Obsession, Fear

Yeah, I know. It's been a while. But really, how many of you are really out there reading this anyway?

It's been a busy month, despite school being done for the summer. Lots of stuff, although my time seems to have been largely devoted to disc, work and nursing injuries. Maybe I'll do a rundown in another post, but I don't think I have the time or energy to go into it right now.

Kind of distracted at work today, what with the current obsession -- Harry Potter. I don't attend midnight Potter parties, pre-order the books or even typically know what the release dates are, but once in hand, I have trouble putting the books down. When the last book came out, the SOOTTAD and I read the book together over the course of a few days. And by together, I really mean TOGETHER. As in: reading the same book, waiting for the other to finish a page before turning it, sometimes asking to go back, snickering at the same jokes (with maybe a delay of a few seconds when one of us is slightly ahead of the other), pointing at entertaining turns of phrase, particularly poignant words or paragraphs, from beginning to end.

It's probably one of the best reading experiences I've ever had. It's a sense of connection -- being able to share something that's normally done alone somehow makes it more intimate. It's almost the opposite of going to a movie, where you often go with friends as a group, but in the end it's you and your friends quietly sitting in a dark room staring at pictures on the wall. You could get the same experience going alone and then talking about it on the phone afterwards... unless there's a sufficient amount of heckling, I suppose.

It's got the nerd-o-meter pegged, I'm sure. But what can I say? We're nerds, it kinda comes with the territory.

So I got the Half-Blood Prince for the SOOTTAD's birthday, but really, it was a gift for both of us. And we read it at the airport, on the flight down to Philly (for a wedding), in the hotel, and after the post-reception party. Unfortunately, we only got about halfway through it before I had to fly back home; and the SOOTTAD had to fly directly back to Chicago for work, and it WAS her birthday present after all. So once back home, and after a few weak attempts to find a friend with another copy -- I bought another copy myself. (Although I'm rationalizing that I'm going to give it to a friend who wants it, but hasn't purchased it yet.) The SOOTTAD and I both finished it by the next evening (her on her flight back to Chicago and me on a flight out to L.A. the next day) and we're able to debrief one another over the phone. Not as good as finishing it together as we had the last one, but as good as it was going to get given the circumstances.

Of course, now that I'm done, I'm in my full-on post-completion obsessive phase where I'm surfing around on line to find out when the next (and last) book will be coming out (currently, sometime in 2007), corroborating personal theories about the characters and the storyline, and rereading the series. I've already finished Sorcerer's Stone and am halfway through Chamber of Secrets. And after finishing Sorcerer's Stone, I wanted to see some of the scenes in the movie, so I watched that last night.

And I have to say -- man, that movie really sucked.

Ok, maybe I'm being a little harsh. It certainly wasn't Van Helsing, which wasn't worth the 4RMB (US$1) I spent on it. But for all it's massive budget, cast, production values and CGI bells and whistles: not impressed. And the self-promotion, oy. I clearly remember watching one of the special features on the Chamber of Secrets DVD with the SOOTTAD when we first got it, and the narrator was talking about the impact of the musical score on a given scene. And they showed a scene with the music, and without it. And I was blown away... by how much the music ruined the scene. Without music, it was touching, personal, heartwarming; with it, it was cheesy, self-aggrandizing... frankly, kind of embarrassing. I was talking to the SOOTTAD about it and she agrees, but didn't think that Prisoner of Azakaban suffered from it, what with having a real director and all.

So anyway, kind of obsessed right now. Which isn't so helpful when I'm trying to get work done.

In other news, I also saw the doctor about my knee again this morning. Different doctor, actually. Same knee, same problem. Although it hasn't really been bothering me so much recently. Maybe a month ago, after trying to go easy on the knee was getting me nowhere except out of shape, I tried a different tack and focused on more strengthening and stretching, hoping that the pain was being caused by the tightening muscles compressing whatever it was that was unhappy. And although I have no idea what was broken (since my primary theory was shot down by the first doctor), things seemed to have improved to the point that I've been able to play without significant discomfort. (although not quite NO discomfort, and still with the pain after not moving for any significant amount of time.) But I was feeling good enough to play in a tournament in Montreal, which was great... except that I hurt my hand.

I have no idea how it happened, but during a play in our second game of the first day, I had a severe pain in my left thumb. Jammed it, or something. Iced it off and on for the rest of the day and was ended up playing with it later that day, and for the two games we stuck around for on Sunday.

After 3 days without any noticeable improvement -- I ended up scheduling an appointment with my PCP and seeing the attending nurse practitioner. She was convinced I'd fractured my thumb (possibly at the Metacarpo-phalangeal joint), but X-rays were negative. Which was great, except that it still hurt like a bitch. I asked if she thought it might be some kind of connective tissue injury, but she was convinced that it wasn't because I had such good range-of-motion. Which I warily accepted, since that's what I wanted to hear. Except that after checking things more carefully for myself, it seems apparent to me that I actually have almost NO range of motion in the joint in question. The ROM she had observed was in the carpo-metacarpal joint and the interphalangeal joint. (Thank you Anatomy class.) So I'm thinking I need to see yet another doctor. Except that I don't want to have my hand put into a cast or splint -- one that I'll have to keep dry. (I am SO done with the one handed shower with a bag on my other hand game.) And I don't want to hear that I'll need surgery. I don't want to be told that I can't exercise. That I can't play. Right now, it's one of the few things I've got between visits with the SOOTTAD. And I've mentioned before how much I need exercise to keep me sane. (Well, more or less.)

Ok, enough blogging. I have to go finish Chamber of Secrets.