Been quiet

Not quite sure why,

Sometimes I just go dark for a little while. That's happened a bit more lately as I look within to try and fix without. (Translation - trying not to think too much while trying to keep the discipline that will let my outsides mend)

It is genuinely mending but it's also very easy to do more damage to it. I've missed the cricket season, plus I'd not be playing anyway because ... Ow. Big Ow.

I've hurt my back again, same injury as when I was 16 and running around trying to bowl fast. If you've not coped with a back injury, it feels like you're a puppet who's strings have been cut. Pain comes often, especially when you try and do complex movements. By complex, I mean combining a turn with a bend. It can be managed, usually by keeping the movements simple but that's a more awkward style. I prefer to move fluidly.

Perhaps we can learn from our international friends in how to deal with these problems ?

I've seen a few of these problem solving methods in action via work. The Italy one is spot on. Kinda glad their part of the project was a couple of steps removed from us. Oh and my version of the 5 o'clock tea was the Half Past 3 Cookie.

Yep. They still call me the Cookie Monster in the canteen.

What have I been doing with my spare time ? I've been putting some of that time into a game called Banished. It's a medieval survival town building simulator. In my current game, I've started off on Hard mode, which gives you 8 adults, 4 kiddies (who don't do any work) and a limited amount of supplies. The challenge is to have them survive by having food producing buildings, houses to put them in and fuel to keep the houses warm. It's a definite challenge. My town is currently stable and growing with 85 people.

It's a game where things happen slowly but there's a definite inertia to how it works. Not enough blacksmiths ? Your people run out of tools and can't produce as much. Too much population growth ? Your people can't get enough food to survive. Not enough people chopping wood ? Your people can't stay warm in the winter.

It's a captivating and complex game. My next targets are to either run lots of people in my mines (Steam achievements ;-) or to have 300 people. There's another couple of achievements there - 300 people without trading posts, 300 people without schools. Hard mode starts you without a couple of forms of agriculture, trading posts let you buy seeds or herd animals to enable that agriculture. Schools keep your kids out of the labour pool for longer but make them more efficient when they have learned Stuff.

And it opens up mischief :

Yes. I'll be watching them carefully.


Oh what did I say about pain earlier ?

I get a different ouch every day. I've had full use out of my body but without the training that would have prepared it for all the damage I've inflicted on it. It tends to remind me of different ouchies every day, sometimes it'll be my hips, sometimes my knees, often my back, occasionally the shoulder. I deal with that as it comes.

Sometimes though, that dealing with it thing is counterproductive :

I can very easily do the damage to myself. It'll often happen in the morning or overnight when I let my discipline guard down to try and facilitate sleep. The immediate symptom is Itchy-Itchy. So I attack the complaining spot. I then take 10 minutes being upset about setting the healing back.

Trouble is, sometimes the fixing it involves leaving it alone which can be difficult when you're 10 minutes or so away from rushing for the bus.

But I'm getting there, I'm seeing genuine improvement balanced by when I damage things again. The anti-histamines seem to have helped but I suspect there's a bit of placebo effect there. Positive mental attitude goes a long way though. I may not always have that on the inside but the smile always seems to be there on the outside trying to cheer other people up.

That's one from the past ! Nasty car, great smiley.