(that’s a Gune quote from Titan A.E., for those of you out there without culture :P )
Despite not feeling too smash hot last night, I did end up going to kayaking nonetheless. In fact, before that I dropped by Roxanne’s place for an hour or so, just to chat. I like talking to Roxanne; she’s quite capable of holding up a conversation all by herself, which I don’t mean in a mocking way; it’s good to have someone who can just talk, and isn’t always looking for validation or confirmation of what they’re saying. Plus, while we went to school together and know each other reasonably well, she’s got lots of new stories to tell. :)
She’s also being stalked by bats. Giant, furry, winged bats. While I was leaving, we were chatting at the door, and she kept saying “Look, a bat!”. Nonetheless, when I turned around, it was only clouds. Hehe… yes, I did eventually see one of the bats, so she’s not necessarily crazy, but I hold out hope nonetheless. ;)
I was a bit surprised to see and hear fruitbats in that area – I had no idea we had them anywhere near out this way – but then they’re certainly out there; I’ve seen them many times in the gardens in the city, and if they can survive there they can surely survive outside the city where there’s actual foliage to live in and eat.
Anyway, she cheered me up a bit, and my headache was pretty faded by then, so I went into kayaking pretty happy. I was planning on taking it quite easy – I managed to hurt my neck of all things the previous night, at J.D.’s, when I stuffed up a shot and bounced the cue off the white ball… how exactly that hurt my neck I don’t know, but it sure was sore – but as it turns out I really got into it, and did quite well. In particular, I recovered several times from rolling over, with such ease it truly surprised me. A few weeks ago I was giving someone a lift back from kayaking (to the station near my place) and I was talking about how I felt I wasn’t nearly fit enough for it, and so forth. His response to that was to disregard it entirely – he assured me that fitness was irrelevant, and that it was all just a matter of skill, which just needs time to refine. I’m starting to see that he was quite correct – you’d think it’s just a matter of having some big strong arms to force yourself around underwater, but that doesn’t work at all; you have to get the right motion, rock in the right way, and be smooth in your movements. I’m no swan just yet, but I’m definitely feeling an improvement in myself.
Which, all in all, makes me really happy. I’ve also gotten pretty good at doing pivot turns, where you plane the back of the kayak underwater and turn on a dime. Anthony takes great pleasure in doing that to get under my kayak… he wasn’t there last night, so he’ll get a surprise next week… hehehehe.. *evil laugh*
I also thought I was getting quite good as goalie in kayak polo, but then in the last five minutes of the game managed to let every single shot at goal through… it was quite a disaster. But, even the best kayakers there still have the odd one slip through, so I don’t feel too bad about it. I think I’ve definitely made improvements over the weeks; my confidence just got a bit ahead of myself. :)
