Yesterday I ventured off campus (in a non-hospital related way) for the second time since the incident. A friend and I went into Tai Po for dinner/shoe shopping. I was looking for flats, because I own none. With the exception of flip flops and the white slip-ons another friend bought for me shortly before surgery, all my shoes are heeled. That's not true. I do have one pair that's flat..slip on, close toed, black. Typical me. Even my tennis shoes have a rise in them. So I bought a pair of dressier sandals, mostly because I have a formal dinner on Thursday and because we're not allowed to wear flip flops or tennis shoes to the primary school. Anyway, they're cute and comfortable. I also bought a hello kitty phone charm. And had dinner at a ramen place. Can I just say that, as a die-hard fan of ramen noodles, I am delighted to find a restaurant devoted to dishes made with ramen? I had ramen with deep-fried chicken pieces (yum!) and we split a small serving of garlic and beef (yummier) and then had a soft serve ice cream from McDonald's. I think I'm gaining back the weight I lost during my hospital stay. Which is probably good.

Planning for the Spanish module goes into effect tomorrow. I'm going to go through some ideas tonight, and I also just want to brush up on my Spanish. I wish I had some of my Spanish novels from college with me, just to be reading in it so that when we (three of us) teach the class, we can comfortably speak Spanish the whole time.

The cast for Aladdin is set. That's exciting. And the other choreographer and I will be in probably two dances...and I suppose the company bow. I think we'll be in "Friend Like Me" and "A Whole New World". I'm excited. I mean, this all assumes that my knee turns out all right. Regardless, choreography is going well thus far. It's not as hard as I originally thought, partially because the dancing isn't anything like the difficulty I'm used to and partially because we're working together, so we can bounce ideas off each other and when one person gets stuck the other can work through it. We saw the prelims for the sets. It looks amazing from the sketches. Intense. Elaborate.

I cleaned my room today. Swept, reorganized, tidied up, etc. Thank goodness...I was beginning to feel like a mess.

What else is there to say? Thursday will be my first time to Central since the injury...have to take a cab back, which is pricey, but at least they're providing transportation there.

Oh, injury update. I had PT today (gag) in which I explained to the therapist that one of the exercises hurt a lot. She told me that there are two reasons my knee gave out and that I was unable to complete it: 1) that the pain was too great and so my knee reflexively gave out so that it wouldn't be hurt anymore or 2) that I'm weak. Apparently, if it's the latter, I'm supposed to keep doing it. If it's the former, then I'm only supposed to push it till it hurts. I couldn't quite seem to get the point across that it hurt because it fell over because I couldn't control it. Anyway, I'm supposed to keep doing it. I did some of the exercises tonight, but that one...I'm still scared of it. They're making me come in twice a week now, and I was informed that while building up my strength is important, the range and mobility of the knee is a greater concern at the moment. I was told that if I did not have full range within ten days, that would be bad, and I would be "below average." They also made me walk sans crutches, which I had been doing anyway, around the dorm. She said I was "stiff but stable" so I'm supposed to go without them when I can. I tried that today...and now my knee aches and my calf has tightened up because I can't straighten my knee enough to stretch it out. I think I'll use one crutch tomorrow.
All in all, it's just frustrating at this point. Knowing that I'm putting myself through all this stuff, only to have to repeat it in less than two months, probably with even more pain. C'est la vie, non? Et il n'y a rien que je peux faire pour changerla.

I'm making a list of the books I read while I'm here...I go through four or five a week, although part of that might have been due to the limited movement and ability to do ANYTHING on the weekends when other people go out and do fun stuff. Such is life, and that which cannot be cured must be endured. Or something.....

Right. I'm away laughing on a fast camel.
*gallops off majestically into the smoggy sunset and humidity*