The Height of Indolence

28Feb/100

Last weekend I went snowboarding in Vermont with a few friends. Unfortunately for me, my trip was cut short because on the first day I somehow managed to fly into a tree and landing against it with my knee. The only two falls I can ever remember being worse than this was one time where I landed bad and hurt my hip, and another time where I went off a rail or a box (I can't remember) and landed on my shoulder.

Both times I was badly hurt, but what makes this last weekend's accident the worst is that it's my knee. You don't ever want shit fucked up in your knee. I'm especially worried because the activities that I love to do requires that my knees be functional. Snowboarding and jiu jitsu takes a toll on your knees.

I hurt it last Saturday, and it was bad for the first 2 days. I was walking fine for the most part but there was a nagging, slightly sharp pain in on the left side of my knee every time I put a load on it, such as walking up and down the stairs where for a split second, all my weight is on one leg. I didn't go to jiu jitsu classes all week but by Friday, I felt like I was good to go for the most part. After class, the nagging pain in my knee came back.

I'm worried this might be something serious enough for me to have surgery. If I were to go through any type of surgery, this would be a disaster for me. So much of my life revolves around jiu jitsu. It's the glue in my life. Some people who lift weights may understand. Going to the gym becomes a routine in your life, and when you don't train for an extended period of time you feel like crap.

It's particularly bad for me because I plan my whole schedule around it. I have a very exact routine. If I'm able to get off work at 7pm or earlier, I take the train straight to my gym. Class starts at 7:30 and ends at 9:00. I'm in the door at home by 10:15, hop in the shower, eat dinner, check my email and do some browsing on the internet until midnight. I'm in bed by midnight and I wake up by 7:00am. The whole cycle repeats.

I don't do jiu jitsu everyday but I plan things like weight lifting on my off days. This past week, because of my knee injury, I couldn't do any jiu jitsu. I didn't have the motivation to lift weights either. Instead, what I ended up doing most of the time was calling some friends out after work and spending money on degenerate activities.

That's what I consider any activity that doesn't in some way better you as a person. If all you do after work everyday is sit at home and watch television, then you might possibly have the makings of a degenerate. This is assuming you don't have some type of crazy 80+ hours a week work schedule. Then you, my friend, are entitled to coming home and vegging out on television if only because you have time to do nothing else.

So yea, I've been somewhat of a degenerate. And being that's winter and all, on days I don't do anything I somehow manage to justify that because I didn't sweat all day, it'd be alright to skip out on a shower. Not to mention the laundry. I have dirty laundry all over the place. When I train jiu jitsu on a regular basis, I have to wash my gi (gi kimono) every time I use it since I only have two. So I did laundry at least twice a week.

I feel unhealthy and disheveled. I plan to get my knee checked out soon and I hope that the doctor ends up finding nothing wrong with it.