I can't sleep on my usual LEFT side due to the tattoo I got on my shoulder Saturday (story for another day, I promise), and I can't sleep on my RIGHT side, because I'm afraid of laying on my screwed up hand...
What's a gal to do?
I hate sleeping on my back, I never feel comfortable. And sleeping on my front doesn't work either (trust me, big boobs may be pleasant to look at but they are KILLER to try and sleep on).
So I sort of HAVE to sleep on my back. I curl my arm with my wasted hand up above my head, so that the useless appendage is resting on my pillow a bit.

And the throb continues.

I remember how good I am at mind over matter stuff - and I start to pretend I'm back in my Voice & Movement class. Laying flat on my back, eyes closed, with Patty DeLorey walking around saying softly "imagine that your ankles....are filled....with air...."
Instead, I'm quietly saying to myself "your hand is RESTING now.... its not moving.... the pain is going away.... the throbbing is subsiding..."

And it WORKED! just long enough for me to fall asleep an get an hour or two - then I'd shift in my sleep, feel pain in my hand, wake up from the pain, and then start all over again.

Now - last week or so with the healing of the hand the first go around, I would rest my hand from time to time, but I would still type and click the mouse with my right.

Not today - the first thing I did when I got in today was move my mouse over to the LEFT side, and used my left hand to click all morning. I was a ton slower than usual, but my right hand got a bunch of rest it needed. And I'm usually a "hunter - seeker" typise, so I just took my pointer finger and my thumb out of commission for the day...so far so good!
That, plus some Ben Gay and some ibuprofen.
There's still some pain, but it's way better than before.

If you look at the orginal post from when I slipped on the Ice, that happened almost a MONTH ago!

If when you next see my hand has been cut off in frustration, now you'll know why!

pain and stiffness

Thats gonna be the name of my new all-girl, alt-rock, lesbo band.

Oh, and it's also what I'm STILL feeling after my dork escapades with the sidewalk across the street from my house 2 1/2 weeks ago. Mostly my hand still hurts. It's supper hard to just rest the sprained wrist and hand when it is your dominant one and you sit at a computer all day- clicking a mouse with your dominant hand... vicious circle. Then yesterday, theExec. Chef, who had been on vacation, swung by my office to say hello to my boss, as he usually does every day but hadnt in awhile. He's a huge Yankees fan (and he's German, go fig), so we have this friendly baseball rivalry thing. He'll come in, shake my hand and say hello, then give me shit about fouling up the Teixeira trade or some other bullshit, and he'll laugh and walk on to my bosses office. SO, yesterday, he walks up - says "Hello girl", his usual hello to me, I'm not sure he knows my name, then reaches out his hand for our usual shake, and I reach out my right hand, and JUST as he starts to squeeze, I remember. And he squeezes my hand like he's making up for the 2 weeks he missed, dammit. Needless to say, it hurt so much I almost cried, and it throbbed for the next 30 minutes or so.

fuicking Germans.