Thanks...and Happy Birthday to Angeyja...

[shadowkat]

Thanks for the birthday wishes, everyone! Really appreciated them - even though I didn't see many of them until today - because was offline the last two days.

Birthday went well. Was pleasantly surprised by a birthday cake at work. It had pineapple filling and was actually quite good. And had a lovely dinner with my pal Wales, who surprised me with the DVD "The Triplets of Belleville" which I'd been hunting for. She also celebrated my birthday with a candle in a creme brulee that was delivered to our table. So yes, I got to make two wishes that day. Also a private thank you to angejya who is the reason I have a live journal at all. She gave me one of her free passes way back in 2003 and persuaded me to try it out, that it would provide me with a bigger canvas for my online writing, sans the conflict which often erupts around posts on public discussion boards. [Confession time - assuming you haven't already figured it out by now, conflict makes me physically ill. It's the reason I realized early on that I could not be a lawyer. There are people out there who love conflict, (obviously, or we wouldn't have lawyers and debators, would we?) they love nothing better than a good argument or fight. The more intense, the better. They will go out of their way to instigate it. While, I, on the other hand, despise it. My flist is carefully chosen to avoid conflict, no one on it causes my blood pressure to spike or makes me unravel. They are all supportive folks, that may disagree with me on many of my views, but are adult enough to respect the fact that we may just see things differently and not attack me for them or attempt to aggressively change them. I enjoy reading opinions different than mine - and I enjoy a good, well-balanced, debate - I've had few good ones and I can change my mind. What I can't deal with is fights or conflict. Not sure that makes sense or not.] Angejya also kindly gave me two months paid lj. I haven't a clue what to do with it. But thanks for it, angejya. Your support and kindness over the past three years that we've interacted online, has meant a lot to me.

The massage. Ah. I don't do massages well. I get tense. Very tense. Partly because I'm just not comfortable getting naked and having a stranger, male or female, rubbing my body. I think I am, but...turns out, my body isn't. Go figure. And this round, I got super tense. All knots. So as a result, was very sore the next day. Center of my back was killing me and struggled with a migraine. Never became full migraine, but came close - you know the sick feeling, the pounding, the feeling as if your head is caught in someone's vice, your face feels hot as if you have a sunburn, and your back is hot. Took a naproxen. Then later acetametophin (what's in Tylenol) and that, oddly worked. My face became cooler. And less pain. The masseuse helped a little. But back is still a little sore. So won't be spending much time on computer this weekend. Course part of the reason it is - is what the masseuse told me, she's a licensed acupuncturist in Chinese medicine - that my stress was all compressed in the center of my back, neck and shoulders. She could feel the heat of it radiating from the back. And I should consider acupuncture - since it can get at it better. (Heh, one small problem with that, I despise needles. Can't stand them. They make me nervous. Had enough problems getting my ears pierced as a kid. No body peircings, tattoos, anything involving long exposure to a needle. Ack.)

At any rate, I took today off, to chill. May go shopping later - for night stand and jeans. Then again, maybe not. Tomorrow night, dinner and Spamalot with cjlasky. Yeah, I know Spamalot has gotten mixed reviews, but it is starring David Hyde Pierce, Hank Azira, and Tim Curry - I could watch those three sing the phone book. My boss is going to it, next weekend.

Thanks again. Off to ice my back some more.

Comments

[mamculuna.livejournal.com]

I can understand aversion to needles, so maybe she could work with acupressure instead--that works in similar ways, not quite so precise, but possibly helpful for stress. It might be worth asking her, anyway.

Hope it feels better soon.

[shadowkat67.livejournal.com]

It's better today, actually. I think it was a combo of being hunched over my desk at work (I was reading tiny print in a contract and stressing over it), and the computer, and stress in general. Today - took a nice long walk. Slept in. Bought a nightstand. Nice mahogany one to replace the two milk crates I'm currently using.

Barely feel it at all.

Acupressure is what my sisinlaw did. That's the Japanese method. I did ask the masseuse/acupuncturist about it - she doesn't believe in it's effectiveness. She is a believer in the Chinese method. She told me the other was the Japanese, where needles lie above the skin?

[mamculuna.livejournal.com]

You might really want to ask Caroline, who's the expert, I think. The one time I had acupressure, it was done with the therapist's thumb or knuckle, not needles. I use a wooden knob on myself and my husband, but only know a very few pressure points.

You know, hunching your shoulders can cause all manner of badness in your body. We all do it (you should see me now) but sometimes it helps to regularly do vigorous stretches in the other direction (clasp hands behind back and raise arms, etc). You can tell I'm sold on yoga, but I've had truly evil neck and back pain, and now hardly ever have it. Even think I got around what I thought was going to be carpal tunnel with some yoga moves (though part of that was learning to be an ambidextrous mouser).

Whatever works for you, though. Just hope it gets better soon.

[shadowkat67.livejournal.com]

Had some bad yoga experiences, so I tend to be wary of it. The reason is I have a back condition known as Sherman's Kypothsis (sp?) - or what chiropractors like to call juvenile arthritisis (for reasons I don't understand). It's a genetic curvature of the spine - basically the spine fuses and curves - so that I have to be very careful about thrusting back shoulds or anything involving back bends or I slip a disc or throw out the back. When it was first diagnosed - in high school - we tried yoga. Went there once a week - it didn't help all that much. Course could have been the instructor. Tried yoga again in college - almost threw out the back - we get to a certain point and I have to stop. Tried again at the Y after college - same thing.

Yoga is a little like massage for me I guess - I keep trying it because everyone swears by it and it looks relaxing and really cool and fantastic, and I am always horribly disappointed in it. Just doesn't work for me, I guess.

Something I'm learning as I grow older is everyone's body is so different, so unique, what works for one body may not work for another. When it comes to human beings there really is no such thing as one size fits all...

[mamculuna.livejournal.com]

Something I'm learning as I grow older is everyone's body is so different, so unique, what works for one body may not work for another. When it comes to human beings there really is no such thing as one size fits all...

The whole deal of yoga is definitely not for all, I totally agree. But if you ever do get inspired to try it again, Iyengar-certified teachers are trained in working carefully with people's limitations, while less well-trained teachers try to force people into one mold. Like other kinds of doctors and therapists, sometimes it takes a few tries to find the one who fits you. But there's no reason to do it if it hurts--that's for sure.