Ah tennis... Middle aged men in elegant, white cotton swinging wooden rackets on a court of red clay. And recently, women in all the more skimpy and flashy colorful dress. And then there's us, regular people with little clue about what we're doing, swinging the racket in all kinds of awkward ways.

The opening act was brutal. Despite playing on Monday and last week, I still often feel like I'm just doing this for the first time. Physically a complete flop. Surprisingly, it picked up after about 40 minutes. Yes, that was 40 minutes of unquestionable, solid suck. Twice fumbling the ball not out of bounds but over the tall wire fence. Oh those were moments to forget. Then, somehow, unprecedentedly, a page was turned. The wrist was getting a brutal beating, but the balls started falling somewhat more favorably. I was doing something right. It was moving ahead, enthusiasm surfaced, energy uncorked. For the next hour there were some ups and downs, but for long stretches of time, I was feeling it. It. The vibe, that says "this is how it's supposed to feel". I'm starting to make it work, starting to master the movement, the stroke, the aim. After three weeks of playing, finally, for the first time, I felt like this is coming together, this is going somewhere. The balance had shifted too, my opponent's bad knee was acting up, I was on the money, but holding back a bit. Otherwise I would have put the pedal to the metal to really find out where I stand. I haven't done that yet. I've played it quiet, trying to drill the basic skills, to get my house in order, lining up my troops at the border. But this is the place I need to be in to go all out. I may not be back here on Monday, form is so elusive. But I will be back. And I will keep coming back, gradually more frequently. I just need to stick with it and remember this feeling.

And yet it started out so sucky, so incredibly sucky. Who knew how it would play out. It's impossible to predict.

On a completely different note, I was validated today in traffic. My long standing conviction that traffic lights basically count for nothing was confirmed. I was coming up to a major intersection, there was a biker ahead of me waiting at the light. Seeing cars coming up to the lights on the left and stopping, I hit the brakes hard and stopped at the light. Then I look at it again, it's green. Well, if it's green... I start crossing, the traffic from the left has just started moving. I get some distressed drivers honking at me. I'm not supposed to be in their way. So why was the light green? What is the point of having traffic lights if they are misleading? To date the most dangerous situation in traffic I've been it. Pay attention to traffic, not traffic lights.

Compulsory liability disclaimer: This rule applies to bikers and pedestrians. Not to drivers. When I'm driving, I respect the lights. That's a whole different ball game.