Knee, Happy New Year

This is my knee, before the surgery I had yesterday. The picture was taken at the ski resort, you will have to imagine the snow. The bones are fine, but I tore my ACL ligament. Now I have a new one threaded inside there, taken from a cadaver and sterilized with gamma radiation. There are 6 holes in the skin. I will spare you the technicolor pictures of the inside of my knee. I am supposed to be able to walk on it with a brace, but it hurts. Maybe tomorrow! Meanwhile, I am icing it using a special machine and writing the alphabet with my toes every hour so my muscles don't waste away.

I am not sure if I should drink champagne tonight on top of the pain meds.

Anyway, I liked this version of Auld Lang Syne (links to Scotland TV):

Should auld acquaintance be forgot,
And never brought to mind?
Should auld acquaintance be forgot,
And days o' lang syne ?

CHORUS:
For auld lang syne, my jo,
For auld lang syne,
We’ll tak a cup o’ kindness yet,
For auld lang syne.
And surely ye’ll be your pint-stowp!
And surely I’ll be mine!
And we’ll tak a cup o’ kindness yet,
For auld lang syne.

CHORUS

We twa hae run about the braes,
And pu’d the gowans fine;
But we’ve wander’d mony a weary foot,
Sin auld lang syne.

CHORUS

We twa hae paidl’d i' the burn,
Frae morning sun till dine;
But seas between us braid hae roar’d
Sin auld lang syne.

CHORUS

And there’s a hand, my trusty fiere!
And gie's a hand o’ thine!
And we’ll tak a right gude-willy waught,
For auld lang syne.

CHORUS

(According to Wikipedia, these are Robert Burns' original 1788 lyrics)

Sleepless in Berkeley

Normally I have a clear run, cycling through Berkeley at midnight from my shift on the crisis hotline. Tonight, though, there were two cars traveling in opposite directions up and down one thoroughfare (I had to take a foot off the pedal) and a white limo U-turned on University Avenue just ahead of me. A dog-walker quietly picked up after her large, black dog, someone was walking home from Bart, there was a car filling up at the gas station and a pedestrian with oddly tied hair walked across San Pablo. It reminded me of the night I drove back from the hills and encountered a man clad in only a blue surgeon's gown and a black trash bag, and there was a large deer with fine antlers crossing the road. I was glad to be in a car that night.

My inspiration for this blog was one written by someone I met online, which was disarmingly open and endearingly authentic. That is a hard act to follow. The biggest problem is that many of my thoughts are about other people, and I worry about betraying their trust by writing about them or about our relationships. So I've decided to write as though I were writing to the person in question. You (you know who you are if you're reading this) inspired my blog, with your mix of Leaves of Grass energy, Woody Allen angst and Tristram Shandy quirkiness. Thank you.

I am taking an e-mail diet. I will only be checking my e-mail Monday morning and Wednesday or Thursday. Perhaps this will help me find time for writing my dissertation, strengthen my bonds with the real people in my life, and last but not least promote sleep...