This curling thing

Well, I've gone and done it. I'm curling in a league again this year after having sat out last season. Oh, I did play a grand total of 7 games last year. But now I'm back in with both feet, at least for this season.

I wasn't going to play but I got an an offer I couldn't refuse. A good curling friend of mine, I'll call him Cloyce just to give him a name, asked if I would throw vice rocks for him this year. As we curl well together and as he's an ok guy, I was happy to oblige.

Our first game Tuesday wasn't my best, but at least I didn't fall on my keister. I wasn't sore Wednesday morning either. And old Cloyce made three very good shots for points. I'm sure our sweepers and my highly intelligent and accurate sweep calls helped.

I'm looking forward to more curling now. I am still worried about my vertigo or whatever it is I have which at times gives me balance problems. But as my balance has always been in question I think I'll be okay.

It is nice to be playing again. This curling thing, it gets in your blood.

Vertigo ain't fun

There are things we don't appreciate (if appreciate is the right word for some things) until we experience them. I always thought pneumonia was nothing but a particularly bad cold...until I contracted it. Believe me, it's much more than that. I likewise never thought of exactly how bad dizziness could be. Then I developed vertigo, and I have a definite respect (if that is the right word for such as thing) for it.

Having a room spin and blur for several seconds when you lay down or sit up is perhaps the worst non-physically painful sensations I've encountered. It's a feeling of total helplessness. Everything spins, everything blurs, and then you come out of it slowly and awkwardly. Your head and/or body even wobble. You lay there and just think, 'Oh my'. I've probably dealt with it before, but never sober. You do not forget it.

The doctor told me to get up and lie down slowly. But I can't seem to do either slowly enough. Oh, it's getting better, now that I'm taking an antibiotic (the cause of my vertigo is an inner ear infection). But still, it's kinda traumatic when the spinning happens. And it startles me occasionally when I, say, take a step back and feel as though I'm going to keep falling backwards whenever I feel it coming on. It isn't fun.

They famously say that don't appreciate someone until you walk a mile in their shoes. I didn't fully appreciate dizziness or a loss of balance before the last few days. I wouldn't wish it on anyone.