gerisullivan | 52 apparently just wasn't enough

It looks like 2011 has figured out its days are numbered and those numbers are down in the single digits.

After holding steady at 50 items since November 23rd, my BAD list for the year gained three more entries in the past week. I was utterly furious about #52 because it put the bad items at at average of 1/week for the entire bloody year. I tried twice to drop some items to bring the total count down. Nope; every one of them earned its spot and isn't giving it up.

I suppose I should be thankful; bad things were averaging 2/week for the first two months of the year. But I'm not thankful. I'm feeling utterly battered by 2011. The evidence suggests the feeling is well founded, well grounded.

Today, the battering became more concrete. I fell coming back down the driveway from picking up the mail. The skinned knees and hands are no big deal; they wouldn't have made the list. But I also planted my right cheekbone hard into the blacktop. My first thought was that I might have broken it, I landed so very hard. At this point, I'm confident the cheekbone is fine, but am less certain about my nose. It's none too happy, mostly at the spot where the left nose cushion of my glasses slammed into it with enough force to bend the frames several degrees.

I've applied the requisite cold pack, taken a pain killer with some oomph, and reviewed various medical information online while monitoring my overall condition. Even if my nose is broken (and I don't think it is), it seems they tend to wait for the swelling to go down to decide whether they need to do anything about it. This feels like tissue damage and maybe a bruised bone. I'll be glad when it stops hurting.

So, yeah. 53. The fall is nowhere as near as bad as cancer or the numerous other health problems and deaths on this year's list. Still, it's rotten anytime and is particularly annoying when I want to be celebrating a quiet, comfortable Christmas.

At least blacktop is softer than concrete. I'm thankful for that. Thankful I was able to get up, thankful I'm not spending the night in an emergency room.

Well, not yet, anyway. I really ought to be more careful about what I write.

Onward.