Friday Ante Meridium:

I have bashed my knee, my left knee. I don’t remember bashing it. There are no visible marks or contusions. There is however a slight swelling that makes walking, showering, getting in and out of my car, stairs, and movement in general painful – swiveling in my chair seems ok. Actually it is not the knee proper, but rather the attachment of rectus femorus or adductor magnus or maybe even vastus medialis (the most likely player), which I have pulled, twisted, torked, or otherwise fucked up. I can deduce a likely scenario involving a bottle of gin and knee height table, but this is idle speculation on my part. I could have just twisted it on my way to bed, impacting only myself through awkward motion.

Having access in my New Age bookstore to Louise Hay’s best-selling Heal Your Body, in which the victim of any ailment is found to be the passive aggressive self-destructive cause of said ailment, I decided to look under “knee” to better understand today’s impediment. According to Louise, “Knee Problems: Stubborn ego and Pride. Inability to bend. Fear. Inflexibility. Won’t give in.”

Cures work as follows: Apply soothing affirmation, wait, repeat. Louise has proscribed that I meditate upon “Forgiveness. Understanding. Compassion. I bend and flow with ease, and all is well.” with the frequency of an itinerant catholic praying for hail marries.

I walked it off.

Angela, “Do you cope well with change?”

Saturday Post Meridiem:

Just back from coffee in the Delmar Loop with my sister and nephew. They are currently under the influences of counter colonization from the Middle East and are into all things Hookah. Trev, who is seventeen, hangs out in a hookah bar in Sacramento. We found them each portable hookahs at a falafel place, forty bucks per hookah with a cute little case like a lunch box; odd mother son bonding over mango flavored tobacco. Earlier today I got up and went rummage sale hopping with Karen and we did the debrief on recent life motion – we must have hit at least ten sales and a few junk shops. I bought a nice driver for my golf game, a big bertha like Brad’s, for only two dollars. I also got a cast iron fish tank-stand for three bucks, which might fit Angela’s tank. Karen got some concrete plant boxes – two for ten dollars and we each had lemonade from Kyle’s front yard stand. Later we had lunch at the Schlafley Bottle Works over in Maplewood, which Bethany was the architect of. Kudos to Bethany, we sat in a section of your imagination and had salad, soup and sandwiches – the Summer Kolsch is a mighty fine beer.

Last night I had a big work dinner at Harvest – I could write a novella about that one, suffice it to say I work with an odd but likable bunch of people. Harvest is one of the most expensive places in town, the food is locally grown and follows the seasons in availability – hence the name Harvest. I had the halibut with a beet root salad and every bite was perfection. A good cap to a bad week, actually it’s best if I don’t talk about my workweek, my Friday began with firing someone and went odd places from there. Our consultant Jack was out from Seattle, hence the wine and dine. Dinner conversation was profligate with the ironies implicit in discussing the evils of marketing with your sales coach. Also, in the eventual book, today was the day of the Feng Shui toilet policy. I know that’s quite a teaser, but you’ll just have to wait. After the dinner I hooked up with Angela, Vick, and Trev and we went to Nick’s Wine bar for drinks and my first experience with a mango hookah. I have to say, it doesn’t seem to be my cup of tea, but the drinks were good – on a hot day little beats a Gimlet with citrus gin. On our way back through the Loop from the Central West End we saw that there was a midnight show of Moulin Rouge on the main screen at the Tivoli http://www.clubmoulinrouge.com/mr1.htm. So that let out at about two am. If you get the chance to see it again, or for the first time, on a big screen, don’t pass it up – it was filmed for large-scale viewing. I am defiantly burning the candle at both ends on my weekends this summer. Tonight we’re off to see a free concert under the Eades Bridge in Downtown St. Louis – right by The Arch - The B-52s hit the stage at 7pm. We might take the metro link downtown. Tomorrow it’s Harry Potter on the four-story screen at the Science Center, apparently the speakers are in the screen itself, so the surround sound and surround visuals are not to be believed. I am thinking about leaving St. Louis again – the circumstances are not open to public scrutiny– but it clearly would mean leaving the buffet, and with the constantly changing entrées’ one wonders if it would be worth it.