theswordsman's Diaryland Diary

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

grace

That's Princess Grace Kelly practicing classical fencing a film called The Swan. It's in one of the greatest fencing rooms I've seen in a movie.

Legend Quest was last night. They gave a half hour less commercials to looking for Excalibur. They started in a cave Stropshire (just think, Excalibur could have been here), headed to Sicily where Richard the Lionheart was said to have presented it to King Tacrid after the third Crusades, went to a Knights Templar place in France, where a guy told them they used to have some sort of sword a hundred years ago, but they gave it to a British museum. Some guy at the museum took them down into storage, opened a small locked drawer, and pulled out a rust encrusted blade shaped thing with no hilt or handle. The host of the show pointed out an obvious spot where the blade had been busted in two, and said that could be from when the sword broke in a fight against Lancelot, and Merlin used his magic (or a spot welder) to repair it. I think viewers are supposed to just nod and play along, but it really hurts my head. To go from a legend of a magical sword given to the true king by a lady in a lake, and taking that to a rusty thing in the basement of a museum? Oo er.

I'm posting early because today is one of the two great pro cycling days left this year. Contador is in sixth place. They're going to climb up above 2000 meters on three beyond category mountains, as part of a 120 mile day. The stage finishes at 2600 meters, on a road where 200 amateur cyclists had to be rescued just a few days ago because of the snowfall.

What you end up with is guys on climbs that go uphill for as much as 23 kilometers, and they're wearing the spandex and they get to altitudes where it's hard to breathe, and they ride past snow, and people offer them newspapers at the top to tuck inside their jerseys so they don't freeze when they descend at 70 or 70 kilometers an hour, with switchbacks, while eating. It should be a great spectacle, which is why I'm not risking a nap first even though this chair is killing my legs and lower back.

Today was a bit rougher than yesterday. Sleep was okay, and it's even more obvious that the problem is all in my back. I stepped outside at 10 P.M. and it was godawful trying to breathe. I wasn't sure I could make it the 60 or 80 feet to my car, but I had three 12 ounce glass bottles of Ski in there. Carrying the plastic bag with then in it hurt my back, so I know it's a compressed disc thing. I don't know if it' rotated too, but it seems likely. The big questions are how long can I put up with it, and will it settle into the right position without medical help?

Anyway, I'm killing a few hours, then will hopefully have three or four hours of great scenery and excitement, then I'll give bed another shot. I still don't feel up to even taking five minutes to cook a steak and egg sandwich. I'm eating peanut butter straight out of the jar. The most beneficial thing to help my situation right now is weight loss, so I got on the scale earlier to find out I'd gained back ten pounds since this problem hit, even though I really haven't been eating much more than when I was losing. FML.

Anyway, the cycling coverage starts around 6:30 A.M. Central Time, or noon thirty UK time. If you can't get it on TV, Fromsport.com has links for streams everyday.

Contador needs to beat Cadel Evans and Franks Schleck by at least a minute for it to be a great day. I'd best go pray the Rosary now.

Wouldn't a sword from The Lady Of The Lake be protected against rust, and shouldn't a sword that was guarded and protected and handed from King to King be in just a bit better shape???

2:30 a.m. - Thursday, Jul. 21, 2011

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

previous - next

Started Monday 4/18/2011

latest entry

about me

archives

notes

DiaryLand

contact

random entry