i'm getting old, or pat byck makes me sick

Lately, it seems that everytime I will be attending some event with Pat, my well-being suffers. Last autumn, when we attended the Pixies show in Mississauga, I came down with pneumonia a few days before the concert. This Friday, Dena and I will be joining Pat and Jen at Roy Thomson Hall in Toronto to see the host of The Daily Show – and a pretty freakin’ funny man to boot – Jon Stewart. This time around, I have an aggrivated tendon connecting the right rhomboideus muscle group to my spine. Wonderful.

Within the past month or so, I’ve picked up a bad habit where half the time, I hit most of my irons (I’d say 3 through 7) fat. “Hitting fat” in non-golf terms, refers to the club coming in contact with the ground behind the behind the ball. This causes a big loss in the amount of distance that the ball will travel and it’s jarring as well. To correct this, I (along with Dena) went to Wedges ‘N Woods two Tuesday’s ago to work on revamping my swing. I modified it so that my feet are barely shoulder-width apart, put more weight towards my heels. After some practice with the new swing, I began to hit my irons further and consistant. In the next couple of days, I felt a bit stiff – much like I was using muscles that I haven’t all that often. It went away by Thursday. That Saturday morning, Dena and I played Beaverdale and I shot a 90, which wasn’t all that bad for the first time with a new swing (damn, my putting). I felt fine for the rest of the day and most of Sunday. But then on Monday…owie. A wicked pain in my right shoulder blade that fired whenever I lifted my arms, bent over and turned my head. At this point, I thought that new swing really gave my muscles a workout. But by the end of last week, the pain was still there and now it was accompanied by intermittent tingling in my right hand. Friday evening, I did a lot of heavy lifting while I was helping Dena’s office move all their furniture from one floor to another in their Kitchener office. We didn’t golf Saturday but instead went to Heritage Times in Chatham to watch Dena’s boss, who was one of the re-enactors in the War of 1812. I thought the break from golfing would help, but it didn’t. So now I’m trying to figure out if I have meningitis or just really dummied my back. After reluctance on my part, Dena made me a doctor’s appointment which is where I was infomred of the tug o’ war match being played with my rhomboideus muscles.

It’s a sobering reminder that everybody ages. At 28, I don’t feel old and I think I look younger than I am. But my back seems to be on to my lil’ ruse.