Feeling down...

Lately I have been feeling pretty low. Life is passing me by and I am going nowhere. Since my injury I haven’t been able to go to the gym which has not really helped. It’s been 3 weeks and though the knee is somewhat recovered, the ankle has not. It is very disconcerting to be injured for so long. I am getting worried enough to consider going to get my knee and ankle checked professionally, though I also fear hearing the result too.

Last weekend I went out to celebrate my friends birthday singing karaoke. A typical Chinese means of celebrating and though I don’t really sing, I had a good time. It lasted till the early hours of Sunday morning, 4am to be precise and by the time I got home it was past 5am… Normally that would be fine. But on this particular Sunday I had to be up by 8am to head out to London again to queue up to buy tickets to see the Terra Cotta Soldiers.

Not many things inspire me usually, but the Terra Cotta Soldiers is one of the special piece of history that really fascinates me. But like all good plans, I had to come across some difficulties to make the day more interesting.

Traffic… One the most annoying things I can experience in London whilst running to a schedule. I eventually got there later than expected and the queue was already very long. For a long time I felt as though I wouldn’t be able to get the tickets for today and resigned to thinking of ways to take it out on people. Like pouring coffee over the usher… silly, I know. But I was annoyed!

Lucky for them I got the tickets, but I had to wait my time slot which was at 4pm. It was barely 11am! I ended up passing time by visiting the Japanese design exhibition first which was very interesting and I noticed how much Chinese influenced Japanese design in the last 50 years or so.

But it was still early when I finished. I made my way to Chinatown and wandered into the National Photographers Gallery which I loved. Some of the photos were very thought provoking whilst others offered insight into lives of others around the world.

1.30pm I met up with some friends for Dim Sum. After that I went back to the British Museum and went to see the soldiers.

The narration provided was interesting and offered a different angle to what I have known from being Chinese. Some conclusions that were reached made me smile whilst others surprised me. All in all the exhibition was a real eye opener for me and it made me more determined to visit them for real one day.

On another note, Jude Law was there too…

Other news in my life was the birth of my newest cousin, Alexander and 7lbs 8oz. Photos of him are on my facebook…

His birth has made me think about when I will have a child of my own. Lots go through my mind… if you want to know what, then read some of my earlier blogs.

Right now I am trying to refocus and make my way to the gym again, albeit in a lesser capacity. I have a new goal. All my efforts were made to prepare myself for the possibility of playing rugby, but my knee and ankle have shown me that it’s not going to happen now. Instead, I am not changing my strategy to prepare and condition my body for climbing Mount Everest in March.

Still crippled...

A week on and I am still hobbling. I am now wondering if the injury is more serious than I first thought. Maybe in my younger years I healed quicker? Maybe I’m not healing because it needs professional medical help. Give it another week and if it is still no better I guess I will have to see a doctor.

The weekend has been pretty boring. I washed my car (again!) and I got my eyes tested. I have perfect vision. Not bad for a 30 year old!

On that note I have decided to get myself checked up from top to bottom. I’m not getting any younger and I should know what kind of shape I am in. I don’t expect to live forever, but I would like to stay as mentally and physically able as possible! Fingers crossed!

Argh... my knee!

The weekend just gone has been one of most significance to me in the last 2-3 years.

For about 3 weeks I had been looking forward to this weekend because my old school had organised a Rugby 7s tournament. Not only was I going to play my favourite sport, I was going to see some familiar old faces.

The weekend started as pretty much every weekend does, with me getting up early on a Saturday morning to go to the gym followed by the ritual of washing my car. I was all prepared for a trip up to London to have dinner with some friends, one of which has just come back from Japan… But I got a text from my cousin in law who invited me round for a BBQ at his new house. My initial thought was grab a burger and then head off to London for dinner. When I got there I was welcomed with a couple of items of news… my cousin had set a date for his wedding AND my other cousin was pregnant! :O

There was a bit of a gathering with my cousin in law’s sister’s family there and his best friend and his family. It was just a nice summer’s day with good food. The children there were most energetic and we ended up wandering round to an open field where we threw a Frisbee around before the women wandered off to the shops leaving behind 4 grown men and a 6 year old girl. How did we keep ourselves entertained? We played ‘bulldog’! It was a funny sight!

Anyway, I had to make my way to London and as we left I got a text to say people were dropping out. So I stayed and we went back to the house for more BBQ food and the second half of the England match against Israel which ended convincingly for England. As we sat in the garden cooking and drinking and chatting it was one of the most pleasant says I have had in years. As the night drew near, we started to play silly drinking games which was very funny… when we got bored of that we decided to play even sillier games like spinning around a pole 10 times and then walking to the other side of the garden. Well that was the plan! What actually happened was that people were falling sideways and collapsing everywhere. But me, I had to try to demolish the shed by running into it… luckily I was dragged to the ground before any damage was done! It was hilarious!

But it was getting late and we all had early starts, mine being a rugby 7s tournament. We called it a night at 1am and I headed off home to pack my rugby gear.

Sunday… the day had finally arrived. I got up, got changed and left the house. I drove to school. I arrived and drove around the grounds reminding myself of the past I once had there. I parked up and wandered over to the field where a lot of the old boys were. There were many familiar faces but not many names. The strange thing was how these faces had aged… so much more than I expected. AND the fact that most of them were in the years below me!

Lots of catching up needed to be done and some faces I never expected to see again were appearing randomly. However, I was looking forward to playing some rugby. At kick off we managed to get through some phases of play and passed the ball fluently from player to player. We even managed to score a try! Then from kick off I ran and jumped for the ball. I got a touch but landed awkwardly with an opposition player on top of my right leg, spraining my ankle and twisting my knee. That was the end of me. I was hobbling for the rest of the day. I stayed on to chat some more to some old friends, swapped numbers before finally heading off home feeling rather annoyed at the injury I incurred.

I was in a lot of pain and I was getting worried that the injury was going to mean another knee op… Something I don’t want to go through again. Once home I strapped up my knee in the knee brace I had when I was going through the original operation. It took the weight off my knee and I hobbled a bit better!

The rest of the day I spent resting before venturing out to get food and petrol. For the rest of the night I planned to watch TV, but I got a call from my cousin and I went round for a game of Articulate! It was there that I got some more news… my cousin asked me to be his best man for his wedding. I felt very touched…

It was a weekend of highs and lows… of past memories and news of the next generation…

Unfortunately up till writing this blog my knee has recovered but my ankle hasn’t and I am still hobbling like an old man!

Though it has been one of the nicest weekends of my life, I feel disappointed I don’t have anyone to share this with…