Δαφνη Ευτυχια Αρθουρος

Ow. So much for my "if I start to fall on the steep but narrow back stair, I can catch myself on the railing" theory. Ow.

Two brackets held. The remaining one did not rip out of the wall; it broke. (It turns out to be that cheap kind of metal that looks granular on the faces of a break.) About a third of the railing got to the bottom of the stair before I did. Fortunately pointing jagged-end-away, since the wood broke into very much "Buffy would improvise with this to kill two vampires at once who thought she was unarmed" pieces. Ow.

I'm moving okay now, but am wondering how much the parts I landed on will stiffen up by morning. When I left Darkover earlier, I told people that whether I returned would depend on how late I slept and how I felt on waking; now it's going to also depend on whether I get off with minimal bruising or major not-walking-much pain. Wish me luck, as it's currently too soon to tell. (I landed very badly, in a position that strongly suggested significant damage and major problems moving even right away. But after five minutes of major awkwardness and much swearing, I started moving and sitting far better than seemed reasonable to expect, so maybe I got lucky. Here's hoping.)

I don't know whether to blame the very old slippers I was wearing, the surface of the stairs themselves, extreme-fatigue clumsiness (it was a long, long day; a mostly-good one until this, but long), or just dumb random luck. I do blame that railing for not holding me up, as I had just barely begun to fall when I caught it -- the ideal time to catch oneself, before gravity had accelerated me enough to wrench my arm catching myself or -- I had thought -- to shock the wood and cheap metal enough to shatter them. It's supposed to be there to protect me; it's not supposed to race me to the bottom (and the fact that it won that race only adds insult to injury).

I'm also annoyed that I perceived three opportunities to halt my descent on the way down (I fell from near the top of the flight) and wasn't able to make any of the three pay off. I whacked my toes into the ex-door[*] at the bottom pretty hard. Feh. What good is that "time slows down" phenomenon in a crisis if ya' can't do something with it?

I've got a fair bit to say about Darkover, but I think I want to write that up separate from this pain and annoyance, so that the convention report isn't tainted by having started with my precipitous plunge accompanied by shattered wood and metal. But first: sleep (I think).

The back door, at some point in the house's history, but the stairs on the outside of the house leading to the ground from that door are looong goooone, so it's a good thing the door is many-layers painted-shut.

From the Quotation of the day mailing list, 2006-11-18:

"No subject is ever too serious for humour. I think many people have a basic misunderstanding: There's a difference between being serious and being solemn.

"We could be talking about things that are extremely serious -- our marriages, the education of our children, politics, even the meaning of life -- and laughing quite a lot and that wouldn't make what we were talking about one bit less serious.

"But solemnity, on the other hand; I don't know what it's for. Solemnity serves pomposity, self-importance, and egotism. And the pompous and the self-important always know at some level that their egotism is going to be punctured by humour. That's why they always see humour as negative, as a threat to them personally. And so they dishonestly criticize it as frivolous and light-minded."

-- John Cleese, British comedian & satirist, formerly of Monty Python's Flying Circus.

(Submitted to the mailing list be dan meltz)

Well I guess that decides the "do I go back to Darkover for a short day of enjoying the con without worrying about responsibilities or a timetable" question. I just woke up. Things'll be pretty much wrapped up there. Hard to say how much of the need for extra sleep had to do with my body coping with the tumble, and how much was just because I'd pushed myself so hard for the past three days straight. (The latter is sufficient to explain it -- though actually staying asleep lng enough to get the needed sleep is unusual. Maybe the new meds are doing some good.)