august

"Summer flies and August dies
the world grows dark and mean
Comes the shimmer of the moon
on black infested trees
the singing man is at his song
the holy on their knees
the reckless are out wrecking
the timid plead their pleas
No one knows much more of this
than anyone can see anyone can see"--"Days Between", Jerry Garcia/Robert Hunter

1995 was the year August really started to suck. August 9th to be precise. Jerry Garcia died that morning. In the years since some crappy shit has happened in August, mostly messy, painful break-ups. Last year on August 7th, Littlebird, life partner of Krisi Martel killed herself. I was in rehearsals with Kristi at the time--she was the musician for a piece I was dancing in and she was also my duet partner in the opening scene. The piece, "Clutch", ended up being largely about relationships and loss. That Krisi was able to do the piece, and sing the songs she did, still amazes me. Thirteen days ago, on August 4th, my grandmother died from cancer. Today, I found out that someone I knew of for many years, though didn't know personally, ended his life a few days ago. A couple of weeks ago, on July 30th, a baby of an online friend of mine died--this August brings her and her family unbearable grief.

Shit happens all the time. However, there does seems to be a certain caliber of awful shit saved just for August.

All hail the gods of Vioxx!

I haven't taken Vioxx in a year. It isn't covered by my current insurance due to being a "non-formulary" drug, though it was covered by my previous insurance. I didn't bother paying for it as I wasn't dancing (foot injury) and could deal with my painful, arthritic, stiff knees. The pain and stiffness has gotten worse over the past year, and now that I am looking at starting dance again (foot mostly healed) the knee pain has become more bothersome. So, I bit the bullet and forked over the cash for a new bottle of full-priced Vioxx today. Already, my knees feel so much better. I feel like a junkie. I will be hard pressed to go without this drug for any length of time again.