So the other week I got a PM from Samh praising me for my ability to foresee situations and offer timely advice (not fencing-wise - life-wise)... while I appreciate the compliment and generally think that I'm a pretty reasonable person, every now and again I do or say things that make me wanna call my mom and ask her how many times she had dropped me on my head as a baby...
Example number one:
Not really a surprising one, but after my physio saw improvement in my knee he allowed me to return back to fencing, provided I would take it easy and avoid lunging... I followed that for about 15 minutes, and at the following practice tried doing our regular (and pretty intense) footwork session..
Needless to say it was a dumbass idea and the knee was swollen again the next day. Perhaps not as badly as it was initially, but not far from it. The physio was not impressed... Now things are back to where they were, but that involves me avoiding the fencing club like the plague, except for the days when I coach my competitive cadets class(es).
I started doing quite a bit of work on the elyptical at my gym (an hour's worth of hill climbs) and I think it's actually helping me get some range of motion back, along with strengthening the other muscles in my legs. I'll keep at it for a month or two - maybe limit my fencing to one lesson per week and nothing else. "Luckily" I also broke both of my blades over the last 2 weeks - FIE StM's which I got right before the new year's... lame... but I actually think that given the amount of training I've done in '09, it's not too terrible... I have two more on the way that I'll pick up in Montreal from Papa Koach this week.
Anyways, I digress..
Stupid thing number two:
Telling my coach to his face that the way he is running the club is comparable to a vending machine... i.e. the effort is there only while the money meter is running, and you'll never get anything beyond the last penny you put in...
wow....
First of all, I was incredibly frustrated when I said it... Second of all, I don't actually believe this to be true (I did previously, but not for a long time). It's true that he is a very rational individual and I often disagree with his reasoning, which often resembles a pure cost/benefit calculation (not in terms of money, but in general). Nothing wrong with that really, and I definitely have no right criticizing him for that. Third, [and perhaps the worst] he actually seemed really upset (not pissed - genuinely upset) after I said it. He brought it up in conversation the next day and I felt like a giant tool.
Things are back no normal now, but the aftertaste of that foot-in-the-mouth experience won't dissapear for some time... at least in my head.
Finally, a bit of a Peter Griffin moment that happened this morning. I had an MRI done on my knee at 4:30 AM at a local hospital (yep, 4:30 AM... the number of people requiring MRIs is apparently so large that they run those machines 24/7 here in Ontario...
I was lucky that I could get an appointment only a month after my doctor putting a request for one - I hear some people wait for up to 4 months). Anyways, as the procedure was finishing... I ... [trying to figure out a way of saying it poletily) discharged a large [and loud] quantity of methane straight into the machine and couldn't help giggling really loudly, which made my body move (an MRI no-no apparently) requiring the technician to re-do the last sequence of shots... real mature Mr Lemberg.. real mature..
Anyway, things are pretty good otherwise. Totally stoked to see my Dynamo boys in Montreal tomorrow evening and for the rest of the weekend. I love the city in and of itself, and having some of my best friends along with Papa Koach and a handful of top-ranked fencers from all over the world is just an icing on the cake. WOOT!
Work is insanely busy, but I'm genuinely enjoying the stuff I'm working on these days, so it hardly seems like a drag. Except for the days when I have to get up at 3:30 AM to fart into an expensive tube... oi vei...
05-27-2009 04:50 PM