badger_14

Getting sick at the worst time: rehearsals are beginning in earnest for Mozart's Requiem, and my brother, SIL, and nephews are coming for a visit. On top of that, my mother is having a royal sh*tfit over a piece of my identity that she disagrees with, and I may have to go infect the choir and ruin my vocal cords just to avoid her for the evening.

Davetronz has good advice - pick one small thing to work on. Hell, I still do that as a forward. And I know that, when I was first learning to skate & play, I definitely had spells where I would plateau and then be terrible for a few weeks, even worse than I was before. I tend to chalk it up to thinking too hard and needing a break to let knowledge percolate. When I went to an adult camp a couple of years ago, I felt like about midway through 12 hours of ice I was just awful and a shame to the game of hockey, but things improved, and after a week off after camp things seemed to click and I started doing better again. Small goals - "I will work on [x] today" and maybe a break to let your brain parse all this weird goalie stuff.

Finally got a chance to try the on-ice version of goaltending. Had intended to go to an clinic followed by a novice scrimmage, but got there well in advance of the clinic and stumbled onto a pick-up session, and was asked to play. (I gave fair warning beforehand, and apologized afterward for being awful). It was very hard to get used to using the pads with skates, especially with player skates. Very different sensation. I could blame a lot of my being terrible on not having a lot of time to stretch or warm up (it's tricky to move when your back seizes up and you can't feel your legs properly), but mostly I think it was just unused muscles and not being used to the skating part. I did get a little better/more comfortable by the end of the pick-up. New pants work just fine - the only bruise I got was on an unprotected patch that could be solved by a little tinkering with the fit of my pads. Also different is the way the puck feels on the stick and pads (blocker, in particular) vs. the ball I'm used to. I thought, though, that with the puck I felt like I knew where it was more, with the ball sometimes it goes bouncing and you think you have it but you don't, and it's somewhere near the blueline. The clinic is a general novice/adult clinic - goalies are welcome to come down for free for target practice, and for an extra fee they can have some goalie-specific lessons. I paid the fee and it ended up being just me and one coach, and I got a chance to work on some basic movement, get the puck bounced off me, shuffle, angling. Aside from the friendly neighborhood back spasming, I felt really good for it being my first time as an ice goalie, and I'm looking forward to trying it again.

Played goalie on-ice for the first time, after accidentally stumbling onto a pickup game on my way to a goalie clinic this morning. Was spectacularly bad and thoroughly enjoyed it. It's going to take me a few rounds to get used to skates + pads. That plus the clinic is two hours in pads on ice this morning, which means I will totally regret this decision tomorrow, but right now I'm in that nice buzzed 'I wish I could do this all day' phase. (eta: yes, I apologized for being terrible.)

It happens so much less these days, but I hate when I wander (with no external influence) into a swath of despair. I haven't been a very good human the past few days. At least it was of short duration.

Ultimately, the only thing that gets rid of stones already there is surgery. But it's not all that bad. I was much happier after having my gallbladder out - the surgery hurt less than the attacks! Then again, because I thought the gallstones were back spasms, I sat through attacks for like 2 or 3 years, so YMMV. By the time I got it into my head to go to the ER, they were basically incapacitating, and the ER doc thought it was kidney stones at first. Glad you got it checked out and it's nothing serious.

Gallstones are horrible. I'm sorry. (healthwise yes, better outcome than a heart attack, but still painful). Did they at least give you good drugs and a schedule for a prompt removal?

Be careful what you wish for, or EA might well give you 20-minute intermission segments with Don Cherry.

Yeah, I got that from the ones bouncing off my blocker yesterday. It is pretty flattering when the skaters don't believe you when you say you've only been playing for six months, though. That's right, you grew up playing catcher, right? I wouldn't try glove side on you either.

There's a high correlation (for me) between 'fantastic save' (like Saturday's sprawled-on-the-line glove save) and 'way out of position, never do that again'. Things just seemed to flow today.

Had a great pickup session with the inline group today. Beautiful, clear, bright, cold day. Definitely feel like I'm improving, making solid saves, even "won" a couple rounds (of play-til-10). Just for good measure of course gave up a few awful goals and made a couple of crazy, how-did-that-even-happen saves. Best possible way to spend a New Year's Day. (or, really, any day off.)

It's surprisingly easy to keep cool when your head is vibrating. Some people take this stuff far too seriously. I'm glad I had a real mask and wasn't an inch or two closer to the post. Still feeling dizzy and out of sorts today but it could've been worse.

Congrats!

Guy at street hockey was apparently frustrated that we were losing (at the time - it's a play-til-7-&-take-a-break pickup, so it's more like 6 mini games over two hours), and whacked his stick on the net. Unfortunately, right between his stick and the post was my head. Clipped me right across. Had my ears ringing and I stayed down for a minute. Not so much hurt as straight up pissed off, although I do have a nice headache going. I don't care how frustrated you are - never, ever do that.

I can only hope that my first shift doesn't involve a shooting. (Second, third maybe, that's cool).

I passed my NREMT exams! Who has two thumbs and is a nationally certified EMT-Basic? THIS GUY.

As soon as I can. I have to submit my payment and get the formal authorization to test, then I'm on that like white on rice.

Congrats, that's great!

The word is in: I passed my NREMT practical exam yesterday! I still have to take the cognitive/written, but passing the practical is a huge weight off my shoulders.

Good luck!

Hey, if someone wants to come be my patient for the exam, or help me practice, I more than welcome it...

Since Friday morning: my mom broke her hip, my patient for my exam backed out on me leaving me scrambling to find a new one, and the hockey I was looking forward to to keep from strangling people was cancelled. This is not the relaxing weekend I had hoped to have.

As a member of MSH, if I pass on the first try, expect me to celebrate with as much hockey as possible. Likewise, if I fail on the first try, expect me to vent my frustrations through as much hockey as possible.

Officially finished (and passed) my EMT-Basic class tonight. Certification exams are a couple of weeks away, but I still feel pretty proud of myself for making it this far.

They're mostly college students living on campus, but yeah, for the most part you're correct. They really don't venture out of their bubble that much. Our EMT-Basic programs in the US aren't as competitive to get into as the paramedic programs in Ontario - you sign up, you pay, you attend. If you pass the course, you take the national practical and national written. A lot of the kids do the thing where they try to wheedle extra points on quizzes out of the instructors - "does spelling count", "what if it isn't that exact wording", etc. Hopefully, they don't pass, because I don't want to work with them.