The Rapture book makes Andrew Ryan so much more alive. I’ve noticed that I don’t think of him as a fictional hero anymore, for me he is as real to as Churchill or Napoleon. And he is quite an inspiration. Weird, right?

So this is the beginning of the iconic city. ‘Oh rise, Rapture, rise!’

Day 66. Liberation.

It’s hard to believe, but nine weeks of my imprisonment are actually over. Today my cast is gone! Happy day.

You should see that old skin on my heel that’s been in a cast for 2.5 months, hehe. But maybe you shouldn’t… It reminds me of the Lord of the Rings’ orcs, I think I might get an Oscar for the make-up :)

My leg is barely functional, but yes, technically I can walk without crutches. If I really have to. Though I kept one crutch for myself. Otherwise walking is painfully slow. And pardon my pardon, painful.

What’s ahead of me? Well, you can guess it’s going to take some time, before everything gets back to normal. Apparently months, before I even stop limping. But let’s hope the worst is behind.

Hyper Japan 2011 was on in London this weekend, and I had tickets. It was a rather good fun last year, so we were looking forward to freshen up some memories from our trip to Japan, to cheer up for local cosplayers and,  no less important – to have some authentic Japanese food. Alas, we did not get in – the queue was just way to long, and waiting for 2-3 hours wasn’t worth it. Shame though. I should be getting refund now.

And that’s just a half of the queue, we did not bother to walk to it’s end

Instead, we went to see the last chapter of Harry Potter’s saga. Which was good, and I am glad we saw it in the cinema – my neighbors wouldn’t let me  blast the sound that much on my home system. A guy sitting next to us in the cinema had his 3 year old daughter watching the film as well – I don’t think that was such a good idea. The only thing… I was kind of expecting everyone to die in the end, I thought that how it was in the book. Obviously, I was wrong

Day 61.

It was Sunday and the weather seemed favorable, so we headed to the South West coast, to Dorset.

The first stop was in Poole. A nice coastal town, which does not offer much to do, but there are a lot of yachts in the harbour and they do regular cruises to the Brownsea Island and around as well.

With all those pines and mansions, architecturally not typical for England, it reminded us of Jurmala, Latvia. We picked up some booklets, had a light brunch and were on our way to see what was left of Corfe castle, the used-to-be strongest fortress in England, which was half an hour drive away.

When we approached the castle and parked next to the hill it stood on, we had to walk up for about 10 minutes to approach it, and then to our surprise we found ourselves in a cute little village at the castle’s gates, which was hidden from our eyes by the obstructing hill.

We got inside and it was about time for a lunch, picnic style. We had warm (though rather windy) weather, beautiful scenery we could observe from the top of the hill and live music playing somewhere not too far, in village. And food. Perfect!

Getting ready for the lunch

Now it was the time to explore, climb around and take obligatory pictures :)

Corfe castle dates back to the 11th century and remained a Royalist stronghold until 1646, when it was betrayed by a member of the garrison during a two month siege. It was captured and then blown up by the Parliament’s decision. What a waste, honestly!

It was used as a royal treasury storehouse and a prison. The main building, the Keep, is considered to the skyscraper of those time, some of it’s walls are still standing, so it’s quite easy to imagine the way it used to be.

The castle used to be rather magnificent. And so are it’s ruins now. I will be posting more pictures from our trip.

On our way back home we popped in to Swanage. Beautiful sandy beach and clean water, only sun was missing. No swimming in sea for me, anyway. But we should definitely come back some other time.

To be continued.

So, additionally to a new cast I was giving a special shoe. Well, there is nothing really special about that shoe, it’s just wide enough for a foot in a plaster and is ‘uni-foot’.

At first I was like: ‘Oh cool!’. But then I was like: ‘Yeah, but I still need crutches, so what’s the big difference?’. But now I can say it’s all I could dream of.

First, though using both crutches I don’t have to hop on one leg all the time anymore. I can now put pressure on my hurt leg and move around in a fashion that resembles walking. Much less stress on my hands and upper body.

Secondly, I can walk with just one crutch. A bit like Dr. Gregory House. Slowly. Awkwardly. Still it is a progress.

And now, the best part. For a short distance I can walk with no crutches at all! Ta-da! And you know what that means? Finally after seven weeks I can carry around my own cup of tea! Unbelievable! My girlfriend rejoices.

Day 56.

And again, there is not enough hours in a day. A week or so ago I was catching up on sleep. Not anymore. Time is a luxury. The movies are piling up recorded in the sky box, Ezio’s quest for liberating of Rome is put on hold, twitter feed is abandoned and Skype account is set to invisible. I don’t even have time to reed my favourite gadget blogs’ feeds. I am working and learning new things (and enjoying it). That should compensate me for those sluggish first weeks of my forced vacation.

Day 57.

I still struggle to decide whether I can call myself mature or not yet, really.

Even though I am well past that young age, and my own son is turning 12 next month, I am still a kid. And I am not talking here about my ever young soul – I bet everyone thinks that of himself, but rather about my undeveloped sense of measure. A kid never knows himself, when it’s time to stop playing and when it’s time to have a meal, or stop attracting attention, or when it’s simply time to go to bed. Only when he is told by his parents.

So my mom does not tell me those things anymore (as a matter of fact I express my frustration every time she tries to make me do something, and she is well aware of that). And the kid inside me still does not know when to stop. Whether it’s about playing video games, or practicing windsurfing on holidays, or… working.

I know, that must sound boring… But I am having a workaholic week. That is unbalanced. Unhealthy. And can leave me burnt out, with an empty head and hangover aftertaste. But at least I am feeling energized, enthusiastic and involved. That’s a nice feeling.

Day 58.

I’ve spent 3.5 hours talking on the phone to my clients today. Can this still be considered a productive day?

Day 59.

I think I have reached the climax of my busy week. Working on my clients’ websites made me realize how outdated my own site was, on both ends. And if I did not have enough on my plate already, today at around midday I decided to redesign Skrinda.com. And now it’s 2.30 in the morning I am still working on it. Forget about lunch, forget about dinner and Friday night. I got carried away. I’ve been working nonstop for 12 hours now and I should really stop now, as I see how my brain is functioning at about quarter of it’s normal speed. Must… write… code… Good night.

To be continued.

Last week I thought I was busy. Well, I was wrong. London agencies don’t want people to work remotely. Damn capitalists! They don’t realize that with fewer interruptions I can actually work better and faster at home. Besides, at my place I have a very lovely desk setup. Made with love and exactly the way I like it, the way it makes me the most productive.

I’ve been at home for a few months now and when I think about going back to office soon(er or later), I feel… intimidated . I think about hours of commuting. Late trains. Smelly buses… And those horrible Dell keyboards and mice in the office (thank goodness, I almost always can bring in my own). But the worst of all – the chairs. That’s probably the worst offender. A rare company invests enough in those bits of furniture. Good chairs are expensive. I know. But when you spent 8-10 hr a day, sitting on it, it better be something good and comfortable.

At one point I said to myself: ‘Enough of Ikea – I am getting myself a proper chair. That was a few months ago and I never looked back. It’s comfortable, it’s sturdy and well-built. As a result, it’s very inviting: Come and sit down on me, and maybe do some work.. I am sure you will enjoy that! And you know what, that helps. Helps to maintain sometimes-so-hard-to-achieve working discipline when you work from home.

But I can’t complain. I am busy. Working on 3 different projects at the moment. All of them are on WordPress. Building one site, migrating another onto the WordPress platform and doing maintenance and enhancements on the third one. I’d like to finish them all off before I come back to a normal life. That’s the plan.

No, it does not look glamorous at all.

Day 52.

Another two weeks and I am back at the hospital for a change of cast. I had a look at my ankle when I had a chance. It looked…different. Apparently the tendon is there (yay!), but that body part looked inflated and stiff. I also tried to move my foot for the first time. Up and down. A little. Cause I am quite scared.,, But it’s definitely working. That’s good. The medical worker says it’s healing fine. So, this time he is putting a cast on my foot at 90 degree angle. From now on I can actually put some pressure on it.

Following my already established tradition I went for a different colour, again. And this time it’s blue. Smurfy blue. Or blue man group blue. Whichever you prefer. Very summery and cheerful. I was also given some sort of special sandal shoe. We’ll see if it does any good to me.

I’ve got a shoe! that’s a progress.

While my cast was being changed, they also brought in (on a wheelchair) a guy, who had both of his tendons ruptured, on both legs. Wot?? Instantly I felt myself much better. And luckier :) So, he was playing football, when the first rupture happened, and then while he was hopping on one leg at home to get to the crutches… Pop! here comes another one! Oh dear… He was pretty lighthearted and positive about it and we shared a laugh or two , though in the end he said: ‘Few more weeks like this and my wife is going to kill me!’ I hear you bro!

Day 53.

I was going to go to a birthday bbq party today, but a) all the convenient Underground lines were closed today – thank you Transport for London, b) it kept raining pretty much all day today – thank you British summer, c) unexpectedly I started experiencing some physical discomfort – err, no one to thank here. No, I am not talking about my plastered leg, genius. It’s just on some occasions my fingers feel… numb. It started last Sunday, when after a day spent on crutches, after I had walked and hopped a few good miles, in total, and climbed up and down hundreds and hundreds of stair steps. First I was very happy with myself because I could do it, calculating in mind the amount of a burnt calories, but then, quite suddenly I started feeling numbness in my palms and fingers, especially when I was pressing them against crutch handles. So now what? A prolong use of crutches is bad for your health? Really? Well, I definitely did not see that coming. Apparently it’s due to a pressure on nerves. At least this is what internet says… I hope it will go away, after I stop using them.

Anyway, the numbness has been reoccurring during this week, so I guess I better stay home.

To be continued.

I have finally managed to say ‘no‘ to my (mostly) all procrastination, and started working really hard on my on-going-and-eager-to-get-finished projects. It’s interesting, but apparently it’s true for most designers and creative workers – they get nervous before starting a new design. Even if they are experience and recognized. It’s almost like a fear of failure. What if I don’t come up with a great idea? What if I fail to deliver?

And from my personal experience, it really does stop me from sitting down and starting working on a new project. It’s easier when it’s something rather mechanical. Like coding. You’ve got patterns, frameworks, ready solutions to certain problems, you just need to recognize them and solve them respectively. It can be mundane, but you just have to get on with that.

But what if I actually don’t like that much what I am doing? But it is all a lie. Once you force yourself and sit down, you get carried away working. For hours. You are enjoying what you are doing, you are doing a great job. And you don’t even care about lunch break or whether it’s 6pm already, you just carry on. Well, that’s me.

By the way, the leg is fine. No visible progress or regress. Just fine. Thanks for asking.

Day 46.

That’s a beautiful label, if you ask me.

Rather typical Saturday of last months – a movie and a dine-out in not-too-far Hammersmith. Our newly-discovered-but-already-a-favorite Japanese restaurant Minato was yet closed for dinner, so we decided to walk down the high street to find something else. Aha, that’s that Indian restaurant we have been passing by for years now and somehow never tried, though always saying we should. I think It had good reviews. Well, today’s the day!

And only when I was browsing through the (rather extensive) menu, I realized it was a vegetarian restaurant. Really? Yes. Really. What, didn’t you see the restaurant’s sign? It clearly says so. Well done me! Well, I am not against vegetarian food, it’s just… I was really looking forward to tearing some flesh, fish or meat, cooked or raw… and now I would be getting none of those. Oh what the heck, we’ll stay. And so we did. The food was nice (and priced rather formidably), but the whole evening after I was feeling somehow hungry after being fed, I felt… scammed :) If only they threw a couple of king prawns in my main….

Day 47.

Our friends took us on a car to Wales. Now that was really great day for otherwise uneventful week.

We went to see castles and ruins – they’ve got loooots of them in that part of the Kingdom. Our friends were worried how I would be moving around, but I showed them it was a piece of cake for me :) Well, kind of – was knackered by the end of the day, and my palms were literally polished from using crutches, but the trip and walking around made me feel like a normal disabled person. It was also a great day away from urbanistic monstrosity of London. I will be posting more about our trip and what we saw there.

To be continued.

Dangerous? Naaah, what can possible go wrong?

Day 35

Despite the fact I’ve added an extra protein intake, my immobile calf seems to have become thinner. And it feels like jelly. Ouch! Also my abdominal is getting an extra layer of fat. Gosh, I am becoming a monster!

Day 36

The temperature dropped down below 22 again. So much for the summer. It’s being raining half a day today. But I approve. I feel much more energized. Bring it!

Day 37

Big Daddy arrived. Another addition to my ever expanding Bioshock ‘family’. Well it looks exactly like another toy bought previously, but this time it has LED lights. Cooooooool. See the image after the jump – this is his state angry state, where you don’t really want to mess with him. Seriously. I’ll post more pictures of him later.

Day 38

Went to see a doctor. Apparently I am making a good progress and that’s comforting. After a brief and blissful moment of having my leg out of the plaster they put a new cast on. And my foot is almost at 90 degrees now. Yay! I’ve asked for a burgundy colour now, but that looks more strawberry to me… Oh well… I think I still like it.

Day 40

We went to a birthday party tonight. My first tube trip after the injury. Jeeeez… London underground is inaccessible. I mean I am ok, I can climb those stairs fine, but that still requires lots of energy and concentration, and that would be even more tricky at peak times. Getting on and off the escalator is probably the scariest – need some practice there.

At the same time I am getting better and better with crutches. We had to walk a few blocks from the tube station to my friend’s place, but I intentionally did not take a bus. Recently I’d figured that walking on crutches was my pretty much only cardio. So now I have intentions to do more of it. And those few blocks were nothing for me. The only annoyance was a busy street where people were moving too… slow for me, I have to overtake them. Can you believe that?

A good party to compensate my lack of social life. I probably talked too much that night :) A couple of funny moments: The guy comes in and sees me: ‘Oh you’ve got quite a fashionable [red] sock there! Wait… is your leg broken?’ Later on, a girl watches me hopping on one leg across the room: ‘Are you having pins and needles? Oh… right… I forgot… your leg’.

We got home at 3 in the morning. It’s good I don’t have to be in the office tomorrow morning :)

To be continued.