World Cup Blues: Spain 1: Germany 0

It wasn't my fault. I was only one of two who remained optimistic until the final whistle. The professional soccer players (big dreamers) were criticizing everyone from the coach to the bundes president. I personally think Germany played damned good ball. As we all know, one second can end destroy the previous 89 minutes. That's the way the game is.

On the head front, I've been working on putting an experimental edge on some wood chisels I picked up cheap, which were poorly ground. I'm putting a longer bevel on then, cutting the traditional 15 degrees back to around 12. They make good shavers that way and will supplement the really good tools. Fine motor control is starting to return a bit to the right hand, but it's not good enough for microsurgery yet. I'm working on some architeutral pieces just to stay in shape. Here's a photo of one of them:

Slow days, better weather, idle mind....

Therapy yesterday. Boris is on vacation for the next two weeks and I'm in the hands of a beautiful young woman whose massage capabilites made for a very wierd walk to the city. My body was totally relaxed and my mind went along with the trip. I sat at my table at the café and not even the Albanians could break my mindset. Unfortunately, neither could I. I had major plans for firming up the Yellow House space/time line and ended up watching people and smiling a lot. I need to make something of today, the Hoekker Fest starts tomorrow, which means the outdoor cafès will be overrun with the crowds and the noise will no be conducive to thinking.

Surprise Sunday

I thought it would be a productive day at Almundo until I ran into the Schutzen Fest, with two fife and drum bands, a brass band, and a couple of marching units, all on their way to....you guessed it, the Alter Markt, where my table became a front row seat for tweedle tweedlle deedle a rapapampum as wel as oompahoompah little schutz,,,,,

 

I ended up reading Sartre's 'Nausea' half-heartedly, identifying with the protagonist.

 

Sunday, Again

(and that’s a good thing)

Soccer: Germany and Spain are off to the Half-finals along with Uruguay and the Netherlands.  Germany destroyed Argentina 4-0 and the Hollanders surprised Brazil.  My vote says the endgame will pit Germany against the Netherlands.

Sunday means cafés and walking paths will be full.  They mean families will be together and about 30% of the German population (I’ll check the statistic again, but it sounds right) will be in church.  It’s the last day of the week on the German calendar, as opposed to the first in the US. Nothing wrong with either view, it’s just a convention. 

The point of my writing today is the weather.  For the first time this week, it’ll be under 90° F.  90 is my breaking point.  I don’t take long walks, don’t do anything strenuous.  I become even more of a vegetable than I normally am.  Even though it’s walking weather, I’m passing on the obligatory Sunday walk and opting for working on my book notes.  I found a few things I’d forgotten about and they’ve brought me back to a unified way of thinking about the plot.  I’ve been having problems with the disjunctive temporal aspects of it and the notes are about space and time.  No more hints today…..

The Plot Thickens

I was working on a draft of a new story when I found these three in the folder.  I did a little tuning, and published them.  

Gun Store

Kawliga

Light Bulb

The story I was working on is about a woman in a mental institution.  It's not based on anyone we know, but there are bits and pieces of people who lived in NEPA when I was a kid woven into the woman and the other character, who may or may not be imaginary.  As I was writing this second character, I realized there were connections between the action in the story and a subplot in The Yellow House.  It's still all the onesuchness.....

Therapy, Therapy, Therapy

It looks like I'm going to have to put off my research on the Baltic island of Usedom until September, which is ok, because by then, most of the tourists will be back to work.  The hand is doing great, doctor Von Glinski was surprised by both the strength and dexterity.  It still has a long way to go, but I'm a tough old bird.  The CT scan (CAT scan in American) showed a coupled of banged up discs in the lower back, which is not unusual for somebody who's banged canoes off of rocks, shoulders off of trees, and skied through strip mines for most of his adult life.  No injections, operations, or anything else intrusive. Just 10 more sessions of back training and massage.  The guy I've been working with is good, so I'm cool with it.

Glinski, however, has advised me to buy a bicycle, as did Dr. Eckhorst, and my friend Klaus, who's a retired MD.  Glinski's been to Usedom and says it's a great place for biking.  I like the idea, I'll be able to cover a lot more ground in my explorations.  It's 28 km from Usedom (the town) to the Polish border, along the Via Baltica, which is one of the Northern routes of the St. James Way (Jakobsweg), which fits another dimension of my research and gives the Yellow House a subplot of interesting and mystical proportions! 

Being, Nothingness, and the Clinic Across from the Arbeitsamt

I'm reading Sartre's "Being and Nothingness" for the fourth or fifth time, or, I should say, trying to read it.  It has always given me a headache.  It's a definitive work on twentieth century existentialism, but it doesn't really appeal to the zenman in me.  The intellectual persona, however, insists.

Ive got hand therapy this afternoon, followed by computer thermography on the leg to find out what I pulled, pushed, or otherwise knocked out of alignment a few years back.  The neurologist and the neurosurgeon are both of the opinion it can be fixed with therapy without an operation.  We'll soon know.