Oh yeah,

and I ran 10 miles today at the gym, possibly one of the most boring things I have ever done. I was limited only by my concern that if I continued to run, I would fall asleep and be catapulted off the back of the treadmill, perhaps injuring myself and my pride even more than they have been in recent months.

I've also figured out that if I run with my left foot slightly angled out, my knee doesn't seem to bother me all that much! Huzzah NSAIDS, ice, relative rest, and running like a pigeon!

Here is an email from Melvin the orthopedic surgeon, whom I love/hate:

"[he spelled my name wrong, by the way],

You have got to stop running completely and let this heal. Otherwise, you are going to end up with a rod in your tibia.
Stay on the Naprosyn, ice and REST!!!!!"

I don't really understand why I will end up with a rod in my tibia, but whatever. I was at the gym today and they have this little bookshelf in the hall with outdated books on it on sports medicine and working out etc. I opened up this sports medicine book from 1987 (I was 4!), directly to the IT band-related knee pain page completely by random! (It's times like these that I think perhaps there is a God and I am completely wrong about this whole atheism thing.) Anyway, this section of the book wasn't all that helpful to me because there wasn't any quick fix for knee pain described, but one statement caught my eye, which I thought really hit home. I considered pocketing the book, highlighting the paragraph, and mailing it to Melvin. What it said was essentially: "In terms of treatment, rest, ice, stretching, and anti-inflammatories generally work for most IT band-related knee pain, HOWEVER, NO SERIOUS RUNNER IN THEIR RIGHT MIND WOULD EVVVEERRR AGREE TO NOT RUNNING, so as an orthopedic surgeon, your best best is really just suggesting a mileage cut, because realistically, if you told your serious runner to stop running, they are not going to follow your advice. So don't even pretend."

Don't get me wrong, I love this guy, but seriously? Stop running? THAT'S the advice you're going to give me?!

completely unrelated

Hype, baby!







plus







is what i call retail therapy

No, there isn't

To answer that previously rhetorical question of, "Is there anything else?", I can now with confidence declare that, No, actually, there is nothing else.

4 weeks without running regularly has turned me into a sad, lonely, empty, moody, and irritable individual. And I'm getting fat, which only compounds my problems. We always joke about how running is an addiction - those natural opiods, endorphins, are potent drugs - and I now truly believe it. After going through running withdrawal, I think I could probably do heroin, get addicted, and then stop cold turkey, no problem. It cannot be worse than running withdrawal.

Hipster overload

I am sitting in this lovely cafe with free internet and Belgian waffles and every type of tea imaginable except for the one I actually want (Gen Mai), and I am feeling like I am experiencing an acute case of hipster toxicity. My waitress is wearing a jean miniskirt with tights. Also, there is a baby shower going on in the back room. There are high ceilings with exposed duct work and bamboo room dividers and these cool big overhead chandeliers. This place is SO TRENDY with loud instrumental/techno/chillout/D&B/lounge music and I kind of feel like this is too much posing for me to sustain for the next several hours that I plan to camp out here. I don't know if I will make it. I am drinking a mimosa, which will hopefully get me drunk enough to block out all this damn music yet not affect me so much that it becomes apparent in my residency application that I worked on it while intoxicated.

In other news Amanda is coming to visiiit. She's actually coming with her boyfriend and his mom to see her bf's sister play at the conservatory here, but whatever I take what I can get. The concert is Friday night, so itinerary includes:

Sat AM: run 1st, then brunch with BELLINIS and MIMOSAS. I am on a 4 wk long vacation after all.
Sat PM: drinks! I will take her to either a dirty frat-person-type bar/club with loud good music and plenty of people to make fun of or to a snooty trendy secret spot with no dancing and plenty of bright lighting, but tasty beverages.
I wonder if I subsist on alcoholic beverages only the entire day Saturday.

Going home later that week. Must buy plane tickets. Already irritated by the thought of the interrogation that comes with going home and seeing my parents.

William will be in Boston when I am home! I think I will have him stay with us.

start over...

Ok, NOW it's done. But still depressed...

X_x

Mood: depressed

Feeling real bad about busted knee from Saturday's failed 20miler. ::sigh:: I'm getting twinges when I walk around, esp if I'm making any twisting motions.

At least I've got the bike, right? Shoes came in, which were sweet, but a tad too small, so waiting on the exchange. Stem should be here soon. Got the cleats and the shorts! Made friends with the bicycle mechanics today at Hudson Trail Outfitters in Towson <3!

Other than that, not much good news to report. Apps coming along slowly. Personal statement slowly morphing into something I can be proud of. I need an EM letter!!! Really just feeling down as usual.

::sigh::


I yanked my toenail off. It was hanging by a thread:




Here are Matteo's beautiful t-shirts he made of my bird paintings. The orange and green are my favorite, they look like bird explosions. I was wearing the orange one and asked me what band my shirt was from and I was like, MY BAND BITCHES!!! Just kidding, I was like, oh, it's not a band, it's a shirt my friend made.










And finally, because I always get real creative when work I need to do piles up, this is what I did today instead of working on my application. Inspired by an Absolut ad:

Almost?



That's better:




Back to work for real now... Night all (as in the 3 ppl who read this... though I kind of like it that way)