Of Bug Bites And Other Fun...
Jul. 12th, 2005 08:03 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
athersgeoWell. Been a week or so since I did a proper update, for one reason or another.
I've been feeling depressed and not terribly rational over my writing. It's probably transference from me being anxious over whether or not anyone's going to pick up Shadow Games, but it did rather knock me sideways for a couple of days, and I'm still not sure what I'm going to do with one or two of my works in progress (seeing as that particular fandom's moved on nearly two years now and with the exception of perhaps three people, no-one seems to have noticed that I haven't finished them).
If that's the downside, there is an upside, namely I've finally begun work on the sequel to Shadow Games. It's got a working title of variously Hidden Secrets or Hidden Lies (depending on what day of the week it is!) and it's going to have another very wide variety of locations. It's also going to have a bigger plot, and (unintentionally) it's also going to be rather more current.
I'm not going to say much - mostly because everything that I've wanted to say has been said and I don't have that much to add. In fact, all I will say is this:
Better men than these have tried to break the British and better men than these have been forced to give up, pack up and go home - often with a very British bootprint across their collective arses.
And that's as close to political comment as you're going to get in this journal.
Just call me Hobbie.
I was umpiring last week. On Monday night, that was on the water based pitch that is home to a particularly vicious breed of biting insects (a couple of years back, one bit me THROUGH hockey socks!). I took precautions and slathered myself in insect repellant - and had no problems what so ever. [This, btw, was my re-assessment match - I'm now qualified to continue blowing my whistle for another four years!] On Thursday, I was at the sand based pitch to umpire a summer league match. It being sand, I thought it would be free from insects. In fact, I've played up there or umpired up there for every single season in the last six, and never been bitten once.
Until Thursday.
Current theory is that it was a horsefly.
It was on my left ankle - just about on the boniest part in fact.
Friday, it itched. I used anthisan overnight Friday/Saturday. I discovered I'm allergic to anthisan. Saturday, I could barely put my heel down when walking and my ankle was about one-and-a-half size. I started taking antihistamins. On Sunday, I was awake at 5am because my ankle was that painful. My ankle was now twice its normal size. I spent most of the morning either icing it or with my foot in a bucket of cold water. It went down. I stopped icing it and sat down at my computer for half an hour or so to catch up...and my ankle ballooned right back up to twice size, AND turned numb. Cue trip to A&E, where they gave me antibiotics (and told me to keep taking the antihistamins). I spent most of the rest of Sunday with my foot up (with or with out ice packs). Yesterday, I got up to discover that my ankle was NOW showing signs of bruising. The swelling was down enough for me to flex my ankle enough to drive, so I got into work, but by lunch time, not only was my ankle twice its regular size again, so was my entire foot! Cue an afternoon of improvised ice packs. Last night, we tried hot linament on it in the hopes of drawing out any poison...which did nothing...and I spent the rest of the evening with yet more ice packs. This morning, my ankle's back to one-and-a-half size, though my foot is still fairly swollen and I've currently got yet another ice pack on it...and the bite itself is now sore to the touch.
To say I'm getting rather tired of this is an understatement, particularly seeing as I can't properly put my foot up and work (I'm currently sitting at an angle which is not entirely comfortable).
So that's been my week. How was yours?
I've been feeling depressed and not terribly rational over my writing. It's probably transference from me being anxious over whether or not anyone's going to pick up Shadow Games, but it did rather knock me sideways for a couple of days, and I'm still not sure what I'm going to do with one or two of my works in progress (seeing as that particular fandom's moved on nearly two years now and with the exception of perhaps three people, no-one seems to have noticed that I haven't finished them).
If that's the downside, there is an upside, namely I've finally begun work on the sequel to Shadow Games. It's got a working title of variously Hidden Secrets or Hidden Lies (depending on what day of the week it is!) and it's going to have another very wide variety of locations. It's also going to have a bigger plot, and (unintentionally) it's also going to be rather more current.
I'm not going to say much - mostly because everything that I've wanted to say has been said and I don't have that much to add. In fact, all I will say is this:
Better men than these have tried to break the British and better men than these have been forced to give up, pack up and go home - often with a very British bootprint across their collective arses.
And that's as close to political comment as you're going to get in this journal.
Just call me Hobbie.
I was umpiring last week. On Monday night, that was on the water based pitch that is home to a particularly vicious breed of biting insects (a couple of years back, one bit me THROUGH hockey socks!). I took precautions and slathered myself in insect repellant - and had no problems what so ever. [This, btw, was my re-assessment match - I'm now qualified to continue blowing my whistle for another four years!] On Thursday, I was at the sand based pitch to umpire a summer league match. It being sand, I thought it would be free from insects. In fact, I've played up there or umpired up there for every single season in the last six, and never been bitten once.
Until Thursday.
Current theory is that it was a horsefly.
It was on my left ankle - just about on the boniest part in fact.
Friday, it itched. I used anthisan overnight Friday/Saturday. I discovered I'm allergic to anthisan. Saturday, I could barely put my heel down when walking and my ankle was about one-and-a-half size. I started taking antihistamins. On Sunday, I was awake at 5am because my ankle was that painful. My ankle was now twice its normal size. I spent most of the morning either icing it or with my foot in a bucket of cold water. It went down. I stopped icing it and sat down at my computer for half an hour or so to catch up...and my ankle ballooned right back up to twice size, AND turned numb. Cue trip to A&E, where they gave me antibiotics (and told me to keep taking the antihistamins). I spent most of the rest of Sunday with my foot up (with or with out ice packs). Yesterday, I got up to discover that my ankle was NOW showing signs of bruising. The swelling was down enough for me to flex my ankle enough to drive, so I got into work, but by lunch time, not only was my ankle twice its regular size again, so was my entire foot! Cue an afternoon of improvised ice packs. Last night, we tried hot linament on it in the hopes of drawing out any poison...which did nothing...and I spent the rest of the evening with yet more ice packs. This morning, my ankle's back to one-and-a-half size, though my foot is still fairly swollen and I've currently got yet another ice pack on it...and the bite itself is now sore to the touch.
To say I'm getting rather tired of this is an understatement, particularly seeing as I can't properly put my foot up and work (I'm currently sitting at an angle which is not entirely comfortable).
So that's been my week. How was yours?
(no subject)
Date: 2005-07-12 03:38 pm (UTC)