On the Monday Morning View

Ever have a day where you feel like something… momentous is going to happen?

Today is one of those days.

The world had a different… quality today.

Maybe it’s the seagulls flying overhead. Maybe it’s the feeling of springtime and sunshine. Maybe the air feels different.

Maybe it’s that I decided to wear a necktie to work today. A Norman Rockwell tie, reproducing a painting he did of a reporter in the Red Sox locker room in the ’50s.

Maybe it’s that I picked up a Richmond baseball cap today as my traveling gear.

Maybe it’s none of those.

Maybe nothing momentous will happen today at all. Maybe it’s just my brain awakening from a long winter’s slumber.

Yet, I’m going to look to today with hope and anticipation. Even if this momentousness never materializes, just the feeling that it’s there is giving me something to look forward to.

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“We all love Columbo.”
    — “One Thing That Was Bothering Me,” Elbow

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I was musing on Watchmen this morning.

I realized that I would loved to have seen what Philip K. Dick could have done with that story.

Philip K. Dick’s Watchmen.

I can almost imagine reading it.

The pieces are there. The paranoia. Nixon.

All it needs is a little gnostic philosophy, some mindfuckery, the everyman hero, throw in some VALIS stuff, and then it’s there.

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I want a Nite Owl movie.

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After a generally pain-free weekend, today… has not been pain-free.

The story is this.

Last week, Wednesday morning, I rolled out of bed. Put my feet down on the floor. And I could barely put any weight on my left foot. Oh, I could put the weight, but doing so made my ankle hurt like you wouldn’t believe.

My ankle! Something had happened to my ankle!

And I’m a lazy bugger, and I don’t like to tie and untie my shoes. I should be able to pop my shoes on without having to bother with such trivialities. But I couldn’t just slide my foot inside my shoe.

Partly because my ankle was swollen.

How could this be? Ankles don’t just swell and turn painful — even to the touch — overnight.

So Wednesday, I limped, trying to keep weight off my left foot. I pondered where this pain had magically come from. I had no idea.

So Thursday, I limped, trying to keep weight off my left foot. And I pondered some more where this pain had magically come from. I still had no idea.

So Friday, I limped, trying to keep weight off my left foot. And then, it struck me. I knew.

I’d fallen down the stairs at home on Tuesday.

I had fallen!

Down the stairs!

How does someone forget something like this?

I know I’m detached from the world sometimes — okay, a lot of the time — but still. Falling down the stairs is significant.

Saturday, it felt good all day.

Sunday, it felt good all day.

I thought I’d turned the page.

Then this morning?

Oh, the pain! The pain!

Here’s what I realized.

I spent the entire weekend barefoot. I don’t wear shoes if I can help it.

But I’d gone out to see Watchmen Sunday night. And I can’t really kick off my shoes at a movie theater, you know?

I think my shoes are the problem. Irritated the ankle last night, they did.

So, today at work, I’m going shoe-less.

It’s better for me anyway. My toes can wiggle free!

Seriously. I have to wiggle my toes. If I can’t, I get really cranky.

Since I kicked off the shoes, my ankle feels loads better.

Let’s hope it stays that way.