Part 2: shot down in my prime

Well, you got the point. I was having quite the adventure.

Here's where it got good.

I was doing really well, you know? Yes, flailing and all that, but I was doing it. How many of you were outside yesterday? It was hot. Thing is, I spent about an hour inside before I went out. And it's freezing cold in our living room because we have the air conditioning unit going full blast. So, I was cold. I had a big fuzzy warm hoodie on and jeans and I was still hugging the blanket on the couch. So, for some reason, even though I heard the lady say it was 28 degrees outside, I heard it was some kind of record, I heard all of that. But I was cold! So I thought I'd be fine.

I got off the parking lot and realized it was not going to be fine. I was boiling hot within the first several curbs. So... by the time I was about 7/8 of the way to my class, I was hot. I was sweaty. My face was as red as a lobster... Trouble breathing... Sweat pouring down my back. Luckily for me I was carrying a backpack because I was sure it was so obvious that I was sweating, but atleast the backpack hid a lot of it.

So... almost there. Until the unthinkable happened. The hill from hell. I know. We met the bump from hell... well, this one was quite large. And you've got to give me credit for thinking ahead (because of course I was scanning ahead) that the end of this hill was not going to be fun. Not only was it super steep, super bumpy, and not straight... the sidewalk ended in the driveway into a very popular parking lot which I could see up ahead there were cars driving across... And there was no pole for me to entangle myself on.

Problem, yes? I was already on a non-stop tilt down the scary hill towards the oncoming traffic and I reached panic-mode. So, what I did was try and slow down on the grass in the ditch.

The ditch... Well, I did slow down... I stopped. That's right, I fell. A good fall too, I must say. My first fall as a new rollerblader. Yup. Down I went. My feet found the grass, my body found the pavement. Yeah, I was really appreciative for that... Quite the fall. I scraped up my hands and I landed quite hard on one side.

But being the smart person that I am, I thought... what better spot to put my shoes on then right here! So anyone driving by a millisecond later, it looked like I had planned this spot to put my shoes on. Bench, ledge, chair? That's kids play. I choose the ground to put my shoes on.

So... I had to walk the last 5 minutes to my class, carrying my rollerblades. To anyone else, clearly I looked like the most athletic person going... Like I always rollerbladed to school. If anyone looked really close though they'd see my face dripping with sweat and red like.. like something bright red.

I finally made it to my building and limped up the stairs.. and discovered that my class had been moved. To where? I didn't know, because the room was a room I'd never heard of before. I asked the nearest stranger if he knew where it was, but he looked like he was trying to get away from me as fast as possible... I then started worrying that maybe my sweat had now formed a smell and was emanating through my BIG BULKY sweater.

Finally, this chick, who turned out to be my teacher, told me it was the Engineering building... More importanly, the AIR CONDITIONED building. I made a friend on the way to the building because she was staring at the class change paper just as I had a few minutes earlier.

So... we walked to our class together. When we got inside, I of course bee-lined it for the back because I knew as soon as I peeled my backpack off my back, then it was going to be quite obvious how sweaty I was... but my new friend headed for the second row of chairs. Do I take off to the back and cool off in silence? No, I want a friend. A study buddy, if you will... so I followed.

And as soon as I got my backpack off and the cold air hit, I knew my back had to be sweaty. So I plastered myself against the back of my chair for the rest of the class. So there I was... boiling hot, red-faced, and sweaty, trying to catch my breath... and wipe the sweat off my face. But every time I nonchalantly tried to hide the fact I was drying off my face, this chick beside me would turn to say something. I'm sure in her head she was thinking, "All these years since high school, and yet, I still manage to sit next to the sweaty kid."

But the class was really good! I'm looking forward to it... I mean, it's on the Holocaust so it won't be light.. but I think it'll be good.

Last funny story for today. I walked out of the building with several of my classmates, and since my pain had subsided into a dull ache, I thought, hey! I'll rollerblade home! So I sat down on the stairs and started to put them on, banking on the fact that while these people were walking away thinking about how athletic I was, they wouldn't be there when I performed my comedic act that is getting off the ground.

Long story short... I sat on the stairs for a bit wondering how I was going to get up... Because the stairs were low enough that I couldn't push myself up. I considered inching sideways until I got to the wall, but people were walking by. That would be slightly obvious. So, I kneeled on the stairs and stuck my posterior in the air and pushed upwards and with a lot of flailing, bending, and moving, I got up and off the ground. And promptly started rolling down the hill that was the cement pad I was on. I tried to make it look like I had planned it, up, off and away! But the flailing panic kind of gave me up.

I made it home though. Slowly, somewhat painfully, and atleast the sun went down so it was less sweaty... but I made it home. One for me!