Strained MCL

On Wednesday I headed to basketball straight after work as it was a 6:30pm game. That gave me enough time to dress up slowly for the game and warm up. I actually played alright, scoring six points all on jump shots.

We played Trigger Happy and they had a couple of guys fill in who weren't normally on their team. One was a guard who Mike told me played one level under the NBL. I relished the chance to guard him. He hit a few tough shots in my face, but I think I held my own in not letting him drive in too much.

It was a close game throughout. One funny thing that happened was in the second half when they were shooting free throws and I was standing in my usual spot waiting. Kelvin yells out at me several times and finally I turn my head to look at him at the scorer's table. He points to the guard who is down the other end of the court and tells me to guard him. I looked back and thought "wait, they're shooting on this end of the court, so I'm right aren't I?" When I was convinced I was right, I ignored him and stayed where I was. I learnt this after the game, but apparently the guard said to Kelvin "I'm not going to shoot it from here bro" - LOL! Mike said Kelvin must've been tired haha.

In the last minute we were down by two and Mike went to the line. He bombed both free throws, and they threw it down court. I was guarding one of their guards already but for whatever reason no one was covering the other guard. So I chased him down and he was already ahead of me for the easy basket. Just as he shot, I jumped up as high as I could to try for the block. I jumped pretty high I thought, but was nowhere close. I felt something inside my right knee 'unlock' and come loose. The ball went in through the hoop, I gathered it and inbounded it to Mike quickly. He thew it up to Kevin who hit a last second three but we still lost by one.

I limped to the bench. I had hurt my knee a bit. I quickly took my knee pad off to see if it was unstable. It wasn't, but there was a bit of pain in the left corner of my knee. I slammed my knee pad and socks down in frustration.

Had I just fucked up my knee again?

Mike, Kevin, Mark and I went for dinner at Pine Inn. On top of what we usually discuss (the game) we also got talking about money a bit. Mike said he gives his mum money and said he hides from her how much he has. I told him I did the same and gave my mum less as I didn't want her to gamble it.

On Thursday at work my knee was still hurting, despite the fact that I had managed to walk to work. I thought about the irony that I may have seriously hurt my knee again in the last minute of a game that didn't count (win or lose, we would still play the same team in the playoffs). Thinking about possible surgery and rehabilitation made me depressed. I didn't think I could go through it again.

I met up Daniel for lunch. When we met, he asked that I walk with him to his car so he could fill up the parking meter. I saw that he was driving a very nice Mercedes. I wondered if he was doing it deliberately to show off.

We went to a cafe near the hospital for lunch, the same place where Mob took us for coffee once. We talked about going to the bar and he gave me some very valuable information, which made me think it would be worth paying for his lunch this time. He didn't seem to like DC or the fact that DC questioned whether my racial origin would affect my success.

He also told me he was planning to change careers to become a politician. I secretly questioned whether he was doing well at the bar if he was changing careers. He said he wanted to make changes on a macro level. I wondered if that was bull shit. But then again, he was driving a pretty nice car.

I did end up paying for the lunch even though he said he'd get it. I really valued his time and honesty, and then I returned to work after parting with him.

After work I went to the casino. But not to gamble. I wanted to scope out the place to see if that asshole of a security guard was working. I tried to act normal and headed to the roulette tables as I usually would. I saw the hot Vietnamese MILF. She seemed to be acquaintances with the two ladies I saw on Monday at lunch, one with fake lashes and who looked semi-attractive.

I missed seeing the regulars. I know, it's weird. I took a walk around the casino and found the ass hole standing at one of the smaller entrances. I stopped to make sure it was him. When I saw him turning around my way I quickly left. I then scoped out another entrance to make sure he wasn't anywhere else.

I returned to the roulette table with the MILF and watched a bit. I loved the way her face looked when she's checking the numbers as she's placing the chips. She looks so innocent and happy. At one stage, I felt she was looking my way and I pretended to look down or away. Then I braved up and looked in her direction. When we made eye contact, I smiled at her and she smiled back.

SHE SMILED BACK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I then decided it was a good time to leave and left. As I walked off back to the office, I thought about how poor my choices were for women. Maybe apart from Victoria, I think everyone would agree that the rest just weren't suitable for me.

Yesterday I walked to work again. On the way I bumped into Peter, the guy I had studied with a bit for the February bar exams. He hopped off his bike and talked with me about what it was like at the bar. He was happy and had no regrets. I was surprised at how long he talked with me for, because I obviously slowed him down as he was on a bike, but I guess it was semi-business as he wanted to expand his network. After about 20 minutes or so he hopped back onto his bike and continued his journey.

My knee was still hurting, maybe even a bit more than on Thursday. It seemed to hurt most when getting up after sitting down for a long period of time. And I could always predict a crack coming when I sat down.

I had lunch with Ben and Taran. This would be the first time we'd have lunch together since I started here. It's been good that way so far, because avoids any perception of politics. I half joked that I wanted to go to Macca's as I was collecting the Monopoly stickers, and although Ben was up for it, Taran said he wasn't.

We went to the pub for a pub lunch. After sitting down with our food, I told Ben I had passed the bar exams. He congratulated me and seemed genuine about it. So we talked about that for a while. He also revealed he was planning to move to the NT in about March next year. If that happens, that would mean the three of us would be departing at around the same time. Ouch.

Ben seemed like an all around good guy. I got the feeling Taran and I wouldn't get along too well if we spent much more time together. He seems to cut people off (like he does in meetings) and his views don't always seem right.

When we returned to the office, we bumped into Paul and Gabby on their way out, and they had the expected jabs of how we went out without them. I always feel bad about stuff like that, especially since this one was organised by me.

After work I went to buy some baby clothes for Ele's new baby. I then went to the gym. I then went home and drove out to Ele's place as she had asked me to witness something for her husband. I gave them the clothes and stood around talking a bit. When her husband's friends left, I left too, and Ele seemed a bit disappointed. I just didn't want to bother them for too long as her husband's parents were there as well.

I spent the night at home. No gambling. No whoring.

I woke up this morning and walked to the Wick to see my doctor. I made it just on time. Nevertheless, as usual, I still had to wait for everyone before me to be seen. I found myself questioning this appointment system they had.

When I was seen, I told the doctor about what had happened, he asked me to jump up and down a few times in a squatting position, then examined my knee when I laid down. He said I had strained my MCL. He said I didn't tear my ACL and it seemed to have been put in pretty strongly during the surgery. He said if I had torn my MCL my knee would be swelling. Good point. I was relieved. He gave me some medicine to take and I left.

I went to Coles to get some bread and sausages (where I bumped into Gurang and had a bit of a chat), had Macca's for breakfast and then caught the bus home.