gemini://mybtm.smol.pub/blowout-august

i dont believe in higher powers or some cosmic plan that we all follow whether we want it or not. but if there are any divinities looking down on me, they have a very crude sense of humor.

last time i complained about having to be places all the time. and even though it was fun, i wished that i could get some time just for myself. i asked and i received, though in an arguably quite painful way.

this week on monday two friends from my school days were in town and we met up in the evening on the beach at a nearby lake. we simmered in humid 30 degrees celsius and decided to play some volleyball. long story short, after about 15 minutes of sweat, sand and a small wound on my knee, i jumped to catch the ball as it flew over the net and landed in an unfortunate way. a stinging pain shot up my back and i remained unable to sit upright for a while. i was completely unable to get back up by myself. rarely have i ever felt this helpless.

my friends picked me up. fortunately i agreed to letting them stay overnight at my place, so i jumped into their car and tried to come up with a battle plan to combat the pain. i pumped myself full of painkillers and went to sleep thereafter, but the pain was just as bad the morning after. i found it nigh impossible to stand straight on my own feet. every step demanded 10 times the focus and energy to move myself forward. i woke my friends up and asked if they could drive me to my gp.

when i sat in the waiting room, i read up on the daily news. there was an article on how a recent study concluded that people in my age range are now sitting 9.5 hours per day on average; a noticeable uptick compared to two years ago. working eight hours on a desk myself, all i could do was chuckle before my name was called. within five minutes i was told that i most likely pulled a bunch of muscles in my lower back, got a prescription for stronger painkillers, physiotherapy sessions, a whole week's worth of sick leave and a suggestion to buy in on some warming plasters. i was told to not sit for hours at a time and keep moving as long as im not putting myself in heaps of pain.

i tended to a lot of life admin and small errands in my apartment. i gave the local library a visit and found some new things to read up on. i tried out some food stands that popped up recently that i didn't get to try yet. and i finally got my camera out again and took some cool shots of an abandoned train depot.

im still a novice when it comes to operating the camera properly and post-processing the images that i took. in hindsight i found that i had some very challenging light conditions and many pictures ended up overexposed. in the future i will probably have to manually lower the exposure when im taking pictures because recovering underexposed areas in post is a lot simpler than recovering overexposed areas. im already researching new photo ops and i will probably put my camera to use a lot more often now that im slowly getting the hang of it.

it does kinda feel like an extension to my vacation but it is anything but. the pain in my back is still there and im still not as mobile as id like to be. at least i can walk straight again without shaky knees. but this time did give me a lot of time to think and rearrange my time outside of work. ill see what comes of it in the following weeks.

... and i blew myself out