Upcoming downtime

Not my typical type of post, but my day today has also not been very typical ….

I got news that an appointment as been made for a shoulder operation this month. I’ve been having problems with it for a while, have tried just about everything else I can think of to correct it; but I’m still rubbing bone against sinew, and have been trying to make my way with the ridiculous limitation that I’m not allowed to raise my arms above shoulder level for a while. It’s this problem that has discouraged me from backpacking this summer. According to the doctor, a few months after the surgery, my shoulder should have full function, with no limitations. If that’s the case, I may see what I might do to plan my backpacking pilgrimage for next summer. Anyway, the surgery is planned for the 24th, and I’m supposed to get back home from the hospital in three to four days afterward … those will be days that I would be highly surprised to find myself anywhere on the Internet.

In the meantime, I plan to live it up a bit! Vacation time is coming; and since I’m not using it to backpack my way up north, I plan to fill this time with as much nothing as I can possibly fill it with! I do not typically drink alcohol; but I allowed myself a bottle of beer yesterday – Warsteiner was never my first choice, but when the man hosting the party I attended told me that it tasted like an angel urinated on the tongue, I decided for some bizarre reason that I would give in to his attempts to get me to drink with him, before any further biblical references came up. Of course, drinking a bottle of beer that I’m not overly fond of almost requires that I drink a bottle of beer that I do like at some point, to maintain the balance. Since I do not plan to drink more than one bottle, I will probably go to a bar at some point – there is a nice one not far from where I live that serves my two favorite beers (Beck’s and Flensburger). Sitting down and deciding just which beer I’m more in the mood to drink will be a happy sort of dilemma. I am still making progress with the Robert Jordan books – I’ll be starting the fourth book tomorrow, with books five and six already waiting on a shelf as well.

I’ve never much cared for the so-called ‘lazy hazy days of summer’ … there is often much to do, the temperatures are warmer and more humid than I typically care for (there is at least one reader here, with whom I not only share a disdain for excessive heat, but also a thorough passion for the autumn season), and it’s the last season that stands between me and my favorite season. I’m usually a creature who is possessed of large stores of patience … toward the end of the summer, however, even my patience wears thin.

Not this summer, though! I’m under doctor’s orders to relax; and that is exactly what I am of a mind to do. Lazy and hazy are then, for me, right around the corner! There is a beach nearby, and an international festival for windjammers and tall ships. A band that I really like, called Santiano (North Germany’s answer to the boy band phenomenon) will be singing at this festival – and there will be people quite literally from all over the world taking part as either sailors or spectators. Lazy, hazy – and content – this, I can do!