Michael Sullivan Online

CANBERRA AUSTRALIA - 22 August 2000 - This week saw Mike doing some new things. It started on Wednesday when Mike watched his first cricket match. Australia was playing South Africa in a one day match. Test matches take about five days to complete but one days use different rules to let them finish in one day. Mike followed along on the Explanation of Cricket webpage while watching the match. The webpage explains things much better than could happen in this space. That day, Australia beat South Africa, but tied on Friday and lost on Sunday, the other match that Mike watched. Mike enjoyed watching cricket as a good alternative to baseball. Speaking of baseball, Mike got his Olympic baseball tickets for September 17 in his hands.

On Friday, Mike rounded up the gang for a trip to the bowling alley after playing pool. Steve, Stacey, and Mike went to the alley where they were met by Tash. After a few races on the motorcycle video game and some air hockey, they took to the lanes. This is where things got a bit weird (in a bad way). Tash apparently had a finger problem from many years ago that concerned her before anything started. These fears were realized as she bowled her second ball. She turned around said something about her finger and said, "I need to go to the hospital". For a second, the others were unsure if she was joking around, but as her face turned colors, they quickly realized she was serious. They packed everything up and headed for the hospital. About as everyone reached the car, Dave arrived at the alley and Mike and Dave bowled two games while waiting for a call about Tash's condition. After these games, they headed to the hospital where they found out Tash had broken her finger in two places. It wasn't that she'd released the ball wrong or anything like that but the bone in her finger was just that brittle from the previous injury. Unfortunately, this problem will require surgery in a few months but will be very painful in the meantime. After waiting in the emergency room for just over an hour, Mike and Dave left Steve, Stacey, and Tash for their respective homes.

The rest of the weekend, Mike spent inside except for twenty minutes that Mike spent at the grocery store on Sunday night.

Here ends Mike's sixteenth week in Australia.