I managed to feel halfway decent or better for more of
Pennsic
than I'd been able to the previous few years, which
is good ... I don't know whether my dietary experiment had
anything to do with that or not; it may have just been luck
or I might be doing better in general this summer than the
last few. (I usually don't bring new-world ingredients to
War, just for the practice cooking without them, though I
do eat things made with them occasionally when other people
offer me food or I buy something up at the food court.
This year I did bring chili peppers and potatoes, as well
as tomato juice; I also kept a supply of chocolate on hand
and had a bite or two most days. So maybe it was the
nightshades and the chocolate, or maybe it was other effects
entirely, I don't know.)
Alas, my post-Pennsic slump is still affecting
me. I did manage to push myself enough to get my stuff off
the truck and get the truck to Virginia a day or so earlier
than I need to most years (Coryn was headed straight home
this year instead of needing to make other stops, so she
wanted an early start getting her wares unloaded). And
though I had to postpone it a day, I got to the doctor this
week. I even made it to the clinic a second time, on foot,
to have blood drawn and pick up prescriptions, and managed
to walk to the grocery store as well. But it seems I've
got a 'one day active, next day barely out of bed' pattern
going. Argh.
Come to think of it, this too is probably better than
most recent years (and Perrine is home already, according
to plan, instead of staying in Virginia an extra week or
two as I recover enough to deal with getting her). But
it's frustrating anyhow, and physically uncomfortable.
Today there was a recorder club meeting. I'd have liked
to have gone to that, but was a little too wiped yesterday
yo try to arrange transportation, and slept until 14:00
today so I wouldn't have been in any shape to go to it
anyhow. This evening is the
Storvik Post-Pennsic Dessert Revel, which I'd be trying
to drag myself to if I had my own car (I'll enjoy it if
I muster the energy to get there) but I don't know whether
anyone I know is headed thataway from -- or via -- Baltimore.
If anybody planning to go from my area and not already
there or en route is reading this, give me a shout,
okay? (The site opened at 17:00 but I know not everybody
arrives at the beginning.)
My right wrist still hurts very badly, which makes me
quite nervous.
The Homespun Ceilidh Band has two gigs next
weekend -- Friday evening at the New Deal Cafe in Greenbelt
and Saturday afternoon at the Town Green Park in old Bowie
-- and I'm worried about whether it'll be better by then.
It's been four weeks already and it still hurts. I was
able to play bass guitar, but strumming is a very different
motion. "Playing through the pain" is one thing; aggravating
the existing injury so that it gets worse and takes even
longer to heal is another. I'll have to spend some time
this week working out just what I can and cannot do on the
guitar while wearing an Ace bandage, and what changes in
my motions are required. I really want to be able to give
full-enthusiasm performances, but if I have to settle for
lower-energy/lower-volume and just concentrate on getting
all the right notes at the right times, I guess that's
better than subtracting my guitar from the mix entirely.
I hope I don't wind up having to lock the wrist and arm
and try to do the entire right-hand part with only my
fingers. That would feel terribly limiting.
And I still need to figure out how I'm getting to those
two gigs. Wheeee.
I've seen no sign of my housemate since I got back.
I'd better reread the email he sent while I was at Pennsic
to see whether he'd said he was going to Brazil now,
or whether he's just managed to pop in while I've been
asleep or out.
Finally (for now), I'd like to track down the SCA brewer
who made the "Wolgebrau" and gave it to Wolgemut. I had
a bottle and found it tasty, but I've no idea what type
of beer it was supposed to be. If it's a type I hadn't run
into before (as I suspect, since there were enough unfamiliar
elements to the flavour) then I want to add it to my list
of types I've tried and may like. And if it turns out to
have been a lager, I really need to know that, since I've
never encountered a lager I could stand (unless Wolgebrau
is the first). I'm guessing that it's an ale simply because
I liked it and every other beer I've been able to bear has
been an ale, but if I'm wrong, that'll be an important datum.