Introverts, how is your day?

[Carol the Dabbler]

Sounds like the 5th of July around here -- and the 6th and the 7th and ......

[Pseudonym]

It's cold, it's dark, I'm tired and everything hurts. 

[Carol the Dabbler]

Are you coming down with something? :(

[Pseudonym]

No, by the terribly strenuous act of sleeping I appear to have pulled a muscle in my back and my neck is seized up.

[Pseudonym]

Actually maybe I am coming down with something since the pain is now right across my back and down my thighs, despite having taken painkillers. Feels like I'm bruised everywhere. Anyone have any idea what that sounds like? 

[Artemis]

Sounds like me every day, lol.

 

(I’m so helpful.)

[Carol the Dabbler]

Could be that you somehow got a spasm started, either directly or by getting your spine a little bit out of joint -- either one can happen without you doing anything strenuous.

 

In either case, a massage therapist should be able to help. If that doesn't totally do the job, a chiropractor should be able to do it. I'm assuming you don't have one you normally go to, so you could ask around for recomendations (as with any profession, some are better than others). I would loan you mine, but she just had a baby and won't be back till March.

[Pseudonym]

All fine today, weirdly. Hoorah! I can move again like a real live girl! Which is good because driving home last night REALLY wasn't fun, lot's of wincing, swearing, grunting, and gritting of teeth. 

[Artemis]

I've been avoiding sleep like the plague.  I've barely slept in... 4 days?  5 days?  Something like that.  Nor eaten.  I don't even know why really, I just don't want to.

 

 

[Doe]

I've been avoiding sleep like the plague. I've barely slept in... 4 days? 5 days? Something like that. Nor eaten. I don't even know why really, I just don't want to.

How did you patient? It is very hard Artemis. At least for me. 4 days, 5 days..

 

It has been tired you.

[Artemis]

Normally I cannot do that, at least not since college.  Even if I wanted to.  Just having a hard time of it lately, for some reason.  Insomnia, maybe?  Feels different than that though.

In any case, I got a few hours of sleep in today, so that’s good.

[Artemis]

I'm crashing now... finally.  So much to do before I can sleep though...

 

 

[Pseudonym]

The woods are lovely, dark and deep,  

But I have promises to keep,  

And miles to go before I sleep,  

And miles to go before I sleep.

[T.o.b.y]

The woods are lovely, dark and deep,

But I have promises to keep,

And miles to go before I sleep,

And miles to go before I sleep.

That's lovely. Where's it from?

[Artemis]

Robert Frost, Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening.  One of my favorites.  :smile:
 
This is the full poem:
 
Whose woods these are I think I know.
His house is in the village though;
He will not see me stopping here
To watch his woods fill up with snow.

My little horse must think it queer
To stop without a farmhouse near
Between the woods and frozen lake
The darkest evening of the year.

He gives his harness bells a shake
To ask if there is some mistake.
The only other sound’s the sweep
Of easy wind and downy flake.

The woods are lovely, dark and deep,
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep.

- "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening," by Robert Frost, 1922
 
 
And something interesting I read about it the other day.
 

Robert Frost used to like to say that one of his most beloved poems, “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening,” came to him in a flash of inspiration, as though in a “hallucination.” It was written, he often said, “in a few minutes without strain.” The truth, however, is more melancholy and more human.

Frost told a close friend that the poem actually recalled a dark, snowy evening before Christmas. Frost had yet to break through as a poet and he had gone to town to sell some goods so that he might buy some Christmas presents for his children. He failed to sell anything... which would mean no presents. Returning to his farm that night, leading his horse through the woods, he could not bear the notion of a bleak Christmas. Before reaching home, he stopped in the dark with the downy flakes falling and, as he told his friend, “I just sat there and bawled like a baby.” Eventually, sensing some mistake, his horse shook its head. The bells brought Frost back to reality and he continued home.

Considered in this context, “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening,” to me, has always been a powerful reminder to carry on and count blessings. I’ll post the full poem on “the darkest night of the year” — the winter solstice.

 
I don't know if any of you watch "Elementary" (I've only seen a handful of episodes myself), but I like the part where Joan gives Sherlock a plaque with those last words from the poem engraved on it, to commemorate his first year of sobriety (which he has been reluctant to acknowledge).

 

 

[Artemis]

This is another one of my faves by him.  Just a short poem, but relatable to me.

 

 

 

[Pseudonym]

:smile:

 

'Miles to go before I sleep' always pops into my head when I have loads of things to do but I really just want to go to bed. 

 

I also often get the quote 'I am become death' in my head first thing in the morning, when I feel like death. I do not become a destroyer of worlds unless someone talks to me too early. 

[Pseudonym]

Oh dear, I have the sneaking suspicion I'm going to be roped into helping to set up the family party on Saturday. Hoping it's not the case.

[Artemis]

What’s the occasion?

[Pseudonym]

No occasion, just a massive extended family get together because there hasn't been one for ages. 

[Artemis]

What do you do at family gatherings?

[Artemis]

Finally I can get some sleep. Good night/day, forum.

 

[Pseudonym]

Just have a party and mingle really. We're renting out a village hall, one of my cousins will be in charge of music. Older generation are organising a buffet, everyone brings their own drinks. It's the one I was slightly horrified to hear about a few months ago when it was sprung on me, and we're expecting about 70 people. 

 

Nighty night!

[Doe]

Beautiful! Thank you for your sharing.

 

I am cold. A lot of sneeze.

 

I am tired. :(

[Pseudonym]

Eurgh. I got out of helping to set up, but having heard my mother's descriptions I'm now dreading it. "Let's have music for the kids! Let's play games! We can play musical chairs, that'll be a laugh!" How about 'let's f*cking not?' If I can find a quiet corner where I can be left the hell alone it'll be okay, but I have the feeling I won't have that option. I'm meant to be staying over my parents house in the evening and driving back home the next day, but even that'll likely be unpleasant, since there are four other people already staying I get to have the sofa - that part doesn't bother me, but it means I can't get away to a bedroom and shut everything out to decompress for a while, which I need to do if I'm expected to be around people for any extended period of time and actually stay friendly. At least we're down from seventy odd people to fifty odd, not that it makes a huge amount of difference. Honesty all I want to actually do this weekend is sleep.

My mother asked when I'm planning on turning up tomorrow, I said as late as possible so I'm not with people all day, getting increasingly irate, and she seemed a bit surprised - God knows why, she's well aware of what I'm like. Perhaps in the excitement of planning with my aunts and cousin she forgot how weird her daughter is and it was a rude awakening.