Bike Ride, Interrupted

This should really be called “Bike Ride, Interrupted, Overdue Haircut, Skechers Store, And the Worst Charley Horse Ever,” but I thought that would be too long for a title. The beginning: Day two of summer break turned out to be fairly eventful. Didn't start out that way though. I tried to get my bike ride in because it was cut off yesterday when I remembered I had left the coffee pot on, so I only rode about 10 minutes, until I panicked and came home to turn the coffee pot off. It probably would not have caused my apartment to catch on fire, but I'm just panicky like that. Then today I only went about 15 minutes when my friend who cuts my hair called and said someone had not shown up so I could come on in an hour early. I still didn't get the Thursday bike ride in, so hopefully I can get a long one in tomorrow. But I did get a haircut. The Middle: Getting this haircut today was historic for me because I had not had a professional haircut for three years. I have been cutting my own hair since I was about in the eighth grade, and I'd been trying to grow it back out into the shoulder length shag the way she had cut it three years ago, but I kept cutting it off until I finally had to realize I was just messing it up. I had always done that, but I had never gone so long without going to her. I won't go into detail, but it just really needed to be shaped. It will take forever to get it back like I want it, but it's my own fault. Now, if I can just keep my scissor happy hands out of my hair for six or eight weeks that will be great. The professionals say if you cut your own hair, you really should not go more than eight months without getting a professional haircut, and it's not just because they want your money. Even professional stylists usually get someone else to cut their hair. For me this entire ordeal has served as a reminder that sometimes you have to admit you really don't know what you're doing and sometimes you need help, just like other people. Specifically, this time, about getting a haircut, but the principle applies in other cases too, I think. We just like to pretend we don't ever need any help; we can do everything and save tons of money by doing things like cutting your own hair. That's fine, and it's good if you don't need it to have any precision ever, I guess. So, after the haircut, I had to finally go check out the new Skechers store in town. I found a pair of shoes I can wear for dress up. I have to throw away or donate most of the shoes I have in my closet that I used to wear for dress up because they kill my feet. I don't wear anything but Skechers every day of my life. I may keep one pair of black Naturalizers, even though the short little heels have gotten hollowed out somehow (one of them even had a rock in it I was able to pry out yesterday), but the others are just ridiculous. They're going to the thrift store. The End: Anyway, so, last, but not least, I got one of the worst charley horses I ever got. Not sure why: shifting positions on the bed in front of the TV in the living room with my shoes on, maybe, maybe walking in the strip mall after shopping at Skechers, I don't know, but wow. My left calf and ankle and foot. Usually they only last a few seconds, but this one hung on for quite a few minutes. So, while I hobbled around and tried to stretch it back to normal, etc., I decided to look up why they call these lovely cramps "charley horses." There are several versions to the story, and you can look it up if you're interested, but the one I like is one that involved a horse or horses. The term is said to have been baseball slang originally because it originated on a baseball field. The story I like is that before mechanization, they used a team of old draft horses they nicknamed Charley (or maybe there was just one they named it after) to pull the roller they use to flatten out the baseball field, and the legend involves one of those horses was apparently lame and was limping while pulling that roller, and if a player was injured or had a cramp, they compared themselves to one of those (Charley) horses. I'm not sure if that really happened. It sounds kind of fishy to me. The other story was about a baseball player named Charley "Old Hoss" Rodbourne, who had these muscle cramps frequently. Who knows the truth about this, but it is kind of fun to think about. As usual, this needs a bit more research to get to the real truth about it, but I just thought I'd share. I'd love to know more about how that worked. Did they have just one horse pull the roller or did they always use a "team" of horses, and how many horses made up a team? Two? four? That's why AI is only good up to a point, and the point it's up to right now as I'm done wracking my brain about why they call these nasty little muscle spasms "charley horses," but they do. That's all.