Sunday morning, just after 10AM. N just got in trouble because he wouldn’t stop bothering his brothers while they were preparing for a Halloween party at church (yes, we Unitarian Universalists have Halloween parties at church…we’re wacky that way). Oh well. He’s got the bratty little brother thing going on today.

I’m not attending the party. I thought I would but M gave me “skip” permission. I’d essentially get in the way during the party, I think, and the “upstairs” service wasn’t that interesting. However, the real problem is my ass. I’m serious. On Wednesday morning I went up for a layup during YMCA morning basketball and collided with another player. I fell HARD on my ass. With the adrenalin running, in the heat of the game, I laughed off the injury and kept playing. Within fifteen minutes I was struggling to get up and down the court. By the end of the day I had told all my friends at work about the injury, but I was doing ok, a little better, even. However, since then I have proceeded steadily downhill. Yesterday exquisite pain accompanied any rising from a sitting position. I don’t understand how I could be getting worse, but if this continues, I’m going to see a doctor. M seems to want me to wait out the pain, which I’m trying to do, but that plan doesn’t appear effective. We’ll see. In the meantime excuse me if I sound bitchy.

I still feel as if I’m adjusting to life after Italy. My sleep pattern returned to normal late last week, at least, but I’m not quite in the groove as far as work, etc. in concerned. Maybe the ass-pain is interfering. I don’t know.

This weekend has been decent. On Friday night T and I fell asleep early while reading. I woke near two, so I watched “Clerks 2” and Sportscenter until everyone else woke. Once everyone was up I returned to sleep, until about nine, and hung out with T while M took N and S trick-or-treating at the downtown businesses. T thinks he’s getting too old for that sort of thing. We watched “Empires Strikes Back” together while they were gone. I wish T had more kids his age on the block…he’s always the older, responsible one. Later in the afternoon S played at the girls’ house, N built a heroscape village, and M watched “Catch and Release.” I felt badly for T, so he and I hit the coffee shop and read our respective books (one of the Harry Potters for him, a St. Francis bio for me). Later I made chickpea/spinach pitas for dinner and read while M and the boys hit church for (another, separate) Halloween party. Oh, I also downloaded some old Chicago punk rock (Out of Order) and played some songs on Dan’s answering machine for him to identify. We may hit a film on Chicago punk rock history later in the month. Here’s the info:

www.regressivefilms.com

When they returned T and I read and fell asleep next to each other again. This morning he and I walked the neighborhood, pre-dawn. He’s a good kid.

I finished “The Reluctant Saint” last night. I find Franciscan scholarship fascinating. More later. I’m listening to the latest Shins CD and getting ready to clear my head and maybe work on some poetry. More later…hope my ass feels better.