Zap me ’til I’m glooooowing

It is no secret that I am accident prone.  I sometimes think I could injure myself with an enthusiastic sneeze.

I have a couple of old injuries that are coming back to haunt me now.  My right shoulder and my right achilles tendon have both decided that they are none too enthusiastic about me being back in the gym.  I’m having problems even moving my right arm now and my tendon looks like I have a golf ball shoved under the skin.  It hurts to even walk.

For a few years when I was in college, I was part of a drama troupe.  We did performances all over the place.  Some were as simple as short skits and some were elaborate movement pieces that combined elements of sign language, interpretive dance, and martial arts.

We had this one piece that we were performing for the first time in front of about 2000 college students.  We had practiced it quite a bit but never performed it before.  It had a fairly elaborate fight scene in it that I had help to choreograph.  At the end, I was to get thrown across the stage backwards, flip around in the air, and land on my stomach.

I had never performed the stunt, but I was cocky and confident.  Wasn’t I a martial artist?  Didn’t I know how to take a fall?  I knew it would be spectacular and that I would impress everyone.

Oh, I made an impression alright.

The moment came.  I jumped forward and three guys grabbed me and pushed me backwards.  I kicked as hard as I could with both legs to get height and distance in the throw.  I arched my back in the air and used my body to twist and turn in the air.  As my body attained the proper orientation, I spun my head around to spot the ground so I could cushion the impact and complete this awesome display of my athleticism.

When my head came around, my eyes widened in shock.  Rather than seeing the floor of the stage as expected, I saw a yawning gulf with the stage fading just beyond reach.

…

I had jumped too far and cleared the stage completely.  As my body continued to rotate and turn in the air after not connecting with the expected support of the ground, I realized that I was sailing uncontrollably off the stage and into the orchestra pit that was depressed into the floor.

It was about a twenty foot fall and I landed on the side of my head and neck, but my right shoulder took the majority of the impact.

I hit with a resounding *smack* that could be heard at the back of the auditorium over the sound of the music.  The embarrassment, shock and adrenaline cushioned me from the pain and I shot up in true prairie dog fashion and looked around only to realize with horror that all eyes were rivited on the pit.  The side of my face was covered in blood, but I’m not sure that could be seen over the extreme redness of embarassment on my face.

Like an idiot, I never had my shoulder looked at and it has given me problems ever since.  Sometimes, when I am inactive, it isn’t so bad.  Now that I am back to being active though, it is reminding me of just how stupid I am.

The tendon story isn’t much better.  If there is one truth in my life, it is that my ability to be accident prone many times falls in the aftermath of me uttering the words, “Hey!  I have a great idea!”

It was during my days of managing a swimming pool.  It had been a very long and very hot day.  I had arrived at the pool before 9 that morning and had worked straight through without a break.  The day had been over 100 degrees all day, so we were all hot, tired, and stressed out.  We also had a private pool party that night, so instead of closing down at 7, we had to stay until 9.

As hour 12 of me being at the pool approached, I asked my guards if they wanted to stay after we closed the pool and unwind… blow off some steam.  They knew that when I said that, it usually involved alcohol and acting stupid so they all agreed.

We closed up the pool and sent everyone home and then broke out the drinks.  We were mixing drinks, talking and laughing and enjoying each other’s company.

As always happened, someone eventually suggested we move the party to the pool.  12 hours of being in the sun with no food causes the alcohol to race through your system faster than normal, so we were all feeling pretty brave.  Not long after moving to the pool, someone suggested we have a “trick dive” contest.

Trick dives are a quick recipe for injuries.  Drunken trick dives are a quick recipe for a hospital visit.

We had been giving it our best and probably thought we were the height of awesomeness on the diving board, but I’m quite sure we looked exactly like what we were… drunken fools playing with death.

Which is when I had my idea for “the perfect dive.”

The idea was to jump on the board like I was going to dive, but rather than coming down on my feet for the extra spring, I would sit down on the board.  When the board threw me back up, I would reverse in the air and come down in front of the board but grab it with my hands.  As the board sprang back up, I would pull myself into the air and back onto the board landing on my feet and springing back into the air for a one and a half back flip into a dive.

Yeah.  I really am that stupid.

It started well… that is to say that I didn’t fall off the board in a drunken stupor the second I stepped up on it.  Of course, that would have been better.

I ran to the end of the board and launched myself into the air and came down on my butt just as planned.

What I had forgotten in my alcohol haze was that we textured the diving boards to prevent slipping when they got wet.  We textured them by mixing sand into a rubber-based apoxy paint and painting the boards.

Let me tell you, when the tender skin on your inner thighs suddenly and unexpectedly gets mangled on that texturing, you have one thought… get off the board!

Rather than attempting to continue my attempt at pure idiocy, I let the board bounce me up and I leaned forward to fall into the water.

I forgot to spread my legs… which was really necessary due to my extreme close proximity to the board that was falling back downwards.

The board crashed into the back of my right leg… right on the achilles.  The weight of the board cut clean through the tendon to the bone of my ankle and broke my ankle.

I ended up doing my best to patch it up using sterile trips.  I had a 3D boot at home, so I ended up wearing that for several months.  I never went to the hospital because… well… the pool was owned by the hospital.  Had I gone in, I would have had to explain how it all happened and I would have gotten myself and all of my guards fired for drinking on the property.

Anyway, those two moments of brillance have come back to haunt me now.  I’ve been dealing with it as best I could for the last 7 weeks, but it has finally reached the point where I can’t any longer. 

I called a sports medicine doctor yesterday and made an appointment.  When he asked me how I had injurred myself, I related the above 2 stories to him.  About mid-way through, I heard him put me on speaker phone.  Through the chorus of noises that could only be an office full of people trying not to laugh, I get the feeling that at least a few of them ended up peeing themselves.

So this next Tuesday, I get to go face my new fans of my stupidity to get x-rays and mri’s… and, I’m quite sure, some not-so-gentle ribbing.

And then there was one…

As of last night, I am officially down to 1 account in EQ2.  I just couldn’t justify keeping both accounts open any longer.  I did still 2-box on occasion, but we’re talking maybe once a month.

I did get Ray moved over.  I had heard that the manual character transfer method took several weeks at best, but I submitted my request Tuesday evening and Ray was moved by the time I got home from work yesterday.

Was moving him smart?  Probably not.  I rarely get the chance to play him, but I really enjoy him and play him as frequently as I can… but that isn’t very frequently.  One huge benefit of moving him though is that I have nearly enough shards on Rao to get Ray into a full suit of T2 shard armor.  And with the frequency that I run shard missions on Rao, it won’t be very long until that T2 armor set is complete.

I’m maybe 25% through the brigand fabled epic quest.  I realize that the fabled quests are not overly difficult, but it is hard for me to find the time to work on it.  I’ll get it done sooner or later.

That puts my main account with a level 80 dirge, level 80 brigand, level 74 wizard, and a level 48 ranger.  Those are the toons that I play.  I’m starting to realize that I screwed up though.

The dirge is also a level 80 armorsmith, the brig is a level 70 sage (soon to be 80), the wizard is a level 80 jeweler, and the ranger is a level 50 woodworker.  Also on that account is a level 52 tailor, a level 80 provisioner, and a level 80 carpenter.

Here is where I have screwed up.  The carpenter is a level 45 guardian and I have come to realize that I have absolutely zero interest in playing a guardian any further.  The provisioner is a level 25 templar and I have come to realize that I have absolutely zero interest in playing a templar any further.  The tailor is a level 22 wizard.  What the hell do I want a second wizard for?

The reason for having 2 wizards is kind of silly.  The lower level wizard was the toon I created when I pre-ordered EQ2 and they sent out the disk that allowed you to create your toons early.  He is wearing a bunch of gear that is totally worthless, but it is no longer available.  So far, that “antique” gear is all that has kept me from deleting him and starting a new character in his place.  When I came back to the game, I decided I wanted to play a wizard but I wanted a gnome rather than a high elf and Fuzz was born.  I could always betray the other to a warlock which will probably be what I’ll do if I ever decide I need a new toon to play.

The templar and guardian are just wasted spots though.  I log them on occasionally to craft something, but beyond that, they are just taking up space.

I have been debating lately deleting them and creating classes I actually want to play and then just re-grinding their tradeskills.  Not a fun thought, but that is probably what will eventually happen.

The whole argument really isn’t much of an argument anyway though.  I have always traditionally been a 1-toon player.  I’ll have alts that I tinker with, but none ever get leveled far and none get played much.  Other than SWG, this is the only game I’ve ever played where I had more than 1 max level toon at any given time.  I just like to have other options to tool or fool around on when I’m bored.

If the whole “going back to school” thing works out, it becomes even less of a concern as I don’t know yet whether I’ll keep playing anything at all at that point.  I’m not sure if I’ll have time to play and the cost consideration will be in there too.

I’m starting to have a few doubts crop up with regards to returning to school.  Most of those are the result of having too much time to think and worry about it.  My head will be a bit clearer after next Thursday once I’ve had the time to visit a University and sit down to discuss all of this with those who can actually give me some answers.

Gaming Fitness Pain Part 2

To build upon the weekend game, I decided on my own to do a semi-repeat last night.  As it was raid night and we schedule a few afk breaks during a raid to stretch our legs and regroup, I figured it would be suicide to do something like 20 pushups everytime someone went afk.  24 afk’s times 20 = pain I did not wish to feel.

As we were forming, I decided to myself that I would do 1 minute planks every time we wiped and/or every time we dropped a boss.  Not knowing our target in advance, I figured there was a chance for a decent ab workout.

Why, in the name of all I hold dear, did we have to do VS last night?

As we were deciding to call it a night and as I was struggling to sit upright as my abs were screaming in protest, I decided there were 2 ways I could look at it.  First, I could promise myself to never decide on a course of action prior to knowing the raid target again.  Or second, just a few more VS raids and I should have a stomach that you could bounce a quarter off of.

I’ve realized for some time now that my reasons for maintaining a second account are getting harder and harder to justify.  I rarely 2-box any longer because, quite honestly, I don’t like doing it.  My second account only has 1 toon on it and I rarely get the opportunity to play him since everyone always wants Rao.

I have kept that second account active, however, because I really do enjoy playing Ray and I didn’t want to let him go.  I’ve wanted for some time to get him moved to my main account, but of course, the automated character transfer service has been down for nearly a year.

I finally got all of the information I needed to do a manual character transfer and submitted the request last night.  I hope that it goes through without any problems, but I’ve already decided that if there is a problem and Sony doesn’t move him, I’m going to go ahead and cancel that account anyway.  I hate to lose that character, but I can always grind up a new brigand.

I spoke with the University that I graduated from yesterday to find out some information about my desire to go to PT school.  The news I found out was both encouraging and discouraging.  It was encouraging in that I am going to have to take far fewer courses than I initially thought to qualify for PT school.  It was discouraging in that my GPA doesn’t currently meet the minimum requirements for PT school and I don’t know yet if I’ll be able to get it high enough.

I had 2 bad semesters… my first 2.  I didn’t want to be in college and had absolutely zero interest in the classes I took.  As a result, I rarely went to class, only showed up to take a few tests, and failed most of the classes.  I eventually took all of those classes over again and got A’s in all of them, but the damage was done.  Even though the classes were retaken, the failing grades, as well as the later A’s, figure in to my cumulative GPA.  Once I got my act together, I maintained a 4.0 for the rest of my college career, but I graduated with a cumulative of about 2.7.

I haven’t given up though… far from it.  I just realize that I have one serious uphill climb ahead of me.

I’m taking next Thursday and Friday off from work.  On Thursday, I’m going to take a trip to go visit my old University to find out exactly what my cumulative GPA will be if I take all of the courses I need and maintain my 4.0.  If things look good, on Friday, I’m going to take another trip to the University that I want to attend PT school at and I’m going to visit with the department head and start gathering information.

The road is long and difficult and there is definately a chance of complete failure, but I’ve been in that situation before.

Gaming Fitness Pain

Wow… with an emphasis on ‘ow.’

One of my good friends in the guild got on a fitness kick too although it hit him earlier than it did me.  We talk about what we’re doing pretty much every day and it helps (me at least) with the motivation to keep going.

This weekend, we came up with a sadistic game.  I don’t remember what day it was (the days ran together this weekend.  More on that later) but we put together one of those marathon groups that ran all day long and then some.  Not long after putting it together, he shot me a tell saying, “Here’s the deal.  Any time anyone goes afk, we have to do 20 pushups.”

Later on, we exchanged pushups for body-weight lunges.

Of course, needless to say, once the people in our group caught wind of what we were doing, they started inventing reasons to go afk.

I was very sore yesterday from doing that and I am still sore today, but it put a new spin on gaming… a new spin that I like a great deal.

I hit the gym this morning for the first time since Friday.  My gym was closed yesterday and the lack of sleep I’ve had prevented me from making it Saturday or Sunday.  I had a good run this morning… doing about 3 miles.

I also go to test out my new mp3 player which I bought on Sunday.  I haven’t ever owned one before and swore I would never buy one, but running without music gets boring to me and I find new excuses to quit early.  Today, I just put the headphones on and went.  It was almost a surprise to realize that I was to the cooldown part of the workout.

So yeah… I didn’t sleep at all this weekend.  Friday night, I literally never closed my eyes.  Saturday wasn’t much better.  Sunday, I went to bed early, fell asleep fast, and woke up about 2 hours later and was up the rest of the night.  Yesterday, I fell asleep around 3 on the couch and slept until 5.  I ended up getting in bed by 10, reading until 11, and then staring at the ceiling until 3.  I finally fell asleep but woke up again around 5.

My mind is going 900 mph right now spinning around the idea of going back to school.  The more I think about it, the more I want to do it.  I believe it is the right thing to do.  I’ve been working in IT for 15 years now and have been absolutely miserable doing it for 14 of those 15 years.  How much longer do I let myself be miserable?

Going back to school, even at my age, doesn’t scare me.  The thought that scares me is trying to figure out exactly how I’ll do it.  I won’t be able to work… or, if I can, it will be a part time job at best.  There are about 15 factors that have to line up and line up perfectly or this is not going to work at all.

And there is that self-doubting part of me that keeps reminding me that this is an all-or-nothing venture.  If I go back and either can’t cut it or decide a few weeks in that I made a mistake, I’ll be screwed.

I don’t think I’ll decide I made a mistake though.

I am now just trying to get everything lined up.  I’m going to take next Thursday and Friday off to go sit down with an advisor and map out what I will need to take.  If it all looks doable, I’ll go ahead and fill out all of my paper work and get my applications for student loans and grants submitted.

My plan is to work until mid-August and then quit to become a full-time student again.

Scary… but exciting.

That gurgling sound you hear

The whole idea of going back to school is not a new one.  I’ve been debating it off and on for several years.  I started seriously thinking about it last year around this time.

A friend of mine did it.  Last summer, he just decided he was going to do it.  He quit his job, sold off nearly everything he owned (including his house), and went to school.  At the age of 36, he moved into the dorms and spent a semester there.  The second semester, he rented a house from his sister.  This summer, he is moving back into the dorms and working as an RA.

He has enough money socked away that everything is being paid in cash so far.  He won’t actually have to start looking into financial aid until he starts dental school in a couple of years.

My situation is somewhat different.  I am swimming in debt.  I graduated with my first undergrad degree in the mid-90’s and I am still trying to pay that off.  I also have a couple years of graduate school added to the bill… not to mention a small, but significant handfull of other debts I am working to pay off.

I’ve spent the last few months wracking my brain trying to think my way around the problem.  I could go back to school and take out additional student loans.  Unfortunately, the amount of personal debt I have would almost require me to work full time.  I can do that.  I’ve juggled a full-time job with school before.

The trick this time is that I am looking at going pre-physical therapy… which will have a lot of science classes… which all require a weekly lab… which are always scheduled in the early afternoon.

I’m trying like hell to find my way clear.  I have a few ideas, but I need to work on them a bit and see where they go.  Unfortunately, I am working against the clock here.  I have a lot to do and not much time to do it.  If I am going to do this, I want to start in the fall… which is only a few short months away.  Sounds like a lot of time, but so much of this paperwork that has to be filed has a deadline of early July and most of it takes at least a few weeks to process.

Mass hysterical panic is setting in.

I didn’t really play last night.  I logged on and realized I wasn’t in the mood.  I knocked out a quick tradeskill level and logged off.

I was going to spend the rest of the evening reading, but the SWG icon on my desktop was taunting me.  I activated my All Access last weekend to try out EQMac, so all of my old games are active.  I’ve had the SWG itch lately… not sure why.

I patched up and logged on briefly.  It was almost heartbreaking to see how deserted it was.  I went to 6 or 7 former hubs of lagtastic activity and was the only person anywhere near.

I did create a new character on a different server… one reported to be the most popular these days.  I did run in to quite a few people there.  The population seems to be quite lively.

Now I’m asking myself, “Do I want to start over from scratch in that game?”  I’m not even sure at this point that I’m going to leave my access pass running.  Sure, I would like to jump in to these other games from time to time when I need a break from EQ2, but I’m not sure it is worth it.

If I cancelled my second EQ2 account, the cost would be the same.  As I rarely use that second account any longer, there isn’t much keeping me from it… except for Ray.  I still love playing Ray on the rare chances that I get to.

I would just move him to my main account, but…. the freaking character transfer service is STILL down as it has been for nearly a year now… and I STILL haven’t been able to get a good, solid response from Sony on the manual transfer method.  The links they keep sending me keep popping up with invalid security certificates and, I’m sorry… I’m not sending my credit card information over a connection that may or may not be secure or legit.

I shouldn’t worry about any of it though.  More and more these days, I wonder if I have played out my days in MMO’s.  And, if I DO end up going back to school, the chances that I’m done with MMO’s pretty much becomes a certainty.