A week with a back ache

It's been more than a week since I hurt my back and I'm glad that I'm nearly back to normal. I thought that I would be okay after just a few days because last time I hurt my back (which was I think a couple of years ago) the pain and stiffness were gone after a day. But that was probably because my mom contacted our doctor and he prescribed me an anti-inflammatory drug which did the trick. This time around, I opted to skip consulting a doctor (I'd have to spend a long time sitting down anyway waiting to see one) and taking any medicine and so ended up being uncomfortable for a week.

Like I said last time, I would be rarely free of pain. I thought for a while that I needed to keep moving to get rid of the pain but that only made it worse and I eventually decided it best to take things a step at a time and take the slow but sure road to recovery. In fact I thought I was already all right come Monday morning that I opened the garage door myself (everyone else was still asleep and not around to help anyway) so that I could bring out the car. That turned out to be a bad idea because my back ached all day after that.

I would be especially stiff after sitting down for a long periods of time whether at my desk, computer or in the car driving to and from work. I read somewhere though that not sitting up straight puts less strain on one's back. So I'd try "slouching" with my back at the prescribed 135-degree angle instead of sitting up straight and strangely enough, it works. (That's how I spent most of yesterday afternoon as I graded papers.) For a while, I also thought that by standing up instead of sitting down, I would be less likely to feel pain. But I found that I was wrong particularly when my back would feel so tired after giving an hour-long lecture. (I wonder if my students ever noticed that I wasn't walking as briskly as I used to or that I seemed to move around like an old woman.) And then I'd had to sit down to "rest" my back, which I already knew didn't really rest my back. After also finding out that I was stiffer than ever after sleeping flat on my back, I also ended up sleeping in bed at night with my pillows piled up so that I was half sitting (again with my back slightly at a 135-degree angle). But at least after a few nights of a good night's sleep, I was starting to feel much better and less stiff. I also slowly started doing a few stretching exercises to get rid of the stiffness.

And so now, I don't feel pain too often and I can bend at my waist and not feel too stiff. My back still feels tired after sitting down but at least it isn't as bad as it used to be. I even got to spend three hours practicing piano late yesterday and today. I suppose I'd get so carried away playing that I forget all about the pain. Of course, my back is a little painful now but it's the first time it's been painful all day which is sort of a good thing, right? So I'm truly relieved and thankful that I'm getting over this back pain business and do so look forward to a week with lesser back pain.

Monday morning surprise

I woke up this morning as usual to get ready for work: took a shower, got dressed then had breakfast. As it was a Monday morning, I was the only one up at that time and my parents were still fast asleep. After brushing my teeth, I had to go back to the kitchen to get something. As I was about to pass through our dining room, I happened to look out our glass sliding doors that opened out into our screened rear terrace with its view of our backyard.

There I noticed were several birds either perched on the branches of some our plants or on the clotheslines my father had put up the week before. There were also several just standing around on the pebble-washout surface of our terrace.

I don't know what species of birds these were but when there was a rectangular tub filled with water placed just outside our rear terrace to catch the water leaking from a hole in one of our roof gutters, several birds used to come in the morning to the tub for a bath. It was amusing to watch them test the waters (the tub being much deeper than a traditional bird bath) before diving in for a quick bath. Each bird had its own "technique" of diving in. From their perch on the rim of the tub, some would jump in and flutter their way out back to part of the rim from where they came. Others opted to jump into the water and instead make a right-angled turn to the adjacent rim.

Anyway, that was a long time ago. Now the tub is gone because the hole in the roof gutter has been mended and I was sorry to no longer see the birds come visit especially because of our cats which we now let out into our garden. That's why the sighting this morning was so unexpected and particularly welcome. I counted at least ten birds there and they stayed around for a little over ten minutes before flying off one by one to the chico trees.

It was a nice way to start another busy week.

Spending the weekend with a backache

It seems that I spoke too soon when I said I thought that I exceptionally healthy for my age: yesterday morning, I carried my laundry basket with my dirty clothes to the laundry area. As I bent down to put the basket down on the floor, I felt a sudden sharp pain in my lower back. Alarmed, I stood up straight right away and immediately regretted that I didn't take care to bend down the correct way, that is, bend at the knees rather than by the lower back. Anyway, I didn't feel any more pain then and was hopeful that no major damage was done. But I felt stiff as I began to walk around and especially after sitting down even for a few minutes. And so it was for the rest of the day which was rather inconvenient because I practically do work sitting down whether at my desk or at my PC in my office. (Curiously though, after spending half an hour sitting down reading books at the Catholic book center I mentioned last time, I didn't feel any pain or stiffness at all as I left the place to walk back to my office.)

I'm still as stiff as ever today especially after sitting down. Lying down flat on my back does bring a little relief (at least it used to when my back would feel tired) but I found that I felt no pain at all if I remained standing. Perhaps sitting down means bending my back at the point where I injured it hence the stiffness upon standing up. Anyhow, I can't stay too long here at my laptop surfing or writing this post for my blog and so will have to log off soon. I hope I will be much better tomorrow since I brought home something to do from work, was looking forward to practicing some piano this weekend and have mass (with all the sitting, standing and kneeling to do) to attend tomorrow morning.

A little Catholic book center

About a month or two ago, I noticed a poster at the local shopping mall advertising a Catholic book center called St. Joseph's Thesaurus located in the same shopping mall. I was at once interested in checking it out because I especially love reading saint biographies and other Catholic books.

Indeed I did get to check it out a few days after that and found it to be more of a reading room rather than a book shop. The small room had a couple of shelves at the back and a few tables with chairs for reading. From where I stood outside the glass door, I could recognize a few of the books on the shelves: they were a compilation of saint biographies by Ann Ball and published by TAN books. Having a fair-sized collection of TAN books myself (mostly purchased from Goodwill Bookstore over a five year period starting a decade ago when that bookstore was doing well), this peaked my interest all the more. But there were no people inside except for a shopkeeper sitting behind a counter near the door and I was too shy to go inside. Besides, it was a weekday and I had to return to work, having just gone out to buy lunch.

It was only this noon after lunch when I thought I had the time to drop by and spend some time reading. To my dismay, there was a sign posted on the counter saying that there was a charge of Php25 (Php20 for students) for reading. But never mind. Here was a chance to relax even for just a short while and read books I've wanted to read for a long time. So I went in and greeted the shopkeeper who directed me to the shelves at the back. I timidly walked down to the back and looked through the titles. To my joy, nearly all the books were published by TAN books and there were even some (like Celine Martin's My Sister Saint Therese and Joan Carroll Cruz's Angels & Demons) that I had longed to purchase but couldn't. (I was slightly disappointed to not see the biography of the Cure d'Ars by the Abbe Francis Trochu but as this was just a reading room and not a TAN book shop, I wasn't--and shouldn't be--surprised.) Goodwill Bookstore had stopped stocking up on the books and I couldn't buy the ones available through the TAN Books website simply because I didn't have a dollar credit card account. Sigh. Anyway, this little book center was therefore a dream come true for me. Here I was with most of the TAN books I've wanted to have right before me. And so I contentedly spent the next half an hour or so reading a few saint biographies and browsing through a few others I had been eying. One funny thing happened: when I got the second volume of Ann Ball's Modern Saints to browse through, I found myself face-to-face with a picture of the Cure d'Ars, my favorite saint. It was totally unexpected as I thought modern saints referred to saints who lived in the late 1800's and in the 1900's. (In the meantime, the shopkeeper I noticed had been reading St. Teresa de Avila's Interior Castle which he later returned to the shelf. Then I saw that he began reading a Bible and I could hear some Gregorian chants being played on a small CD player.)

It took some time before I could tear myself away from that bookshelf and walk up to the front counter to pay my reading fee. When the shopkeeper told me that it costs just Php20 for students, I realized that I did look like one as I was dressed in jeans and a t-shirt. I just replied that I wasn't a student and proceeded to dig out Php5 coins to pay the fee. The smallest bills I had in my wallet were Php100 bills and seeing that the place was rarely visited didn't expect that the shopkeeper would have any change. I handed the coins over and inquired who owned the place and if the books were imported. The young fellow said that his aunt owned the place and that, yes, they had to import the books. At that I said my thanks and left.

When I got back at my office and after a short search through the World Wide Web, it turns out that the shopkeeper was most probably a Discalced Carmelite novice-friar. This explained why the saint biographies available at the book center were mostly about Carmelites like St. Therese and St. Teresa and why the shopkeeper was reading Interior Castle. Then I made a sobering discovery: He had put a few TAN books on an online auction to support the center. All the while I had been wondering if the little place had been making money at all all this time. I might have even been the very first person to go in and read some books!

You know, I'd hate to see this little place fold up like so many businesses that have put up shop in the shopping mall and failed after a short time. Long time ago, someone had a cart making those cute little mini-donuts. I've loved those mini-donuts ever since my sister and I bought some at the Iowa State Fair more than a decade ago. So it was sad to see that cart disappear after several months of doing poorly. A year go, a bakery had also a kiosk selling all sorts of baked goods like brownies and oatmeal cookies. I often bought the latter for snacks. But that kiosk too disappeared. Then just a few months ago, someone had a popcorn stand from which we would buy a big bag of sweet/salty popcorn for Php60 nearly every Sunday after mass. But that too disappeared. The Mister Donut counter that had been located near KFC also closed shop lately. Sigh! And now while I was happy to find that a Catholic book center had opened right here in town, my heart sank to see it practically empty of customers. So I really hope that it will be here to stay--at least for a very long time, if not forever.

Marcel Marceau, mime artist

I was not totally surprised but still deeply saddened to learn late yesterday afternoon that the legendary mime Marcel Marceau had passed away. He was 84.

I remember very vaguely watching short black-and-white clips of his performances as Bip on a local channel years and years ago when I was still in grade school. I didn't know who he was then but somehow the image of this funny and melancholy man with the expressive face and hands stuck in my mind. I did eventually learn what his name was but beyond that nothing much.

Then nearly two decades later when I was in Ames, Iowa with my sister pursuing graduate studies at Iowa State University, I learned that Marcel Marceau was to perform at the University's theatre as part of his farewell US tour. I knew by then that he was famous and recalled those short sketches I saw on tv when I was a child. I read that he had frequently toured the US almost always to standing room only. I wanted to see him perform live naturally and persuaded my sister to come watch his show along with me. We got tickets and the perfect seats: we were seated some 13 rows from the front, smack in the middle and practically level with the stage. I was slightly disappointed though that there were several empty seats. But that was forgotten when the performance began. As usual, the program distributed to the audience listed several vignettes from which Marceau would select for the evening. My favorites of course were the Bip sketches particularly the ones of Bip at the circus: his laughable attempts to get a lion to jump through a hoop, at tight-rope walking, at knife-throwing (the audience roared with laughter at Marceau's reaction after he pantomimed removing his blindfold) among others. Another sketch of Bip trying on masks with different expressions was also amazing. What I saw unfold on stage that evening was truly something unique and never to be forgotten. I'm sure the rest of the audience felt the same: we gave him a standing ovation at the end.

Being his farewell tour, I thought that that performance in Ames would be the only and last chance I would have to watch him perform. But by some happy circumstance, it was not so.

Just a few years ago, while I was Singapore (again to pursue graduate studies), I was ecstatic to learn that he was coming to perform at the Victoria Theatre in Singapore as part of his farewell world tour. I of course got tickets right away and watched his show with a friend who had similar interests in the performing arts. Ten years has passed since I saw Marceau perform in Ames but while he was obviously much thinner he was just as eloquent as ever and I enjoyed this latest mesmerizing performance just as much as I did the one in Ames.

It is indeed a lonely thought not to see him perform live again. He was apparently one of those people who refused to let old age stop him from working. And it did seem that he could go on and on, that he would always be there to perform and to create new Bip episodes. Unfortunately, it was simply not to be. But as it is with creative geniuses like Marceau, his memorable wordless portrayals of Bip and the art of mime that he single-handedly restored to the world stage will hopefully always live on.

Still, the death of a legend is always a great loss. This was a man whose silence was louder than spoken words. That silence will be missed.

Graphic: Marcel Marceau, as drawn by another uniquely talented artist, Al Hirschfeld.

More reflections off the tv: Being healthy

I've just watched an episode of One Step Beyond on the Discovery Channel. This particular episode featured, among many others, a man suffering from a lack of proprioception and another who suffered from epidermolysis bullosa. Learning about these highly rare and unusual disorders made me reflect on a few things:

First, how grateful I should be that I am fortunate to be a healthy individual and how much more I should be able to do because I'm not disabled in any way. In fact, I believe I'm unusually healthy at my age and given my medical history. I haven't been seriously ill--not even with the so-called childhood diseases like chicken pox, mumps or measles--or had to be confined or had any major injury like a broken bone or undergone any major surgery. Not even a deep cut that needed stitches.

Second, what an amazing machine the human body is (and hence what a genius God truly is). And how just as amazing is the way we're put together so that we can do what we can do and therefore that there are so many things about the human body that I've taken for granted. For instance, the internal awareness of the status of the body, like the relative positions of the limbs with each other. Before watching that documentary about the man without proprioception, I never realized how necessary it was in carrying out the most basic activities like sitting down or picking up an object or that without proprioception, he is basically unable to feel anything like the ground when he walks or the pressure of somebody else's hand in his. Or that the "anchors" between the epidermis and the dermis underneath was so crucial that without these any action applied to the skin such as sudden pressure or rubbing can cause blisters or sores making for a very painful existence.

Finally, how indomitable the human spirit is. The man lacking proprioception was utterly helpless given his condition but he fought back by working hard to retrain his body to recognize where his different limbs are. Now he virtually relies mainly on sight to be aware of what his body is doing. And then the man with epidermolysis bullosa likewise refuses to wallow in self-pity. He insists on wrapping his body in bandages all by himself to help protect his skin and goes about his daily activities unassisted as well. The documentary mentioned that people suffering from the skin disorder usually do no survive beyond their 20s. But this courageous man is now in his late 30s. As is usual for disabled people, he thinks that when people see him, they should not feel sorry for him but rather that they should feel thankful with what they have. I simply couldn't help but admire these people for their determination to live life to the fullest despite their debilitating conditions.

Birthday feasts galore

Today is the birthday of both my mom and my boss at work. And with it came the requisite birthday blowouts.

First, yesterday my mom treated some former officemates to catered lunch at her office. As a result we now have container of buko salad (pandan gulaman with buko strips and nata de coco) in our freezer. Thankfully it's just a small container because I'm not exactly fond of artificially flavored and artificially colored (bright green!) gulaman and buko salad. Apparently her former colleagues gifted my mom with a fruit basket as well; it's now sitting on counter in the pass-through between our dining room and kitchen.

Then just today, my boss treated all of us at the office to a merienda which for me was more like an early heavy dinner. There was spaghetti (the sweet Filipino style with hotdog which I rather detest but never mind, it was something to eat), lumpiang shanghai, some kind of BLT sandwich and three-layered cake! Boy was I so stuffed this afternoon that I didn't need to eat anything for supper this evening.

I also found out that my mom also treated former officemates at her other office to merienda today. She had bam-i, pork and chicken barbecue and brownies. I have yet to find out if there are leftovers of that blowout in our fridge.

Then for our own little celebration here at home, I bought a cappuccino mousse chocolate roll to bring home only to find some of my mom's friends had also bought her a cake from a local bakery. (Good thing I didn't anymore buy ice cream to eat along with the roll!) Except that it was pandan flavored with yema filling. And after having a slice myself to try, I decided that pandan should never be used as a flavoring for cake or icing. It simply doesn't go. And the yema made it too sickly sweet. Ah well, I managed to get rid of the taste by having a small square of dark chocolate.

But anyway, here I am, still feeling filled to the brim and ready to go to bed. Burp! Excuse me...