Sunday, January 06, 2008

Bad Blogging, Bad Shoulder

I tweaked my shoulder whilst skiing at Alta. The light was bad and the snow sometimes soft, sometimes crunchy. I hadn't been skiing in awhile so I was all tense and did not go with the flow. But that was just a little tiny ache. When I went to the Chicago for the MLA, the hotel reservations were all a-mess. There are TWO Embassy Suites downtown and I and my suitcase were told the wrong one. So my suitcase, weighing in at exactly 50lbs so there was no extra charge, and I walked the 8 blocks to the correct Embassy Suites. Since the suitcase is better at rolling than walking and better at being steered than steering, so I rolled and steered it over slippery sidewalks, around busy traffic, through melting puddles to the proper Embassy Suites. When I got there, I dragged my suitcase to the far corner of the room and went to find my colleague who was beginning to straighten out this hotel mess (we had candidates coming for interviews the next day. Which hotel would they go to? An adventure to find out). Eventually I got on the phone, changed some of our reservations to the right place and kept some of them at the wrong (and currently suitcased stationed) hotel. I was to go back to the "right" hotel and host the interviews there. I went up. Got my suitcase and dragged His Heaviness back down the hall, out the elevator and down the block. I asked my colleague if she'd heard from the other interviewers. Apparently, one of them was angry. He had already checked into his room at the other hotel and was ready to stay put. I dragged His Heaviness for another half a block and stopped. There was no way I was hiking over there just to be told to come back. I called my other colleague and asked if it was true he wanted to stay there. He did. I waved off the walking-with-me-colleague, turned around and headed back up to the room. I dragged His Heaviness into the corner and did a Nestea plunge onto the bed, grateful to be in a room and not moving.
But it was too late. I did something seemingly permanent to my shoulder. Pinched a nerve? Unknitted the shoulder muscle from the neck so there's nothing but frayed meat hanging from the bone? I haven't gone to the doctor yet but since this is the most I've typed in two weeks and I have syllabi to build, an introduction, a panel presentation, and a explanation of what I write to write, I had probably best go in and see if I can at least get some pain relievers that let me sleep through the night.
In other MLA news:
  • Interviewing candidates is hard but so much less hard than being the interviewee.
  • I learned a lot of new ideas of what and how to teach thanks to the interview.
  • I am excited about our candidates. They're amazing. Makes my job look even cooler.
  • I met some bloggers at the bar. They were hard to find because none of them wore the fishnet stockings they promised. I kept going up to women at the various hotel bars asking to see under their skirts. Very flirty but ineffective in blogger-finding.
  • I wandered around the city before the blogger meet up--at 8:30. I was in at 4 with a broken shoulder. That warranted a drink. And a pizza. My first pizza. Then I wandered the wrong way, got lost, found sushi, spent way too much on sushi , went to the blogger meet-up, had but one glass of wine, wandered back the mile or so to my hotel, had one more glass of wine and one more pizza (of which I did not eat the whole thing). Woke up at 3 screaming with shoulder pain.
  • I did not throw up on any of the interviewees even though the arm pain was making me nauseated.
  • Went out for pizza with colleagues that night.
  • Met friends for dinner the next night.
  • Waited for Egg and Z's plane from SLC to land at O'Hare for over an hour. A $60 cab-ride to pick up the car made me rethink our bargain flying plans. We drove from here and parked at a long-term and cheap park and ride. But with His Heaviness, I could not imagine taking the El.
  • Got home to a clean house and happy animals.
  • Cleo hurt her leg running down the stairs to welcome us home.
  • The house is now a disaster.
  • And now I have to type more even though this is the end of my typing shoulder.

Happy New Year and the semester starts tomorrow.....

5 comments:

Lisa B. said...

The saga of the Heavy Bag! 'Tis horrible. I wrestled a heavy bag through the tubes of London, and it made me repent. But only sort of, as I'm still a major over-packer. I have great sympathy for your pain. Good luck with those syllabi. Maybe you can experiment with an all-aural syllabus? And make them take notes?

Dr Write said...

Thanks for blogging!! Sorry about the heavy bag. Reminds me of our trudge through Baltimore. Oh, Baltimore! I can't wait to see you in NYC! And, another disadvantage to the early conference, you actually have to prepare your presentation early! Let me know when your panel is so I don't overschedule!!

P said...

Sounds like you may need a sherpa for new york! I would be happy to help you with His Heaviness.

momesq said...

Is it the right shoulder? Then you need to switch your mouse to the left or mouse with left hand. I had shoulder meltdown last quarter of school and it sucked. No more bike riding, I would walk to school with a ice pack under my backpack. OK, it was nice it was spring I was noticing things I never noticed while bike riding BUT it was slow and I was always late to class, and sweaty. I went the physical therapist and found out nerve damage - and takes much longer to heal than muscle. You need to go to the physical therapist. You need to ice or ibuprofen. The PT fixed me - and it all came down to having good posture. Good posture enforced by back taping, which I highly recommend.

momesq said...

and I hope you feel better soon!