We saw this scary little stand of dead trees on the way home yesterday. We actually saw them on the way down on Friday, too, of course, but we resolved to stop and take a few pictures. We could make True Detective jokes about this place:
I don’t know if you’ve been watching True Detective, but the thing I’ve taken from the show is that the location scouts did some amazing work. The place in this picture, outside of Waycross, Ga., could be an alternate shot for the show.
Also I meant for this to be some sort of allusion to how I’ve been feeling: like a burned out stand of trees in a clear cut area with standing water everywhere. That’s how I’ve been feeling.
I started coming down with something on Friday — right about the time we were passing through this place in Georgia, come to think of it — and it has only gotten steadily more interesting. We even made the almost-midnight trip to an out-of-town drug store. How cliched can I be?
This morning marked day three of filling my system with whatever medicine we bought. I did pretty well in getting in front of the sinuses or allergies, so it hasn’t been too bad so far. But! We had to drive through this nightmarish setting again, and if the allergens were there, well, I have a double dose and tomorrow will just be fun, won’t it?
So we went swimming today. I agreed to this because, I figured, I can’t breathe on the surface and I don’t try to breathe underwater, what could be the harm? I didn’t know we were going swimming when I had my breakfast of an apple and peanut butter. Also, I haven’t slept well since Thursday. (I’m pretty sure I didn’t sleep at all on Friday night.) And so on …
We got to the pool and it was configured for the long course style, which I have never swam before. So instead of doing 50 yard laps I would get to do 100 meter laps. That wall at 25, I learned today, makes a big difference.
But I swam it anyway. I swam 1,800 meters, which is 1,968 yards, which is 1.118 miles.
I do not know what is happening.
Did I mention I might be the first person in the recorded history of lap swimming to sprain his wrist from hitting the water? How exciting is that? I’m not sure how I managed to do that, only that after some time my wrist started hurting — let’s blame lousy form — and that I wisely continued swimming.
So now I’m sick, have a little sunburn on my neck, haven’t slept well or breathed right in days, have a slight fever and a mildly sprained wrist.
I know one thing that is happening: I am falling apart. I blame Waycross. Give me some time and I’ll figure out how.
If I don’t hurt myself more, first.
