I bought some Vitamin E skin care lotion today and I've applied it to my forehead a few times. It smells like decaying plant material.
On Thanksgiving I tripped down some stairs and scuffed up part of my forehead. No concussion. No stitches, but a nasty bump/scrape/cut. The bruise on my hip is healing slowly. I will live to walk down another flight of stairs. With tied shoes next time.
Three days ago I plucked an inch long silver hair from my right eyebrow. I wish I'd taken a photograph.
The stray hair had been bothering me for more than a week. I'd usually notice it when I was outside and a gust of wind would pass. From the corner of my eye, I'd see this crazy hair and I'd try to pluck it. The notion that it was growing from my face and not from my hairline didn't dawn on my initially.
I got a haircut a week ago. I was certain that would take care of the random white hair. I didn't notice it for a few days. The hair was back Tuesday. As I walked down the street, or waited for a light to change, I would grab at the corner of my face, trying to catch this hair and tug it out of my head! I couldn't find it. I'm certain all passersby thought I was a crazy man.
A few hours later I stood in front of the mirror and caught sight of the loose hair. It was indeed a white hair, but it escaped from the region of my right eyebrow. I plucked it. Quickly. Before I could take a picture. That random hair reminded me of the first time I noticed my body getting ahead of myself. I first noticed a silver hair in my head 15 years ago. I'm worried about what I have to look forward to at 47.
During the past week I've developed a tick in my right eye. Five to six times a day It starts flutterring uncontrollably for ten seconds.
I'm 90% certain this oddness is not related to the ReNu with MoistureLoc recall. I've only used one bottle of the stuff and I didn't like it. It was a sample given to me by the eye doctor when I got new contacts. The MoistureLoc stuff is too slippery and weird. I went back to using my regular ReNu Multiplus.
Is being 90% certain that you're not going to go blind good enough? I think so. I'm being paranoid, especially since this flutter isn't listed as one of the symptoms of fungal keratitis.
If I can't blame my contact lens solution, what can I blame for this flutter in my right eye? And I do feel it's more of a flutter than a tick. Because wild, non-medically influenced speculation is fun, here's a list of what may be going on with my eye:
- too much gum chewing causing weird strains to the muscles in my face
- the intensity of the sun's rays in the mornings is weakening my eye sockets
- mystical punishment for not wearing sunglasses when going out to clubs at night
- my body's way to telling me to start winking at attractive women
- stress reaction to having assembled a terrible fantasy baseball team
Feel free to chime in with thoughts of your own.
today i really want someone to ask me how i am. i am so ready to answer "i'm gellin'."
and i really am. i'm using the heel inserts from dr. scholl's. not only do they massage my feet, they lift my feet out of my shoes just enough so that the skin around my ankles won't rub away during the copious amount of walking i do to and from work. i think i may put insoles into all of my shoes.
yesterday i really wanted someone to as me how i was. i was so ready to answer "i'm gellin'."
and i really was. i had the heel inserts from dr. scholl's. not only did they massage my feet, they lifted my feet out of my shoes just enough so that the skin around my ankles wouldn't rub away during the copious amount of walking i do to and from work. i think i may put insoles into all of my shoes.
dan and sujan returned from italy with a package of cracker salati. i finally tried one tonight. i'm not going to say it was a full blown "will marc eat this?" episode but there was definitely some mystery in the air. jamie tried one and called it a mix between saltine's and ritz crackers. i tried one and immediately identified the taste as the taste of captain's wafers. of course, no one knew what i was talking about because i kept using the term "cap'n's wafers," getting the lance cracker confused with the cap'n crunch breakfast cereal. were you aware that captain's wafers are a staple ordered by the indiana department of administration - procurement division? interested in knowing where captain's wafers stack up when part of a cracker basket meal? i won't even get into the southern culture on the skids song that mentions captain's wafers. who knew the cracker was so popular? and that you can buy a huge box of a similar tasting cracker in italy?
i just typed an email in which i used the word 'elated.' i think that's a first for me. i got a flu shot just 45 minutes ago and my arm is sore. but my spirits? soaring! the thought of avoiding illness during january and february has me totally psyched for the winter! the flu shot i just received is my first ever and it's causing me to think about a conversation i had two years ago in which i defended the notion of not getting a flu shot. i'm sure my defense was mounted on shaky ground. was i just opposed to the idea of medicine that does things ahead of time? of course, during the past two years i've gotten sick during the winter. missing work for vacation is one thing, but missing work because you don't even feel like getting out of bed is another. and being at work while sneezing is just the worst. and all that explains why i'm so excited about having this flu shot, assuming it works. if it doesn't, expect me to go on a rampage. or complain a tiny bit.
my morning started off just 'okay.' i'm about 1/2 as sore as i was yesterday. playing football saturday afternoon really stretched some muscles that don't normally get stretched. who knew my shoulders would be in such pain?
the morning would go better if i could have my old soap back. for the past three or four years i've used softsoap hydrating body wash - with moisture beads! it's a product i've grown quite fond of. last week i bought a new bottle with an 'improved' scent. i'm sure that's the reason i've been grumpy lately.
i've got these allergies that appear every fall. i do nothing about the condition. my head hurts. my nose runs. i just like to suffer. but i take over the counter stuff. but it clogs my head. i'm feeling okay today, though. balancing the clogged head with water spritzed on my face and lotions keeping my hands moisturized. oh, i'm filled with excuses for things.
i went bowling saturday night and my wrist is in pain today. this sort of silly, non-significant bowling related injury always appears after i bowl more than one game. actually, it's my forearm that hurts. my wrist is fine. i feel like complaining today. if all goes well, i will think of something more profound by the end of the day.
It's about my astringent. Since entering my teenage years, I've used one product for cleaning my face. That product now comes in a friendly, inviting, rounded modern looking bottle. I don't think Sea Breeze Original Astringent has ever failed me. And "the tingling sensation tells you it is deep cleaning and leaves the skin feeling cool and refreshed." After a long day in the sun followed by a too crowded subway ride, I look forward to that tingling sensation.
When I started using Sea Breeze astringent it came packaged in a very boxy looking bottle. It's got that faint yellow tint and has always had an image of a blue sailboat printed on the label. But the curve in that packaging I first became familiar with was a concave curve along the front and back. The packaging definitely had a very indsutrial look. That look has changed over the years (and the product now sells as just a bottle). I remember it used to be packaged as a bottle covered by a box. A lot of products seem to have smartly shed that outside box.
I've never used any other facial cleaner. No oxyTEN. No PhisoDerm. No Noxema. I don't have any idea what those products are like.
Of course, there is a downside to using my trusty Sea Breeze astringent. I can go for a week or two without using it when I run out of facial tissues. Unable to just splash a bit on my face, I feel compelled to fold a tissue into a little square and dab the open bottle onto it. I then use one or two of these tissues to clean my face. I'm not sure if there's a better tingling sensation in the world!
yesterday was just a mild case of paranoia. my eye is less red today. i'm going to believe the explanation that all my coughing damaged a blood vessel. or maybe it was some sort of steep drop at kennywood. either way, i'm comfortable with 1/2 of one eye being red (but less red today).
and for those keeping track at home, thoughts of moving to louisville are disappearing...pittsburgh may be my new dream city.
i'm just plain exhausted. somehow, the weekend trip to pittsburgh took a lot out of me. i shouldn't have had so many french fries (@ wendy's / @ kennywood / @ pnc park / and again @ wendy's)! i didn't have fries at kennywood's potato patch, but (according to friends) they don't live up to their reputation.
is it bad that riding roller coasters, eating, hanging out with friends and watching baseball tires me out so? granted, the 16 hours spent in the car (well, maybe it was 15 hours) was of no help.
and now i'm convinced i've got some sort of communicable eye disease. my left eye is bloodshot. i've had a cold all week and this morning i woke up with gunk all over both my eyes. my assumption was that the gunk was related to my cold, but now i'm fearing i'm close to death (i dreamed about being in the middle of some war like scenario the other night - a first for me). originally, i figured the bloodshot eye (which i think appeared saturday) was from the driving. i've been wearing a somewhat old pair of glasses and i think the eye strain at 2am on the pennsylvania turnpike was too much for me. but maybe i've done more than pull some sort of eye muscle?
i will explore this situation and i'm reasonably worried about my health. this is no time to shrug things off.
what am i talking about when i say "this is not time to..."? how ominous of me. i really meant nothing by that. there are no great orchestrated events going on in my life at the moment. except that i wish i could take a vacation in a giant air conditioned building. i've spent the past three weekends in the sun. it's time to take things indoors. or at least to switch my outdoor activities to nighttime ones that involve comfortable breezes.
it really is time to learn how to use sunblock. i spent a good deal of time in the bright sun yesterday afternoon. when i looked in the mirror today i could see the wrinkles on my nose. my red nose. it's sunburned. crispy like a fry? i'm not sure about that. it's sunburned to the point of almost hurting, but not really. my skin will start peeling in a matter of days. i also sunburned my lips - so much so that someone noticed saturday night. a saturday night spent in astoria at the famous bohemian hall and beer garden. as expected, i drank a fair amount of beer in a less than fair amount of time. because of my recent goings out and the day spent in the sun, i had to leave early. leaving in just enough time to stumble a few blocks away and into a nearby burger king. i know i've written a lot about fries in the past few days - but what in the world is going on with the fries at burger king? they're french fries (emphasis on the fries). i don't think there is any potato in those fries at all. and don't worry, i'm about to start reading 'fast food nation' soon.
for the first time in my life, i used an exfoliating facial scrub. i'm 90 minutes this side of that experience. i didn't really expect it to be any different than a moisturizer. couldn't have been more wrong. using this exfoliating facial scrub was like applying a 50/50 mixture of sand and suntan lotion. i was quite shocked. and the direction indicated you shouldn't use it near your eye area - so i had to keep that in mind while i was rubbing this balm into my cheeks, nose and forehead. and, honestly, i'm quite happy with the way things turned out.
this nivea product came packaged with two other samplers (after shave lotion & a daily cleaner) in an issue of GQ. i'm not committing to the nivea product, but i'm about $14 away from committing to the idea of an exfoliant. i'm ready to embrace the concept of beautification. even if it makes me think too much about those scenes in 'fight club' and 'american psycho' which are basically rants against consummerism.
it's wednesday night and i'm still regretting how i spent my weekend. a total blur of a weekend. watched a baseball game saturday. the team i was rooting for lost. it sorta' rained. i didn't make it to the gym. and to top it all off? ehh, nevermind.
on a lighter, even less interesting note - i used a different shampoo brand this morning and it changed my day. well, it didn't totally change my day, but i kept smelling my hair and thinking to myself "my hair smells friendly and happy today." after three hours i finally figured out the reason (the shampoo). but it made my hair stand out a bit more (too frizzy?). but that's no big deal. i'm not trying to impress anyone. well, maybe i am. there were some fun verbal joustings at the copy machine, but it didn't go on for long.
what else is on my list of topics for today? reading. too many books. so many subjects. and articles and topics of varying lengths.
did i ever tell you that in 7th grade i won the best 50s costume at one of the middle school dances? i think it was the slicked back hair and "d.a." that put me over the top.
i sunburned the shit out of my feet yesterday at coney island. it's probably not the right thing to do, but right now i'm typing while paper towels dipped in cold water lay around my ankles. okay - there's the truth. i sunburned the shit out of my ankles and not my feet. i used lotion on them, i swear. and i still think i'm going to try to go back to coney island next weekend. i have to. it's so relaxing there. sitting on a martha stewart towel. watching everyone. reading a book. having a hot dog from nathan's.
didn't watch basketball tonight. i think that aspect of my life is past. does that mean i can be more creative now?
this getting sunburned stuff really sucks. i wore socks and shoes today and don't know how i did it.
somehow this past weekend just disappeared. i didn't send any email. i didn't clean anything. i went to coney island and burned my ankles. last night i saw some comedy at ps 122. then had a hamburger and a beer with some friends. a quick cab ride to brooklyn and all was right with the world.
and this coming week? who will i think about? why can't i stop thinking about...