In for a penny... I thought, and joined in for the game itself. At first I was the "extra man" on unevenly divided teams. I spent the first few points mostly confused, and then got the hang of it. Even without someone to guard, I was running a lot. Inside of five minutes, I was panting. After ten minutes, I couldn't talk. After we'd played about twenty minutes, another couple of people showed up, and one of them joined in on the other side to even up the numbers.
I played two points with even teams, and thought I was going to throw up. There was still a girl on the sidelines stretching. I panted for breath, and hollered to her to ask if she wanted to play. She couldn't, she yelled back. She was recovering from knee surgery. I think Matt caught the look on my face. He told me to go sit down.
After about forty minutes, I'd not only caught my breath, but started to feel chilly. So I went in again and played a few points. The guy on my team who knew strategy knew I couldn't run with either speed, dexterity, or endurance, but didn't make a big deal of it. He worked around it. I was grateful. Ten minutes or so later, someone called for a break. We went back over to the benches and sat down. Those who had been playing for over an hour chugged Gatorade. I worked on catching my breath again.
When the break was over, I stood up, and immediately sat back down. My knees were killing me. I decided I simply couldn't play any more. Julie - the girl recovering from knee surgery - decided to take my place, saying that she would play cherry-picker (which means, essentially, that she would just wait in the endzone to catch). She didn't stick to it, of course, but it's her knee.
I had fun, but that night, I woke up every time I turned over in bed from the pain in my knees. Saturday, Matt and I picked up K.T. and did some shopping, and every time I got in or out of the car, it was agony. I was beginning to wonder if I'd actually injured myself.
Among our shopping and errands, I went to CompUSA to take a look at an iBook. I'd long ago decided I wanted my next computer to be a Mac. After the advent of the AirPort, I'd decided I wanted a laptop. At first I was lusting after a Powerbook like Matt's, but the more I thought about it, the more I realized I don't need a Powerbook, sweet though they are. All I do on my home computer is Internet stuff (surfing, e-mail, IRC), occasional documents, and even more occasional games. I went and researched the iBook, and decided it was more than powerful enough for my needs, with a price tag $2000 less than the Powerbook's. The only thing that bothered me was the low screen resolution - the iBook's maximum resolution is 800x600, and I haven't used anything less than 1280x1024 for ages. But even the Powerbook tops out at 1024x768 - only one standard resolution size higher than the iBook, and the iBook's screen is small enough that 800x600 won't be giving me individual pixels the size of my thumb. I went to CompUSA just to look at it and make sure it wouldn't drive me batty. I think it'll be okay.
I've said I won't buy it until after Christmas, but boy is it getting hard to wait...
Another of my errands was to go to the Sports Authority to buy knee braces for myself. I'm hoping my knees will eventually shape up, but in the meantime, the poor things need some additional support. The clerk was kindof scary, though. He sat me down, quizzed me extensively on my pain, and poked gently at my knee before bringing me about five different braces to try. Several of them wouldn't fit. (I have really fat thighs. Braces that fit just fine around my calves won't go up over my thighs.) He eventually wound up suggesting - rather than an actual brace - a thin strip, fitted tightly just below my kneecap, to support the tendons and ligaments. He had two of those that fit me, and was wearing one of them himself. I wound up buying the other, a strip of neoprene rubber with inlaid magnets. The clerk sung the praises of the magnets to me, which was a little spooky in and of itself, but I bought it because that strap fit better and more comfortably. Lucky me, they turned out to be on sale!
 |
Saturday evening, after Kevin was off work, we carved our jack-o-lanterns. We sat outside to make an enormous mess scooping them out and separating the seeds from the rest of the pumpkin goop. That finished, we went inside where the light was better to carve. We put on Ghostbusters just for a fun background, ordered pizza, and started carving. After the movie, we put candles in them and took pictures of the xanthic glows. As threatened, I went with a spider motif. Kevin didn't finish his until almost the very end of the movie, but his results were spectacular. Matt's isn't shown to very good effect here, unfortunately - what you're missing is that his evilly grinning cyclops pumpkin is covered with enormous warts. A very amusing effect. I'll have to try to get a picture around twilight, when it's dark enough to get the glow of the carving, but still light enough to pick up the fantastic texture of the pumpkin. |  |
 |
 |
Sunday, my knees felt much better - only a little bit of stiffness remained. After spending the day being a big ol' slob, sprawled in my chair and knitting, I decided I'd go with Matt to Ultimate Frisbee, but not step into the actual game until maybe half an hour before it was time to stop. That way, everyone else would be tired and easier to keep up with, and I wouldn't feel like such a loser for having to quit early.
I warmed up, then sat down and worked on one of several Christmas stocking projects while I watched the game. It was getting darker... and darker... The field lights still weren't on. I walked over to the Rec Center's main desk and asked about the lights. The sheep sitting behind the desk blinked at me. "I think they're on a timer," she said uncertainly. I asked if she could check and see what time they were scheduled to come on, because it was getting awfully dark out there. She didn't know who would know that. She asked someone who was just walking by, and he didn't know either. I stomped back to the field.
One of the players, who had actually arranged for us to rent this field, went and got the paperwork from his car and went in to talk to them himself. By the time he came back, it had gotten so dark they'd stopped playing altogether. They couldn't get anyone to come up and turn on the lights for us until after our time was up, he explained. We stood around for a while discussing our options, then decided to meet at the Green Leafe for dinner and drinks.
I enjoyed that, even if the Leafe is one of those inherently noisy places that makes your ears ring even when it's empty. Social activity good. And I think I managed to convince Elizabeth to start coming with Jeremy by promising that she didn't have to actually play - that I'd be more than happy to just stand on the sidelines and toss the frisbee with her.
So all in all, knees aside, it was a pretty good weekend. Here's hoping the week is just as good!
Word of the Day: xanthic - of or relating to the color yellow
- nothing
Current Projects:
- various crafty things, mostly several different Christmas stockings
| Previous Reflection |
Current Reflections Reflect Back |
Next Reflection |