Shipwrecked & Comatose

Sometimes life's biggest questions just stump me.  There are times when I just can't find an easy answer.  Occam's Razor grows dull.  Questions tickle my brain as I lie awake at 3AM and the answers evade me as much as sleep does.  No matter how much I search for the truth, no one can provide the definitive answer I seek. What exactly are "yoga pants"? I started doing yoga about 22 years ago.  Yoga was just becoming trendy at the time and I started out with books and videos until my gym began offering a single weekly class.  You know what I wore?  I wore the same clothes I wore for my other workouts, minus the sneakers.  I wore leggings and bike shorts and sweat pants.  In those days yoga had no specific uniform.  Most yoga classes were taught by the old-time gurus who, if female (and in those days they were all female), wore mostly the leotards and footless tights of an earlier era, or else just wore ordinary shorts and t-shirts. N...

So it's my 1 weekiversary for my surgery.  How am I doing?  Pain.  It's quite manageable.  I do without pain meds most of the time.  Some movements still hurt.  I try not to do those movements.  I don't know if my pain level is better or worse than it should be since I don't know the average levels are. I am capable of hobbling around the neighborhood pretty well.  I can go a block or two to Dunkin Donuts or to the gym.  The hardest tasks are the simpler ones like getting dressed or getting in and out of bed. I fear overdoing it.  I fear I'm not being careful enough.  I have been known to hobble partially or fully unassisted around the house when I'm in a hurry.  I move my leg too far to the side.  I bend over too far forward now and then.  I keep scolding myself not to, but I tell myself, "Just this once."  I worry about reaching the breaking point.  What is going to be that one move that damages my fragil...

Usually by this time of year, I have a carefully planned list of family and friends I need to buy Christmas presents for, and some rough ideas about what I will buy.  In fact, I often have some of those gifts purchased already.  People seem angry and resentful that I do this, as if they are incapable of not waiting to the last minute and that I am somehow blessed with some magic talent for shopping early.  I simply say that I like to have the gift shopping out of the way by December so that when the holiday season is in full force, I can sit back, relax, and enjoy the festivities without the gift-buying panic hanging over my head. There is more than one way to enjoy a holiday season free of the stress of having all of your gifts purchased on time.  How about not buying gifts at all? I found myself reading the archives of my favorite fitness website Stumptuous and saw this rant about not Christmas shopping.  The author talks about enjoying the season eating ...