The steepness of the curve

Late last week I went overtown to take a Dantes exam for Introduction to Law Enforcement. My trip over in the morning was perfect:

Water like glass - I couldn't ask for a smoother ride.

And on the way home we had just passed the Queen Mary:

When something interesting came into view:

Those are three different emergency vessels, lights flashing. 

Followed by this:

There wasn't a fire or anything else that we could see, so I'm guessing it was a drill and we just happened to pass by at the right moment.

Anyway, the strange list of phrases in my last post was part of my memory key for remembering significant U.S. Supreme Court cases and it must have worked because I passed the test with a comfortable margin. Another 3 credits down, 11 more to go. My goal is to knock out those remaining credits by completing four more Dantes or CLEP exams by the end of the year. It's not going to be easy but I think the trick is to select exams that cover the kind of material I can absorb quickly. I can't really explain why some subjects are easier for me to grasp than others - they just are.

But apparently there are some lessons that I take much longer to learn.  While I do know that I don't have the physical fitness level I used to have, that I have spent the past several years at a series of desk jobs, and that I am no longer in my 20's - still.  Every time I take on a new home repair project I make the same mistake.  I prepare and plan in advance and then on the day, dive in happily, crouching down or reaching forward or grasping tightly or...you get the idea. 

Then the next day I wake up, roll over, get out of bed and

HOLY MOTHER OF GOD!!!!!!

pain pain pain pain pain pain pain pain pain pain pain pain pain pain pain pain pain pain pain pain pain pain pain pain pain pain pain pain pain pain pain pain pain pain pain pain pain...

This time was no exception.  And I had plenty of time to consider my own folly, as I lay face down on the floor, wondering what had possessed me to spend all those hours scraping layers of paint from my shower walls and wishing I had trained the cat to fetch the ibuprofen bottle.

*wimper*