My first game as a Shohoku
Wednesday
I woke up at 5am and left home at just after 6am, which meant I'd be a little bit late. I took my GPS and the music CD I made the night before, and got into the office car parked across the road. I was ready for my long journey to Muswellbrook.
The drive wasn't too bad. I was in the sportswagon this time, so I had the power. I had to stop before midway at a petrol station on the freeway to use the bathroom and to make sure I hadn't already passed the exit. I swear there were supposed to be signs pointing to Muswellbrook, but perhaps they came later on. So for now, I was relying on a print out I got the night before, because my GPS kept telling me to go off on early exits.
Unsure of where I was really heading, I finally saw the exit that I was supposed to take according to my print out. I then guessed the direction of a turn-off and just kept going. I hoped to God I was going in the right direction. I was starting to run out of time. My only sign was that I was heading towards Maitland, which I had to pass anyway, so that was a good thing.
Finally I started seeing signs pointing to Muswellbrook. I was relieved, but the distance worried me. I started driving faster. I aimed to get there by 9:30am, which was the time I told the cop to be there by, and I wasn't going to make it. By that time, I called him. His phone was busy at first, and I figured he was probably calling to try to track my number down.
When I got through to him, he asked me "have you spoken to anyone?". I was like "what do you mean?". He said "have you spoken to Mary?" When I said no, he told me he was at court, and the matter was at Central.
I pulled over, and just kept repeating "you're kidding me". I told him I was 10 minutes away, and he said he was just leaving. I pulled into a petrol station just up ahead, and then called Mary. She had printed out the instructions I had made for myself and given it to the list officer, Adam.
Lucky I had made instructions for myself. Gee, this should score a point for preparedness.
She asked me to contact the other side, which I did, and left a message on their voice mail. I didn't really know what to do. I mean, I knew I had to turn back, but...now? I tried to go into the KFC but it wasn't open yet. I filled the car up with petrol, and while standing at the cash register, I figured I might as well start driving back.
I got into the car and started my journey...again. I thought it'd be faster this time, but it actually seemed longer. When I finally got back to the office and wrote up the log book, I saw that it had really been the same each way - 3.5 hours. Fark, I had been driving for seven hours!
Of course, there was a laugh and a giggle when I got back, but I was just tired. Sarah was out at Gosford for a hearing, and I wondered how she was doing. I really was too tired to do any other work, and I would've left before 5pm if I didn't have a game that night. So instead, I stayed till 6:30pm starting my job application for the LO positions.
I was actually going to stay till 7:30pm because that was when I was supposed to meet Bo to go to the game together, but I just wanted to get away from the computer screen. I went for a walk in the city. I thought about getting the KFC 'The Double', but didn't think it'd be a good idea before the game. Instead, I just bought a sushi roll.
I ended up sitting at the Town Hall steps waiting for Bo. I browseed the net on my phone. A few drops of rain came down, but that was it. Finally at around 7:45pm Bo turned up. I was both glad and excited to see him. This was it, I was heading to my first game back.
We talked about Colin being indecisive about playing with us. He said he was coming tonight only to see how we would do, meaning he'd play with us if we were good, but not if we weren't. Both Bo and I thought we'd just be better off without him.
On the train, Bo asked me a very surprising question: "why don't you have a girlfriend?" I think Jim having a girlfriend sort of brought this up, but at the same time, he asked it in a way that sounded like it had been on his mind for some time, and maybe even something he had talked about with others. I just said I had seen too many bad experiences and that I liked being single. He told me he has been married and divorced, adding that she took everything, leaving him the chair she threw at him, lol.
When we got to the station, we saw Nick who was walking through to the gates. We called out to him, and he ended up getting something to eat first. We started walking to the courts, and I was like "don't we have to wait for Phil?" and we all laughed and turned back around. We were all pretty excited about the night. It was our debut.
After a while Phil showed up and we all headed to the courts. I was pretty excited and wanted to talk about everything with Nick, and then realised I must've seemed like I was ignoring Phil. The walk to the courts was slightly familiar - Nick led us along the main road, whereas I remember with Jimmy we always walked along the smaller roads.
At last, we arrived at the building. It was very familiar indeed. But when we went in, I had forgotten that we had to walk up the stairs. I nearly went the wrong way. I went to look for Abdi and Sunny and found them, then took them to meet the rest of the guys out in the lobby area. We all completed our registration details. I had to use my credit card to pay for Sunny because he didn't have any money, which was fine.
We went to sit and watch a game. The teams we were watching were so big, so athletic, so well oiled. I was seriously getting scared. My knee WOULD NOT hold up against guys like that. How the hell was I going to survive one game, let alone the season?
Then I found out that it wasn't our division.
Phew.
Our division was playing on another court which I had seen and said I wished we were in. That was much more do-able.
Nick started handing out the bibs, since our jerseys haven't been ordered yet as the comp only gave us a week's notice. He gave me number seven. I kinda liked it, as a substitute number. I thought it was kinda cool that we were wearing temporary jerseys and numbers, like it was a cool change from the norm.
It was also the closest thing to eight since there was no eight. But then later I realised that it was Fat Pat's number - could someone with close knowledge of me think that I was trying to usurp Fat Pat's presence?
We went to watch the game in our division, and just hung around. Phil and I passed a ball back and forth to eachother as warm up. I was getting a bit frustrated with Mike because he was texting and calling me saying he couldn't find the place - we had been playing here for a few seasons. Finally he showed up and I introduced him to everyone.
Nick organised the starting lineup, and I volunteered to start on the bench. This was going to be my role for the season. I told myself to be happy to be a back up. The starting lineup was Colin, Mike, Bo, Sunny and Abdi. Phil, Nick and I started on the bench, even though I thought Nick should've started.
It was pretty exciting, even if I was only watching from the bench. I think both teams got off to a slow start, but we were obviously the more un-coordinated team. Even with Colin there, we sucked at rebounding. They owned us on the boards. But even then, they really hadn't scored that many points.
I went on about five minutes into the game, nervous as hell, yet experience had me on auto-pilot. I wasn't confident, but I knew what to do. One of my first possessions was running a fast break, where I stuffed up a pass to Abdi. In hindsight I should've just stopped for a shot.
My defence was pretty crap, but also in hindsight, the floor was kinda slippery. I came off after 10 minutes, glad I hadn't hurt myself, lol.
I watched as Bo got called for a foul. The guy had put up a shot next to the basket, and Bo did what pretty much any player with bad habits did, which was to just stick his palms out a little, looking like he had pushed him in the back. As the ref was walking to the scorer's table, Bo asked her "should I just push him?"
It made me laugh as I watched the ref let out a smile, and it was that very moment where I thought "damn, this is why I'm in it, it feels great to be part of a team". But at the same time, I thought to myself "I need to be more serious instead of looking for humour opportunities".
I watched as we made a late run in the first half, with Abdi hitting a buzzer beater three to make it 10-9 at the half (their way).
In the second half we were a bit more organised, but they still pulled away, no thanks to some really shit calls by the refs. There is this ref who is like a little kid, couldn't be more than 15 years old, who made some really outrageous calls. One time Nick was just taking the ball up and the kid called a carry. WTF??
I felt like smashing him.
I did score a basket on a fastbreak when Abdi passed it to me under the basket. I made it 15-19 but don't think we ever came closer than that. I sat out the last five minutes, and even though Abdi and Sunny scored for us and showed really good chemistry, it wasn't enough as we watched our first game go down as a loss. The competitive side of me started firing up and I really felt like going on, or smashing the referee. But I told myself to just sit on the bench and be content.
After the game, and after shaking hands with the other team, Colin left almost immediately. He claimed to have a migraine, but I (even though I am very naive) saw right through him. I knew we wouldn't see him again.
We hung around a bit after, just talking about jerseys and the money aspect of things. I had a slight suspicion that Sunny would back out, but he seemed ok when Nick talked money, so maybe I was wrong.
I caught the train with Nick, Bo and Phil. Nick spent the trip trying to call someone about picking up an Xbox or something, while the rest of us just talked about the game.
After I got off, I went to KFC and bought some chips. I was pretty damn hungry. I didn't get to sleep until past midnight since it was a late game.
Thursday
Having slept so late, I had the equivalent of a headache. I went to work and seriously did nothing. I thought I was really going to spend the whole day doing nothing. The only bright side was that it was pay day, so I was doing stuff on my finances.
I was so unmotivated because of my headache...until Adam called. He basically told me off for not giving him enough information in one of the matters yesterday as he was the list officer. I did say that there were certain things we couldn't say, but he just repeated that there wasn't enough information. It really pissed me off. At that stage and for the rest of the day I thought I was wrong, but thinking about it, what more could I have put?
He seems like a nice guy, but I reckon if I was in a higher position than him then he wouldn't have made that call. Fucking hell.
That motivated me to get some work done. I felt bad, pissed off and motivated.
I left work at 5pm, wanting to clear my head and headache. I went to Myer to get my mom a $100 gift card for her birthday. I then went to get the KFC 'The Double' and ate it as I walked home. It wasn't as bad or fatty as I thought, but it definitely was unhealthy. I wouldn't recommend it even once a week, for someone who exercises as much as me.
Friday
I was glad I didn't have to wake up with a headache, but as usual for the last week or so, I woke up with that annoying pain in my left shoulder. It's started to make me wonder if I should see a doctor because it might be serious.
I walked to work then got changed as I had to go instruct CO in court. I met him there at just before 10am and we went in as he mentioned his matter. One party was late, and when they finally arrived we agreed on a date, and then both he and CO left me to mention it by myself. So I sat outside the courtroom waiting, playing on my phone when DC called my name out, lol. He had a matter there too, and when he checked the court he said it might be a good opportunity for me to go in and do my mention, so I went in.
The judge looked at me but I was waiting for an invitation. He didn't budge, so I just watched as the trial went on until 11:30am. I finally did the mention. It felt pretty good to stand there behind a lectern in my suit before a judge.
I went back to the office, half looking forward to getting a cheap lunch, when I saw Mary talking with Sarah in her room. Mary asked if I wanted to go for lunch. I was a bit startled because I didn't know of any previous plans so was wondering if I was invited. I looked at Sarah and she nodded, so I said yes.
I grabbed my stuff and we also dragged Ogre out at the last minute. We met Michael and Claire B downstairs, and walked some distance away to the restaurant. It turned out to be that place that I met with DC, Hayley and Twish one night after the trial.
It was cool to have lunch with them, and it was even cooler to see Mary being happy by bantering with and teasting Michael. I just ordered a sandwich which cost bloody $18, but then at the end they wanted dessert and I shared with Ogre so that was an additional $7.
Claire B left shortly after the desserts, saying she wanted to make a good impression because the LO job applications were soon (ie. today) and I thought about going with her but didn't think it'd be appropriate since she was the only one who wasn't really in our branch.
So we stayed there longer, even though I was beginning to feel uncomfortable about taking a two hour lunch. It was sorta for Sarah's farewell I suppose.
When we returned to the office, there was a bit of panic as one of Ogre's matter had been urgently listed. She had gone off to the supermarket and her phone was off. Mary asked me to go mention it which I happily obliged. But by the time I was ready to go, Ogre had returned. During this time, Mary and Bryony had a bit of an exchange. I think Mary didn't like the fact that everyone panicked. She later came to thank me for being calm and willing to do it, and told me she didn't like how Bryony panicked and told DS.
I had received a message from Nick saying he got a weird message from Sunny. I asked him to forward it to me, and it basically said he didn't think he could afford playing in the comp. I was disappointed, because we all liked him, and I had paid for his rego already.
I had planned to walk home after work, but because I was finalising my job application and writing up the files for the day, I ended up staying till about 6:30pm. Only Sarah, Caroline and I were left. I went to say goodbye to Sarah, and gave her a pack of lollies I had bought last time I bought her something, since I wasn't going to eat it anyway. She said not to because she was going to eat it, and I said she didn't have to eat it now, but she was already opening it, lol. I wondered if that was a sign of her self control. I've picked up the vibe from her that she doesn't have that much money saved up, which is pretty surprising given how much she'd be making. I wonder what she spends her money on?
She mentioned she'd come into work tomorrow and I said I would too (because I would be meeting Bo and Phil and Sunny for ball anyway), and she said she'd see me tomorrow.
I caught the bus home and had a quiet night, although I would've gone for a drive if the car was home. In particular, I read an article that said the movie Rudy had changed Kobe's life, so I wanted to go look for it.
Today
Didn't end up going to work because it was raining and I just got lazy. Basically spent the whole day at home, and only went out at night when the car was back, to get some chips and check out Borders at Bondy.
I woke up at 5am and left home at just after 6am, which meant I'd be a little bit late. I took my GPS and the music CD I made the night before, and got into the office car parked across the road. I was ready for my long journey to Muswellbrook.
The drive wasn't too bad. I was in the sportswagon this time, so I had the power. I had to stop before midway at a petrol station on the freeway to use the bathroom and to make sure I hadn't already passed the exit. I swear there were supposed to be signs pointing to Muswellbrook, but perhaps they came later on. So for now, I was relying on a print out I got the night before, because my GPS kept telling me to go off on early exits.
Unsure of where I was really heading, I finally saw the exit that I was supposed to take according to my print out. I then guessed the direction of a turn-off and just kept going. I hoped to God I was going in the right direction. I was starting to run out of time. My only sign was that I was heading towards Maitland, which I had to pass anyway, so that was a good thing.
Finally I started seeing signs pointing to Muswellbrook. I was relieved, but the distance worried me. I started driving faster. I aimed to get there by 9:30am, which was the time I told the cop to be there by, and I wasn't going to make it. By that time, I called him. His phone was busy at first, and I figured he was probably calling to try to track my number down.
When I got through to him, he asked me "have you spoken to anyone?". I was like "what do you mean?". He said "have you spoken to Mary?" When I said no, he told me he was at court, and the matter was at Central.
I pulled over, and just kept repeating "you're kidding me". I told him I was 10 minutes away, and he said he was just leaving. I pulled into a petrol station just up ahead, and then called Mary. She had printed out the instructions I had made for myself and given it to the list officer, Adam.
Lucky I had made instructions for myself. Gee, this should score a point for preparedness.
She asked me to contact the other side, which I did, and left a message on their voice mail. I didn't really know what to do. I mean, I knew I had to turn back, but...now? I tried to go into the KFC but it wasn't open yet. I filled the car up with petrol, and while standing at the cash register, I figured I might as well start driving back.
I got into the car and started my journey...again. I thought it'd be faster this time, but it actually seemed longer. When I finally got back to the office and wrote up the log book, I saw that it had really been the same each way - 3.5 hours. Fark, I had been driving for seven hours!
Of course, there was a laugh and a giggle when I got back, but I was just tired. Sarah was out at Gosford for a hearing, and I wondered how she was doing. I really was too tired to do any other work, and I would've left before 5pm if I didn't have a game that night. So instead, I stayed till 6:30pm starting my job application for the LO positions.
I was actually going to stay till 7:30pm because that was when I was supposed to meet Bo to go to the game together, but I just wanted to get away from the computer screen. I went for a walk in the city. I thought about getting the KFC 'The Double', but didn't think it'd be a good idea before the game. Instead, I just bought a sushi roll.
I ended up sitting at the Town Hall steps waiting for Bo. I browseed the net on my phone. A few drops of rain came down, but that was it. Finally at around 7:45pm Bo turned up. I was both glad and excited to see him. This was it, I was heading to my first game back.
We talked about Colin being indecisive about playing with us. He said he was coming tonight only to see how we would do, meaning he'd play with us if we were good, but not if we weren't. Both Bo and I thought we'd just be better off without him.
On the train, Bo asked me a very surprising question: "why don't you have a girlfriend?" I think Jim having a girlfriend sort of brought this up, but at the same time, he asked it in a way that sounded like it had been on his mind for some time, and maybe even something he had talked about with others. I just said I had seen too many bad experiences and that I liked being single. He told me he has been married and divorced, adding that she took everything, leaving him the chair she threw at him, lol.
When we got to the station, we saw Nick who was walking through to the gates. We called out to him, and he ended up getting something to eat first. We started walking to the courts, and I was like "don't we have to wait for Phil?" and we all laughed and turned back around. We were all pretty excited about the night. It was our debut.
After a while Phil showed up and we all headed to the courts. I was pretty excited and wanted to talk about everything with Nick, and then realised I must've seemed like I was ignoring Phil. The walk to the courts was slightly familiar - Nick led us along the main road, whereas I remember with Jimmy we always walked along the smaller roads.
At last, we arrived at the building. It was very familiar indeed. But when we went in, I had forgotten that we had to walk up the stairs. I nearly went the wrong way. I went to look for Abdi and Sunny and found them, then took them to meet the rest of the guys out in the lobby area. We all completed our registration details. I had to use my credit card to pay for Sunny because he didn't have any money, which was fine.
We went to sit and watch a game. The teams we were watching were so big, so athletic, so well oiled. I was seriously getting scared. My knee WOULD NOT hold up against guys like that. How the hell was I going to survive one game, let alone the season?
Then I found out that it wasn't our division.
Phew.
Our division was playing on another court which I had seen and said I wished we were in. That was much more do-able.
Nick started handing out the bibs, since our jerseys haven't been ordered yet as the comp only gave us a week's notice. He gave me number seven. I kinda liked it, as a substitute number. I thought it was kinda cool that we were wearing temporary jerseys and numbers, like it was a cool change from the norm.
It was also the closest thing to eight since there was no eight. But then later I realised that it was Fat Pat's number - could someone with close knowledge of me think that I was trying to usurp Fat Pat's presence?
We went to watch the game in our division, and just hung around. Phil and I passed a ball back and forth to eachother as warm up. I was getting a bit frustrated with Mike because he was texting and calling me saying he couldn't find the place - we had been playing here for a few seasons. Finally he showed up and I introduced him to everyone.
Nick organised the starting lineup, and I volunteered to start on the bench. This was going to be my role for the season. I told myself to be happy to be a back up. The starting lineup was Colin, Mike, Bo, Sunny and Abdi. Phil, Nick and I started on the bench, even though I thought Nick should've started.
It was pretty exciting, even if I was only watching from the bench. I think both teams got off to a slow start, but we were obviously the more un-coordinated team. Even with Colin there, we sucked at rebounding. They owned us on the boards. But even then, they really hadn't scored that many points.
I went on about five minutes into the game, nervous as hell, yet experience had me on auto-pilot. I wasn't confident, but I knew what to do. One of my first possessions was running a fast break, where I stuffed up a pass to Abdi. In hindsight I should've just stopped for a shot.
My defence was pretty crap, but also in hindsight, the floor was kinda slippery. I came off after 10 minutes, glad I hadn't hurt myself, lol.
I watched as Bo got called for a foul. The guy had put up a shot next to the basket, and Bo did what pretty much any player with bad habits did, which was to just stick his palms out a little, looking like he had pushed him in the back. As the ref was walking to the scorer's table, Bo asked her "should I just push him?"
It made me laugh as I watched the ref let out a smile, and it was that very moment where I thought "damn, this is why I'm in it, it feels great to be part of a team". But at the same time, I thought to myself "I need to be more serious instead of looking for humour opportunities".
I watched as we made a late run in the first half, with Abdi hitting a buzzer beater three to make it 10-9 at the half (their way).
In the second half we were a bit more organised, but they still pulled away, no thanks to some really shit calls by the refs. There is this ref who is like a little kid, couldn't be more than 15 years old, who made some really outrageous calls. One time Nick was just taking the ball up and the kid called a carry. WTF??
I felt like smashing him.
I did score a basket on a fastbreak when Abdi passed it to me under the basket. I made it 15-19 but don't think we ever came closer than that. I sat out the last five minutes, and even though Abdi and Sunny scored for us and showed really good chemistry, it wasn't enough as we watched our first game go down as a loss. The competitive side of me started firing up and I really felt like going on, or smashing the referee. But I told myself to just sit on the bench and be content.
After the game, and after shaking hands with the other team, Colin left almost immediately. He claimed to have a migraine, but I (even though I am very naive) saw right through him. I knew we wouldn't see him again.
We hung around a bit after, just talking about jerseys and the money aspect of things. I had a slight suspicion that Sunny would back out, but he seemed ok when Nick talked money, so maybe I was wrong.
I caught the train with Nick, Bo and Phil. Nick spent the trip trying to call someone about picking up an Xbox or something, while the rest of us just talked about the game.
After I got off, I went to KFC and bought some chips. I was pretty damn hungry. I didn't get to sleep until past midnight since it was a late game.
Thursday
Having slept so late, I had the equivalent of a headache. I went to work and seriously did nothing. I thought I was really going to spend the whole day doing nothing. The only bright side was that it was pay day, so I was doing stuff on my finances.
I was so unmotivated because of my headache...until Adam called. He basically told me off for not giving him enough information in one of the matters yesterday as he was the list officer. I did say that there were certain things we couldn't say, but he just repeated that there wasn't enough information. It really pissed me off. At that stage and for the rest of the day I thought I was wrong, but thinking about it, what more could I have put?
He seems like a nice guy, but I reckon if I was in a higher position than him then he wouldn't have made that call. Fucking hell.
That motivated me to get some work done. I felt bad, pissed off and motivated.
I left work at 5pm, wanting to clear my head and headache. I went to Myer to get my mom a $100 gift card for her birthday. I then went to get the KFC 'The Double' and ate it as I walked home. It wasn't as bad or fatty as I thought, but it definitely was unhealthy. I wouldn't recommend it even once a week, for someone who exercises as much as me.
Friday
I was glad I didn't have to wake up with a headache, but as usual for the last week or so, I woke up with that annoying pain in my left shoulder. It's started to make me wonder if I should see a doctor because it might be serious.
I walked to work then got changed as I had to go instruct CO in court. I met him there at just before 10am and we went in as he mentioned his matter. One party was late, and when they finally arrived we agreed on a date, and then both he and CO left me to mention it by myself. So I sat outside the courtroom waiting, playing on my phone when DC called my name out, lol. He had a matter there too, and when he checked the court he said it might be a good opportunity for me to go in and do my mention, so I went in.
The judge looked at me but I was waiting for an invitation. He didn't budge, so I just watched as the trial went on until 11:30am. I finally did the mention. It felt pretty good to stand there behind a lectern in my suit before a judge.
I went back to the office, half looking forward to getting a cheap lunch, when I saw Mary talking with Sarah in her room. Mary asked if I wanted to go for lunch. I was a bit startled because I didn't know of any previous plans so was wondering if I was invited. I looked at Sarah and she nodded, so I said yes.
I grabbed my stuff and we also dragged Ogre out at the last minute. We met Michael and Claire B downstairs, and walked some distance away to the restaurant. It turned out to be that place that I met with DC, Hayley and Twish one night after the trial.
It was cool to have lunch with them, and it was even cooler to see Mary being happy by bantering with and teasting Michael. I just ordered a sandwich which cost bloody $18, but then at the end they wanted dessert and I shared with Ogre so that was an additional $7.
Claire B left shortly after the desserts, saying she wanted to make a good impression because the LO job applications were soon (ie. today) and I thought about going with her but didn't think it'd be appropriate since she was the only one who wasn't really in our branch.
So we stayed there longer, even though I was beginning to feel uncomfortable about taking a two hour lunch. It was sorta for Sarah's farewell I suppose.
When we returned to the office, there was a bit of panic as one of Ogre's matter had been urgently listed. She had gone off to the supermarket and her phone was off. Mary asked me to go mention it which I happily obliged. But by the time I was ready to go, Ogre had returned. During this time, Mary and Bryony had a bit of an exchange. I think Mary didn't like the fact that everyone panicked. She later came to thank me for being calm and willing to do it, and told me she didn't like how Bryony panicked and told DS.
I had received a message from Nick saying he got a weird message from Sunny. I asked him to forward it to me, and it basically said he didn't think he could afford playing in the comp. I was disappointed, because we all liked him, and I had paid for his rego already.
I had planned to walk home after work, but because I was finalising my job application and writing up the files for the day, I ended up staying till about 6:30pm. Only Sarah, Caroline and I were left. I went to say goodbye to Sarah, and gave her a pack of lollies I had bought last time I bought her something, since I wasn't going to eat it anyway. She said not to because she was going to eat it, and I said she didn't have to eat it now, but she was already opening it, lol. I wondered if that was a sign of her self control. I've picked up the vibe from her that she doesn't have that much money saved up, which is pretty surprising given how much she'd be making. I wonder what she spends her money on?
She mentioned she'd come into work tomorrow and I said I would too (because I would be meeting Bo and Phil and Sunny for ball anyway), and she said she'd see me tomorrow.
I caught the bus home and had a quiet night, although I would've gone for a drive if the car was home. In particular, I read an article that said the movie Rudy had changed Kobe's life, so I wanted to go look for it.
Today
Didn't end up going to work because it was raining and I just got lazy. Basically spent the whole day at home, and only went out at night when the car was back, to get some chips and check out Borders at Bondy.
posted by toey | 20:47
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