2024 - Week 21

Arts & Crafts

I missed craft group this week since it was on the holiday Monday and I had softball practice. I got some craft supplies organized, but mostly took a break. I think I've been needing one as I've been getting pain in my elbow and bicep area. That might be from crochet. Crochet may be faster than knitting for some things, but since what is made is double thick, it's actually harder on the joints, especially given that it mainly uses one arm. I guess it will take me longer than I'd like to finish my entrance table runner.

I never thought crafting could be keeping my arm hurt because it didn't usually cause me pain. I guess I get to focus on reading for a bit instead and do some machine sewing. I have some sewing projects on the to-do list. I also have a Wonder Woman diamond painting kit.

Decluttering & Minimalism

I'm taking it easy, but also slowing plugging away at the battle against entropy. I can't tell which of us is winning yet. Hopefully it's me. I may have more empty cardboard boxes than I need at this point. It's hard to say. I had some books to purge that left in those. It's sort of wild how moving something like a recycling bin by a couple of feet can make things so much easier. I should've realized it sooner given my green belt in LEAN, but it has been a while since I've needed to make use of it.

Gaming & Streaming

I am getting the most pain on the computer, so I'm going to take a streaming break for a while. 

Lifestyle & Sports

Monday was my softball team's first practice. The weather was beautiful and I had so much fun playing. We all did pretty well. It should be a fun season. I enjoyed playing catcher, but it was evident that even underhand throwing was not quite right. 

Tuesday's PWHL finals game 2 went to Minnesota. 

My arm/shoulder issue wassn't improving at this point and I've been getting pain while working, so it was off to figure out a way to get imaging to see what is keeping it in an unhappy state. After calling some clinics and discovering they have been closing due to doctors leaving, the best plan I had was the hospital as they could see me, do imaging, and hopefully treat whatever the problem is or give me the information to get help. Emergency wait time was over 12 hours when I checked on Friday morning, so I decided the best idea was to plan to go Sunday in the early morning. One of the earliest buses was around 6:00 AM. 

There was a full moon this week and I like to pull from my Fairy Oracles deck at this time each month.

Cool. That's what I was planning to do anyway.

Saturday brought a Burlesque Bingo. The even was excellent. I highly recommend it if you have the chance. I don't recommend eating at the Lone Star in the Byward. There's a very good chance you won't get fed. Two thumbs down for me.

I ended up going to an out of town hospital because it was race weekend and wait times were even worse. I read on Reddit that they have gotten up to 54 hours at the Ottawa Hospital. Ridiculous. Anyway, the outcome is that I'm not to play sports until I see a sports medicine doctor I've been referred to. Hopefully, that doesn't take too long, but the doctor I saw thinks my rotator cuff may be torn. I'm hoping I'm not still 6-9 months away from healing that fully if that's the case. I'm also hoping it's not at a level that requires surgery.

I'm really sad about being benched for now, but it's better for the team and myself to heal. Hopefully, I won't be out the whole season. In the meantime, I'll help out the team in other ways.

I hated every bit of how the PWHL game went. A Boston player tackled then pinned Taylor Heise down while the refs just ignored it. It's pretty likely, Heise would've scored then if that dirty BS hadn't have went down. This is hockey, not MMA. Then Minnesota's later goal was reversed. It was iffy either way, but it was clear the refs were in favour of a Boston outcome. Hopefully, Minny can crush Boston on their home turf on Wednesday.

Writing

This week, I added another scene to the beginning of my novel. I also wrote a new outline to guide the changes. Parts of it happened in a weird order and I decided this was the best way to fix that without getting lost in the story. And the outline has been helping. I just need to do it in smaller chunks than I would like because of the arm getting sore.