Hypocrit

I suppose I should do an update on my knee. It is a somewhat depressing subject for me, so I have been avoiding it.
It has been getting better, but for the past few weeks it hasn’t been improving much.
Last week I went to see an actual doctor about it. She chewed me out for not seeing her earlier. (My physical therapist did say that they would have likely just prescribed six weeks of physical therapy. Maybe I’m not that bad.) She agreed it was a meniscus tear. She wants me to get an MRI.
I got an X-Ray on Friday to prepare for it. It didn’t reveal anything, so I’m good to go for the MRI. However, the appointment I was given was in the middle of May.
But in Alberta we have a two-tiered health system. So I can pay for an MRI out of pocket and go earlier. Hopefully my recovery will then go faster. I do not like the idea of supporting the two-tier system, but you go to battle with the health system you have, not the health system you want.
I could have gone tomorrow for the MRI, but I’m going to wait until Tuesday.
I’m losing hope of doing the Death Race.

On Religion

I just finished watching The Book of Eli. I enjoyed it. I have made no secret that I’m an atheist, but I liked the religious angle of this movie. It made no excuses that it was Christian and even gave some hints of divine inspiration. But because it was upfront about it, I found it better. If it had tried to be broad and appeal to all religions, it wouldn’t have felt sincere. The Christian mythology made it feel complete.
I feel the same way about the show Supernatural. I’m in the fourth season and there is a war going on between angels and demons, heaven versus hell. But it is also following Christian mythology there. It makes it feel realer that they are going with this scenario and not going to pretend to take other religions into account.
I suppose it is because they have picked one religion, it has a theme that you can relate to. You know some of the rules. If it had tried to go too far into political correctness, it would have had to invent its own mythology from scratch. And then you wouldn’t know the rules.
And then when the rules are broken, it becomes more effective. In the show, the angels are not that caring. Defeat hell is the first concern. If wiping out a town of innocent humans would help, then let’s do it.
I think Buffy the Vampire Slayer suffered from this a bit. They never explicitly backed any religion. So the big bad was always something of their own creation. It loses some of the impact if you have to be told something is evil and nasty, than just being told it’s Lucifer.
Nazi’s make the best villains.

Makes me look dangerous

Today, my mother and father were expressing their concerns about ultra-marathons. They were saying something about how it would lead to injuries (pfft) and that it would cause me problems in my old age.
I asked them about their smoking habit when they were young.

I think ultra-marathons make me look cool.

Doing the right thing seems to consistently bite me

Yesterday a co-worker was mentioning that the price of car registration was going to be increasing in April. So if you haven’t registered yet, now would be the time. I thought I was lucky because I registered back in January.
Wait a minute… I don’t actually remember registering back in January.
Because my car is illegal, and it would be better for the environment I decided I would do a bunch of walking today. Exercise might help my knee?
I walked to the car registration office, and promptly realized that I had forgotten to bring my car’s insurance. That wouldn’t have been a problem if I had driven. (I was able to get the information by phone.)
Afterwards I walked to Earth’s General Store to pick up my half-pound of worms for use in composting. There I find that half-a-pound of worms comes in a lot of dirt. Oh, and I should buy a better composting bin. If only I had a way to carry this all…
I returned later in my car.
Being environmental is hard.

Four stages of stress

Life is hectic. I have time for four things these days.

  1. Work
    Work is going well. It is incredibly busy though. I feel pressured to perform and finish things as soon as possible, and there is a chance I’m under impossible deadlines.
    I had a talk with an old co-worker who got laid off a year before me. He is making a lot more money than I am. But the way I’m thinking of it, is that for the last couple of years at my previous job, I was unfulfilled, and not doing my best. I probably did not deserve the salary I was getting. Now I’m learning again, and I enjoy my work. I get to create. I’ll start deserving a good salary eventually.
  2. Exercise
    This is taking up an insane amount of time. I’m going out and exercising more often now than when I was running. I leave work, go aquajogging, then go home late at night. As a friend pointed out, I’m exercising and not training. Which is a big difference. Training was accomplishing new heights in preparation for a big challenge. Now I’m just exercising to get back to where I was. Not nearly as fulfilling.
  3. Eating
    Still have to do this. I’m trying to cut down my intake so I don’t get fat.
  4. Sleep
    I’m not getting enough of this

I have no time for recreation. On the weekends I usually have to spend time recovering from the week and getting my life in order. Cleaning up messes the busy week has created is a big part.
I’m tired.