I need to note here that this is not competitive volleyball I'm talking about. This is coed recreational volleyball. Up to forty-two players, split up randomly into five or six teams for the duration of the session. I've been going there now for ten or eleven years, along with most of my local meat-space friends. This is where most of us met (including two marriages within the group), and dinner at Tony's after the session is still our main social event. I missed that closeness terribly last year. I did go to dinner a few times when I didn't play, but it's not quite the same, and I felt a bit like an outsider.
But tonight was great! There were a bunch of new people, and play was a bit ragged as the newbies tried to get used to playing our style, but it was fun. I was on a decent team along with Blake and Marnie, so there were at least a couple of players that I was used to playing with, and I played pretty well, considering how long it's been. Plus, no bizarre muscle pulls, no volleyball elbow, no dislocated fingers. I'm physically tired, but still wide awake on the adrenalin high. The fascia in my left foot are complaining a bit, but we'll see how they feel in the morning. All in all, a good night.