So I have been slacking this past semester and haven't posted anything--I figure that since my blog is not widely read no one would notice how busy I have been ;-)
Anyway, the past semester I have been totally consumed with school. I have applied to the English Teaching Program (I should hear back in February) and I was accepted to study at the Jerusalem Center next semester.
So this blog will be on hold and I am going to be writing about my travels on my new travel blog, Jetlagged :-)
-E
Wednesday, January 2, 2013
Wednesday, June 6, 2012
The Dirty Dash
Last Saturday, I fulfilled a recently established lifelong dream of mine. It was epic. Let me tell you about it. There is this wonderful event titled "The Dirty Dash" which is basically a 5K obstacle course in which you get extremely muddy. (if you want to learn more, their website is here) The course was located at Soldier Hollow in the Midway area (a 40-ish minute drive from where I live). My roommate is a teacher, and she and her co-workers were going to all go together. One of them dropped out, so I was offered that spot (which I was way stoked to take).
We set off early Saturday morning (although later than I usually leave for work, so that was nice) and arrived at Soldier Hollow early enough to grab a good parking spot. We waited around for the rest of our group, and after meeting up with them and taking a group "before" picture, we prepared for the "race."
Me and my roommate in the car before meeting up with the group...
Our group "before" shot
...AAAAnd at 10:20 we commenced our race. It started with a steep uphill mud-covered slope with water shooting at us as we ran and slid up the hill. Once reaching the top, we jogged for a while (we decided that we weren't going to try and run the whole way or make it into a race- it ended up being more of a hike with a bit of jogging mixed in with the focus on muddy obstacles). We reached our first obstacle, which was a giant mud pit that we had to slide into and then wade through. It was pretty sweet. There were people all over and my roommate (who is a tad short) got stuck in it, which was admittedly, quite hilarious. After that, we continued down the path and eventually came upon a rope-wall thing that we had to climb over. Then we encountered several walls that we had to jump/climb over... The last one was in a big pit of mud and so we slid under that one on our tummies, which was pretty sweet.
When we first started the race, we became separated from most of the group, so for the first half, it was me, my roommate, and three of her co-workers. We had a good time, and continued to have a blast when we met up with the rest of the group (right after the wall-obstacles). We then had to wade through a canal-like mud pathway that was fairly deep. I enjoyed rolling around in the mud and getting totally covered.
This picture is of me and my roommate climbing out of the mud pit
Following this, obstacles included climbing over muddy hay bales, jumping over hurdles, army-crawling through a "mud mine field" and a giant pit with bars in which we had to go over and under the bars (some people, including myself chose to swim through most of it).
This was at some point during the dash
There was one point where we could choose to continue on to make the run a total of 5 miles, and another path that would end the race at 3 miles. We chose the shortcut because of time constraints (and the race took us just shy of 2 hours, so we didn't feel like we were missing much).
At the end of the course, there was a giant slip-and-slide. I went down head first and rocketed out the end into a large pile of mud and people. It was pretty legit.
The finish line was in sight, so we took a last photo together on the course.
At the very end, there was a huuuuuge mud pit that was about waist deep on me. I swam through the whole thing and although I got mud in my mouth and ears, may or may not have been totally submerged in the mud... It was so. awesome. Dream of swimming through mud and basking in all that glory has officially been accomplished.
-E
We set off early Saturday morning (although later than I usually leave for work, so that was nice) and arrived at Soldier Hollow early enough to grab a good parking spot. We waited around for the rest of our group, and after meeting up with them and taking a group "before" picture, we prepared for the "race."
...AAAAnd at 10:20 we commenced our race. It started with a steep uphill mud-covered slope with water shooting at us as we ran and slid up the hill. Once reaching the top, we jogged for a while (we decided that we weren't going to try and run the whole way or make it into a race- it ended up being more of a hike with a bit of jogging mixed in with the focus on muddy obstacles). We reached our first obstacle, which was a giant mud pit that we had to slide into and then wade through. It was pretty sweet. There were people all over and my roommate (who is a tad short) got stuck in it, which was admittedly, quite hilarious. After that, we continued down the path and eventually came upon a rope-wall thing that we had to climb over. Then we encountered several walls that we had to jump/climb over... The last one was in a big pit of mud and so we slid under that one on our tummies, which was pretty sweet.
When we first started the race, we became separated from most of the group, so for the first half, it was me, my roommate, and three of her co-workers. We had a good time, and continued to have a blast when we met up with the rest of the group (right after the wall-obstacles). We then had to wade through a canal-like mud pathway that was fairly deep. I enjoyed rolling around in the mud and getting totally covered.
Following this, obstacles included climbing over muddy hay bales, jumping over hurdles, army-crawling through a "mud mine field" and a giant pit with bars in which we had to go over and under the bars (some people, including myself chose to swim through most of it).
There was one point where we could choose to continue on to make the run a total of 5 miles, and another path that would end the race at 3 miles. We chose the shortcut because of time constraints (and the race took us just shy of 2 hours, so we didn't feel like we were missing much).
At the end of the course, there was a giant slip-and-slide. I went down head first and rocketed out the end into a large pile of mud and people. It was pretty legit.
At the very end, there was a huuuuuge mud pit that was about waist deep on me. I swam through the whole thing and although I got mud in my mouth and ears, may or may not have been totally submerged in the mud... It was so. awesome. Dream of swimming through mud and basking in all that glory has officially been accomplished.
full body shot- a lot of the mud had worn off, but keep in mind that Sam's shirt was white at the beginning of the day.......
dirty, but oh so happy!!!
Headed home after getting washed off
Overall, The trip was amazing. I had so much fun, and would definitely do it again next year!
-E
Wednesday, May 2, 2012
The Recent Developments of my Mildly Boring Life.
For those undoubted few of you who read my blog this post will update you on what I have been up to recently. I will also mix in the songs I am listening to like I did with my music post.
The current song playing is "Give me Love" by Ed Sheeran. My mom told me to look him up today and spent a large portion of my walk home from work (I talk to my mom while walking to and from campus) telling me about him. Therefore, I looked him up and am listening to him via spotify. I like what I've heard thus far.
I moved out of my old apartment in the middle of April and into a townhouse adjacent to the opposite side of campus that my previous apartment was. I really like it so far- I have awesome roommates and the area seems really social and fun. I'm excited to live here for the next few years... It feels good to be all moved in and settled and to know that I won't have to move anytime soon :-)
Now Fly by Ludovico Einaudi is playing. My friend Kameron sent that to me via spotify. It's a chill song. I like it. Quiet music rocks. ;-)
I made a big life change recently: I switched my major from Business Management to English Teaching. Totally different fields, I know. I decided that I really need to be studying something that I am passionate about and that I am really going to enjoy. That is English. I have always loved English and I feel really great about focusing my study on it. My goal is to get a masters and then find a job teaching high school English. My dream job would be teaching Juniors or Seniors in high school- preferably creative writing or AP classes- but we shall see where I end up... For now I am happy to study English and try to find happiness in my current life stage.
I have now paused my music because my roommates and I are going to watch the Family Stone. So now I am listening to/watching that movie.
This spring I am taking 5 credits (spring term at my university is half the length of a normal semester, so students generally take half the work load and are in class double the time each week so that it equals out to the same amount of class time as in a full semester). One of the classes I am taking is British Literary History part 1. It is AWESOME. I seriously love it so much. It has only been two weeks, but I am already obsessed. My professor rocks and the stuff we are reading and learning about is so wonderful. Forreal. I just get so excited when I think about this class. It's three times a week for two hours and I love every minute of it. After two hours I don't even want to leave. I just want my professor to keep talking because he is that fun to listen to. I love words. I love literature. I love the English language. I love Anglo-Saxon poetry. I love poetry. I love loving as love loves loving. I may have ripped that last part off of a novel I read by Jonathan Safran Foer a while ago... It's a great quote- you should look it up sometime. Also, you should read Jonathan Safran Foer's books because he rocks. Also you should embrace some Anglo-Saxon poetry, it is incredibly fascinating. love love love. And that is that.
Life is crazy busy as always, but I am loving school (especially now that I'm going to be focused on studying material that I am so passionate about), I have a great job and an awesome boss, I'm making new friends after moving, I have a netflix subscription, and I have ears that can listen to music and a mouth that can sing along, albeit poorly. Life is grand.
-E
Friday, April 13, 2012
The Delectable Quality of Music
This post may come across as somewhat cliche and obvious. However, it has long been my personal opinion that cliches have only become that way because they contain truth. And as there can never be enough truth in this world, I'm going to write this post anyway. Plus my roommates have been bugging me to post something new because they think I'm funny... Well, at least someone reads this thing...
I'll let you know what I'm listening to (via Spotify, of course) while writing this post. Currently it is "Guilty Filthy Soul" by AWOLNATION. great song.
I spend approximately 83.4% of my waking day with music playing. If we were to breakdown my time, I basically have music playing when I am not in class. always. Music is awesome. I don't think the word awesome should be used lightly. I am full of awe for the qualities of music that make it so appealing to our senses.
"Daylight" by Matt & Kim just came on. this song reminds me of Lauren, a fantastically awesome girl I went to high school with. She introduced me to Matt & Kim for which I am eternally grateful, as their music is sweeeeet.
When I hear a particular song, I am often brought back to a time when I first listened to it or my most vivid memory of it. My friends tease me because whenever a song comes on, I have some story associated with it, whether or not it has any real meaning or any plot lines whatsoever. One evening was spent entirely explaining odd associations that I have with various songs.
"20 Years" by the Civil Wars just came on. They have such lovely voices- their music makes me want to spin around in a field of wildflowers, roll down a grassy slope, have a picnic in the rain, and then prance down the road, holding hands with an attractive male before arriving at our house that obviously has a white picket fence and a porch swing.
Music also helps to calm me down when I am upset or depressed. I have a playlist on my computer titled "iamsad" that contains the perfect blend of sad songs that make you want to cry and upbeat songs that aren't annoying enough to make you more sad, but happy enough to make you hopeful and know that everything will work out. When I am angry, I typically listen to my "gym" playlist which contains mostly mainstream pop, rap, and techno/dubstep mixes. It pumps me up and lets me "rage against the machine" as needed. Venting my frustration through music has always been helpful to me. When I was in high school, I would often yell along with the song "Admit it!" by Say Anything as I was driving home from school. I proudly know all of the words to that song and recently had a chance to go to their concert. Being a part of a sweet mosh-pit to that song (and to all their others, of course) was one of the most fulfilling moments of my life thus far.
Now the song "Hope and Persistence" by Baldwin Games is playing. That is my friend's band- if you don't know them, you should. haha- They are really good and I try to go to as many of their concerts as I can (they are a local band where I am living). In fact, they have a show tonight, which happens to be the last show Kevin (my friend) will be playing in until after his two year mission with our church. So I am planning on going to hear them play tonight.
It's funny how when you listen to a particular playlist or cd multiple times, you become accustomed to the order of songs. Because of that phenomenon, I often expect a particular song at the close of a different song, just because that is the order on the current cd in my car. Its funny how interconnected music becomes in my life. (and undoubtedly anyone who is a music connoisseur, as I claim to be.)
The song "Capulet" by J.Wride is now playing. This is another local band that I saw in concert. Actually, I think I saw them when they were playing a show with Baldwin Games... I don't remember. But I'm pretty sure it was that night... Anyway, I got their cd and they are talented musicians. I enjoy their sound.
The award for my favorite artist has to go to Andrew McMahon. He is the lead singer of Jack's Mannequin and previously of Something Corporate. He also plays the piano in both bands (SoCo broke up before Jack's was formed). No matter what mood I am in, I am always in the mood to listen to either of those bands. I go to their concerts whenever they come to town and it is always an aesthetic experience for me.
I am currently listening to "I Am Not a Whore" by LMFAO. Although not uplifting in any way, this song is superb. It also reminds me of my former roommate, Jennikins, who would often blast this song and she and I would rock out to it.
I really miss living in the Bay Area because there is such a great music scene in San Francisco. gah. I love that city so much. I loved growing up in that area and spending so much time in the city. (we lived about 30-45 minutes outside of SF) That was great. Salt Lake has a good music scene too, but I don't know if I'm busier now or what, but I have only been to a few concerts since being here... I don't know... Regardless, I love the Bay Area and I love music.
Mumford & Sons "I Gave You All" just came on. That is another extremely talented group of musicians. I love that band right now. It makes me a little bit sad that they are so well known now. I liked them before that. Generally, I believe bands are better before they become part of the mainstream media- even though I am happy for the success that they have earned.
Basically, music is an enormous piece of my life. I love poetic lyrics, feeling the emotion behind the voices that serenade me, and moving along to the beat (although my dance moves are quite atrocious as I am extremely clumsy and often quite awkward). I listen to everything (except country, which has no place in my music library) and I think there is a time and a place for all types of music. When all else fails in life, I know I can tune in and shut the world out of my mind while I envelop myself in the experiences of others, manifested by the pieces of their souls that are made known to me through the sound waves that enter my ears.
-E
I'll let you know what I'm listening to (via Spotify, of course) while writing this post. Currently it is "Guilty Filthy Soul" by AWOLNATION. great song.
I spend approximately 83.4% of my waking day with music playing. If we were to breakdown my time, I basically have music playing when I am not in class. always. Music is awesome. I don't think the word awesome should be used lightly. I am full of awe for the qualities of music that make it so appealing to our senses.
"Daylight" by Matt & Kim just came on. this song reminds me of Lauren, a fantastically awesome girl I went to high school with. She introduced me to Matt & Kim for which I am eternally grateful, as their music is sweeeeet.
When I hear a particular song, I am often brought back to a time when I first listened to it or my most vivid memory of it. My friends tease me because whenever a song comes on, I have some story associated with it, whether or not it has any real meaning or any plot lines whatsoever. One evening was spent entirely explaining odd associations that I have with various songs.
"20 Years" by the Civil Wars just came on. They have such lovely voices- their music makes me want to spin around in a field of wildflowers, roll down a grassy slope, have a picnic in the rain, and then prance down the road, holding hands with an attractive male before arriving at our house that obviously has a white picket fence and a porch swing.
Music also helps to calm me down when I am upset or depressed. I have a playlist on my computer titled "iamsad" that contains the perfect blend of sad songs that make you want to cry and upbeat songs that aren't annoying enough to make you more sad, but happy enough to make you hopeful and know that everything will work out. When I am angry, I typically listen to my "gym" playlist which contains mostly mainstream pop, rap, and techno/dubstep mixes. It pumps me up and lets me "rage against the machine" as needed. Venting my frustration through music has always been helpful to me. When I was in high school, I would often yell along with the song "Admit it!" by Say Anything as I was driving home from school. I proudly know all of the words to that song and recently had a chance to go to their concert. Being a part of a sweet mosh-pit to that song (and to all their others, of course) was one of the most fulfilling moments of my life thus far.
Now the song "Hope and Persistence" by Baldwin Games is playing. That is my friend's band- if you don't know them, you should. haha- They are really good and I try to go to as many of their concerts as I can (they are a local band where I am living). In fact, they have a show tonight, which happens to be the last show Kevin (my friend) will be playing in until after his two year mission with our church. So I am planning on going to hear them play tonight.
It's funny how when you listen to a particular playlist or cd multiple times, you become accustomed to the order of songs. Because of that phenomenon, I often expect a particular song at the close of a different song, just because that is the order on the current cd in my car. Its funny how interconnected music becomes in my life. (and undoubtedly anyone who is a music connoisseur, as I claim to be.)
The song "Capulet" by J.Wride is now playing. This is another local band that I saw in concert. Actually, I think I saw them when they were playing a show with Baldwin Games... I don't remember. But I'm pretty sure it was that night... Anyway, I got their cd and they are talented musicians. I enjoy their sound.
The award for my favorite artist has to go to Andrew McMahon. He is the lead singer of Jack's Mannequin and previously of Something Corporate. He also plays the piano in both bands (SoCo broke up before Jack's was formed). No matter what mood I am in, I am always in the mood to listen to either of those bands. I go to their concerts whenever they come to town and it is always an aesthetic experience for me.
I am currently listening to "I Am Not a Whore" by LMFAO. Although not uplifting in any way, this song is superb. It also reminds me of my former roommate, Jennikins, who would often blast this song and she and I would rock out to it.
I really miss living in the Bay Area because there is such a great music scene in San Francisco. gah. I love that city so much. I loved growing up in that area and spending so much time in the city. (we lived about 30-45 minutes outside of SF) That was great. Salt Lake has a good music scene too, but I don't know if I'm busier now or what, but I have only been to a few concerts since being here... I don't know... Regardless, I love the Bay Area and I love music.
Mumford & Sons "I Gave You All" just came on. That is another extremely talented group of musicians. I love that band right now. It makes me a little bit sad that they are so well known now. I liked them before that. Generally, I believe bands are better before they become part of the mainstream media- even though I am happy for the success that they have earned.
Basically, music is an enormous piece of my life. I love poetic lyrics, feeling the emotion behind the voices that serenade me, and moving along to the beat (although my dance moves are quite atrocious as I am extremely clumsy and often quite awkward). I listen to everything (except country, which has no place in my music library) and I think there is a time and a place for all types of music. When all else fails in life, I know I can tune in and shut the world out of my mind while I envelop myself in the experiences of others, manifested by the pieces of their souls that are made known to me through the sound waves that enter my ears.
-E
Monday, April 9, 2012
A Tribute to my Adorable Roommate
My adorable roommate says the most hilarious things. I don't think it is intentional, but nevertheless, we find great humor when discussing current events with her. I will provide you with a few examples:
1) For the first few months we roomed together, every Thursday evening as soon as the clock struck midnight (signifying the beginning of Friday) my adorable roommate and my cool roommate would blast the song "Friday" by Rebecca Black and dance around our apartment to celebrate. One night, my adorable roommate was singing along and she sang the lyrics "MJ: Rebecca Black!" We all stared at her in confusion, as the real lyrics are "RB: Rebecca Black" (as in, Rebecca Black's initials...) We asked her to repeat herself, which she did. We didn't mis-hear her, she actually thought that the song said "MJ: Rebecca Black" (MJ as in Michael Jackson)...
2) Another quote from a fairly recent conversation: "And the way she gets into everything, it's like she's your boyfriend with every guy!" (this was about a girl who is apparently very flirtatious... and a man?)
3) "You two sexuality for me! hey!" This one is verbatim. I don't exactly know what she meant, I'm pretty sure she was trying to call me and cool roommate sexy, but it seemed to get lost in translation... I'm pretty sure the two of us are not "sexuality" but hey, I'll take it! ;-)
4) After watching a talent show: "Dude! That guy was sick- the one who broke dance!" ... I'm not sure, but I don't think "broke dance" is the proper past tense of "break dancing"... it sounded silly either way.
5) I liked this one a lot- it came pretty much out of the blue too: "My sister and I look nothing alike, like we don't even look like sisters. So sometimes we would skip down the street holding hands and proclaiming 'we're lesbian lovers!'" hahahaha, I love her.
6) A while ago, while discussing what food we wanted to eat, (and I don't remember her reasoning for this) she said "We can snack on gasoline food!!!"
Anyway. I love my adorable roommate. She is so cute, and her comments are typically hysterical, whether or not she intends them to be. I'm definitely going to miss her when I move out in a couple weeks!!!
-E
Thursday, April 5, 2012
Running into the Law.
I am not a criminal. But I did have a little snag with some police officers a few months ago... I am hesitant to publicize this, mostly because I'm pretty sure I never told my parents about this and I'm also fairly certain that my parents are the only people that read my blog... BUT. This is a pretty good story and I have another hour until my shift at work ends and I have run out of patience with my homework, so I'm going to share with you few readers about my little trouble with the law.
It all started because my roommates and I wanted to rent a redbox movie. After literally running to the redbox (we decided we would permit ourselves to lounge around all evening if we took a "jog" to the redbox located quite far from our apartment), we retrieved several movies. We then proceeded to watch these movies.
One movie we watched was titled Something Borrowed. It was a pretty good movie until the end. One of the main protagonists, Ethan, did not reach a satisfactory conclusion. My cool roommate and I were less than impressed. In fact, we were excruciatingly distressed.By the time the movie ended, it was approximately 2:30 in the morning. We decided in a fit of college-aged-female stupidity that we would express to the world our distress. We thought it would be a brilliant idea to exit our apartment and yell into the night. We did this. After we were outside, we began yelling things like "ETHAN!!! NOOOOO!!!! ETHAN NOOOOO!!!! PLEASE!!!" mixed with our loudest, most anguished screams.
Almost immediately after we began expressing our disappointment to the night air, we heard running footsteps. Figuring that someone thought we were in trouble, we thought it best to vacate the scene. We turned and started walking in the opposite direction of our apartment. Then we saw two cops running towards us, their hands reaching for the firearms on their belts. Unbeknownst to us, they had been literally standing around the corner when we started shrieking into the very still night air.
My first thought was "Oh, crap. These police people think we were being raped by some guy named Ethan. That is not the case."
I decided to play it cool and keep walking away, because maybe they wouldn't notice me?
They noticed me.
They were like; "Ma'am! Please come back here. Are you two okay?" all concerned and stuff. Cool roommate and I looked at each other sheepishly and were all "yeah..."
They asked us why we were screaming. I responded by saying; "We were extremely dissatisfied with the ending of a movie."
They reminded us that it was quite late at night (actually, it was pretty early in the morning, but I wasn't exactly in the position to correct them). And expressed concern for our safety, as we were yelling as if we were being attacked. They were pretty annoyed. I suppose this is reasonable, I'm sure they thought they were about to get some serious police-y action, which is probably pretty rare in Prove, Utah. I am sorry to have disappointed them.
We promised to stop making loud panicked screams and said we would return to our place of residence. (although we walked around to a different entrance to our building so they wouldn't see where we lived and then come back to arrest us or something) As we walked away, the more good-natured of the two asked us "By the way, what was the movie?"
We told him.
He told us that he agreed that the ending was horrible.
Well, at least our screaming was justified.
-E
It all started because my roommates and I wanted to rent a redbox movie. After literally running to the redbox (we decided we would permit ourselves to lounge around all evening if we took a "jog" to the redbox located quite far from our apartment), we retrieved several movies. We then proceeded to watch these movies.
One movie we watched was titled Something Borrowed. It was a pretty good movie until the end. One of the main protagonists, Ethan, did not reach a satisfactory conclusion. My cool roommate and I were less than impressed. In fact, we were excruciatingly distressed.By the time the movie ended, it was approximately 2:30 in the morning. We decided in a fit of college-aged-female stupidity that we would express to the world our distress. We thought it would be a brilliant idea to exit our apartment and yell into the night. We did this. After we were outside, we began yelling things like "ETHAN!!! NOOOOO!!!! ETHAN NOOOOO!!!! PLEASE!!!" mixed with our loudest, most anguished screams.
Almost immediately after we began expressing our disappointment to the night air, we heard running footsteps. Figuring that someone thought we were in trouble, we thought it best to vacate the scene. We turned and started walking in the opposite direction of our apartment. Then we saw two cops running towards us, their hands reaching for the firearms on their belts. Unbeknownst to us, they had been literally standing around the corner when we started shrieking into the very still night air.
My first thought was "Oh, crap. These police people think we were being raped by some guy named Ethan. That is not the case."
I decided to play it cool and keep walking away, because maybe they wouldn't notice me?
They noticed me.
They were like; "Ma'am! Please come back here. Are you two okay?" all concerned and stuff. Cool roommate and I looked at each other sheepishly and were all "yeah..."
They asked us why we were screaming. I responded by saying; "We were extremely dissatisfied with the ending of a movie."
They reminded us that it was quite late at night (actually, it was pretty early in the morning, but I wasn't exactly in the position to correct them). And expressed concern for our safety, as we were yelling as if we were being attacked. They were pretty annoyed. I suppose this is reasonable, I'm sure they thought they were about to get some serious police-y action, which is probably pretty rare in Prove, Utah. I am sorry to have disappointed them.
We promised to stop making loud panicked screams and said we would return to our place of residence. (although we walked around to a different entrance to our building so they wouldn't see where we lived and then come back to arrest us or something) As we walked away, the more good-natured of the two asked us "By the way, what was the movie?"
We told him.
He told us that he agreed that the ending was horrible.
Well, at least our screaming was justified.
-E
Wednesday, April 4, 2012
The Possessed Nature of the Bicycle
When I was younger, I loved the whole bike-riding/roller-blading
scene. I was good. And by good, I mean I can only recall one instance
where I was riding my bike downhill and somehow ended up careening over
the handle bars and skidding nose first on the pavement, earning myself a
lovely scar.
Not until I arrived at college did I truly understand the real nature of the bicycle: all bikes are possessed by evil spirits. Possibly the same evil spirit that possessed the little girl in the movie The Exorcist, but that has yet to be determined. No matter where the evil spirits originate, the fact remains that bicycles inherently have it out for me. I described in a previous blog post my first experience with bikes in college. Well, I have another piece of evidence to prove the demonic intentions of bicycles.
On this particular evening, I attempted to do a good deed. Jennikins, my cute little blonde roommate was planning to take a test that would determine whether or not she wanted to drop out of a certain science class of immense difficulty. At our University, the Testing Center is a building with the sole purpose of providing a location where tests are administered. In this way, we are able to take exams any time within a given window rather than taking in-class exams. The tests are administered upstairs in the building, and as you exit after finishing your exam, you walk down a set of stairs. At the bottom is a TV monitor that displays the scores to scantron tests, so if your test was multiple choice, you can see your grade immediately. Then you exit through the adjacent door. It is common for friends to leave notes of encouragement or support on a window ledge so that as you exit the testing center, you will see them.
We (meaning me and adorable roommate) knew that Jennikins was probably going to be distraught at the conclusion of her test. We therefore decided that we would leave her a note. Unfortunatlely, we decided this after she had been gone for about an hour. The testing center is at least a 15 minute walk from our apartment. We figured she would probably not be done with her test in that time frame, but we didn't want to waste 30 minutes walking if we would miss her. We decided to ride bikes to the testing center to leave her our supportive note.
Here I must inform you that I am somewhat athletically challenged. I am only mildly coordinated when I have both feet on the ground, so when you throw in WHEELS, I am definitely ill-equipped to handle myself. Adorable roommate had a bike (I say "had" because it has since been impounded). This was our only mode of transportation. For whatever reason, we decided that fitting both of us on that bike would be unwise (although we knew it was possible because this was after our experience described in my previous post). We went to find someone who would lend us a bike. We found a boy. I like boys.I also like getting what I want from boys. So naturally, we convinced this boy to let us borrow his bike. If he knew at that time how uncoordinated I was (although I must admit that I think it was entirely the bike's fault for being difficult to ride), he probably would have decided against loaning out his precious bike.
I assumed that this bike would be somewhat easy to ride as I am roughly the same height as the male that we borrowed the bike from. I did not anticipate, however, that his bike would be so utterly dangerous and useless. The seat was really tall, and when I finally mounted the thing (that took a while- it was much more complicated than mounting a horse.) my feet did not reach the ground. In fact, they barely reached the pedals. Also, this bike was designed so that the rider would need to lean forward on the handle bars while riding it.
So here I was, following my adorable roommate. It was then that I realized the last time I had successfully ridden a bike was probably when my age still matched my shoe size. I spent the majority of that bike ride yelling "MOVE! I CAN'T CONTROL THIS DEMON BIKE!" at innocent passers-by. When there were no passers-by, I simply chanted "I hate this bike. I hate my life, and I HATE KYLE!" Of course I blamed Kyle for owning a faulty bike. Therefore, I had to let the world know that I hated him and that it was his fault that I was unsteadily mounted on a bike that I had yet to figure out how to dismount.
We finally arrived at the testing center, and as I was unable to reach the ground, I discovered the only way to stop was to position myself next to a grassy patch and fall over. This bike was effing heavy. It hurt me when it pinned my legs beneath it.
We left our note for Jennikins and turned around to head home. It was difficult to get started and almost immediately after we got going, I almost hit some person and had to swerve to avoid them. I ended up crashing into a light post. At least it was next to some grass, but that landing definitely hurt more than my purposeful falling... It took me several minutes to get out from beneath the bike, during which I was yelling loudly my dislike for Kyle and for bikes and for Kyle's bike.
Eventually, my adorable roommate noticed that I had crashed and she returned to laugh at me. She remained on her bike. I somehow managed to get out from under the bike that must be made out of lead or some kind of really heavy rock imported from Mars or something. I also managed to get back on the bike by climbing up the lamp post and then kinda throwing myself over the bike until I was somewhat steadily back on the bike.
On our return trip, I yelled my chant of "I hate this bike, I hate my life, and I HATE KYLE!" even louder, receiving several bemused and even more confused looks from those that I passed. I think I crashed in the middle of the road near our apartment building while swerving out of the way of a car or something... I don't remember.. oh yeah, and neither of us were wearing helmets because we are cheap and don't own any.
When I returned the bike to Kyle, I noticed that the handles were slightly bent. I don't think he noticed because I was too busy telling him how his bike was possessed by demons who were hell-bent on removing me from the face of this earth. He didn't seem very amused.Then we played musical chairs.
And this, my friends, is why you should only do a good deed if it is convenient. Or you should make sure the person you are risking your life by riding a demon bike that probably would have bucked you off if it had the opportunity is worth it. Jennikins is definitely worth it. And she appreciated our efforts to give her a note.
-E
Not until I arrived at college did I truly understand the real nature of the bicycle: all bikes are possessed by evil spirits. Possibly the same evil spirit that possessed the little girl in the movie The Exorcist, but that has yet to be determined. No matter where the evil spirits originate, the fact remains that bicycles inherently have it out for me. I described in a previous blog post my first experience with bikes in college. Well, I have another piece of evidence to prove the demonic intentions of bicycles.
On this particular evening, I attempted to do a good deed. Jennikins, my cute little blonde roommate was planning to take a test that would determine whether or not she wanted to drop out of a certain science class of immense difficulty. At our University, the Testing Center is a building with the sole purpose of providing a location where tests are administered. In this way, we are able to take exams any time within a given window rather than taking in-class exams. The tests are administered upstairs in the building, and as you exit after finishing your exam, you walk down a set of stairs. At the bottom is a TV monitor that displays the scores to scantron tests, so if your test was multiple choice, you can see your grade immediately. Then you exit through the adjacent door. It is common for friends to leave notes of encouragement or support on a window ledge so that as you exit the testing center, you will see them.
We (meaning me and adorable roommate) knew that Jennikins was probably going to be distraught at the conclusion of her test. We therefore decided that we would leave her a note. Unfortunatlely, we decided this after she had been gone for about an hour. The testing center is at least a 15 minute walk from our apartment. We figured she would probably not be done with her test in that time frame, but we didn't want to waste 30 minutes walking if we would miss her. We decided to ride bikes to the testing center to leave her our supportive note.
Here I must inform you that I am somewhat athletically challenged. I am only mildly coordinated when I have both feet on the ground, so when you throw in WHEELS, I am definitely ill-equipped to handle myself. Adorable roommate had a bike (I say "had" because it has since been impounded). This was our only mode of transportation. For whatever reason, we decided that fitting both of us on that bike would be unwise (although we knew it was possible because this was after our experience described in my previous post). We went to find someone who would lend us a bike. We found a boy. I like boys.I also like getting what I want from boys. So naturally, we convinced this boy to let us borrow his bike. If he knew at that time how uncoordinated I was (although I must admit that I think it was entirely the bike's fault for being difficult to ride), he probably would have decided against loaning out his precious bike.
I assumed that this bike would be somewhat easy to ride as I am roughly the same height as the male that we borrowed the bike from. I did not anticipate, however, that his bike would be so utterly dangerous and useless. The seat was really tall, and when I finally mounted the thing (that took a while- it was much more complicated than mounting a horse.) my feet did not reach the ground. In fact, they barely reached the pedals. Also, this bike was designed so that the rider would need to lean forward on the handle bars while riding it.
So here I was, following my adorable roommate. It was then that I realized the last time I had successfully ridden a bike was probably when my age still matched my shoe size. I spent the majority of that bike ride yelling "MOVE! I CAN'T CONTROL THIS DEMON BIKE!" at innocent passers-by. When there were no passers-by, I simply chanted "I hate this bike. I hate my life, and I HATE KYLE!" Of course I blamed Kyle for owning a faulty bike. Therefore, I had to let the world know that I hated him and that it was his fault that I was unsteadily mounted on a bike that I had yet to figure out how to dismount.
We finally arrived at the testing center, and as I was unable to reach the ground, I discovered the only way to stop was to position myself next to a grassy patch and fall over. This bike was effing heavy. It hurt me when it pinned my legs beneath it.
We left our note for Jennikins and turned around to head home. It was difficult to get started and almost immediately after we got going, I almost hit some person and had to swerve to avoid them. I ended up crashing into a light post. At least it was next to some grass, but that landing definitely hurt more than my purposeful falling... It took me several minutes to get out from beneath the bike, during which I was yelling loudly my dislike for Kyle and for bikes and for Kyle's bike.
On our return trip, I yelled my chant of "I hate this bike, I hate my life, and I HATE KYLE!" even louder, receiving several bemused and even more confused looks from those that I passed. I think I crashed in the middle of the road near our apartment building while swerving out of the way of a car or something... I don't remember.. oh yeah, and neither of us were wearing helmets because we are cheap and don't own any.
When I returned the bike to Kyle, I noticed that the handles were slightly bent. I don't think he noticed because I was too busy telling him how his bike was possessed by demons who were hell-bent on removing me from the face of this earth. He didn't seem very amused.Then we played musical chairs.
And this, my friends, is why you should only do a good deed if it is convenient. Or you should make sure the person you are risking your life by riding a demon bike that probably would have bucked you off if it had the opportunity is worth it. Jennikins is definitely worth it. And she appreciated our efforts to give her a note.
-E
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