Pain. Lots and lots of pain. Why? Do you ask? Yesterday ... yesterday, Seth - that's me - went to the park, being the first day of Autumn, my favorite season of the year and ... it was a picnic with Melissa, Kelley and Brad and a few of Kelley's friends ... and Emily and Shelley were there, too ... and, yeah, I had a good time. I got to swing on the swingset, and yes, I was having a blessedly wonderful time, too! However. These dumb 12,13,14-year-old boys thought it would be cool to run under us as we were swinging - and, I don't know if you people know this or not - but that's extremely dangerous - not just for the runner, but for the swinger, too. More so, however, for the swinger, because they're being propelled and also have a longer drop should they lose their grip ... Which I did. Luckily, what was beneath me was that springy, bouncy asphalt-looking stuff ... I think it's a cranked-up version of astroturf, I don't know ... but it's bouncy and rubbery. And yeah - one of the kids ran underneath me, scared the shit out of me, so I twisted myself to the side to avoid kicking him - but as I started going backwards, I lost my grip, fell forward, was completely horizontal with the ground as I literally FLEW backwards a few feet and landed on my stomach ... Like a Superman reject. But I bounced! Of course, Melissa and Kelley rushed over to me to see if I was okay and to help me up. But all I could feel that was in pain was just my left leg a little stingy from the impact, and my left hand was itchy, because apparently that was the side I'd landed on first ... I guess. But, like I said, at the time, I didn't feel any serious pain. After that, I went to Forum - which is the thing on campus where sutdents can go and talk candidly and OPENLY about things on campus that really, seriously, bother them or if they want answers to questions about policies and whatnot - and yeah, a few questions were dodged, questions that I wanted answers to - but I'll talk about those another time. In too much pain to care right now. Anyway, the Sethster sat through and hour and a half of questions and ... repeated questions. Got up ... yeah, I was started to feel it ... pain, at the base of my spine. But it wasn't too terribly bad - I just thought I was sore from the fall. I went to the lounge across the hall to check e-mail and to talk to Lindsay for a little while. (Because I love her so.) And after sitting on the stool there, in the same position until about ... I forget what time it was when I finally got up ... 11:00? Before 11:00 ... but, anyway, afte sitting there for that long in the same position, I suddenly got up to go back to the apartment when ... ACK! The pain. It was bad ... seriously ... bad. I had to bend over at the waist and grab my ankles and ... yeah, Meredith offered to help me and walk me back to the apartment (she's in choir with me, and was also in the lounge checking e-mail). Of course I took her up on her offer. I barely made it up the stairs to the apartment. I laid down on the couch and did not MOVE until about 1:30 in the morning. When I got up for class this morning, I was surprised that I could move at all. Excruciating pain in my lower back ... right on my spine - like something had been moved out of alignment or something. And my arms ... oh, they could barely even hold my sweater when I put it on, much less my book bag. I checked my back in the full-length mirror in the livingroom (one of Shannon's additions to the apartment - it freaks me out sometimes, but it's useful in times like this). I saw that my spine - just my spine - was red. The rest of my back was fine, but my spine was red and ... ack. It feels like whiplash of the back. I haven't hurt this much since my wreck back on September 18, 2000 ... And I didn't even realize that my anniversary had come and gone until last night, when I was talking with Shannon about how badly it hurt to move. She wants me to go to the chairopractor to have it checked out, because I actually might have misaligned a disc or something ... but ... I don't have time to go to the doctor until Friday afternoon - and that's usually the time I catch up on sleep ... but I guess that I can deal with it just this once. I'm serious ... about this pain. I'm going to make myself a hematite belly chain tonight to wear because I don't think the ibuprofin is working well enough. Shannon's mother (who's all into herbs and whatnot) is making me a heating pack for my back ... you know, one of the things that looks like a small pillow, but it's stuffed with herbs and spices, and you put it in the microwave to warmth and ... yyyyeeeaaahhhh. I love Shannon's mom. She's cool. Anyway ... I best be going. I have a little more research to do on Diabetes Mellitus (all of the different forms of diabetes) for class discussion tomorrow - yes, it's my turn to lead the discussion. I wonder if it will turn into another riot like the Drug Abuse class did. *smirk* I doubt it. But at least I can dream, right? And I think after that, I'm going to soak in a nice milkbath - you laugh at it now, you say "how girly" - and I say, it feels fucking GOOD, and I can understand why girls do it. Plus, soaking is VERY good for sore muscles. And I am ... very sore. Goodnight, I'm off. Blessed be.