At the moment, I am dealing with a tendinitis flare-up in my right shoulder. I have discovered that my bike mechanic skills are good enough to manage a one-armed tune up. Still, I had to call it quits after Tuesday morning’s first job, and headed home.
This ailment has been a part of my collection for over a decade. Since leaving retiring from office work, it makes an appearance only sporadically. I’ve also learned to manage it well with rest and drugs. I was all out of prescription anti-inflammatories and settled for ibuprofen.
On Wednesday evening, I waited until my roommate was done in the kitchen to make dinner because I didn’t want him to see the tricks I use to one-arm everyday tasks. Unfortunately, he walked in on me, seated on the floor, bracing the salad spinner with my feet.
He didn’t laugh, but you can!
Thursday was even less fun. I went to see a doctor for refills on my anti-inflammatory meds and left with that, plus two worksheets from the nurse. I have a two-week project that has me visit the blood pressure monitor at the back of the supermarket daily.
All because my blood pressure was a bit high.
“I just walked 9km to get here. Could that be why?” (That was me hinting at my active lifestyle.)
“We’ll check again after you see the doctor.”
….it was even higher at the end of my visit.
Every day, I’ll have to make my way to the blood pressure monitor, where the machine will strangle my left bicep while I stare at the bulk Valentine’s Day chocolates in front of me.
I’ll breathe in deeply as I take in the relaxing environment of old people bumping their shopping carts into things. I am essentially confronted with two of the culprits of high blood pressure as I monitor my numbers: caffeine and stress.
Today is day one of not starting my morning with a can of energy drink. My energy drink habit is one of those things people can’t stop themselves from commenting on. The words energy drinks and the often colourful aluminum cans they come in lends well to the misconception they have “a lot more” caffeine than coffee.
They don’t. The have more sugar than black coffee for sure; however, an eight-ounce (250mL) cup of coffee contains between 80 to 100 mg, and most people drink more than that. A small can of Red Bull (250mL) has 77.4 mg of caffeine.
Imagine having someone tell you every time they see you brew a pot of coffee, “Oh, that’s so bad for you! That’s got a lot more caffeine than an energy drink!”
My caffeine intake wasn’t restricted to the one can of energy drink I was drinking daily. I usually drink decaf tea, but because the supermarket was all out of decaf, I’ve drank regular for the past two weeks. That’s an additional 80 mg of caffeine. Then I snack on chocolate, too. That’s another 40-60 mg.
Yes, I need to cut back, you smug coffee-drinking fucks.
I also need to welcome fruit and veggies back into my diet. The problem: prices on fresh produce these days have been rage-inducing. I can afford $8 for a 454g of strawberries, and I have the $5 needed for potatoes. I scan my Pink Lady apples as the Gala variety at the self-checkout to save a few cents, but they’re still $2.49 a pound. I’ve limited my produce consumption on principle.
Maybe it’s time to take up gardening. All I know about gardening, I learned from Zoée three days ago. I asked them which fruits and vegetables were worth growing and when to start. Zoée also had questions about the pre-existing plants in the plot:
Uh, is this going to be a new thing to stress over? THE RATS ARE EATING MY STRAWBERRIES! WHY ARE MY TOMATOES FULL OF WORMS?! FUCK, I NEED JIM PATTISON TO FEED ME $8 STRAWBERRIES!
squaremeat.com 