RANDOM ACTS OF BLOGGING

1) The word I couldn't remember yesterday was "crepitus." Now sure why I kept thinking it was "decrepit" but there you go!  It has something to do with worn down cartilage.  Still...gross.  I don't like my knees being hurty and crunchy!

2)  I feel so bad.  We filmed the Easter cantata on Sunday morning, and I spent last night editing it all together.  There were a few sound issues, probably I had the microphones up too loud, but it wasn't anything too noticeable.  I managed to get it all looking and sounding as well as I could and I burned it to some disks so that they can be sent to our home bound members.  Burning the master disk usually takes about 30 to 45 minutes, but last night it burned much more quickly than normal.  Our service wasn't as long as usual on Sunday (the whole thing was barely 4 Jolly Ranchers from beginning to end) so I didn't really think much about it until later on.  I was actually editing another video (a piano and violin recital) when I realized that there could have been a problem.  I went back and watched the master copy, and the music cut in and out almost the whole time! It was in the same spots that the sound issues had been, but instead of just minute cracking sounds, the sound blanked all the way out.  I went back to the digital copy, which I hadn't deleted, and the music was fine, but the DVD was messed up.  I didn't get a chance to test the DVD in a regular machine to see if there was the possibility that it was just the computer's DVD player that was just having problems with the disk, so I don't know if all the disks I sent out are messed up or not.   The reason I feel so bad is because for the people who get these disks, it's the only church they have.  They are either very sick, or they are invalids (which is a terrible word, by the way), or they have some kind of other physical limitations that keep them from being here.  All of them are older people who enjoy being able to watch the services, and now we've sent them a -  possibly - messed up DVD of a special service that they'd probably really enjoy otherwise.  I don't want anyone to think I don't take that job seriously, and I'm afraid that sending out a DVD with half the sound missing is going to make it seem like I wasn't paying attention to what I was doing!  I'm really hoping it was just a glitch in the video program I was using to watch it.  :(  

3) I've spent time today looking up the names of Super Villains to help the youth pastor with his lessons.  Youth group is a lot different than it was when I was in there, I guess!

4) I had a panic attack while having dinner out with friends the other day and it was so embarrassing.  I mean, it wasn't violent or anything, but one minute I was fine and the next I suddenly felt like I was going to completely fly apart.  We had to leave the restaurant and go home, and I felt so bad.  The friends we were with didn't know I was prone to them, so they were very concerned, which made it even more embarrassing.  It's been years since I've had one of those that hit so suddenly that I couldn't calm down before it got out of hand, but at least I didn't cry or anything.  I HATE those things!  

5) This has seemed to be a fairly downbeat entry today.  So to make up for it, here is a picture of a corgi dressed as a lobster!

I WAS RUNNING, AND THEN NOT SO MUCH.

    Whelp....my dreams of becoming an Olympic marathon runner have been crushed, y'all. CRUSHED!  Ok, yeah,stop laughing. My actual, real-life dreams were way more modest than that. :)  Actually, all I really wanted to do was get to a place physically where I could run.  Not even long distance running or competitive running, but, you know...just running for exercise and funzies. 

Both a nutritionist and a nurse told me that I had to change my workout pattern, since my regular workout was no longer doing anything, so I took their advice and started using the treadmill.  At first I was just walking, but I started turning up the speed and I found out that I actually liked running!  I know, I'm just as shocked as you are.  Actually, it was sort of a love/hate feeling with it because I've never really ran before, unless someone was making me, of course.  But, it was not as bad as I thought it would be and I found that when I was done walking/running, I felt more accomplished.  I *gasp!* liked to run.  I knew I'd have to work up some tolerance and stamina before I could do any real running, and so I was just doing short periods of jogging in between walking to build up to it.

Unfortunately, it wasn't too long before my left knee started to hurt.  Not just an ache, but actually, really hurt.  Even on the days I didn't go to the gym, I could only just hobble around. I thought maybe I'd pulled something (but can you really pull your knee?) or that maybe it was just the regular pains of starting to do something that I wasn't used to.  I iced it, I elevated it, I sang "Eye of the Tiger" to it, but nothing seemed to help.  It just hurt all the freaking time.  I kept on trying to run, but it got so bad that I couldn't even run or walk evenly anymore.  I had to hold on to the rail to keep from tripping over myself.   I finally took some advice from friends (who are far more athletic than I'll ever be) and I started doing some research on running.  Was I doing it wrong?  Apparently, you actually can run the wrong way.  Who knew?  Everything I read, though, said that I was doing the right stuff.  The only thing I was doing wrong was continuing to run on a knee that hurt.

I was on the verge of trying to find a place that specialized in running shoes (I've been told on good authority that these places exist) to see if my shoes were wrong, when time came for a physical with my doctor.  I told him what was going on, and asked what I should do.  He started flexing my knee and got this kind of  "Eeesh" look on his face.  He said I shouldn't run anymore!  He said walking was fine, but I guess anything high impact is a no-go.  He said I probably had arthritis and something else that I can't remember (in my head it sounds like decrepit, but that's not it.  It starts with a "C" and it sounds like decrepit, though.)  He told me to put my hand on my knee and move my leg, and I did and felt little crunchy movements in there, and I wasn't even putting weight on it, so...gross.  Anyways, no more running for me. 

You know, that really sucks!  I've never actually found an exercise thing that I liked until now and I've been told not to do it anymore. 

I'm riddled with old. Get off my lawn.