Random Thought Thread

JearBeatus48 said:
I struggle sleeping maybe not so bad as you lol but I played squash last night and holy shit I was exhausted after.

Not sure if any of you play squash or ever even heard of it. Think of it like a difficult racquetball. Slept like a baby
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Had an uncle who was big into squash (and viewed racquetball the same way tennis players view pickleball 😂).

He got me into squash late in HS (probably to widen his pool of opponents to play against).

As it turned out, I was a menace on the squash courts.

I did a lot of physical activity and sports, so the cardio/athleticism wasn’t the problem.

First, uhhh… mishap.

Was playing against another guy who competed, and this guy was much more experienced and skilled than I was, and was literally running me ragged around the court. He had the skill and experience to note my movements and body position/weight balance, to place his next shot where I would have difficulty reaching it (i.e. not just simply alternating between dropping the ball in the front, then hitting the next shot to the back. If he could see that I was preparing for a shot to the back, or especially had started moving towards the back, after returning a shot at the front, he’d drop the ball towards the front again, forcing me to change directions).

I had the bright idea of giving him less time to react to my return, so he’d have less opportunity to decide where to place his shot, so when he sent a shot to the back of the court, I had this brilliant thought, “He’s to my right. He’ll always turn to the left to watch my return, to decide where to place his next shot. If I can send that ball past his head on the right, he won’t see it, and it will take him a moment to ‘find the ball’, so he has less time to react AND decide how to place the ball”.

Well, I hadn’t accounted for the fact that MY placement wasn’t exactly pinpoint accurate. He turned to watch my return just in time for the ball to smack him right in the eye (no goggles). Oops.

That was the last time that guy ever played against me.

Then several months later, a gal in the same class learned that I played squash, and apparently she played regularly too, so we met up at the squash courts she usually went to.

After telling my uncle about the previous accident, he said, “hitting the ball is similar to golf. If you look up AS you hit the ball, it throws your aim off. You have to keep your eye on the ball, and your head down. As you’re hitting the ball, you should already know where you’re aiming, so you can focus on the ball”.

Well, between the various things I’d learned, I tried to make the gal run ragged, the way my uncle and the competition guy did. Was working decently for a while, then while doing that, I dropped the ball to the front, watched her return it towards the back half of the court, and thought, “Now, I’ll hit it hard and make her run all the way to the back of the court. Oh yeah, uncle said to keep my head down and my eye on the ball”.

Well, it turns out that the gal wasn’t quite competition level (they learn to watch the opponent as soon as they return the ball).

I keep my head down, hit the ball HARD, and hear a THWAP, and a scream. And I look up to see the gal holding her buttcheek. Oh crap…

As I walk up to her, she’s literally leaning her forehead against the wall, still holding her buttcheek.

I said, “I’m so sorry! Are you OK?”. After a soft sob, she pulls her skirt up, and I could already see a huge bruise forming. Whoops… Sorry Yvette (on the plus side, she DID go out with me after that incident, after the bruise healed, but we never did play squash again).

I think the last time I ever played squash was not too long after that. 😅

P.S. uncle had a detached retina not long after, from taking a racquet to the face. He was playing a newbie. Unlike more experienced players who learn to keep track of their opponents AND maintain control of their racquet, newbies tend to be wilder and less predictable (when you watch to competition players against each other, it’s like an athletic ballet/dance as they run around each other in very close proximity.

Newbies are the ones who tend to run into each other). After that (and hearing about my ‘accident’), my aunt told my uncle to make sure he always had goggles on while playing.
 
Seems like they pulled off their mission.

Those alien files…

Got everyone convinced Epstein’s the main bad guy…

Am I right?

Yeah?

Sure…
 
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