Over-Training, The Ex, Cellphones

I shouldn’t be still awake writing this now, but the thought of relaxing outside on the deck by the light of the full moon of this rapidly passing summer appealed to me too much. That, plus some hydrotherapy and stretching of my pelvis and legs perhaps re-invigorated me as well. I’ve been enduring a notably bad training setback. The pain, weakening, and loss of flexibility in my pelvis and left leg appear to be due to a pinched, or irritated, sciatic nerve. Perhaps it’s due to a combination of over-training, and having more lapses of neglecting to use the proper orthotics that I should be wearing. Because it’s been so hot out; I’ve been opting more for cheap sandals instead. My 18 kilometer run last Saturday was followed by me not being able to muster any speed, energy, or endurance for a simple four kilometer run on the next morning. This is not what I need two weeks before my race. I’m now at the mercy of whatever results the chiropractic care I’m scheduled for can provide for me. I hope I have enough resilience and the kind of constitution that would allow me to get fixed up in time.

I’m restricting myself to lighter cross-training for now: like cycling, some core training, and I might even try some swimming, as per a friend’s suggestion. I’m a terrible swimmer; I honestly really don’t know how to do it right. I jokingly tell people that I swim like a drowning cat, but in reality, I’m so bad at it that swimming like a drowning cat would actually be an aspiration for me. I’ll be at a lake for this long weekend, so maybe I’ll be able to try this stunt, if the water out there isn’t too loaded with revolting weeds and algae blooms, or full of hungry leaches. I hope that sleeping on hard ground in a tent won’t irritate the nerve problem more.

Although I haven’t had a chance to do much of the long list of preparation and packing yet, I’m looking forward to this camping trip. I totally need to get out of this town for a while, and have absolutely no commitments. Unfortunately, I return just as the Ex would be getting under way. The extra night time bandstand noise, and throngs of more obnoxious hellraisers and hooligans circulating around the neighbourhood (drawing in the consequential blaring police sirens) get to be a pain in the ass; it’s enough that I have a real literal one to cope with now. It’s also the week of pure terror for Ella whenever the nightly fireworks shows start erupting for the duration of that time. The space underneath my bed becomes her refuge in which to hide, tremble, and whimper for the rest of the week as she is scared silly by the mortars and rockets blasting away, the weird and wild looking sky-born fires and flares, and the resulting percussive shockwaves slamming against the building. In my dog’s mind, this is the end of the world . . . canine Armageddon.

My big advancement is that I purchased an iPhone. I know the newest version of it will be marketed very soon, but I can't see the one I just purchased going instantly obsolete. I chose the iPhone because I already have an iTouch with a familiar interface, also most of my apps that I already see need for are purchased rather than using the extra time and expense of switching over to compatible apps with an Android model. My other cell phone finally calved after more than six years of use, and it's only because it broke down that I was led to replace it. The iPhone is about four generations ahead of my last cellphone. As much as I like technology in general, the cellular phone concept is one that I’ve grown least fond of. It doesn’t even make the top five of my favourite technologies list*. I just don’t want to be available all the time, but just because some people know you have a damn cell phone, some have expectations for you to be so. I call that a leash; not very appealing to someone who prizes independence. In my world, a cell phone (or any phone) is used for getting basic specific details, not for long chats; that’s what social visits, coffee shops and lounges are for. Except for with one close friend, I generally keep phone conversations short, especially on a cell phone. I sure as hell won’t permit a whole detail intensive conversation to be texted to me, nor will I ever allow someone to make me an object of their emotional drama over a phone, or with texts. The nice thing about most LAN line phones is that you can give them a nice hard, authoritative, cathartic slamming down to hang up on an irritating asshole, in the privacy of your own home, and most of these phones can endure it. Do that to your cell and you’ll break the damn expensive thing, adding to the extra embarrassment if you receive and react to such a call within the public eye as one could in this case. I watched some idiot once, freaking out with anger during such a call, after which he then threw down his phone on the sidewalk, smashing it to bits. May God smite me now if there would be ever a time in my life if I’d ever succumb to that degree of impulsive, childish stupidity, and failure of anger management in public. I have a hard time getting over the irony about today’s cell phones being light years ahead in technical superiority over a conventional LAN line phone, yet we expose them to greater risk, bizarre environs and hazards beyond our homes where this thing is more prone to being damaged, or rendered useless by lack of tower coverage, or incidents of losing battery life, or inconvenience of opportunity to recharge them.

Overly-teched out cell phones have made us a lot more socially witless in a lot of ways: the technology outpaces the etiquette to use it. What I hate most about cell phones is that some people think it gives them a free license to be obnoxious, like the example I described earlier. The loudest, most obnoxious people around are the ones with the most annoying blaring and vulgar ringtones, and are the personalities with the least inhibition to take calls in a public setting wherever consideration for silence and attention is demanded.

As much as I've ranted about a my general distaste for cell phones, I do appreciate some of the features I have now that my Wi-Fi enabled iTouch doesn't. Banking, with a visual of my statements, from anywhere now has its appeal. I have a means of GPS navigation should I ever need it, and with all the heightened likelihood of theft, vandalism, and other crimes in the neighbourhood during Ex season, I have a better means and chance of capturing photos and videos for Crimestoppers to collect some reward money. Other than that, the "toy-appeal" of a cell phone is totally lost to me, especially considering that service providers it seems are scheming to find ways to ding you with a charge of some sort for every button you push on them.  

*-In a real emergency though, it might rank number three.