All Hail the Brain

So the above photo pretty much gives a somewhat visual image of what my brain has been doing over the last four days.  Today it pretty much resembles the lower right image of a happy fuzzy brain that is recovering nicely and giving out some pretty good vibes.

If you look at the lower left quadrant you'll see what it was like yesterday as my family and I had a great day attending many varied and culturally diverse events.  Yesterday morning we attended the service for our cousin (okay, second cousin) Jack Levenberg's Bar Mitzvah and the cultural diversity began as we listened to some very beautiful renderings of songs in Hebrew and heard Jack read his Torah portion with elegance and aplomb.  It was truly one of the best services I can remember attending for this important occasion.

We then attended the celebration that occurs aftewards as a part of this coming of age rite.  It was a great party and we had a FABulous time hanging out with all of the the cousins and other relatives that we don't get to see as often as we'd like.  The conversation was flowing, the laughs were plentiful and I got to dance one dance (unfortunatly, most of the music was not for us) with my gorgeous wife - hey who could ask for anything more?  Unfortunately all of this fun was somewhat tempered by a headache that started soon after the service started and pretty much continued all the way through the evening.  Even if it wasn't an earache, it did have me feeling a bit like this;



Needless to say, my brain hurt but the day wasn't over - we had Poker Night still ahead!  Amy and I had been invited by our friends Carla and Rita (she of the Irish descent who was so instrumental in getting the right word for my tattoo) to attend a night of poker at the Unitarian Universalist Church in Huntington.  It was a $20 (to cover snacks and entrance fee) and then you buy your chips.  We started out with five bucks in chips each and although my head was pounding we had three great hours of poker and Amy and I together managed to make $11.05!!!!!!!

On Friday, I was recovering from Thursday's experience (more on that later) but I did find myself feeling like the brain image in the upper right quadrant from the photo above.  A little dullish and listless but functioning.  School was great and my classes were good (I do love teaching the kids) although as we get closer to the musical my stress levels go up. 

And speaking of "Brains" this time of year always gets me feeling a bit like this;

Or, if you prefer your Pinky and the Brain full and in animated living color;



Needless to say, my stress levels tend to rise every year during the musical due to the
incredibly huge amount of metaphorical balls I have to juggle every day to make sure that everything gets done.  Between scheduling, overseeing  the construction of the set, poster design, ticket sales, program design, consulting with the vocal and orchestra directors, directing, choreographing, working with Amy to make sure the costuming gets done, etc., etc., etc.  Oh yes, I also teach four classes a day.  It leaves me feeling a bit like this;



and that's just a normal feeling this time during the musical.  I've learned to expect it, if not totaly accept it.  Don't get me wrong, I love my job.  Normally, I destress by riding my bicycle more.  However, this year I haven't been able to ride as much due to the fact that I'm taking two classes a week towards finishing my masters in School District Leadership.  This necessitates my driving on Mondays and Thursdays and has been the reason I haven't been able to have rehearsals on Thursdays this year.  All things that have added to my stress levels rising. 

I did get to ride one day last week and it was gorgeous.  But it also reminded me of how out of shape I am from not riding regularly so far this year.  I started out the year great, riding in all types of weather and I've logged almost 400 miles in two months, I'm far behind what I would normally be this time of the year.  My only hope is that once the musical is done I'll start riding more.  I'll even start riding to my Monday night class once it stays light a bit longer.  But right now my lack of riding is stressing me out even more.

Part of why its stressing me out is that I also ride to support in spirit those who are fighting cancer.  Even thought I'm not sending out press releases and gett publicity for what I do, I ride for my friends who are fighting this #@$#@$ disease.  Friends like Dana who fighting it now and friends who have lost the fight.  I fight for family members like Sue who are fighting it and for family like my sisters and mother who have won the fight.  And I ride for the kids of Sunrise, most of whom are healthy but some who are in the fight of their young lives right now against this disease.  Because of camp policy I can't mention their names but those of you from Sunrise know who some of them are and just know that I'm still riding for them.

And that's why I can't let this idea of the Cross country ride die.  IT WILL HAPPEN so that those kids get the chance to have a summer like other kids.  So they can feel the sun on their faces and feel the water of the pool, to laugh and dance and sing and do all the other things that kids do.  That's why I ride.  And I miss it but I will get back in the saddle soon.  My hope is to ride at least twice this week.

But what really started all this mental effort was what happened to me last Thursday.  As you know from my writing I am finishing up two and a half years of a Master's in School District Leadership from The College of New Rochelle that was offered through the TRACT center of my school district.   As part of the school's graduation requirement I have to pass the New York State School District Leadership Certification exam.  It consists of two parts, each with 60 multiple choice questions, one 150-300 word essay and one 300-600 essay.  Although you can have the option to take each part on a different day, many people opt to take it all on one day.  That's two four hour exams back to back for a total of 120 multiple choice questions, two 150-300 word essays and two 300-600 word essays.  Annnnnnnnndddddd, like an idiot I chose to do both on the same day.

In the morning my brain felt like this, shiny new and clean and well rested;

(How Nice and Shiny it Is!!!!)

But by the end of my eight hour ordeal I certainly was feeling as if my brain looked like the one above in the upper left quadrant or maybe a bit like this;

(My brain was lit up like a Christmas Tree)

Now the link on Traumatic Brain Injuries from Michigan State University states that those who have undergone trauma to the brain often experience "cognitive language problems including word-finding difficulty, poor sentence formation, lack of understanding, and faulty descriptions or explanations."  I have to say after those eight hours I definitely felt incapable of speech or much movement at all.

But my loving family and uber wonderful wife had the fix - CHOCOLATE FONDUE!  We drowned our sorrows in chocolatey goodness - bananas, strawberries, dried cherries, apricots, and pineapple, macaroons, short bread, pretzels, wafer cookies, and soooooo much more!  It caused me to bounce back and start the healing process that got my brain back!

And so we head into the weeks of the musical with a revitalized brain and a renewed purpose to get back on my bicycle and ride!

I'll see you on the road for I have a lot of people to ride for - even if they don't know I'm riding for them.