ACL Rehab Day #28

Not much to update.

I am off crutches for about a week now, and trying to walk as much as possible, followed by icing in order to get used to walked normally again.

Physio is good as well, the exercises are getting more taxing, which I like, the early days' exercises were really crap.

On to scar massage. There are lumps forming underneath my scars, so I have to massage them away and hope they don't become permanent.

Hoping to get well asap!

Manchester United 3 AS Roma 2

Second game of the preseason and this is much more credible opposition. Roma came in 2nd in Serie A last term and just came off a friendly win against Liverpool.

Wayne Rooney scored two and Juan Mata scored a beauty lob. Notably Cleverly was made captain.

This preseason has become so much more exciting and interesting. Even without new players coming in, I just interested in seeing the current crop react to Louis van Gaal's tactics and training. Everyone is so noticeably struggling to impress him that we can see everyone's performances already far exceed last season's league games even.

Really hope we win the league this coming season.

David Moyes took the 12/13 champions and turned them into lousy 7th placed finishers. Now LVG has the chance to turn 7th place underachievers into champions! It's just too exciting to be a fan now.

Sometimes you wonder if this was all preplanned by the Manchester United hierarchy all along.

Next up, Inter Milan!

GGMU!!!

LA Galaxy 0 Manchester United 7

What can I say? Can any Man Utd fan say they’re not excited with the upcoming season? There is just so much to look forward to.

What a thrashing of LA Galaxy. They're by no means a weak team considering that they are one of the biggest names in the US MSL. What a fantastic game.

Primarily, the main draw is the fact that David Moyes is gone and Louis van Gaal is the new man at the managerial helm. He brings so much more to the table and it has been so obvious from the day his signing was confirmed. From tactical decisions, motivating the team, having an aura of superiority, promoting youth, he simply ticks every single one of the those boxes that Man Utd fans have all come to expect after years of being spoiled silly by Sir Alex Ferguson.

Aside from that, there are the new additions in Luke Shaw and Ander Herrera. Herrera already has a stand out game under his belt in the game against LA Galaxy where he was named MOTM. These are really good additions and it will help the squad so much.

Then you have the existing squad which underperformed so poorly last season. From this first preseason game, we can all see that the players are playing more to their levels of 2012/13, and are far more spritely than last season. Possibly trying to impress the new manager, it is a testament to what we the fans always knew. That the 2013 champions didn't just become lousy overnight.

Lastly you have the new blood. One think that endears me as a fan of this great football club is the constant promotion of youth. I will simply promote youth over shelling out silly money for superstars almost any time. And in LvG, he’s shown himself to be a very astute promoter of youth by bringing 6 youth players on this USA tour. And in Recce James, we have apparently found a diamond in the rough. Watch out Luke Shaw!

Can’t wait for the next preseason game.

GGMU!!!

Just How Dense Is Sengkang?

I've blogged about how crowded Sengkang is.

Just had this thought recently.

My HDB block has got 16 floors. Each floor has got 9 apartments. This means that there are 16 X 9 = 144 apartments per block of this type in Sengkang.

Let's hypothesize that the average apartment houses 4 people. This means each block has a population of 576 people. There are four residential blocks per cluster, which means 576 X 4 = 2,304 is the population of each cluster. 

Each cluster is housed in an approx. 200m X 200m land area. This works out to a land area of 40,000sqm.

If we use 40000/2304 = 17.36 sqm/pax.

As a general comparison, an old condominium like Mandarin Gardens has got 1,000 apartments, with maybe an average of 4 pax as well. With 4,000 pax, it sits on a far larger plot of approx. 400m X 400m land area.

If we use 160000/4000 = 40.00 sqm/pax

And so you can see Sengkang is way way way denser than a lot of places.

Seriously, too crowded.

ACL Rehab Day #19

Wow. I have full ROM already! Or at least almost full.

It means i can bend my right knee as much as my left knee!

Haha, but that's only when I'm lying down. Still can't do full if I'm standing up though. It's weird that things work like that.

It's like i can get into a 'squat' position when I'm lying down, and yet when I'm standing and I try to squat the normal way, I can't :(

Anyway it's been good progress so I hope to be working out more thoroughly soon.

Need to break into a sweat and do some solid workouts!

Oh, and I'm 81kg now. That's probably my heaviest ever.

Jeremy Lin Signs With LA Lakers

On a one year deal.

I'm a Lakers fan now.

Hopefully he gets better opportunities in LA than when he was couped up in Houston.

Bring back Linsanity!!!

Germany Wins World Cup 2014

And so Germany wins the World Cup! After a thrilling 0-0 stalemate, Mario Goetze settles the tie in the 23rd minute of extra time with a sweet chest-and-volley.

Very well deserved win by Germany Ben though I placed all my money on Argentina (bets were placed before the World Cup began). Simple teamwork and no superstar egos (Kroos, Ozil, Mueller, Khedira, Schwinsteigger) makes this win so well deserved. 

It seems that 2014 is the year of teamwork.

In similar fashion, the San Antonio Spurs won the NBA Finals with sheer teamwork and zero egos, even though they didn't have any superstars (Tim Duncan, Tony Parker).

Don't you just love rooting for exemplary teamwork over individual talent?

Tribute To Benjamin Ching V

Tribute To Benjamin Ching
Tribute To Benjamin Ching II
Tribute To Benjamin Ching III
Tribute To Benjamin Ching IV

Thank You Red Devils

Can't wait for preseason to begin!

ACL Rehab Day #13

Day #13 post op.

Feeling much better.

Aside from the swell on top of the knee, the rest have gone down in size. There also isn't much pain as I suppose the daily rehab exercises are really improving my range of motion.

I can even walk abit without crutches although I cannot put weight 100% on it still.

Looking forward to getting even better!

It's A Germany V Argentina Final

So Germany thrashed Brazil 7-1 (wow! OMG, that one).

Argentina beat Netherlands 4-2 on penalties after a 0-0 bore draw.

I think I will wake up specially to watch this final.

It ought to be a classic!

When Is The Simpsons House Lego Set Coming?

Can't wait for them to ship to Singapore!

Saw this on my last trip to Copenhagen.

Think it was around DKK2,499 (SGD500)!

ACL Post Surgery Setback Aftermath

Things haven't been smooth-sailing since the op done eight days ago.

Today's physio session picked up the large swells and had to run through ice packs and electrolysis (I keep forgetting the name of that process).

At least I know better what to be aware of as well as how to prevent similar swelling once I get back to the office.

This journey hasn't been easy at all, but it does make me want to work harder to come back stronger.

Onwards and upwards.

ACL Post Surgery Setback

Went back to work today.

Nice to get some work done and be abit busy. Nice to see everyone had so much gun at the Summer Party in Phuket.

Only managed to last half the day when the knee started to swell.

Now back home, on the ice packs.

This is very demoralizing.

Can't help but feel so damn useless.

Times like these I ask myself if I should have had surgery in the first place.

ACL Post Surgery Misery

Post surgery really sucks eggs man.

Dying of boredom recuperating at home.

Can't do anything fun because of the leg.

Can't play with the kids because of the leg.

Can't go out because of the leg.

Can't be useful in the house because of the leg.

Feel damn useless and pathetic, everything also need help. 

Everyone is experiencing an inconvenienced lifestyle because of my situation.

Knee swollen and have to continue using crutches. Icing increased to six times a day.

Entire wound is very itchy from the dressing and healing scars.

Sharp pains from the cuts and stitches wakes me up bright and early, because painkillers wear off.

Really miserable right now.

"These battle scars, don't look like they're fading, don't look like they're ever going away, ain't ever gonna change"

ACL Post Surgery Checkup

Bandages removed today.

A few stitches sticking out of my skin.

Whole knee looks mangled and swollen.

Doc says I'm not icing it enough.

Keep up with the exercises. Knee motion is good.

Physio postponed to two weeks later.

MUST continue on crutches even though I can walk without them already.

As little weight-bearing on injured knee as possible.

My mangled knee.

ACL Post Surgery Knee Rehab Exercises II

Today during Rehab, another exercise was taught for working out at home.

5) Turn to the side and lift the injure leg like an alligator mouth up and down X10

Getting tougher and tougher but the physio said the first three months post-op is the most crucial because that's when all the reflexes and muscle movement is redefined.

Gotta work hard on that advice.

Oh, and strictly, definitely, positively, NO football for at least nine months. 50% of post-op patients reinsured themselves when they go back to the field too early.

ACL Post Surgery Knee Rehab Exercises

Very good, simple exercises to bring the thigh, knee and calf muscles back to strength.

1) Stretch ankle up (towards you), and then down X10

2) Use leg strength to press the knee straight (or simply straightening your leg) X10

3) Bend knee to between 60-90 degrees and straighten X10

4) Leg raise for 5 counts, relax X10

Repeat 3 times daily.

This is super helpful.

How In The World?

Did these scammers get my number?!

From Toronto, Canada no less! No wonder he can afford to SMS but can't afford an SMS reply!