Good times

Yup, that’s the title I’ve decided to give it.  For the better part of the rest of the week, I ended up working from home, keeping the ankle elevated and chilled.  Gotta baby this thing as much as I can.  As of Friday morning, the foot started to really exhibit some significant bruising and swelling.  I think driving to work and walking around on it the previous day didn’t help.

On Friday we hit the clinic and the doc basically freaked at me.  Getting me to go get an x-ray, suggesting crutches, splints, braces, etc.  She thinks i’m out for 6 weeks - I’ll be good before then I tell you that!  I have no plans of sitting on my ass for six weeks.  In fact, I was out briefly last night at a buddy’s b-day party  =)  Tonight?  Maybe I’ll hit Cactus Club with a few others.

Anyway, after the clinic I made my way to Vic General to get the x-ray done.  Every time I drive by that hospital I’m never in good spirits and how could you?  I don’t know who designed the thing but it looks like a dreary cement commercial building from an industrial zone.  I mean, really, it’s bad enough being there, could they have made it a little more attractive?  The rain from the grey clouds above never helps the mood either.  Luckily, the interior was a little better - though I didn’t see much of it.  As you walk into the hospital you find yourself in an open foyer, Emerg and info to the right; main corridor, coffee shop and gift shop straight ahead.  The lights, healthy buzz of people and splashes of bright color (blue, red, yellow, orange, etc.) accented the room creating a sense of life within.  Limping my way down the main corridor, I was attracted to a brilliant array of flowers undoubtedly made more vibrant by the natural light that was let into the area by a row of ceiling high windows.  The x-ray?  Well, that’s nothing really to write home about.  Luckily I only had to wait 10 minutes or so.  Snap! Snap! Snap! And we’re done.

Injuries, that’s what I’m about and I’m starting to think that’s all in my destiny.

Let’s go back a couple years … October of 2003 in fact.  At my last company, I was sent to Vancouver to do some work but instead of givine me a laptop, they make me take a desktop.  Yes, keyboard, powerbar, monitor, tower, etc.  Don’t get me started.  Anyway, the morning I get back to head to work, I’m carrying the monitor down the steps outside my house being as careful as humanly possible.  It wasn’t my day.  I missed the last step.  My right hit ground first, rolling it outwards spraining it with a nice *crack* for good measure.  Then?  The weight of the 17" monitor I was carrying accelerated me to the ground - me and my firm grasp.  Not so bad huh?  A high pitched wail filled with angonizing pain escaped.  My left knee hit cement dead on (body + monitor weight).  Picture this, an asian guy resting his entire body weight on top of a stupid monitor with the right ankle twisted outwards and the other knee glued to cement.  It was pretty and the only way out was a summersault over the screen.

Walking around hurt like you wouldn’t believe.  Walking upstairs, the left knee would hurt; walking down, the right ankle would hurt.  Worst of all?  I was dealing with all the pain the fact that I could have filed for worker’s comp didn’t even come to mind … and no one suggested it either.

So, ever since, I’ve been dealing with a badly bruised intrapatellar tendon (the tendon that attaches just above the knee cap to the muscles on your lower leg).  Badminton and v-ball got cut for the most part; couldn’t do anything that involved high stress.  Off and on for a year, I gave physio a go to no avail.  Finally, I gave acupuncture a go and that appeared to yield results.

Anyway, it’s now April 2005, a good year and a half from my initial injury.  For the first time, I actually felt good.  The rotator cuff injury I had in my left shoulder got taken out by my physiotherapist the week before, the tendon over my knee finally stopped hurting for a little while, and I was feeling ready to go.  And I was.  That night at badminton I played the hardest I can remember.  I was running the court like a Tazmanian Devil.  Opponents pushed me, and I pushed back harder.  Smashes were going down (and hard), drops were relatively tight and movement was awesome.  I was even consistent with the smashes with my opposite arm.  I was gleeming; happy that I was back.

Enjoy it while it lasts they say.  I can’t catch a break!  After badminton I got called out to vball.  30 minutes in, my buddy goes up for a hit and me to block.  He comes down with his leg on my side of the court.  My left comes down on it and I end up rolling my ankle.  Now I’ve got a small grapefruit for an ankle and I’m walking around slower than my 90 year old grandfather.  My physio says I’m out for three weeks.  Piss me off - it had better get well soon.

The Ford World Curling Championships hit Victoria this year.  For the span of about a week, the world’s greats converged on Victoria to the new Save-On-Foods Memorial Center (I still don’t know what the hell the sculpture is outside the arena).

Anyway, I’ve always been pretty interested when I’ve watched the game on tv on occasion.  The stragegy is good and some of the shots were quite amazing.  To this date, I still haven’t actually tried it myself.  So, what better opportunity to catch some curling?  Too late … all the tickets were sold out.

Luckily for me, a buddy of mine had an extra ticket … well, not really.  His buddy sprained his ankle and couldn’t walk so I was the beneficiary.  The seats were awesome … section 108, row c, seat 1.  Translation?  Front row seating with no visual obstructions other than the stupid hand railing and safety glass.  The shots were great and so was some of the strategy.

There were some Scottish ladies at the other end of the arena that were an absolute riot!  They had their chants and dances down pat.  I wish I had a picture of them.  I think it would have been cool to party with them as well.

Yes, the first entry into a category called "Education".  Done one degree and released in to the free world, I’ve been working for a good 2+ years.  An MBA has always been the plan, or some sort of higher level Master’s degree.  I’ve been scared as of late - scared of getting into study mode which is so very different from working life.  I knew the day would come, I knew that I would dred it so I kept on putting it off.

But today, it’s weird.  I actually got motivated.  I picked myself off my ass, gave a friend a call and went to pick up her LSAT books that she’s been trying to get rid of.  I have a healthy stack of books sitting right infront of me right now and in fact, i was walking around the house with one of the thicker ones earlier.  I tell ya, it’s a decidingly erie feeling … one that’s going to take some time to get accustomed to.  We’ll see how motivated I stay …

Walked into a pole Saturday … yes, a pole and I’m not too happy about it.  After chillin’ outside Darcy’s for a good 45 minutes we decided to jump ship.  The line wasn’t that long but they weren’t looking like they were going to let anyone in either.  It was a busy night and definitely not one where would could have found seating room for 12 people (that weren’t even there yet).  Anyway, we decided to bolt.  Making our way through the historic Bastion Square, we walked down View St. enroute to the Cactus Club.  We were all moving at a fairly good pace and I was talking to a guy I just met that night.

Unknowingly, we made it past the parking garage at the Bay Center where it just so happens there were a series of waist high poles hanging out.  Deep in conversation and looking out towards the street, I walked into the damned thing full tilt.  It stopped me on a dime, square on my quad.  The collection of coins in my pocket were driven hard into muscle and it literally paralized me for a couple seconds.  Limping down the street, my buddies got a nice laugh.  Yup, my first Charlie Horse and I gave it to myself.  It’s still quite sore - two days later.

Remember that quaint little food fair I was talking about a couple weeks ago (see Food: Good food)?  Well, I finally made it back down there again.  Quite honestly, it’s a pretty nice place … nice and cozy; check it out sometime.  Anyway, there was a little Ethiopian joint down there nestled in the corner (Messob Ethiopian Cuisine, Monday Magazine Review).  It certainly didn’t get as much traffic as the other coffee, Japanese and Thai restaurants down there.  Nonetheless, an adventure on it’s own - I had never had any Ethiopian food before.

And neither had my food loving protege Andra.  We ended up trying Key Yedoro Wot (Spicy Chicken).  As the description says, "Tender chicken infused with lemon sauteed in seasoned butter and stewed in a red pepper sauce.  Watch out!  The flavors of onion, garlic, and ginger may bit your tongue!"  The meals were served with Injera, "a flat tangy spongy bread that is both the serving platter and the utensil when eating Ethiopian-style."

Anyway, the experience was interesting.  The food?  Definitely not very hot … quite mild actually.  The Injera had an interesting flavor to it … almost a lime type tang to it; and it was definitely spongy looking as described.  In addition to the chicken and Injera, there were some lentils, carrots, potatoes and cabbage; each with a different taste that I can’t seem to place right now.  Either way, the tastes were pleasent and quite good.  The only downside?  It was definitely a little too oily.  If you haven’t tried it before, give it a go.

What’s that?  What can’t you do?  How many times have you heard that?  I don’t buy it (most of the time).  It’s all about risk and reward.  How much do you really want it?  This is stopping me, that’s stopping me.  In most cases, why should it stop you?  No one really wants to take a risk, no one really likes change but if you want it bad enough, you’ll go for it.  Each and everyone of use are capable of doing whatever we want. 

Break it down.  On first glance, there are so many things in our lives that seem absolutely impossible.  Give it a chance … sit down and take a real look at it.  If you’re on an emotional high, cool off a bit and don’t worry.  Break it down, figure out what the goal is, lay out all the steps into pieces you can chew, then decide if you can do it.

Focus hard.  I want to get into UVic.  Damn, messed up my exam again.  I’ll study harder.  Let’s party instead; let’s have fun.  See a pattern?  There’s a right time in life for everything.  I can’t do  blah blah blah at work - I don’t have the skills.  There’s always something better, there’s always something to distract you, it’s up to you to filter it out and focus.  Yet your priorities straight.  You’ve got 40+ years ahead of you.  Just try to balance things out and have a little fun 

A lot of the times, some of the excuses we come up with are really are just that.  If that’s the case, what are you waiting for?  Get with the program.  The time to do it is when you’re young and you don’t have any responsibilities to other people.