A HARD FALL

This is the first "personal" post in quite some time. A brief tale:

On Tuesday night, relaxing at a friend's house, enjoying the company, snacks, and drinks on offer, I leaned against a porch railing. Said porch sat a comfortable two to three feet off of the ground and said railing, replete with vertical and horizontal wooden pieces, was stabilized by one lone, rusty nail.

Being ignorant of the presence of only one stabilizing nail, I leaned against this railing with little trepidation and promptly found myself hurled two to three feet down and as many feet backwards at an alarming rate. I fell on my back and side, tumbled over, and landed finally on the earth with the entire railing and vertical slats atop my body. My knee was bleeding and I was rather disoriented, but I felt otherwise okay. The alarmed shouts and stares (and surprised laughter) of my friends seemed unjustified (besides the laughter, of course, which seemed quite justified).

Within a few hours, however, their alarm seemed quite understandable, as the pain on my left side, at the bottom and below my rib cage, was quite severe. I spent the night in pain and the next day in the hospital.

In the end, it appears that I had only greatly bruised my rib. I may have a slight fracture, though it was probably only a contusion. Unfortunately, as the original x-rays revealed no fracture, the medical professionals were worried that I may have ruptured or otherwise damaged my spleen or a kidney, and so I was asked to undergo a CT scan. In the end, as I have said, this scan revealed only that I had badly bruised my rib and the surrounding tissue.

And so, I am thankfully okay, though still in pain, and merely hoping at this point that the owner of my friend's house (not my friend) does not rise up in anger when he is informed that he will be paying for my medical bills.

Quite an adventurous day in the end.

(*Note: If this post seems a bit too shamefully poetic or somewhat garbled, forgive me. I blame the pain medication that I've been prescribed)

In addition to all of that, I wish to share a rather strange video with you all -- 'tis a press conference given by Tom Waits regarding his upcoming tour. Enjoy.