Medicative Moments

It's been cool and a bit rainy. I've been feeling similarly under the weather.

Over the past year or so, the realization has been slowly coming to me that I should learn how to self-medicate better. It's probably something I should have learnt to do a decade or so ago, like most people I know, but I never got the hang of ingesting substances for various desired physiological effects.

I never drank coffee or other caffeine to stay alert; I opted instead to stay awake naturally or just pass out when exhausted. Since childhood, I hated Aspirin and Tylenol as I found both nauseating, and the one time I took Pepto-Bismol for nausea, the pink liquid just made me throw up. Pretty much any drug bought in a pharmacy without a prescription is something I'd avoid, and I'd only take a prescription drug if there's a persuasive need for it. I grudgingly take drugs to cure the problem, and never to treat the symptoms. I don't take antibiotics for colds or try to misuse drugs in any other way, ignorant or creative.

At heart, I'm just a simple old-fashioned gal; I figure my body and my immune system, along with a reasonably high threshold for pain, will take care of most things. What I've been coming to realize lately, though, is that a good prudential reason for treating symptoms is freeing up energy to deal with something other than a debilitating problem. Better late than never, I suppose.

So, for what I suspect to be the mild cold that I have, I am actually drinking an olive scallion tea, which I think is a pretty weak form of Chinese herbal medicine. (Is there any other kind?) For the last month or two, I have also been considering a motion to take Advil for various aches and pains as needed. (These decisions take time for research and deliberation.) As well, for those who've been wondering since my Cast Iron post from last year: I have indeed heeded my most persuasive doctor and I have been taking Iron supplements as instructed. Intermittently. So, if you think I seem at all different from my norm, it's likely because I could be hopped up on any number of drugs.

Perhaps my subweather condition these days is a result of my Yoga-ing less than I was before. My attention has spanned much shorter lately, so I just haven't been in the mood for anything meditative. But I wonder, would more meditative moments allow me fewer medicative moments?

Blind Faith

I've noticed an unfortunate side effect from "flying" Bird C around. He really seems to believe he can fly. Since we started, he's been a lot more active, confident and stimulated. Virile. After all, it makes sense that a big part of avian identity would involve the experience of flight. I think his cardiovascular endurance is improving as well... so why am I calling this unfortunate?

The other day, he wanted to get back to home base, the cage. He was perched on my hand, started spreading his wings excitedly, and before I could cup him and let him "fly" as we do, he launched himself off my hand and promptly fell to the floor. I picked him up and while checking to see if he was hurt, he "flew" off my hand again. Thump. Since I'm pretty much just a stupid human with no trainer, our Pick up & Thump process repeated itself a few times before I caught on and brought him to the cage before he could jump off my hand again.

He doesn't realize AT ALL that he has yet to conquer gravity.

He doesn't seem to mind when he falls to the ground either. He just gets back up -- or thrashes around on his back, struggling to turn over -- and as soon as he's back on his feet, he looks totally unfazed and as happy-go-lucky as ever, perma-smile intact. As long as he's happy, I figure we can continue what we're doing, but I'll just need to be more careful about preventing successive launches. For those who are having a hard time picturing what's going on, please accept my apologies for the lack of visuals. My extendable arm is nowhere to be found, so I'll need a videographer before I can manage posting videos. Any volunteers?

C has such a strong spirit, it's inspiring. Nothing ever gets him down. One of these days, I half-expect to see him open his wings, launch himself into the air and fly smoothly to his destination.

What a survivor.

Cadavre Exquis

Busy lately. Trying to do some reading, but have been getting distracted by the great weather and birds. Of course, what I've been trying to read hasn't been all that engaging.

Been flying C a lot, and he's getting better. Now when I fly him, i.e., hold him while he flaps, I let him fly to where he wants to go, so that he can land at his desired destination, and get as much of the full 100% genuine flight experience that a flighted bird would have. He still gets tired quite easily after "flying" around the yard a couple times, and will be overheated for a while after, but I'm hoping he'll grow stronger and fitter the more we do it.

I've been doing more yoga lately, and finally did the full hour today, after doing more and more in the past couple days to work up my patience. I love the last pose, Shavasana, the corpse pose. This is not just because I'm lazy or anything, but after an hour of intense stretching and deep muscle workouts, just lying there in corpse is so relaxing. Today, I think I must have laid there for about half an hour or more. I was hungry during yoga, but then the hunger just dissipated while in corpse. I felt like I was almost napping, except I wasn't asleep, since I was still thinking lucidly. Either that or I was actually asleep, but having a lucid dream about being in Shavasana.