Before my knee injury, I was never a gym person. I preferred doing group sports (netball, badminton, tennis, etc.) because it was more fun; because I enjoyed company. The problem was when your friends weren't free, or you couldn't get enough players, or no one wanted to be the organiser, then there wouldn't be a game. Sometimes it could be a month or two before a game was organized.

Since my injury, I have quite enjoyed working out in the gym. You don't need a friend to go with and you don't need any organising work And since I can't play any pivot sports yet, I've been working out 3 times a week - 2 days in the gym on my own, plus a day at the physiotherapy - and I would probably do it more often in due time. I don't think I would do this in the past, but now I have a goal, i.e. to go back to pivot sports by the end of this year, and that can only be achieved by hardwork; no shortcuts.

Here is a nice article from zen habits for people who has always wanted to have an exercise routine but failed halfway for one reason or another.

You’ve probably tried it several times. You’re fed up with your skinny look or overweight body. You decide to finally do something about it. So you take a gym membership. Some friends decide to join you. After a few weeks however, your friends don’t show up anymore. Then you end up alone. And eventually you quit.

Yeah I know, this happens all the time. I’ve seen it over and over again. I know what you’re thinking. How come some people can stick with it and others not? What is their secret?

[link to article]

I've finally upgraded my blog engine from v0.9.2 to v1.9.3. Man, I tell you, it's been a bitch.

When version 1.8.x was released at b2evolution, I already wanted to do the upgrade. But my web-hosting company's Fantastico in the Cpanel did not have it. So I waited. And waited. Then recently I saw that b2evolution has released 1.9.3. This time when I checked my Cpanel, I found that the upgrade option was available! So, without any hesitant, I immediately installed it - at mid-night. First mistake. I did not do a manual back-up because before the upgrade, Cpanel said it would back up for me. Second mistake. Also there was an instruction for reverting back to the previous version and it looked easy enough.

The upgrade finished successfully according to Cpanel. But when I tried to access my admin page or the blog page, it gave me errors. Maybe because it was past mid-night, my brain wasn't functioning quite well. Usually I would remain pretty calm and would search the support forum for more info. Instead I decided to revert the blog to its previous state. Third mistake. The revert took about 30 minutes.

After reverting, the site was back online. I'm not sure why, but I decided to try the upgrade again. Fourth mistake. It didn't work - it said something about a database table already existed and Cpanel just hung there. So, I made another revert. By the time I was done, it was way past 2am.

This evening, I decided to try again. I searched the forum and realised that the skin that I was using was not compatible with the new version, and all I needed to do was to download a newer version of the skin! I didn't need to do all the reverting. Jesus. Christ. This time though, I did a manual upgrade instead of using the Cpanel. And it was my first manual upgrade.

But because I had tried to upgrade once, new tables were created during the first upgrade and they were not deleted when I reverted it back to the previous version, I kept getting errors that certain tables existed. And of course, the installation wouldn't tell you once and for all which tables existed. It had to tell you one by one. In the end I had to delete 19 tables from the database.

Now, it's all done. I have installed a new skin to mark a giant upgrade; not just the amount of work, but I practically skipped the 1.8.x version. This version should have better spam control. It seems to have more features in the admin page too, but I would have to figure that out tomorrow. It's late and I'm beat.

It's still healing, although not in a speed I have hoped. I've been doing light jogging, proceeded to tougher agility drills and walking faster. My PT has cut down my physio sessions to once a week (from twice a week), but I'm working out on my own at the gym twice a week on other days.

But I still have these complaints:

• Stiffness after sitting down for a while
• Pain/Aches in the ITB when trying to get extension after sitting down for a while
• Still haven't reached full flexion (about an inch before my heel can tough my butt)
• Still haven't reached hyper-extension
• Still can't squat fully
• Pain when walking down stairs
• Clicking/cracking of the kneecap

It was very inspiring to see Michael Owen playing again. He looks stronger and looks like he had never done any knee surgery. I'm so looking forward to be able to forget that I had a reconstructed knee, but until then, I continue to work hard on my rehab.