Sleepless in Pasadena

You might be a writer if…

…you awake at 4 a.m. with the perfect sentence in your mind that you just have to roll over to type hastily into the notepad on your iPhone, hoping not to wake your sleeping boyfriend beside you.

This sort of episode happens with some regularity. Sometimes it’s a sentence. Sometimes it’s a title for a story I haven’t even started writing. And sometimes it’s an idea for a story or a character.

Bibs I made for my friend's baby one sleepless night...

I often fall back asleep after my early morning spurts of genius, but not today. After struggling for an hour to keep my eyes closed, I finally conceded the point that sleep was a losing battle. So after eating some cold tri-tip and swilling some hot decaf, here I am, at 5:45 a.m., giving in to writing once again. I guess I don’t always give in to writing when I can’t sleep. Sometimes I give in to reading. Or sewing.

While I was tossing and turning, I realized that I can now put my arm under my pillow without pain anymore. I haven’t been able to do this since I tore my labrum bouldering last June. My recovery from the biceps tenodesis surgery to fix the tear seems close to finished.

Not only can I put my arm under my pillow, I can climb again too. In the past two weeks I've gone to the gym three times. I started out with a top roping session. I was so nervous that I wouldn't be able to get myself up the wall. I definitely noticed my lack of strength, but my shoulder felt good and I was able to climb without thinking about it too much. Pre-surgery I was climbing really awkwardly because I didn't have full range of motion and certain moves hurt. I climbed a bunch of routes in the 5.6 to 5.9 range and didn't fall or sit once.

My second gym session was a mix of top roping and bouldering, which led to a third session that was strictly bouldering. I was reminded just how hard bouldering is. The low end of bouldering grades is so much more difficult than the low end of roped climbing grades.

I’m really looking forward to getting stronger and climbing hard again. It’s been a struggle for me to go without climbing for four months. My life finally seems kind of normal again. Aside from the fact that I’m not going to be setting up a classroom next week and that I don’t know where we’ll be moving at the end of the month…

What I’m reading: I’m still working on The Thorn Birds, of which I've been neglectful. I've been focused on reading Private Life because I’m reading it along with a friend. It’s been a bit of a slog to be honest. I liked part one, but part two took some determination to finish. I’m hoping the rest of the book will catch my interest more. I've also read some more of The Care and Management of Lies. I am so in love with the Maisie Dobbs books by the same author, but I have yet to feel the magic with this book.