Sooooo....ahhh….yeaaa….I guess it’s been a little while since I’ve been seen out here in the ol’ blogosphere…3 months and 9 days to be exact….a “dark period” of over a quarter of the year where I’ve failed to deliver on the intention of this little writing experiment – to document a unique experience that (for better or worse) comes with a finite shelf life. There’s really no good excuse for the inactivity and I’ve found myself regretting not staying on top of it...I think part of it has to do with growing far too accustomed to life in South Bend and absorbing the daily/weekly cycle as old hat – something a Management professor from last semester would refer to as “running scripts”...a form of complacency rooted in a sense of comfort and life’s predictability that has somehow subconsciously helped me slip out of the blogging habit… scripts are boring…scripts inhibit creativity…scripts need breaking. Breaking the scripts of routine can happen through one of two ways – proactively changing things up orrrr reactively responding to a new stimulus. And so it is, with some combination of the two, that I now return to the “Diary” with a renewed commitment to pick up where I left off back in November…
Some things are controllable. Some things are not. Honoring the commitment to play in an intramural basketball game? Controllable. The ability to walk to your car after the game? Not controllable. The risk of injury is something that athletes of all ages and skill level have to live with…and let me tell you that when it comes to a Grad/Faculty/Staff league, the spectrum for both skill and age is far and wide …For the most part, it’s a risk with remote enough of a chance that we learn to be comfortable accepting the terms…in fact, sometimes we can forget such risk even exists. For a guy as prone to boneheaded forgetfulness as any (“Dude, where’s my wallet?”), I suppose somebody somewhere with divine powers is doing their best to make sure I don’t forget just how fragile the joint connecting leg to foot can be…and the latest reminder comes with a quick little story. Former presidential candidate and NBA star Bill Bradley is famous for conducting many an interview on the pickup basketball court where he believes that a lot can be learned about someone by the way they play the game. It took all of about two possessions in last week’s game to know that the med-school student (mind you, ND has no Med School) that I was matched up with was NOT someone who I would ever hire…bitching about every call, making a point of initiating unnecessary contact, getting on his teammates about not finding him when he’s open… the dude was someone you like playing against and looove to beat…preferably by a lot while shutting him down and not engaging in any chirping…let’s just say things didn’t go as you might “prefer” them to. As the story goes (apparently it’s now being told second-hand in the greater Phila area), it was at some point during the second half while we had the Meds on the ropes and down by double digits, that my unhireable opponent gathered a long rebound and took off in the other direction for the open basket. As the only one with a legitimate shot at contesting his attempt (and with those preferences in mind), I lined up what I thought would be a clean and humbling block…he jumps…I jump…he jumps higher than I expected...I make contact…he handles contact…I land…he lands…my ankle turns and I fall to the ground as the ball goes through the net…first thought: “tough shot” …it’s a fleeting one; attention immediately turned to intense pain coming from the ankle…wait, this idiot’s still here…He’s standing over me leading with his chest as he looks down emphatically offering, “And One!”…a blatant show of disrespect…second thought: “No he’s not really doing this...”... third thought (now verbalized): “____ you, Mother ____er”…a brief departure from my typically mild-manored self… whistle - double technical…nice, way to not engage…fourth thought: “Why doesn’t my foot look right?”…instinctively, I pound my dislocated foot to the floor and put things back in their rightful place…fifth and final thought: “Never done that before…not good”. This little episode has since served as a “script breaker” so to speak…one of the reactive variety…
Some things are uncontrollable. Some things are not. The timing of a mobility-limiting injury? Uncontrollable. Attitude for dealing with it? Not uncontrollable. Being injured sucks but it’s not the end of the world. Yea, I gotta give a little more thought to everyday stuff like taking a shower or getting some lunch or getting to and from class…but it’s not the first time on crutches (nor will it likely be the last) and in due time, full autonomy will be mine again. In the interim, the injured get to enjoy a few decent little perks (yes, painkillers are one). Primo seating at basketball game can be had simply by showing up at tipoff…plus, if by chance, you mysteriously lose your season ticket booklet between the on-campus bar and the arena (a distance no greater than 200 yards), the security guard is more likely to take pity on the dopey kid with crutches and let you in anyway (I’m not saying that this happened or anything…). Barring anything unusual in the schedule, an injury like this is really nothing more than a bump in the road that shouldn’t change much at all. Howwwwever, a usual schedule during the next 3 weeks I have not. With a 12:48pm flight scheduled for Friday from O’Hare to Beijing kicking off a 15 day Chinese cultural immersion (as the MBA program markets it), a swollen and immobile ankle can be a little bit of an issue. Despite some initial nervousness about still being able to pull it off, all signs point to following through on a “script breaker” of my own choosing – a trip to Beijing, Shanghai and Hong Kong that anyone would be crazy not be excited about…the injury continues to heal with each day that passes and though surgery looks to be an inevitable reality at some point on the return, I’ve got a Great Wall to scale in the meantime...and a blog to write about it all in.
I’ll be back soon and more often as things wind down through the rest of the spring...
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