Change Happens In An Instant.

Before.

Louis Shalako

They say change happens in an instant. I’m sure that’s true in many cases, but in my experience, really profound changes take a little more time.

A case in point happened just the other day. 

After years of wrestling with the possibility, I had finally gotten fed up, and that part might have happened in an instant. Picking up the phone and making a dental appointment, that was a tipping point for sure.

It was one, single, simple and discrete action.

The actual process of change, both physical and mental, takes a little longer. The first appointment is an assessment. Then you go back a couple of weeks later and get the first work done.

And at some point they hold a mirror up in front of your face. You get to see the teeth that you might have had all along, if only you hadn’t gotten a couple of them chipped in youthful misadventures…the teeth that you might have had if only you had found the damned guts ten or fifteen or twenty years ago. The teeth that you might have had if only you didn’t hate them for so long, so you neglected and even abused them.

It’s a kind of revelation, I guess.

That part happens in an instant.

One picture's good for about a thousand words.

All the possibilities that you missed, will now run through your mind. That part might take a little longer, because there sure were plenty of them. There must have been a lot of missed opportunities there. And obviously I was too dumb to see it.

Every so often I go in the bathroom and have a look at them damned fine choppers in the mirror. The average person might take their teeth for granted.

It’s like a dream come true for me. What it is, in fact, is one more goal accomplished.

Getting those teeth fixed (most likely getting a whole bunch pulled so that I could get dentures) was one of my New Year’s resolutions, as far as I can recall. At that time it was an easy resolution to make. The funny thing is that it happened. What’s really strange is that some other person, some other people, also helped out there to make that happen.

I could speculate endlessly, but that part will always be a bit of a mystery to me.

All the guy would say was that he was paying it forward.

***

A happy camper.

This one minor change of physical appearance might take a bit of getting used to. In a sense I am a whole new guy.

It also opens up a lot of new possibilities.

That seemed to happen pretty quickly, but of course I’d been thinking about it for years.

Every so often I could probably use a good kick in the ass.

We've got a ways to go in our own personal makeover, which affects our own personal algorithm.

END

Our Billion Dollar Giveaway is still on.

 

An Imaginary Interview with Louis Shalako, founder of Long Cool One Books.

Photo of Louis cooking a snake by KellyB, (Wiki.)

An Imaginary Interviewer

The following is an imaginary or virtual interview with Louis Shalako, alleged founder of Shalako Publishing, Long Cool One Books and Larga Fresca Uno Libros.*

Imaginary Interviewer: Louis, we can’t help but notice that you’re madly giving away a billion dollars’ worth of books, mostly ebooks.

Louis: Yes.

I.I.: So why you doin’ that?

Louis: It shows confidence in the work.

I.I.: So you’re buying readers.

Louis: We prefer to think of it as investing in ourselves.

I.I.: You’re investing a billion imaginary or virtual dollars into this company, or trio of imaginary companies.

Louis: That’s about the size of it.

I.I.: Holy crap, I’m already floundering. But it seems that you really understand this marketplace; better than most I’m thinking. You’ve found the combination that really cracks that algorithm…or something like that. I don’t pretend to understand it myself.

Louis: I think you’re doing very well. Nice semi-colon in there, incidentally. Not everyone has that superior intellect. But honestly, I’m no Steve Jobs. He’s dead, incidentally.

I.I.: Thank you. So you were in 7-11 this morning.

Louis: Ah. You’ve been spying on me. Yes, I told the lady, the trouble with 7-11 is all the weird old men who come in here.

I.I.: And what did she say?

Louis: We got a laugh out of her. But the guy standing next to me turned and asked, “Who you calling old, Mister?” Those moments are too few and far between in this existence.

< emptiness >

I.I.: Did you just use the Jedi Mind Trick on me?

Louis: Ah, yes. Sorry. It was only for a couple of minutes. I had to go to the bathroom.

I.I.: Louis, this is a $29-billion-dollar industry.

Louis: So.

I.I.: Some of our more conservative and therefore intelligent business sources think this might be a sneaky attempt to grab something like a good three or four percent of the available market share in this, ah, industry. Some of them guys can do the actual math and everything. Some of our sources are sure glad they don’t have your nerve in their tooth sort of thing…

Louis: I don’t think I like the tone of that question.

I.I.: I’m sorry. It will never happen again…shit!

Louis: Ha!

I.I.: That was the Mind Trick again, wasn’t it…???

Louis: Yup.

I.I.: Are you going to kill me…???

Louis: Not today. Maybe.

I.I.; One more question?

Louis: technically, two more, counting the last one.

I.I.: Do you sit around in your underwear a lot?

Louis: Ah, yes, — ed., but that’s not me, first of all, and second, we love the readers that much.

I.I.: Industry insiders are scoffing at you, Louis. There’s also a bit of white around the eyes as well. But, honestly, they don’t think you can do it.

Louis: Good.

I.I.: Seriously. By the way, what’s that smell?

Louis: Pepper snake.

I.I.: Did you just say ‘pepper snake…’ … ???

< TRANSCRIPT ENDS ABRUPTLY >

*but actually Louis was created in a test tube by me, the Evil Dr. Emile Schmitt-Rottluff.**

**which makes me the founder—obviously. – ed.***

***and it really does show confidence in the work.****

****I’ll say one thing, Louis sure knows how to cook snake. Mmn. –ed.

Cycling With An Upper Back Injury

Carlemere, (Wiki.)

Louis Shalako

I’ve been having some problems in between my shoulder blades. There’s a nagging spot in the neck, and some pain in the right shoulder. Tonight it’s the left shoulder…

In some instances, it’s so bad that it leads to chest-encircling pain that is intense, enough so that years ago, I got checked out for heart problems.

As I write this, there is some pain in the left shoulder, right up against the vertebral column. If I could see back there, there’s probably some swelling right about there. I have been riding a bit lately, going out for an hour or more after supper, for several days in a row. Call it about ten or twelve k, as I’m really not going that fast.

I’m just some old guy grinding along.

The sports doctors talk about triggers.

***

It seems that psychological stress is one of the triggers. That’s because under stress, the shoulders and upper back muscles tend to tense up, and I already have a pre-existing injury. 

That kind of stress is also present in my environment.

With three compression fractures, the one at T-6 is the one involved here. (The others are L-3 and L-4.)

T-6 is in the thoracic vertebra, and there is a 2.5 cm hemangioma growing on the left side of the posterior-lateral process. I don’t know if that one is related to the original injury or not, but it’s definitely there.

Stress leads to inflammation, inflammation leads to pressure on the nerve, pressure on the nerve leads to pain.

There are tell-tales and warning signs, which are better not to ignore. I don’t think riding is the actual problem, although it can certainly irritate it. Riding the bike tends also to strengthen the muscles of the neck, upper back, shoulders, arms, etc. Early in the season, our wrists, elbows, shoulders, neck can tire quickly. In winter I do some walking, but virtually nothing in terms of upper body exercises.

In summer, I walk, cycle and swim, but early in the season it’s obviously not quite so much fun. The body just plain deteriorates over a long winter, sitting in a chair, clicking away with the right hand exclusively on the mouse. There is the question of how much pain we are willing to put ourselves through, early in the season, for some perceived gain later in the season, also our general fitness for next winter will benefit…right?

One of the things I do is just to slow down. Sit up, and ride with no hands, which unloads the neck and that crimp in the back the sports doctors talk about. I’m not out to beat the Russians. 

I stop and have a smoke, stand around and drink from my water bottle once in a while.

OpenStax College, (Wiki.)

So far this year, I have not been in the water, and we are sort of looking forward to that—the first few times will redefine the notion of pain, as the water tends to be chill at the best of times and the season is short enough around here.

The thing there is to take it easy. An injury that isn’t allowed to heal is just going to spoil the whole season, not just for biking but swimming as well. I injured my right knee back in 2012, about mid-July, and that one took a whole year before I could really use it with total confidence. If you’re getting little twinges out of it, just going up a couple of flights of steps on a cold winter day, that’s a tell-tale.

The author is 56 years old, 197 cm, about 85 or 90 kilos, not particularly athletic, and has prior injuries. My bike has a 2.5” oversized frame, and worth every penny it was, too.

Your own circumstances and state of health might be different. Be careful out there and enjoy it as best you can.

END