Tuesday, January 23, 2007

Oh, My Aching Back!

Saturday night brought more snow to Central Standard. About four inches fell overnight. Monkey and I went out to dinner and to see The Painted Veil. As we drove downtown, the snow began to fall. The walk from the restaurant to the theatre was undertaken in a swirl of wet, blowing snow. It was pretty, actually. The movie, by the way, was really good, and the film started pretty much on time.

Of course, Monkey and I also went see Babel at the same theatre on Friday night. That movie didn't start on time. A sign on the door said that they were having a "ruff day," and that the movie would start at 10:15, instead of 10. A 10 o'clock movie on a Friday night is a difficult enough proposition for me, but I figured 10:15 was hardly different than 10. Of course, time went by, as Monkey and I stood in the crowded lobby of the theatre waiting for the prior movie to let out. And time went by. And time went by. The movie started at 10:50. Yowza! And, the movie was 150 minutes long, or so! I must admit, I napped a bit, here and there before the end of the movie at nearly 1:30 AM. That notwithstanding, I can still say, with some certainty, that the movie was okay. Not great. I wouldn't have nominated it for an Oscar, but somebody did.

Anyway, the Saturday night movie let out at about 10:30, and when Monkey and I trooped outside, it was a winter wonderland. The drive home was uneventful, although, as you know, lots of people don't know how to drive in the snow. They either act like it is not snowing, or that they can only drive as fast as they can walk. We encountered both types.

On Sunday morning, the snow finished, I went out to shovel the walk. The snow was wet and heavy. I did not follow proper shoveling procedure (lift with the knees, etc.). Near the bottom of the driveway, my back went pop. Ouch! Being a numbskull, I finished the last few square feet of driveway and gingerly stepped back into the house, where I stayed all day, sitting up against a pile of cushions with a heating pad on my back. Of course, with the NFC and AFC championships on the tube that afternoon, I probably would have stayed on the sofa most of the day, anyway, only without the heating pad and the cushions (and the ibuprofen).

School the past two days has been bearable. The back is sore, and it occasionally catches on me, but I am improving. No basketball this week, at any rate. And, guess what? There are rumors of snow on the weekend horizon. I will lift with my knees, this time, if need be.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Reda, I'm so sorry to hear that your back went out! You are tough, managing with a sore back and on the heels of an unexpected late late night movie.

May your driveway remain snowless from here on out. That was always by biggest hope - that my driveway would be snow-free - when I was living in my house. Even now, I always hope that the crazy driveway of my apartment will not suffer the snow and ice.

Anon AMVB, she sleepyheads

Anonymous said...

We saw Babel on Saturday. At the beginning of the movie they regaled us with tales of the showing the night before. I immediately thought, "Poor Tony." I was glad that I'd opted for the Saturday afternoon showing...except that about 20 minutes prior to the regularly scheduled intermission the film was interrupted with a shout of "Is there a doctor in the house? Is There A Doctor In The House? IS THERE A DOCTOR IN THE HOUSE?" (A little disconcerting considering the same thing had happened moments before in the film itself.) Lights went up and people gawked at a poor woman who had passed out in her seat. This impromptu intermission lasted roughly 20 minutes during which ambulances were called, EMTs arrived, and the poor woman was taken from the theater (having come to but still needing medical attention). So...I'm thinking there was never a really good time to go see that movie.

Hope the back is better.

ATR said...

I'd have to agree--never was a good time to see that movie. Wow. And I'm wondering if whomever was yelling "Is there a doctor in the house!" kept saying to himself/herself: "I can't believe I'm really saying that." But, I guess that's what you yell when the woman beside you in the movie theater passes out in her seat. A weekend that will live long in the annals of Ragtag, no doubt.