-16

How time flies.

Despite my best intentions to post a weekly blog, I'm failing to keep pace. I suppose this is due to two main reasons: I'm overworking, and there's not much to report - until now.

There's a funny thing about taking typhoid pills. As I understand it, a small percentage of people who do so can develop what I call "typhoid shoulders."

I'm in that percentage.

Typically, typhoid shoulders are little more than shoulders that irritate or send slight pain messages to the brain, resulting in tolerable yet annoying moments of discomfort.

For a guy looking to win a basketball game at his last alumni basketball tournament for a while (*See previous post on "first of many lasts."), typhoid shoulders mean a lot more.

I first knew something was wrong about a week after I took the pills. I was playing a game, and took a shot. I don't want to send any misinformation - I am not new to the idea of missing shots in basketball, which is why I tend to pass a lot. But this day I took a shot and missed. BY FIVE FEET! And it was five feet short.

I was embarrassed.

Soon after, I attempted to throw a pass across the court, and received similar and equally painful results.

So I consulted my doctors (who are always so kind about catering to my every whimsical question about my health) and learned that there could indeed be a reason for the sudden decline in my basketball prowess.

So, I write this one day before my 7:00 game at Lincoln Pope St. Pius X Central Catholic High School in the west gym hoping that something will change. Advil doesn't seem to work...nothing does.

Oh well. I suppose if that's the worst I have to deal with I'm a lucky man.

Why hasn't anything else happened worth reporting about?

It's hard to get answers from Egypt. I think when I get to Egypt I'll like the idea of what's been called "Egyptian Time." (ET) The basic idea is punctuality becomes obsolete, and things just happen when they do. By nature, I think I was born on ET. (This particular blog, even, it seems was written under ET - coming about three weeks later than it should have.)

But, for a guy looking to get a work visa and paperwork through an Egyptian Embassy that allows him to actually go earn his keep...well, ET can be a bugger.

So, until further events warrant updating, that's all for now.

Scott