OracleMSU
02-28-2004, 05:06 AM
So this is a post about HORRIBLE first times that turn into some of your more favorite hobbies and past times.
--First time skiing--
Was a school field trip, and some friends and I were having a blast. They called for one last run before we had to board the busses home, so we got on board the ski lift and all was good.
It was my first time, and so by now I was getting pretty decent at skate/ski stopping rather than snow plowing. Unfortunately for me, I had not realised that my friend was not up to that level yet.
Picture it, bottom of the last run, perfect stop. Feeling of accomplisment flowing through you. Then, you hear "Look out", and turn your head just in time to see one of your best friends plowing into you. An odd, yet non-painful, sensation courses through your arm and shoulder. You both skid to a stop underneath the protective fense surrounding the tow rope machine.
Your friend gets up, however you seem to be having trouble supporting any weight with your left arm, and have to get dragged out from under the fense.
Ski patrol takes you to the first aid shed. Hmmm...could it be a dislocated shoulder, or a broken clavicle? The ski patrol can't tell. They put me in a sling and send me packing.
::sigh:: 12 hours later a doctor at the local emergency room is setting your collarbone in a figure 8 harness, and you almost black out (well, my vision went all white actually) because of your bodies reaction to the pain.
However, skiing is one of my favorite things to do in the winter, and that didn't discourage me at all.
--First time at Soak City (water part near Cedar Point)--
Two person tube (bad, bad plan). My girlfriend and I decide it would be fun to try a two person tube on one of the runs. After the first turn, WHAM. Tube flips over and I take my girlfriends knee in the corner of my eye. Need 3 stitches to close it up. Stitches by the eye = not fun.
--First time paintballing (not a completely off subject post)--
Heading into our last hour on the speedball fields. "Three, two, one, go go go".
Head off towards my front left directly at the nearest inflatable bunker. Speed increasing, ground sloping, foot finds a nice "foot sized" hole in the ground. Now, heading towards the ground like a ton of bricks, I try to roll out of it, well, toes still caught in the hole, so I end up landing REALLY hard on my shoulder (yes, the same one I injured skiing), and it stretches tendons and tears muscle. In a sling for 8 weeks, can't do any heavy lifting (was working manual labor at the time). Relegated to computer data entry for the entire 8 weeks. No going outside in the summer on delivery runs. No seeing college girls bathing in the sun all over campus. ::sigh:: Worst of all, regardless of injury, I had the best time. The most difficult part of the whole sling experience was my inability to try paintballing again that season.
BUT....do I stop there? No. I have gone several more times, and quickly grew tired of renting. Been using my own 98c for over a year.
Will this string of horrible firsts ever end? I hope so.
Anyone else have any stories like this? Let's hear em.
--First time skiing--
Was a school field trip, and some friends and I were having a blast. They called for one last run before we had to board the busses home, so we got on board the ski lift and all was good.
It was my first time, and so by now I was getting pretty decent at skate/ski stopping rather than snow plowing. Unfortunately for me, I had not realised that my friend was not up to that level yet.
Picture it, bottom of the last run, perfect stop. Feeling of accomplisment flowing through you. Then, you hear "Look out", and turn your head just in time to see one of your best friends plowing into you. An odd, yet non-painful, sensation courses through your arm and shoulder. You both skid to a stop underneath the protective fense surrounding the tow rope machine.
Your friend gets up, however you seem to be having trouble supporting any weight with your left arm, and have to get dragged out from under the fense.
Ski patrol takes you to the first aid shed. Hmmm...could it be a dislocated shoulder, or a broken clavicle? The ski patrol can't tell. They put me in a sling and send me packing.
::sigh:: 12 hours later a doctor at the local emergency room is setting your collarbone in a figure 8 harness, and you almost black out (well, my vision went all white actually) because of your bodies reaction to the pain.
However, skiing is one of my favorite things to do in the winter, and that didn't discourage me at all.
--First time at Soak City (water part near Cedar Point)--
Two person tube (bad, bad plan). My girlfriend and I decide it would be fun to try a two person tube on one of the runs. After the first turn, WHAM. Tube flips over and I take my girlfriends knee in the corner of my eye. Need 3 stitches to close it up. Stitches by the eye = not fun.
--First time paintballing (not a completely off subject post)--
Heading into our last hour on the speedball fields. "Three, two, one, go go go".
Head off towards my front left directly at the nearest inflatable bunker. Speed increasing, ground sloping, foot finds a nice "foot sized" hole in the ground. Now, heading towards the ground like a ton of bricks, I try to roll out of it, well, toes still caught in the hole, so I end up landing REALLY hard on my shoulder (yes, the same one I injured skiing), and it stretches tendons and tears muscle. In a sling for 8 weeks, can't do any heavy lifting (was working manual labor at the time). Relegated to computer data entry for the entire 8 weeks. No going outside in the summer on delivery runs. No seeing college girls bathing in the sun all over campus. ::sigh:: Worst of all, regardless of injury, I had the best time. The most difficult part of the whole sling experience was my inability to try paintballing again that season.
BUT....do I stop there? No. I have gone several more times, and quickly grew tired of renting. Been using my own 98c for over a year.
Will this string of horrible firsts ever end? I hope so.
Anyone else have any stories like this? Let's hear em.