Friday, March 19, 2010

The Valid Magnificent and the Miracle of Peristaltis


Facebook gallery is here

Well, it had to happen sooner or later. My candle has been burning rather brightly of late and at some point my wick was going to get trimmed.

(Oh dear, that's not the best image, is it? - oh well, I'm sick...)

Friday has been my most consistent day off lately. Usually my day at the Orchard ends early on Thursday and I can either go to a show or relax at home or sit and write. Yesterday I could feel a strange heaviness all through the end of the day and wasn't looking forward to that night's "Inuk" rehearsal.

Which is sad; I like working with the kids, it's a safe, non-comittal look into a life I chose not to enter - that of a full-scale academic.

I was also afraid as I was scheduled to work until 10:30 - the Seals have had their music redone and the blocking is dictating some different approaches to starting/stopping the tunes - in short, a long, long day.

Got to USM 90 minutes early and lay down in the theatre under the lip of the stage, trying to rest. It's a strange feeling, thinking you have to rest to get through an evening - rather like plugging in an iPhone that's almost dead and hoping half-an-hour of charging will get you through two hours of life.

So I studiously tried to blank out my mind and just let my body recover.

What I now know - 24 hours later - is that I've got some kind of flu. It's been going through all of us at the Orchard. I got home and could feel the "furnace" turn on inside my stomach, the strange feeling that part of my body was speeding up, like my breathing suddenly got heavier even though I wasn't running but simply sitting in a chair.

What is the flu, anyway? What is my body doing?

I can hear food gurgling through my intestine - if I had time I'd hook a mike up and track it, it's a fascinating sound.

The more I think about it - fighting the urge to cheat and look it up on Wikipedia - the more I wonder. If it was a broken bone or a gunshot wound then cause/effect and treatment would be easier.

But having the flu? I'm not so sure.

I just feel lousy, sore and off-balance. Staying medicated and hydrated - Gatorade, no less - I usually drink it only when I'm sick, so it doesn't seem a big part of my life - I'm generally healthy.

There's no trauma i can point to except the exhaustion that comes from staying up late to write or practice on top of a job that's more of a game than place of employment.

Therefore, once I finally out of the house today, around 5, I was grateful when EH suggested we have lunch and go for a walk at Kettle Cove. I wanted to get back home and to bed, I'd only dropped by while getting some butter. But, EH was gently insistent so I went.

These pics are the result, so I guess it wasn't a total loss. I still have to think about tomorrow but I've spent just enough time to be prepared - now I'm going back to sleep while trying to quaff as much Gatorade as possible, rebuilding my fluid levels and settling the horde rampaging in my stomach.


No comments: