Going to a see a speaker is not a date. An event does not mean a date-worthy event.
Because it's evident I have to make it clear; no one gives a damn if you are single or not at a lecture.
Oh, fair enough. "Event" sounded like a gala or party, at least being someone's +1. Going to see a speaker
could be a date, but I agree with you that it isn't necessarily and think her response was gay.
It has been something of a burden. I am having back pain that is getting progressively worse. I should go to the doctor. I know. I am not old. (Well-south of 50, in fact.) When I wake up, I cannot fully straighten my back for about 15 minutes and am stuck in a C shape. It is very unpleasant. I would rate it 4/10 pain, unignorable, and I can't immediately go running or easily get down on the floor.
My first thought is I should change my diet and increase exercise. Did both, and have given it three months. Have tried ibuprofen until it started bothering my stomach, and acetaminophen before bed does seem to help, but does not eliminate that this happens in the morning. I use cold and hot packs for the extremely minor day pain when it is "bad" (3/10) and it is 100% effective 100% of the time. It is only the morning pain. I bought a new mattress... Twice. I changed pillows a multitude of times in a number of ways, but still it continues.
I am interested in any solution that does not involve visiting a doctor or involve really far-reaching woo.
How's your posture? How's your sleep in general? How limber are you the rest of the day? Do you wake in the same position everyday?
Feel better! I've had varieties of back and shoulder pain for decades. Some was posture/lifestyle/strength imbalance that improving those things helped/helps. Some is just physiognomy - I have strong back muscles but probably asymmetric and out of balance with certain other groups. And some has turned out to be less within my sphere of influence - adhesions and bone spurs in my shoulder, some cervical disk degeneration - though ROM exercises have helped with the adhesions and with cascading effects of the pain from all of it.
Have you tried a basic hang to loosen up in the am? As in bend from your waist and hang awhile, hands and arms doing nothing - takes awhile bc you have to hang long enough that you're not secretly holding yourself up with abs or back (if there's tightness or tenderness you'll do it without knowing). Done long enough (several minutes, maybe) you'll feel some bumpy shifts that feels like what I assume it is - vertebrae separating. Also gives the muscles a break. Can feel nice to creepy to painful but usually is some relief to the tense area. Can also hang off the edge of a bed if your bed is high enough, though standing is less precarious.
I also found Voltaren to provide some relief when my shoulder/s were cry-level, can't raise my arms above 30 degrees painful - better than icy hot or Tiger Balm.
Also - a TENS device that also has EMS settings. Can't say enough good things about it.
I've been writing haiku and leaving it under rocks in the various places of my youth and also writing very graphic and raunchy erotic fiction and leaving it in parks and cemeteries etc.
Love the haiku-leaving. Hate the erotic fiction-leaving bc if I found it and picked it up I'd immediately assume someone had masturbated all over it and just left it behind by accident, and that would be a gross feeling.