Adventures in Roller Skating

I went roller skating. That doesn't sound like such a big deal, but keep in mind the following:


* Prior to this I've only been on roller skates once in my life.
* I wouldn't describe that previous occasion as a successful experience.
* I don't remember exactly when this previous occasion was, but I'm pretty sure it was sometime during the Clinton administration.


So when a female friend proposed that we do this, I can't exactly say it was my idea of a dream Saturday night. But 2014 has been a year where I've tried a lot of new things (line-dancing, boxing, jumping rope, the list goes on). It couldn't hurt to add this to the list, could it?


I put on the roller skates, tentatively stood up, and like a cartoon almost immediately collapsed and fell to the ground. This was going to be more of a challenge than I thought. But hey, I had to give it a shot.


FIRST LAP: Basically I kept my hands along the wall for balance the entire time. I still fell three or four times. It took awhile but I eventually got around the track. I was pretty content to be a spectator the rest of the night, until a random guy asked why I had skates on if I was sitting on a bench.


SECOND LAP: Motivated by that guy, I went around one more time, spending less time hanging onto the wall and doing a lot better.


THIRD LAP: My friend offered her hand for me to hold. (Before you get any ideas, she's already involved with someone, but she did pay me some nice compliments that made me feel really good about myself.) I was able to take the whole lap without any wall assistance, though she said I may have broken her hand I was clutching it so hard.


FOURTH AND FIFTH LAPS: Now I was starting to get a little bold, so I went to the DJ station and requested two songs that I thought might be fun to roller skate to -- "Blow" by Ke$ha and SAIL by AWOLNATION. I was starting to feel a lot more confident now. I did take probably my most violent spill on one of these laps, but it was because I was starting to experiment with going for speed, and it actually made falling a little more fun.


I'm not going to say I'd be up for roller skating every Saturday, but overall I'd say it was a fun experience. It's usually a good experience for me wen I broaden my horizons. My friend seemed happy as well. Everybody wins.