It has been an especially eventful several months. My “silent stallion” now has another dent from being rear ended for the second time in two years. I just can’t seem to catch a break over here. I’m wearing a splint over my left hand after surgery for removal of a dorsal ganglion cyst. I’ll have it for about another week or so. Although without pain, it is terribly inconvenient.
Let’s unpack the rear end experience first…
So I’m on the interstate on my morning commute to work in stop and go traffic. One of the boons of this Tesla is its auto-drive technology, so I’m running through my normal paces when I’m rear ended. It was a bit surreal for a moment before I got back to reality and pulled over to pursue the normal activities (call police, exchange information). It happened maybe 2-3 weeks ago and my insurance claims adjuster is still pending update. The good news is that I’m much more patient about the Tesla considering I have my GR Corolla in the stable.
Now about this surgery…
I was slowly building my way up in weight for upper body exercises to include bench press. I distinctly recall a moment where I “tweaked” my wrist during this activity. What normally happens is that I begin to approach my limit and try to “eke” out another rep, but that’s normally where I do things I should not like strain my neck and inadvertently leverage my wrist. So one of these times happened, and my wrist was sore for a few days or so. The soreness went away, but a bit later, I developed the ganglion cyst on my wrist.
Brief Google searching indicates that it can go on its own, so I waited it out for a couple months or so. It seemed as if it was getting larger, which is when I sought a second opinion (from my wife and then ultimately my doctor). Doc essentially gave me a couple choices: 1) live with it or 2) surgery to remove it. I use my wrists on a daily basis for both gaming and for work, and I’ve grown accustomed to full range of motion. Surgery it was.
The surgery was harrowing as they did have to put me under anesthesia, which I had not experienced for over 20 years, but it was quick. The pain scale was about a 2/10, but the splint is frustrating. I’m going to feed this topic into a slight tangent: the concept of taking things for granted.
The loss of free use of your left hand is one of the most obvious methods of exemplifying what it means to take something for granted. It’s always the littlest things that are overlooked. It has been roughly four days and it is crazy what I miss even though I still have use of my fingers. If I didn’t, it would be a tough pill to swallow.
On to another topic: football. EA College Football has me in a chokehold. It seems that EA breathed new life into the development teams behind their sports franchises to revive their old college football game. The new eyes has considerably enhanced their game in comparison to the past couple year of Madden which seem almost like the same game. There is a marked turn away from animation based gaming instead looking at more physics-based engines. I think this was sorely needed and it is appreciated!
Another reason why the game has me in a chokehold is because quite frankly, I never really followed college football. I only followed the Florida Gators mainly because of my brother who became a diehard fan, and at one point, I lived in a dorm that overlooked the Swamp (football stadium). This means that this game not only gives me some football strategy to digest, but it also gives me the opportunity to learn about the NCAA landscape, particularly in Division I. I’m seeing a lot of replay ability in that I can rebuild the team/program for a number of different schools.
When/if I get tired of college football, I have Madden 25 coming right behind it, I have a new Civilization game coming as well, and I have JRPGs that I can dig into both old and new. Once I get this splint off my wrist, I should be able to really revitalize a bit ahead of these uncertain times with my employer (after the recent acquisition/buyout).
To close, about the GR Corolla… I have about 4000-5000 miles clocked on it and it is fantastic. The JBL stereo system on it is poor, and while I installed a little mini-amp to help pump out 45W by 4 speakers for a little more oomph, it still leaves much to be desired. I’m glad I did not buy the car for the stereo!
So what’s ahead? Hopefully the comeback that was to follow the setbacks, because I need all the stability I can get right now! It should prove to be a long couple of weeks before I can lose the splint and regain left wrist mobility.