Tough Decisions

I'm making one of those at the moment. It's about the cricket.

I've talked about being able to run at Warp Speed a few times here. I've loved doing that ever since I figured out how (there's a technique that separates it from mere jogging) and there was a certain satisfaction to usually being the fastest runner in the team. Over short distances at least. I'd run out of batteries after that and the huffing, puffing and gasping for air would start.

(Actually - the huffing and puffing was due to hay fever pills that were having the opposite effect !)

Yeah - I liked having that feeling of wind rushing through my ears with sheer speed and cricket gave me the space to let me indulge that fully. And I could indulge my sense of inner amusement too by acting scary (yes - really!) fielding quote close in. And on my day, I was pretty good at it.

My other cricket strengths were bowling, where (on my day again because it depended on conditions) I could be a pretty dangerous medium pace bowler. I could make the ball move literally feet sideways through the air on its way down to the batsman. I could also bat reasonably well although usually ran out of batteries (and strength in the arms) before getting the big scores.

But recently ?

Cricket last year saw me play 3 games before my knees were too torn up to play. The first two were horrible. It was cold, damp and even in almost new spiked boots, I could barely get enough footing to stand up, let alone use Warp Speed. It's like the grass reaches up and tries to either grab your foot or tries to slap it out from underneath you. One of the 3 dropped catches was due to my feet slipping out from underneath me when I tried to plant myself for the catch.

Embarassing huh ?

The third game was pretty good. Lots of sun and a very well prepared Tormarton ground. But it's bad not running the ball down with that speed because you know that when you get there, you can't throw it due to damage to the shoulder. It wasn't all bad, I still had enough to do crazy things on the infield, like field balls standing on my head (it happened) and save lots of runs by looking scary and pro enough to make them just decide not to take me on.

All bluff of course ;-) Although I did earn my team the occasional valued wicket by making run outs happen and I did genuinely make people think twice about taking me on.

The decision ?

Even with the skin problems, I'm getting far more broken now as I approach 40. It's not nice to admit that or even acknowledge problems that include that shoulder (good for half a good throw a game) but also a back that's got painful all over now and muscles that really hate me now. Actually, I think that muscle thing is a side effect of the skin, all the moisture is going towards making the skin better leaving not enough to keep the muscles happy.

I should really have ditched the cricket maybe last year, with that shoulder being so poor (I have 95% movement but power throws and bowling are bad) and a general slow down in reactions. But a big reason was that it was becoming a bit of a chore, instead of the fun that it should be.

And that's the real turning point for any decision. It doesn't just apply to the cricket :

I know someone who's given up reenacting because the enjoyment wasn't there any more;
The cricket suddenly became terribly hard work;
And things like gaming seeming like a second job (this killed WoW and World of Tanks for me)

If it's supposed to be fun but isn't ending up that way, that's the universe telling you to find something else to do.

Like cat pictures ! (Cue blatant sledgehammer like change of subject)

I'm not giving up on the cricket 100%. I'm not ready at the moment :

Skin is genuinely improving but it's still ridiculously easy to set back the healing;
General ouchies
Too heavy

But I am seeing one by one, the bad patches turn perfect again. I have hope that by the end of the season, I may be able to report for duty as emergency sub. I'm too broken to force other people out of the team but ... I'm still better than the 11th person (11 to make a team) that wasn't there at all. And there might be a little comic relief too.

I know I enjoy the games with the team I'd turn out for. They're a good mob. (Not saying who cos that would say who I work for - which isn't going here !)

I may need a new hobby though to replace the cricket. Gaming isn't as much fun for me now, mostly because my brain is frazzled after work and I don't want to subject it to gaming. So how about :

Muahaha.
And driving people crazy with my habit of doing :

:-)