A bruise on my back / left side:
Hard to see, but there’s a little blue line.
Saw Nosferatu on the big screen. Fortunate enough to have the whole entire theater to ourselves, just me and my wife.
We got up early on Sunday to make the long drive to the closest multiplex and hit the very first showing of the day. Hopeful nobody else would be seeing a vampire movie on Sunday morning church time.
It was SO worth the sleep deprivation, but I was pretty loopy, and had to pee a lot on top of that due to consuming steamy caffienated beverages beforehand.
My sleep-deprived loopiness was a perfect state of mind for the movie, matching the even-more sleep-deprived and loopy characters in the film. But having to pee a lot meant I did have to interrupt my movie-watching for one dash out to the restroom.
Fortunate to have the whole room to ourselves, I didn’t have to worry about stepping in front of any other moviegoers or looking frantic and dorky rushing to go take care of business and hurry back to my seat.
Unfortunately that led to some carelessness on my part; as I hurried to get back to my seat, I tried to keep my eyes on the screen as much as possible so as not to miss ANY of the beautiful visuals. This lack of attention to where I was stepping caused a problem when I had to go up the stairs along the wall.
While I craned my neck and head as close to backwards over my right shoulder as possible, I … took a spill.
I crumpled onto the deep stairstep covered by short bristled confetti-patterned carpeting as if in slow motion, landing multiple impacts along my left side, then bashing my head against the metal railing as the coup de grace.
I immediately started laughing (falling down is almost always super-funny to me), and wished I could just lie there for awhile to enjoy the moment and regain my bearings. But I didn’t want to worry my wife or cause any theater-personnel to become concerned (if projectionists still exist and happen to pay attention). More importantly, I did not want to miss any more of the movie!
My wife missed the hilarious action, instead only having noticed me come in and scurry past the screen, then looking over a moment later to see I’d disappeared before promptly spotting me on the floor.
She was worried and immediately got up and ran to make sure I was okay (I was fine-ish) and help me up.
*****
When we got home later that evening, I asked her to check me for bruises. She couldn’t see anything, and teased me about it (I enjoy being made fun of a little bit in this way), but the next evening she did see this line of bruising in the liver area of my mid-back.
She verified it was a bruise by prodding me at the dark spot, and I confirmed that indeed that spot is tender. I often *enjoy* a careful poking and prodding of my bruises and feeling that sore sensation. I also like the intimacy of being assessed carefully and worried over, having my infirmities confirmed (and/or lovingly made fun of / diagnosed in an exaggerated manner to make me feel more sick or injured than I actually am).
Oddly enough, it was almost like my fall and knock on the head shook out some cranial cobwebs or gave me a free chiropractic adjustment, because I felt clearer and even looser and more nimble and free in my body following the accident. In the following days I’ve felt a little soreness and stiffness, but nothing that’s really impeded my range of motion or distracted me with pain.
I do wish I had more impressive bruising to show off, though.
*****
Apologies for the title sounding WAY sexier than the actual contents of this post, but I did it that way as a reminder to return to the *idea(s* of vampire-bite bruising, swooning, etc.