Page 24, First Try, and My Fall From Grace

Every time I start on a new page, I’m underwhelmed with my drawing. This image is incredibly static — four dynamic characters just standing around with their arms hanging by their sides. My initial version, the exciting one in my head, had them all running in an amazing way. Somehow, when I started to draw this picture, they all ended doing nothing. It will be interesting to compare this first image with the one I end up with in a few days.

In other news, I fell today. We were playing catch on a steep slope. I had my back to downhill. When I jumped for a high throw, I lost my footing and fell backwards down slope. I landed heavily on my left side. As I slammed into the ground, I could feel muscles giving way in my rib cage. I lay on the ground, moaning with pain. My first thought was that I had broken my left arm. When I tried to get up, I felt a shooting pain, level 10, where the left side ribs attach to my sternum. I fell back to the ground. Gradually I moved my limbs, my head, my hands, and everything worked. But, when I tried to get up, I felt intense pain through my left ribs. The moral of the story is: don’t play catch on a steep slope.

Eventually I got up and did some stretching to see what damage had been done. So far, it’s only the rib cage. When I breath I feel the small muscles between the rib complaining. I’ll be sleeping on my right side tonight. I expect to be massively stiff tomorrow morning.