So much achy whining- today was a daytime Vicodin Day

I joined a group on Flickr called "We're Here!". Members choose a day of the month and they set a theme. Then everyone in the group does a photo in relation to that theme and posts it in the "We're Here!" group and a group related to the theme that the theme-chooser found or is already a part of- it isn't as complicated as I'm making it sound. Its a good idea, because I'm in my third year of doing the 365 self-portraits. I haven't missed a day yet. And having someone else decide my theme for me takes some of the pressure off. Not that I was ever under pressure, of course.

I have a couple Flickr friends that are in the group and through the urging of one of them, I joined the group. I didn't think I'd participate all that much, but so far I have till today (today's theme is "facedown for my birthday" for a member's birthday. I can't do it- its called "planking"). Why am I telling you all this? Because the "Water, Water Everywhere" theme triggered a flareup. I was going to try and get a shot of me dumping water over my head, but it didn't go as well as I'd planned. I filled a gallon jug with water and went outside. I held my camera at arm's length and went to lift the jug. And I couldn't. The gallon of water was too heavy for me to lift easily.

So I had to dump half of it out before I could attempt to dump it on my head. I didn't get the shot I wanted. What I did get was absolutely drenched. Soaking wet. And that's where the problems started. No, no, the water didn't hurt me- nothing as silly as that. But, it was chilly outside because we've had a very weird Spring so far. And with the chill in the air and the wind blowing (we've gone from having a heat index to a wind chill to a heat index again), the cold settled into my muscles. I took a few photos while outside, even tried dumping a bottle of water on my head (shaking it out over my head). It was cloudy, so my camera wasn't firing as quickly as I'd hoped. The photos look a lot like this one:




My end result turned out to be a macro of a large droplet of water falling off the end of a soaking wet strand of hair. My face was out of focus in the background, but my eye is in focus, and upside-down, in the droplet.




As artistically rewarding as the photo turned out, I was- within an hour- fully into an all-over body aching flareup. I wanted to smack myself in the head for doing it to myself, but it hurt to lift my arm. I've had a lingering aching since the day I took those photos. The mornings are terrible for me, so much so that I keep sleeping in. Of course, it doesn't help that I go to bed and then lay awake for an hour before finally dropping off. Today dawned as an itchy and sore skin day and by 10 AM, I took two Vicodin. And you all know how much I hate taking pain meds in the daytime. I've been under some extra stress in the last couple weeks too. I'm so over the stress now. Really, I am. There's no cure for the stress right now, but I'm so looking forward to the ren faire. I've talked up the faire to so many people- both online and in real life- that I think I should get a commission on the tickets sold.

Janesville Renaissance Faire is March 19th and 20th. Bristol's 25th season starts July 7th and runs through Labor Day (Labor Day is their closing day). You should come out. You'd enjoy it. At Bristol, if you want to find me, you know where I'll be.

Oh, you don't? Well, click here for a hint...