You'll Never Walk Alone

I recently became a fan of Liverpool FC. One of their slogans (title) reminded me of the Road to Regionals. If you're seeking the road, know that you'll never walk alone. There are always fellow Gobies following the same path - for starters, the 5 of us will always be there to lead the way.

The Road to Regionals takes you to Regionals, it tells you nothing about the path you are taking to get there. Moreover, the road can be different for each individual. This summer, my personal Road to Regionals had stopovers in Malaysia and Bangladesh. In my farewell post I mentioned how I was going to use this time away from the home pitches of Cleveland to rest, recover, and relax a little. Well, I'm back, and I accomplished what I set out to do originally.

Malaysia is highly legit. Real talk, it's an absolutely beautiful country. My time there was fairly well spent, but I still wish I could have stayed a bit longer. While in Kuala Lumpur, I stayed at a resort called the Mines Wellness Center. It's a sort of old-fasioned spa and massage oriented hotel, with many servies including complementary Qi-Gong classes (kind of like, Tai-Chi, very relaxing, controlled motions), massages, herbal consultations and so forth. During my stay there I go the most legit massage of my life. Using ancient Chinese techinques (Tui-Na, Tai-Su), my body's Qi was refreshed. I don't think I have ever been in more pain in my life before. The massage techniques he used on me were very deep and intended to really surface my blood, remove old knots and muscle tensions, restablish proper blood and Qi flow throughout and attend to previous injuries. My body was a deep scarred red for three whole days. My back looked like wolverine had clawed at it over and over again. The pain and visual cosmetic "damage" was well worth it. I felt more energetic instantly, and I feel lightly all over. It even gave me a spiritual boost. This stuff is real man. The Chinese know whats up.

Then there was the lingering "hamstring" issue. I put that in quotations because upon doing my own extensive research (since doctor's incompetently misdiagnosed it) I found out the true issue. By whatever means, laying out, landing funny etc, I had pinched my scastic nerve. I went to a neurological accupuncturist in Malaysia and after piercing my skin with many needles and applying a pulsing voltage...I was cured soon enough. I still require a follow-up treatment, but the bulk of my pain is no more. Accupuncture FTW.

The rest of my trip was full of many other adventures, but I had one more task with me. I, naturally, took a Goby disc with me abroad to toss with perhaps teach a few school children how to play. I really wanted to teach some kids in Bangladesh, but I soon realized that they have much bigger issues than what disc sport to play. In the end, I entrusted my Goby disc to my cousin's son - who is in 11th grade or so. Maybe he'll start playing or something, who knows. Once again, Gobies are international.

Congrats to K-Love for winning the 2009 Summer League Championship. Of course he wont let it get to his head, he knows what's on the real agenda.

Vocab: Chair Alert

- Nayyir Qutubuddin