Rollerblading, Concerts, and Time with Friends

10-19-10

On Saturday night, I tried rollerblading for the first time. Now, I've worn regular skates before, mostly within the last ten months (and about ten years previously to that), and I am very unsteady on such skates. The last time we went to the Hamilton Skate Place, I fell twenty plus times and spent most of the two hours getting used to having skates on my feet.

This time, it was different. When I put the roller blades on and stood up, I could tell immediately that I felt more stable. Alan and Jason told me how to keep my weight shifted toward the inside, to take little hops and to try and keep my knees bent (my fear of falling definitely influences how I keep my knees, for sure). I went back and forth on the carpet a good ten minutes, trying to get the hang of the roller blades' feel. Chase got me to get onto the rink and stayed with for a few loops. (Alan and Chase are so good on their blades that they pretend to be off-balance and falling; if I didn't love them so much, I'd be annoyed at them.) I only fell twice (I'm not counting any time that I tried to get on or off of the rink, I'm counting when I was skating), and the worst bruise I got was on my hand, from when I caught it in the rink's bathroom door (it doesn't have any handles) before I even got the roller blades from the attendant. Basically, roller blades have gone onto my Want list, and I certainly want a pair--and soon, though that might not come to pass as quickly as I'd like. I'd need money first. Granted, I got blade burn on both of my calves, had a blister form and pop on my left instep (it still hurts, no joke), and my thighs were sore for two days, but I want roller blades.

The concert Sunday evening went well. About two thirds of the way through, my bass clarinet started acting up and squeaking and being all stupid during pieces that I knew how to play, but fortunately, no one but the director and the rest of Wind Symphony knows how the pieces are supposed to sound. We start Christmas music tomorrow.

Today I didn't have lab because we have midterm break starting tomorrow evening, and that cancels lab for Thursday. All the chemistry labs do the same lab every week, so they couldn't not have just one lab, so they canceled all of them. So I only had work tonight from 4:30 to 9:00. What did I do before that?

I slept in until 8 (it was most glorious), I did homework on my own until about 11:30 (eating a past brunch within that time), met up with Alan and Beth at about 12:30, and hung out with them until 4:25 or so. We went to the VM, ate at CK's, and studied in Thatcher South lobby. Well, mostly studied. We also talked NAMM, Alan helped me with my chemistry homework, I watched some crazy YouTube videos, and looked at pictures from both Ebeye and Idaho. It was a great afternoon, and I enjoyed it greatly.

Now, if only everyone wasn't going to other places during midterm break whereas I, the carless, moneyless me, will be staying here and doing homework because I have a History of England midterm on Monday. How's that for adventure?

Anyway, I also had Alan read the paper I'm writing for Expository Writing. It's fair since it's about how we became friends, after all. And he laughed in the right places and enjoyed it--and since he (and, by extension, Beth, who thought it was very conversational and sounded like me) was the intended audience, I don't necessarily care whether or not I did well in imitating the model I picked.

If this section of the class is about us going out on a limb and writing stuff that actually matters, then it shouldn't really be about points and grades and little check marks. That story has meaning for me and for the people I wrote it for, and if my teacher has a problem with that, so be it. If the class is supposed to be about growing us as writers and helping us to develop our own particular narrative voice, then I think my paper meets those goals. It's the story I wanted to tell, and it's the way I want to tell it. So be it.

I had a lot of fun with them this afternoon--and it's on days like today that I wonder why I have a job in the basement of the library. :D (I enjoy my job, though; it's a place of many fascinating conversations.)

More later.
--Ashlee