I’m Young and Destructible

This month has been rough on my body. I seem to keep getting hurt lately. About four weeks ago I bruised the cartilage in my left shoulder while practicing backward handsprings. For two weeks I’d get stabbing pains in my shoulder if I moved it certain ways or lifted anything heavier than a shovel. So I took it easy and three weeks later it was feeling better. I felt comfortable ramping up my training again.

On the first day I decided to work hard, at kung fu, on a Monday, I started doing some pushups. I started a set of 60 and everything was feeling fine, no soreness or anything while doing them, I finished the set and stood up. Immediately a muscle between my right shoulder blade and spine tightened up. It was the worst muscled strain I’ve ever had, it hurt to move, breathe or even talk. I was pissed off that I somehow hurt myself so bad doing something so simple with no warning. For the next three days I pretty much couldn’t do anything. It was worse than the last injury because I couldn’t work around it, using other muscles still send waves of pain to my back. This one had me really worried but it healed much faster than I was expecting. It only put me out of commission for about a week.

Four weeks later and aside from other annoying aches and pains like my right knee (my knees never bother me?) I’m healed and ready to go. It’s been a bad month for my UBBT requirements. I didn’t contribute as much as I usually do but it’s better to heal as fast as possible to make up for it later. This past week I’ve been going harder and I’m back on track.

Last night I got hit by a car while trying to cross the street. I had the flashing white guy and was trying to get across Whyte Avenue. I noticed the car closest to me, at the red light, was signaling and eyeing to turn right. He was kind of creeping along, I knew he hadn’t seen me so I waited and tried to get his attention. He stopped didn’t move and I thought he’d noticed me, I was in plain sight off to the side, I still had the crosswalk light so I stepped into the street. I got to about the center of his car when he suddenly gave it the gas to go around the corner. He wasn’t going very fast since he was just now accelerating from a stop to turn the corner but I was right in front of him and didn’t have time to move out of the way. I was on my guard and reacted quickly. I jumped straight up, pulled up my legs and landed on his hood with my knees. I then slid into the windshield with my left shoulder since he was still moving forward, I was sideways on the hood, facing left of the driver and pressed up against the glass. The driver then hit the brakes and I slid off the hood back onto my feet.

I escaped with only a skinned left knee and a sore right ankle. Like I said he wasn’t moving very fast but if I hadn’t got my legs out of the way he would have nailed me in the side of the knee and surely broke a leg. I didn’t feel hurt at all except for a mild ache in my right ankle so I figured I just twisted it coming off the hood. I got the guys info and license plate number and talked with him a bit. He was pretty good about it, he offered to drive me wherever I wanted or pay for any medical needs, and I could tell he was scared to death. I told him I wasn’t seriously hurt and I’d probably never see him again. I said I’m not the kind of person to try and make money out of the situation. I told him I might have lightly sprained an ankle but the worst that would do is maybe make me miss a day or two of work (I would expect him to cover my wage for those days and that’s it). Everything said and done I then drove home.

My ankle started to feel worse as the rest of the night progressed but today it feels right as rain. It’s kind of funny but I never really felt angry about the whole situation until late that night when the ankle started to feel worse. I was thinking, “Great! I just finished healing and now I’m going to be hurt again.” I managed to keep a cool head throughout, I never really yelled at the guy and I was only really angry for the first few seconds immediately after impact. I was laughing about it right away, out of bewildered disbelief. I can defiantly see how my years of training in Kung Fu have helped me keep cool. I never had much of a temper before to be honest but now I’m always surprised by how hard it is for me to get genuinely angry. I think it’s pretty cool and hilarious that I got hit by a car and never once yelled at the driver (maybe I should have?)

Two more good reasons to practice Kung Fu: car dodging abilities and anger management.

I have a cold now and I’m coughing my lungs out (can’t catch a break!); I’m going to bed to sleep for a week. Or at least until 7 when I have to get up for work (I wish I could sleep for a week)