Praise then darkness, and creation unfinished

After work yesterday, I went down to Rose's Turn to hang out with roadnotes. They were having a benefit/fundraiser to help transgendered people who have lost their homes in New Orleans. Rainie, the bartender, has a lot of friends down there. She was taking checks, made out to a suitable charitable organization and tax-deductible. But, of course, cash is always welcome, so I gave her some (another aspect of the spending money impulse). After being surprised that I wasn't ordering ginger ale [given how seldom I've been in of late, I was impressed that she remembered] she mixed me a whiskey sour and gave it to me on the house.

The fundraiser was just people hanging out, some recorded music, and red beans and rice and other food on a table in the back. Fine with me: while it's a good cause, my main goal was to be with Roadnotes, who was fretting over some bad news (not mine to post, at least not yet) and wanted hugs and such other reassurance as we could provide. So we hugged, and talked, and I ate excellent red beans and rice, and some fruit that Cubbie brought with her. I caught Roadnotes up on most of what's going on in my life, and got her news, and then I gave a summary to a couple of other people--friends of hers who I know more casually--who showed up later.

I got home around 9:30, while cattitude was doing laundry. Eventually, I made him a cheese omelet for supper, and nibbled bits of it myself. What with one thing and another, we didn't get to bed until 11:30. This is not a good pattern: there have mostly been reasons for being up late, but reason or no reason, it means less sleep.

Both my shoulders are sore, which is oddly reassuring: I'm guessing that I overdid things on the new machine I tried at the gym Tuesday, and didn't actually mess up my rotator cuff again, though one of my standard stretches, the one where I reach behind my back, grasp my wrist, and push out and up, is much harder than it had been, and I can feel I'm not reaching as far, even aside from it hurting.

Addendum: And now I'm wondering why alcohol seemed like a good idea. It's not that I overdid things, and I drank water and club soda and such so I'm not dehydrated. But I didn't need it for mood reasons--I'm not sure I noticed it on that level--and given the ongoing sleep shortage, chemical depressants seem like a dubious choice. (I suspect this means I won't be opening the cider I asked Cattitude to pick up for a few days yet.)

Addendum to the addendum: Last night, I did the rotator cuff exercises with the elastic, which I'd skipped the night before because when I tried the first one it hurt. Sneakily, I did the one that's usually first--pulling the elastic backwards toward my body--last, just in case. But it didn't hurt, except the usual "I've had enough" of the muscles, after slightly fewer reps than usual. But I'm still with the green elastic.

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