Balance 101

I need to blog. Maybe because it helps me sort things out. Recently I have been so busy … I could pick from numerous excuses. But who am I apologizing to?  Really no one. Well maybe there are people reading this. I sure don’t want to disconnect the communication. I may need it later. Speaking of disconnections.

Ok so going from fire tower to valley floor in a blinding snow storm could be considered dramatic. And I am pretty sure I can come up with some kind of weird story how we got out with a broken arm, then by crawling along with one good one. Naw … oh gosh, that would be lying. And that is miss communicating true data?  Speaking of which.

I think the story of how miraculous it is to pull off adventures without balance is how I am going with this story. So lets review balance. You need two main things. A sensor which in my case is called a “Inner Ear”. With fluid in it to tell us where we are oriented in space. A computer or brain that translates the signals into a sense of balance. We need balance right? Without it you could not walk in complete darkness.

And here is the drama part. What if early on a sensor gets damaged. From an adult slapping you upside the head as a child. Or a misguided earache treatment gone awry. Maybe it is related to one of the many concussions. Maybe it is a college roommate that attacks you with his fists and smashes in your face. Whatever … sometimes a damaged sensor can haunt you later on.

Then imagine the connection between the two disconnecting.  We all know that a bad sensor would give you vertigo right? But what if the sensor was good and you still get vertigo? So imagine getting down from a Fire Tower with a connection between the sensors and the brain going out. Like a transistor radio when you move the antenna to the wrong position.

The human system is so freaking great that it has backup systems. So to ride a bike out of a backcountry situation with the ear-brain connection flinching out seems horrific. Not so. How is it done?

The other sensors. Like a blind person who can hear a pin drop a hundred feet away. Other sensors. In this case the eyes. The eyes provide the brain with data that the brain turns into balance and coordination.  Well … as long as the brain has energy because let’s face it, this takes huge computing power. That is how I got out. On this alternative system.

As with everything this is not optimal and comes at a cost. Yea, vertigo at times when the inner ear finally checks in and data doesn’t match up with the visual data. Or when your running smoothly on proper inner ear data and then it starts to go in and out.  Huge cost. Maybe a barf or two 🙂

There are others like extreme exhaustion. With a overworked brain I tend to pass out on the couch in the afternoon. So exhausted all the time. And forget going into anyplace with un-natural lighting … within an hour I am so brain dead I can’t figure out why I went to that store in the first place.

In the coming months I will be traveling around getting tests done. To figure out the path to getting my sensors hooked back up. That way getting home safely from an adventure will not be so mirecalous.

For now blogging might be a way to practice sensory articulation.  Maybe getting this data to you, the reader, even if it is myself, will help me balance.