some preoccupations

[constance]

1. Rachel's newest habit
   Rachel the Cat has always been a quiet thing except right around mealtimes, but lately she's taken to sitting at the edge of the hall and meowing, starting at about 10pm and stopping only when I get up and start my bedtime routine. I can only guess that she's talking to me: "hey get up and get your butt in bed so I can jump all over you and lie on your forearm while you contort yourself to scratch my belly and read at the same time okay that would be great thanks." I mean, at least I like to think that.



2. my pulse rate
   Man, one thing about losing weight and getting in shape is that your pulse rate tends to, you know, drop, and if your pulse rate was normal back when you were fatter and more easily winded, once you can walk a fast four miles while barely breaking a sweat, your pulse rate drops to Practically Dead. My resting pulse rate now runs somewhere between 45 and 50, which for the record is not quite high enough to run the apheresis machine down at the Red Cross donor center. Which means that platelet donations now take about two and a half hours and I have to be monitored and reset about fifteen times. Which also means that I have taken to taking my own pulse at random times during the day, something I've never done before but which is becoming a kind of compulsion.



3. little shots of hot sauce
   Specifically, a hot sauce called Texas Pete's, which is not, interestingly, bottled in Texas at all. (In case you were wondering, there are few foods that a squirt of Texas Pete's from the little bento bottles laurelwood gave me do not improve.) And then when I'm done doctoring my chicken-and-artichoke sandwich, I just suck the rest of it straight out of the teeny bottle, which has earned me a few Looks but is totally worth it.



4. my pathologically careless boss
   who this weekend cut the tip of his finger off using a bandsaw. He had to have surgery and a skin graft to repair it, and every time someone so much as mentions it I get a sympathetic cold shiver down my spine. I haven't seen him since the accident, and I am having these ridiculous visions of pedicles and horrific disfigurations that are definitely informed by a long-lived and ongoing obsession with Harold Gillies. I mean, reconstructive surgery's come a long way and I know it. But my irrational brain is fixating. And shivering sympathetically.

Comments

[xanthophyllippa.livejournal.com]

My father once put a drill through, or maybe just into, the palm of his hand while at work. He still has a small scar, but that story alone was enough to scare me off the power tools when I was in high school shop class.

As for the pulse rate, congratulations! I don't know what my resting pulse rate is, largely because my blood pressure is rather low (something I inherited from my mother), so I'm often not sure I even *have* a pulse when I'm resting. I have to walk around first, and once I walk around enough to confirm that I'm still alive, I'm no longer resting. (Someday, when we meet in person and are lounging around lying on the floor reading and scratching cats' bellies, ask me to stand up quickly. I'll fall over again almost immediately. It's wildly entertaining for the casual observer.)

[tofty.livejournal.com]

Oh, man, I remember on our first day of architecture school we toured our shop, full of lots of things you should never let irresponsible college students near, and the shop master told us so many horror stories that I never set foot in the place again. I made sure none of my projects needed anything more dangerous than an X-Acto knife. Which those can do some damage too, of course, but no one's accidentally cutting themselves in half with one.

I am preparing to be entertained by your resemblance to a Tennessee Fainting Goat. I'll make sure there are lots of soft cushions around, though, for when you keel over. :/

[isiscolo.livejournal.com]

I cut the tip of my finger off in a table saw about 10 years ago! Not bad enough to need more than a few stitches, though. Um, you probably didn't want to hear that. Sorry.

Also, I am a studly in-shape person and my resting heart rate is WAY MORE than yours. I am absurdly envious.

[laurelwood.livejournal.com]

I'm so glad you mentioned that about your resting heart rate, because it's very reassuring. I always thought there was something wrong with me back in my studly in-shape days when my resting pulse never dropped to impressively low levels. My sister, like tofty, practically doesn't have a resting pulse at all, but mine's always run faster for some reason.

[tofty.livejournal.com]

And you are about fifty times more in shape than I am, too! It doesn't seem quite right.

I really have a sort of fascination for those cutting-things-off stories. I mean, it's a horrified fascination, but a fascination nonetheless. (I think I just broke some kind of record for Most Uses of the Word Fascination in the Least Amount of Space.) So bring those stories on, baby! I'm glad to hear you weren't too badly injured, though. Those saws can be lethal.

[imkalena.livejournal.com]

Pulse rate: wacky! Did you ask a doctor about this thing? That seems almost dangerous! Like, if you ever need to stand up suddenly!

Your cat: is no fool. :)

Hot sauce: eek!

Fingertips: double eek.

[tofty.livejournal.com]

Ha, no, I haven't asked my doctor about my low pulse rate, though I did look it up online, which of course is absolutely the most reliable place to search for medical info. I mean to bring it up when I next see him, but I'm not feeling bad or tired or run-down or anything, so it seems kind of a waste to pay a $40 copay to find out I'm doing fine!

:D

:D

:D:D O take it you are not a spicy-food fan?

[laurelwood.livejournal.com]

1. That is the cutest thing ever. And of course that's exactly what she's saying with those meows. My aunt and uncle had a dog who had a similar habit, minus the meowing. (His ploy was just a disapproving stare. Spaniels are good at that.)

2. Like isiscolo, I'm envious of your super-low pulse. I've always wanted one, but mine's more rabbit-like no matter how fit I get. What are you doing for exercise again? Whatever it is, your body sounds delighted with it. (Though the same can't be said for the machines at the Red Cross!)

3. I can see how mainlining hot sauce out of a tiny bottle (glad they came in handy!) might look suspicious, but condiments and seasonings really do make all the difference, don't they? My favorite new embellishment is fresh mint. It doesn't work in everything, but wow, in the right combination, it transforms an ordinary dish into something sublime.

4. Oh, my, your poor boss. What a scary mess that must have been when he had that accident. Here's hoping he recovers without disfigurement!

[tofty.livejournal.com]

1. I love pets who do great disapproving stares! I had a cat whose Disapproving stare was downright cowing, but none of my other pets have been any good at it. (Flannery had a great Quietly Disappointed look, though, and Leory has a raffish smile.)

2. I was doing just yoga, stretchy things, but a couple of months ago I started doing more aerobic stuff. I mostly do this low-impact fast-walk program, either a two-mile or four-mail "walk" with an emphasis on cross-training. It's not hard for someone as uncoordinated as I am (which is a real concern when you're talking cardio, because if something's too complicated, I'll end up spending forty minutes barking my shins and flailing spastically like I'm being maneuvered with a cattle prod), it doesn't take too long, and it seems to be firming me up pretty nicely, so I'm awfully happy with it.

3. Fresh mint! I was dreaming of mint this spring, remembering a neighbor who grew it, and we'd pick the leaves and chew on them straight. If I didn't think I'd kill it, I'd love to try my hand at growing it. Yum!

4. He came back to work today, with his finger in an enormous bandage. I think he'll be okay, which is good, but man, you're right, it must have been horrific, and it must be hurting like hell. (He says it's "kind of sore." :( )

I think he will be at least a little disfigured, since he cut through the end of his finger-bone. (It's his left hand, too, and he's left-handed!) But it won't be crippling or anything, thank goodness.

[badgermoonhare.livejournal.com]

Och no, that Harold Gillies-related website broke my heart surely and sorely and of course it is not that I did not know of these things, but it was just so terrible to read and look through the case stories. It was really terrible, but also fascinating and thank you for posting alloftheabove.

[tofty.livejournal.com]

That Harold Gillies site is startling on so many levels, and often shocking. I think it was astonishing, the things he managed to do with the medical knowledge of the day. And yeah, looking at those catastrophic injuries is sobering. I'm really glad you clicked, though.