Photography ... astronomy ... art ... design ... technology
(... and the odd rant)

All of these make my world go 'round, to some extent, and they will all be found here at some time or other. Some of the photography can be purchased from my Redbubble site. I can also be found at Tempus Fugit (no longer being updated).

Thursday, May 15, 2008

Breathing deeply now...

Went to the doc yesterday, to investigate the possibility that I might have asthma, as "sources close to my sister-in-law" have previously said that my cough sounds like her son's asthma cough. Certainly, the last couple of times there's been smoke around from bushfires, my chest has felt a bit tight. So, to be on the safe side, I thought an appointment wouldn't be a bad idea.

Having blown, puffed and wheezed into a couple of devices, been measured for height (2 distinctly different values there!), and briefly quizzed about my history, it seems I have the lungs of a 39-year-old. I want to thank that person, whoever they may be. I don't remember receiving the gift, but the evidence is incontrovertible: for sheer volume of puff, my lungs are 10 years younger than I am, and in seeing how hard I could blow out, my ability proved to be right at the top of the scale for my age. Interesting - and rather reassuring. Nonetheless, I did opt to try an inhaler for a while, to see if it makes any difference to the cough. There's nothing like testing a hypothesis properly.

In addition to having good bellows, my hairline is much less receded than anyone knowing my family history would have bet on (maybe that came from the same source as the lungs). Maybe I was built from a kit, cherry-picked from a set of possibilities, to create the best result. The only thing that spoils it is that I've always felt I was born old; the tea beside me now is in a mug adorned with "World's greatest boring old fart," a treasured memento from a previous job, where my level of wisdom and knowledge of trivia and bad old jokes that should have retired long ago, were held in some regard.

We used to joke at college about one bloke, whose musical tastes seemed to be 10 years in the past; I'm very much like that now - haven't much idea who's who these days, and who my kids are listening to. Recent music is anything written since the days of JS Bach. And yes, policemen (and women) are looking remarkably junior these days. Never mind, at least I've plenty of puff - even if the legs don't always want me to use it.