The Cat Chronicles: Storms, Drumming, Hands
Kitten is passed out on the couch. I have never seen her sprawl exactly there and like that before....she seems to be getting more comfortable. She does not have to hide from the little canine anymore. She is exhausted from last night's excitement. I closed the door to the Crow's Nest last night while she was still out prowling. She could come into that room, but no farther, and she could not get to me. The idea was that I wanted to sleep all night and wake up without her stomping on me and muttering me awake.
It didn't work, because an intense storm descended in the early morning. The lightning bolt that awakened me sounded like it hit within a block or two. It rattled the walls, and the power flickered but stayed on. I laid back down and was just starting to relax again when the second blast hit even closer. I jumped up to let the kitten out of her one room confines, and to look out the windows and see if I could discern where it had hit. Nothing was on fire. I went into the Crow's nest and she was not in there, but she was not far outside, because she came running in when she heard me. I closed the window and let her into the rest of the house. She promptly jumped up onto her princess and the pea pile of blankets and went to sleep. I laid awake, listening and smelling the rain. The fan was pulling the outside air in, and it was cold and wet.
Again, no dreams. I would like to remember some dreams. I have been inviting dreams each night, but have been waking such that I recall none.
On Monday this week I drummed at graduation. We met at a classmate's house and practiced our beats and walking with the drums for a while before heading by bus to the convention center. There were 8 of us, all dressed in white, two males and six females. At the ceremony we first sang an African song about bringing home a big catch to the graduates, then walked around them drumming, then led the faculty up a very long hallway to the venue, drumming the whole time. We drummed on stage until the faculty was seated, then took a bow and sat in our VIP seats. When former drum troop members would cross the stage to get their diplomas, the drum troop would give a low drumroll.
After the speeches and ceremony we drummed more out in the hall, and that was actually the part that I enjoyed most. I think it is because we drummed on the same two beats long enough that I was able to break out, do some more complex rhythms, experiment a little.....and get into the flow of it. I like to think about my natural killer cells being activated and going around kicking the ass of any invading microbes or possible cancers. I enjoyed it greatly except that my hands began to turn red and even a little purple, and to swell. My left thumb was quite swollen.
I had taped my left thumb because it was cranky even after just the practice. Now, three days after the drumming, I realize that my most distal joint in my left thumb has something extra in it. It is one of those joints that sometimes gets "stuck", ie. it doesn't want to bend, or unbend, from wherever it is. When I move it now there is a click when I go past that place. This click seems more extreme after the inflammation triggered by drumming. I am not sure that I should be drumming. It has been 2.5 years now since I foolishly injured both hands attempting a drunken back handspring with drunken spotters. My hands have been greatly strengthened, especially by my yoga practice, but they are not what they were before the injury. With age the foolishness of youth becomes apparent in the longterm damages to my body. I wish that I had been wiser. I with that I had abstained from alcohol to a greater degree, that I had not acted as foolishly as I did when I was in emotional pain. But it is too late to take it back. My hands are the only hands that I am going to get.
It didn't work, because an intense storm descended in the early morning. The lightning bolt that awakened me sounded like it hit within a block or two. It rattled the walls, and the power flickered but stayed on. I laid back down and was just starting to relax again when the second blast hit even closer. I jumped up to let the kitten out of her one room confines, and to look out the windows and see if I could discern where it had hit. Nothing was on fire. I went into the Crow's nest and she was not in there, but she was not far outside, because she came running in when she heard me. I closed the window and let her into the rest of the house. She promptly jumped up onto her princess and the pea pile of blankets and went to sleep. I laid awake, listening and smelling the rain. The fan was pulling the outside air in, and it was cold and wet.
Again, no dreams. I would like to remember some dreams. I have been inviting dreams each night, but have been waking such that I recall none.
On Monday this week I drummed at graduation. We met at a classmate's house and practiced our beats and walking with the drums for a while before heading by bus to the convention center. There were 8 of us, all dressed in white, two males and six females. At the ceremony we first sang an African song about bringing home a big catch to the graduates, then walked around them drumming, then led the faculty up a very long hallway to the venue, drumming the whole time. We drummed on stage until the faculty was seated, then took a bow and sat in our VIP seats. When former drum troop members would cross the stage to get their diplomas, the drum troop would give a low drumroll.
After the speeches and ceremony we drummed more out in the hall, and that was actually the part that I enjoyed most. I think it is because we drummed on the same two beats long enough that I was able to break out, do some more complex rhythms, experiment a little.....and get into the flow of it. I like to think about my natural killer cells being activated and going around kicking the ass of any invading microbes or possible cancers. I enjoyed it greatly except that my hands began to turn red and even a little purple, and to swell. My left thumb was quite swollen.
I had taped my left thumb because it was cranky even after just the practice. Now, three days after the drumming, I realize that my most distal joint in my left thumb has something extra in it. It is one of those joints that sometimes gets "stuck", ie. it doesn't want to bend, or unbend, from wherever it is. When I move it now there is a click when I go past that place. This click seems more extreme after the inflammation triggered by drumming. I am not sure that I should be drumming. It has been 2.5 years now since I foolishly injured both hands attempting a drunken back handspring with drunken spotters. My hands have been greatly strengthened, especially by my yoga practice, but they are not what they were before the injury. With age the foolishness of youth becomes apparent in the longterm damages to my body. I wish that I had been wiser. I with that I had abstained from alcohol to a greater degree, that I had not acted as foolishly as I did when I was in emotional pain. But it is too late to take it back. My hands are the only hands that I am going to get.