It really is the first step. Of course, what they fail to mention is that your first step of admitting you have a problem may well be the last, final and terminal step, too. After all, you can admit you have a problem, acknowledge the scope of the problem, and decide, screw it, I am going to find a way to co-exist in peace, or some semblance thereof, with your problem.

For me, the problem is that I am a squash glutton. If given the chance, I will gorge myself on the game. I will play until the sweat is dripping off the racquet grip and I have to wipe my hand on the wall. I will play until no wants to play anymore or until I run out of time. This probably does not come across as a problem, does it?

But, you see, I am turning 40 this year, not 30.

The normal amount of time for a squash match is around 30 minutes. Today, I played 90.

My elbow hurts, my knee hurts, my back is tight, my hip is iffy, my shoulder is questionable, and my feet are not speaking to me anymore. I have conclusively established that playing for 90 minutes straight is too much.

And yet, I was seriously thinking about playing with this nice fellow of Indian descent (warning: generalization here -- Indians and Pakistanis are often very good squash players) this evening when he asked me if I knew how he could get a game up tonight. That would have been folly.

Playing for 90 minutes is a problem. Considering playing for more is more of a problem.

I admit (and my joints are forcing me to admit) that I have a problem.

That said, I think I will decline to do anything about it. Because, viewed from a different angle, the problem is that I am less happy off of the squash court than on it. So, perhaps, the impediment to true happiness is work and the time demanded by work. Maybe I should be thinking about ways to spend more time on the court and not less time.

Gee, sounds like I solved my initial problem, didn't I? I admitted I had a problem and then I found a solution to it.

Of course, I suppose the next entry should probably deal with how denial is not a river in Egypt.

Anyone free for a game?

Posted by: Random Penseur at 09:49 AM | Comments (4) | Add Comment
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I am tickled by the thought that if you search the internet from Norway, using a Norwegian search engine, for "Sarah Jackman Lyrics" (link is to the Norwegian search), I come up as the number two result.

All hail Allan Sherman! Even in Norway!

Must have been an American. Seriously, can you imagine a Norwegian searching for this?

Posted by: Random Penseur at 02:18 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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The after effects of taking the racket off of the left cheekbone have been minimal. I love ice. Just a small knot that was a bit sensitive to the touch. No visible bruising. Just a bit tender to the touch, still. Honestly, I cannot emphasize enough the importance of applying ice to an injury.

The vodka at lunch didn't hurt any either, I'll tell you.

Thank you for your kind remarks and good wishes!

Posted by: Random Penseur at 10:30 AM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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*Squash* is not the sound that a racket makes when the edge of it, on a backswing, smacks into your cheekbone just below the eye socket. It makes more a sound between a crack and a dull thud. I know this from personal experience. I gained this personal experience, followed by application of ice to said cheekbone for 40 minutes, this morning while playing someone with a big tennis backswing. I tried a rail shot (scooting the ball down the wall) when I should have gone cross court because when you play a tennis player, the best thing to do is to hit the ball so he has to move away from you in order to make his swing. This was sage advice given to me by an old and wily squash player. I had followed it to great effect and safety up to the point that it seemed a rail shot was called for and then *WHACK* I get slammed in the face with the edge of his backswing.

I am going out for lunch and I am going to apply, internally, a great big extra spicy Bloody Mary. Or maybe even two. I am certain that after ice, vodka, applied internally, is the best thing for me.

Posted by: Random Penseur at 10:40 AM | Comments (4) | Add Comment
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1 Owwwwie. I'm cringing now just thinking of it. You're going to have a heck of a shiner. Hope the vodka worked. You can have one for me while you're at it. That ought to really help with the pain.

Posted by: Kathy at April 13, 2007 11:21 PM (bvIgY)

2 And now.. have you any after-effect of your "Squash"?

Posted by: Artiom at April 17, 2007 09:25 AM (OmPxo)

3 Were you playing doubles? I've seen so many people get whacked playing with four. That's why I was always too scared to do it. Not that I've been playing recently. We left the club that had the courts a couple of years ago and believe it or not, NOBODY else anywhere near our little city has courts except them! And they are a little too far away from where we live now for us to go there anymore. Today we are touring a club not far from us, with a much larger pool and pool service, something the old gym didn't have. Dan says unless we see something we don't like, we are joining there. But they only have tennis courts, not racquetball courts. And I love love LOVE racquetball (squash to you). Sorry you got hurt. Hope it's all healed now. But damn it, I'm envious too! Racquetball is the most fun I've ever had playing a sport. And I'm good at it, too.

Posted by: Amber at April 17, 2007 10:14 AM (zQE5D)

4 LOL.......Friday the 13th!!!!!! Oh man.....hope you are doing alright.Bloody Mary will do the trick tho!Or as we say in the South "Git'r Done!".

Posted by: LW of Snoozebutton Dreams Jim at April 24, 2007 09:50 PM (oqu5j)

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Today begins the celebration of Passover. There are a lot of different themes and images and stories bound up in the celebration of this holiday. One is a theme of remembrance as you commemorate the time spent as slaves in the land of Egypt. Remembrance, for a Jew, for anyone really, is critical. If you do not remember the key events in your shared/collective past, than your current shared identity morphs in ways that cannot be controlled, as it should be, by a reference to the anchor of history. History is critical.

This is why, on the eve of Passover, this story out of England is so troubling:

Teachers are dropping controversial subjects such as the Holocaust and the Crusades from history lessons because they do not want to offend children from certain races or religions, a report claims.

A lack of factual knowledge among some teachers, particularly in primary schools, is also leading to “shallow” lessons on emotive and difficult subjects, according to the study by the Historical Association.

The report, produced with funding from the Department for Education, said that where teachers and staff avoided emotive and controversial history, their motives were generally well intentioned.

“Staff may wish to avoid causing offence or appearing insensitive to individuals or groups in their classes. In particular settings, teachers of history are unwilling to challenge highly contentious or charged versions of history in which pupils are steeped at home, in their community or in a place of worship,” it concluded.[an error occurred while processing this directive]

However, it was concerned that this could lead to divisions within school, and that it might also put pupils off history.

Link to story.

I gather it is offensive to Muslim children to learn about the Holocaust. It is easier, I suppose, to close your eyes to a truth than it is to be forced to confront it.

This Passover, I choose to remember. I choose to remember that Jews were once slaves in the land of Egypt. I choose, moreover, to remember that on the first night of Passover in 2002, a Palestinian homicide bomber walked into a Seder and killed 30 people, many of them survivors of the same Holocaust that has now become too sensitive a subject to teach to the children of that bomber's co-religionists.

I remember.

Tonight, I will tell the story of Passover again to my children so that they too will remember and they too will be part of an unbroken chain of recollection stretching back 5000 years.

I will also spare a thought, a grateful and hopeful thought, that those men and women who stand ready to protect us and all the other Passover Seders taking place tonight are bored out of their minds.

Peace, my friends.

Posted by: Random Penseur at 09:38 AM | Comments (4) | Add Comment
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1 Wasn't that always a huge part of history lessons? To tell children of the bad things that happened so they remember and don't let it happen again? History will teach us nothing unless we listen and remember the lessons learned from the past. Cultures sheltered from other cultures history leads to ignorance of the world and hostility to things they don't understand. I remember the lessons of the holocaust from school, I remember the pictures, I am not Jewish but I am human and I will never forget.

Posted by: Oorgo at April 02, 2007 11:29 AM (ZUQGo)

2 They too will remember and they too will be part of an unbroken chain of recollection stretching back 5000 years. Well said, RP, and an important and noble cause. Best wishes to you and your family on this holiday.

Posted by: MCNS at April 02, 2007 12:54 PM (+h70W)

3 It's just...so scary. Dan is continually sending me links to this kind of thing. Happening all over the world, but especially mind-boggling is it's happening in countries like ours. "George Orwell was an optimist". Indeed. Happy Passover, RP.

Posted by: Amber at April 03, 2007 10:44 AM (zQE5D)

4 We remember too. Happy Passover.

Posted by: Mrs. Peperium at April 03, 2007 06:35 PM (SBevd)

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