Purgatory

We have left Monster House in Ottawa.

We are in housing purgatory. After 11 months of living the city-life in Ottawa, we have moved back to Newark. However, the house we plan on purchasing isn’t quite ready and we are renting from the in-laws in the meantime. Hopefully, we will be moving into our forever home very soon. AND I SWEAR TO GOD THAT I'LL NEVER MOVE AGAIN IN MY LIFE!

Why did we move again? Great question! Long story short, there was a house here in town we wanted, but never thought it’d be available if we stayed and if we moved it’d become available. Guess what? That’s right, in less than a year after moving to Ottawa, the house in Newark is [almost] available. This did not surprise me in the least to be honest. 

Selling a home during the pandemic sucked. We listed in April during the height of shelter-in-place. When we had to leave for a showing there was really nowhere to go since most places were shuttered, including the nearby state parks. So, we’d drive around in the car, the one place our dog hates, just to waste time. Then after getting home, everything needed to be wiped down to kill the covid. Pain in the ass. 

Oh, and I had to dismantle LEGO World. So tragically sad, I swear. 

So here we wait. All of our stuff is packed away in boxes. How I wish I knew where the box of video games was at. No more dishwasher or DVR either for the moment. I have been watching antenna television when I can get a signal. I caught an episode of Gimme A Break! the other day and that was rough. The father, played by Dolph Sweet, caught his daughter lying about smoking so he smacked her in the face. She had it coming though, I mean she had a Gone with the Wind poster hanging on a wall in her room. Just a friendly reminder, Nell Carter, who is Black, played the housekeeper on the sitcom and had to see that poster on set all the time. After that show ended, I viewed an episode of Diff’rent Strokes where Mr. Drummond purchased new jerseys for a football team so Arnold could make the team. Talk about privilege. By the way, have you seen the Arnold and Dudley bike shop episode? I have. It’s about as weird as the Small Wonder episode where this kid gets mouth cancer after chewing tobacco for a week or so. Why don't they make shows like these anymore, especially with robots, like V.I.C.I? How are kids going to learn nowadays? The Internet!?! Ye Gods!

As far as the CRPS, since this is a blog about that, the pain is less intense during the summer months with warmer temperatures, so it’s not that bad right now. Now that I’ve tied that loose end up, good night, and good luck. 

Shit's Tight

I believe that is the Fibularis Brevis muscle that you see above. The indentations are the actual muscle that is in a constant state of tightness. Sorry for the gross looking leg. At least the CRPS is making some of the hair fall out.

I’ve read that chronic regional pain syndrome worsens over time. I had hoped and thought it wouldn’t happen to me because I’m a very special, unique, one-of-a-kind snowflake, but I’ve been noticing something odd with my afflicted leg. I have recently become aware of these lines on my leg that look like indentations that form on your skin when you rest your leg on a chair or from a sock that’s too snug. If it's on your face, my wife refers to it as the 'Sleeping Disease.' Turns out that the lines aren’t from resting my leg against something, it is actual muscle that is behaving like a permanent cramp. That tightness I’ve been feeling for years now, the ankle sprain-like feeling, is actually that. The nerves in my leg are so damaged that this is just the way it is. 

I should see a doctor and, yes, I eventually will, but they’ll just shrug, throw their arms up and say, ‘That’s CRPS for you. What can you do? Want some more opioids?’ The wife recommended getting a massage. A massage would offer a temporary fix, like the dry needling, but it will eventually return to this state. Perhaps it’s time to bust out the Magic Wand again. Wink, wink. 

In other news, I took the kid and dog to Matthiessen the other day and, boy, did I look like a tourist poseur. I was helping our elderly dog out by lowering him from higher to lower ground and I lost my footing and fell into the creek near the Mario blocks. Don't worry, the dog was fine since he landed on top of me. Later, I fell again by the Giant’s Bathtub and then again by the waterfall. Two days later and I’m still feeling it from those falls. At first I was concerned my stimulator malfunctioned since I fell directly on the unit, but luckily it’s still working.

That’s all for now. Good luck and see you in the future, which hopefully will be better than lately. 

We have nicknamed the round concrete blocks Mario Blocks.