The Benefits of a Bad Knee

In the look-for-the-silver-lining category, having screwed up my knee has given me one benefit, vis a vis my martial arts game. It's taken away my reliance on being able to get there fast, and instead required that I get there carefully.

Not that I want the knee to stay screwed up. I am doing all the things one is supposed to do -- RICE, then heat, working it with balor, babying, wearing a decent brace.

(Though not a really good brace. The best off-the-shelf sport model, the Ossur CTi OTS Pro Sport Knee Brace used by motocross guys and jocks who have to keep playing, is somewhat spendy -- $579, on sale. Spendy, but even that is not a patch on the custom jobs. Now we are talking mucho dinero.)

Most of my time in various arts, I have been enough of a jock to gut my way through. If I didn't have the technique down cold, I could muscle it. Seldom been in an art where I wasn't in as good, or better, shape, than most of the other students, and this is both good and bad. Good, because being in shape helps across the board. Bad, because it does allow you to cheat. Cheating is good -- but not if you are cheating yourself.

So the last few weeks, I have been doing my djurus very mindfully, because torque lets me know in a hurry that I really ought not be doing that. And moves in class require attention, too.

I should always have been paying that much attention, but the truth is, I haven't.

Am now.

It remains to be seen what Mr. Medial Meniscus and Mr. Anterior Cruciate Ligament are going to do. Heal, I hope. Else, it's The Knife ... and I wouldn't rather not, thank very kindly.

If life hands you a lemon ... (Though, there are times when life does that? I want to shove the lemon down life's throat, and the snake it slithered in on, too ...)