concerning the offal of capitalism and other happenings

Here I am in front of a computer again. I got back from swimming a little bit ago and now I'm drinking a cup of coffee. I didn't sit down to write anything at all in particular, so it looks like it's another focus-less post, consisting mostly of personal narratives and updates.

Summer is going pretty well. It feels like it began with the official end-of-school dumpster extravaganza. When students move away for the summer, out of the dorms and out of off-campus student housing, there's a bonanza of the detritus, of the dross, of the mounds of the throw-away, cast-off, easily-replaceable-if-you-have-the-money excess of our glorious industrial capitalist system.

An even partial list of items to be found in the dank depths of roll-off dumpsters could easily take longer to read or write than either of us wants to invest here. It's sufficient to say that after spending time in just a handful of dumpsters, little would surprise you. I was thinking that I might come across a car in one of them, but that hasn't happened yet.

Even in June, there's still some residual move-out dumpster treasures--not on campus, of course, but in apartment complex dumpsters. I guess summer is just all-around a big move-out/throw-out season. At least in places where privelege is manifested as, among other things, consumption and waste.

On quite a different note, I found out I have a cyst in my calf that is likely responsible for the pain I've been having for the last year and a half or so. It's about 8.2 cm long and extends from the tibia/fibula joint in my right leg. And it's nestled deep in among muscles and nerves and is pushing out on all of that, which is what is probably causing the pain, even in my foot. I had a consultation this week with some doctors and surgeons, who showed me the images of the cyst and told me what they wanted to do. They said they'd prefer to cut it out but that it's in a bad place for that, being very close to nerves. They'd have to cut through muscle which would leave scar tissue and they're worried about the possibility of hitting a nerve. So, they decided that the best thing to try is an ultrasound-guided aspiration with a big needle. That way they said they can miss all the stuff they don't want to hit and try sucking the fluid, which is joint fluid, out of the cyst. That should relieve the pressure on the nerves and eliminate the pain. The cyst may refill, at which point surgery would be reconsidered. Or, it may not fill up again or, if it does form again, it may be smaller and not cause pain.

So, that is super exciting for me! Probably more detail than is needed, but that's okay--it comes from my excitement and, in a sense, relief to know what is going on with this pain and that there is hopefully a way to change it.

I was sorta writing about summer....hail comes to mind. I mentioned earlier, I think, about our garden getting thrashed by hail. And then again on Monday, while I was biking to that consultation, it hailed and rained like mad. I was drenched when I finally got there, with welts from the hail. I rang my socks out in the bathroom sink and my feet weren't squishing too much after that.

Jen spent the last few days in the mountains with fellow teachers in her department; they decided to get together to plan and co-plan for next semester and it sounds like they were able to get a lot done.

....

Jen actually just came home, a bit early, while I was typing the above. I stopped writing this post and ended up doing various things with the rest of the day. Now it's evening, which really feels like late afternoon since it's summer. And this post feels long already, so I think it'll end with this--!