http://faerye.net/post/strange-moments-of-clarity-and-painComments on "Strange moments of clarity and pain" - Faerye Net2003-10-02T22:11:30+00:00http://faerye.net/post/strange-moments-of-clarity-and-pain#comment-601Re: Ow2003-10-02T22:11:30+00:002003-10-02T22:11:30+00:00<p>(hack, spit) We call ‘em four-wheelers down in Suthurn Indiana. It’s a verb, too—four-wheeling.</p>Rock Starhttp://faerye.net/post/strange-moments-of-clarity-and-pain#comment-598Re: Ow2003-10-02T08:55:45+00:002003-10-02T08:55:45+00:00<p>ATV isn’t a west-coast term, but rather a city-folk term, I think. In Alaska, my relatives refer to them as three- or four-wheelers.</p>Mithrandirhttp://faerye.net/post/strange-moments-of-clarity-and-pain#comment-597Re: Ow2003-10-01T16:43:49+00:002003-10-01T16:43:49+00:00<p>Wow. That sounds almost like a physics experiment in pain. “And now, when we turn on the gas, you will see…”<br />
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You’d mentioned the cane during my magic shoe interlude—and now the truth comes out. How awful for your 12-year-old self that such a manly ATV-related injury should be rewarded with a cane. MWA HA HA!</p>felicityhttp://faerye.net/post/strange-moments-of-clarity-and-pain#comment-596Ow2003-10-01T16:06:44+00:002003-10-01T16:06:44+00:00<p>When I was a wee lad of perhaps 11 or 12, living out in the sticks in Texas, I suffered an ankle injury. Dad and I were on a three-wheeler (or an ATV, as yew dang west-coasters seem to call ‘em) riding out to a site in the forest where we were building our new house. I was sitting in front, gripping the body of the three-wheeler with my feet on the pegs, and Dad was behind me, with his arms on either side of me and his hands gripping the handlebars so he could steer and operate the throttle.</p>
<p>We stopped for a moment to talk to my uncle, who we encountered going for a walk on the road, and I absentmindedly began poking at a small shrub with my right foot. I saw Dad go for the throttle again, and it crossed my mind that, with the front of my foot hooked under the shrub and the back of my foot resting on the peg, bad things might happen, but I thought to myself, “It’s just a shrub! My feet are strong and manly!” and I didn’t bother moving.
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Sadly, I had overestimated the manliness of my foot and underestimated the stubbornness of the shrub, and I had not properly accounted for the determination of the three-wheeler to accelerate, nor for Dad’s reaction to the lack of acceleration, which was to give it more gas.
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The result was that the shrub held tightly to the front of my foot while the peg held tightly to the back of my foot and my ankle did its damnedest to hold tightly to all of my foot, but alas, ankles aren’t meant to bend that way, and I screamed in pain as I imagined things ripping and tearing and breaking in my poor leg. Dad noticed my plight and reversed quickly, but not before the damage was done and the terrible throbbing pain had set in. As luck would have it, we were several miles from civilization, so I got to enjoy the pleasure of a bumpy three-wheeler ride back to the house while attempting to hold my ankle well out of shrub assault range and trying not to fall off.
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To add insult to injury, the doctor said I hadn’t even broken anything. Here I was imagining bones shattered and damaged beyond repair, muscles shredded and torn asunder. I had prepared myself for the inevitable announcement that my foot would have to be amputated, and had even begun fantasizing about how much fun it would be when I got my new metal cyberfoot. But no, apparently, despite the pain, my injuries were minor. He gave me some ibuprofen and a cane - not even crutches! - to walk around with, which, as I’m sure you can imagine, made me OH so popular at school for the next few weeks.
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So yeah. Ankle injuries suck, especially when they trick you into thinking they’re worse than they really are, and ESPECIALLY when you don’t even get the honor of walking around with a cast or crutches for your trouble.
</p>wonkohttp://faerye.net/post/strange-moments-of-clarity-and-pain#comment-595A note2003-10-01T14:32:55+00:002003-10-01T14:32:55+00:00<p>I cannot decide whether my body reacted to my subconscious fear of being <a href="http://www.faerye.net/content.php?id=59">gimpy</a> again with some sort of delayed panic response, or whether the pain was so intense I had to come off of it with more bits of me than just my logic center; or whether, in fact, I DID break my ankle, and the odd sensation was a brand new <a href="http://www.penny-arcade.com/view.php3?date=2000-02-23&res=l">mutant healing factor</a> kicking in.<br />
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If the latter, it was nice knowing you, and please lobby for my release from Weapon X.</p>felicity