I agree with James Brown (although I didn’t know that I would)

This morning I awakened with the distinct impression that I was about to have an awful Charley horse in my left calf. There are things you can do to stop them, or to lessen their impact, so I set about keeping my leg as still as possible while I attempted to get out of bed so I could stand with my foot flat on the floor. It was mostly successful, though there in the middle I had a huge jolt of pain.

Despite that, though, I noticed something as I was waking up: I felt good.

Not only did I feel like I had gotten enough sleep, but my heart wasn’t racing, and I felt like I could breathe–almost normally.

This good feeling carried me through my morning routine and out the door for a 25-minute walk around the neighborhood, during which I never once had to gasp for air. By the end of it I was a little winded, but I recovered almost immediately.

What the hell?

Not that I’m complaining, mind you, but this is so different from how I’ve been feeling. I’ve been essentially unwilling to try to do anything due to how horrible my chest made me feel. Yesterday I was so annoyed about it that I broke down and had McDonald’s for lunch, complete with sweet tea.

I can think of two environmental things that have changed recently that might explain this. First, I haven’t spent a whole lot of time outside since last Wednesday, when I took a brief walk.

Second, we’ve been keeping the door to the second bedroom closed the past few days because of a really weird smell in there.

I thought at first that another lizard had gotten in and died, but I’ve scoured that room, moving the furniture even, and I can’t find a damn thing. Plus, oddly, the smell occasionally goes away.

We’re keeping the door shut so we don’t have to smell it, but I think it’ll also help contain the smell and make it stronger so when I finally call maintenance they’ll know what I’m talking about.

Anyway, it’s possible I’m allergic to whatever I’m smelling in there.

Or maybe it’s neither of those two. I hope it’s not the outdoors thing, because I don’t want to seal myself away inside all the time.

Regardless, I haven’t felt this good since the day I decided to start getting up earlier, right before I got gastroenteritis. Hope it continues!