Pretty!

Where this image was found.

I was just browsing one of my favorite websites today, weheartit.com, and I came across this picture.  I thought the colors were gorgeous, and I wanted to share!

The heat is stopping me from practicing too much today.  I went out in the morning, but after only a couple runs I was sweating like crazy.  I don't want to sound like a wimp, but all of our streets here are sloped and it is around 106 today.  I will have to wait until tonight.  

I am going to try on the bike I will actually be taking back to my apartment on monday (hopefully) too.  Scary, since it is taller than the stingray and it does not have handle breaks, but I am still excited to feel like someone my age on a bike (maybe).

 

Photo credit of...

Another picture that I thought was beautiful.  I can't wait to deck out my basket like that! With flourist wire, zip-ties, and fake flowers I assume?

Bruises

That was me collapsing after the first time I rode my bike completely by myself. That is not the same bike I have in my first post mind you. That is my Dad's bike, an old sting ray I think. It is a classic. I would love to take that one to school with me, but if it got stolen it would be my dad's childhood bike that was stolen, not just some new thing. It is amazing though. As I was riding, one guy stopped in his car just to remark on what a beautiful bike it is (and then laughed at how I was barely learning how to ride it).

So, I wanted to go over my injuries. The last post did not seem the place for it. First, and most painful, my ankle. I mentioned I sprained it, and that now because of workman's comp issues I was going to have to go to physical therapy three times a week for two weeks because the doctor wants a fatter paycheck. Well, I did not mention it to my Dad, just like I said I wouldn't. My ankle is definitely more beat up now. It is my right ankle, and I tended to constantly lean to my right when I was about to fall, so it took most of the weight when I would come close to tipping over. And one time I also took a nasty fall on it which also managed too...

Rip up my jeans, and parts of my calf. Not a big deal, I was more worried about the bike really because it seems there is some metal thing poking out of where a chain guard would be. It caught on to my pants and got me to fall. Now I know not to wear jeans!

Other than that, I am mostly just amazingly sore, and I have a bunch of little blisters on my palms. Completely worth it. :)

I can feel a hot one

So, this is going to be a rather long post. I could split it up into two, but I don't see the point, since it is all connected.

First off, I want to give some background. Every boy I have ever dated, since sophomore year of high school, has said they will teach me how to ride a bike. Now, this is not a large polling sample of course, but I still think it deserves some merit. I mean, it kind of became my test for a guy in an odd way. If I could say to them "I do not know how to ride a bike," without them responding with "Oh don't worry, I will teach you!" then they must not be liars. Of course, since I have this whole blog going here, I do not know how to ride a bike. So, even though every guy then went farther with that, promised to teach me how to ride a bike, even at some point made some kind of plan for how they would, not a single one did. Even at my young age, this has made me slightly bitter.

That goes along with how every boy, sometime after they had promised to teach me how to ride a bike, also said that they loved me. It is a little messed up, but now I feel like those two in my head are now combined. You lied about whether or not you would teach me to ride a bike, most likely to get me to open up to you and think you were warm, cuddly, and a protector of sorts, so why wouldn't you lie about the whole "I love you" deal to do the same thing? There are other things that go along with this as well, but it is one of the major ones.

So, last night, I kinda confronted the most recent SO (of sorts) about how he recently said "I love you," and if it bothered him that I did not return those words. Apparently, I had our whole relationship wrong, he loved me as a friend, and was uncomfortable with the idea that I did not want him seeing other girls. So, once again, I feel jaded. Even more so, since that boy never told me he would teach me how to ride a bike, so my system is flawed.

After crying my eyes out last night, I got on the bike this morning. By myself. No one was home. That was an epic failure. Falling is scary.

Thankfully, that was not the end for today's attempts with riding a bicycle.



(Please excuse the absurd outfit, it was 106 degrees outside today when I chose to learn how to ride a bike. The voice is my step mother's who was filming.)
EDIT: It seems like the video is not working, but I will still leave the link up in case it changes its mind at some point.

My father took me out tonight after my Grandmother's birthday dinner, and I was definitely determined. For awhile I was definitely just too afraid of falling (hmmm, sounds a lot like my relationships now) but after a fall when my dad let go of the bike without telling me (YES I told him that was a bad idea!) I guess it clicked! Starting is still very hard for me, I only seem to be able to do it well if I am going downhill. My balance is also an issue. I feel like my butt is just huge (which I love most of the time, but it is not proper for a tiny bicycle seat) and it is like balancing a set of scales when riding.

I am getting it though. No boyfriend taught me, just my father, like it is supposed to be. It feels so symbolic. I finally feel a kind of independence that driving a car could not have given me. It is silly but I am almost in tears as I type this. I had completely believed I would never learn how to ride a bike. Now though, I am on my way to becoming obsessed. It is definitely the start of a new chapter, in more ways than one.

What a stumble

Today, while walking to work, I tripped down some stairs. Normally this is just how I walk, like a klutz, but today I made the mistake of telling the story to a woman at work with me since I sprained my ankle. I just thought it was a funny story about how I am somewhat klutzy.

Turns out, since I was on my way to work, workman's comp papers had to be filled out and I had to go to an actual hospital during my shift to get it checked.



So after a couple x-rays, the doctor told me it was sprained (glad you got paid for those x-rays in order to tell me something you could tell by looking. And of course it wasn't broken, I wasn't even limping when I walked). He gave me this HUGE unnecessary, bulky brace to put on it, pain killers, and...

Physical therapy three times a week, for two weeks. For a sprained ankle.

I am taking the brace off for when I go home tonight, and definitely not mentioning it to my Dad. I will learn how to ride a bike this weekend!

This weekend, I will be six-years-old.

Today, I reached a milestone that most people reach around childhood. My dad bought me a bike! Since moving into an apartment near campus, I have wanted to finally learn how to ride a bike.

Sadly, I do not have my bike with me though so I cannot start learning until Friday when I go home. I still wanted to write my first blog post today though, since I am pre-bicycle legs.

I never learned how to ride a bike when I was younger because, like many in my generation, my parents were going through a rather nasty custody battle. It is pretty reasonable that if I went back to one parent's house from the other with bruises all over my shins and elbows, maybe even my head, voices would then raise and tempers would spike. So, I missed out on an important milestone in my life. Are you aware how many times people use the phrase, "Oh, its just like riding a bike." Well jerk, I have no idea what that means. Alright I do, but not because of real life experience like most people.

So, this weekend, at the young (but not young enough for societal norms) age of 18, I will learn how to ride a bike. Since I am so old, it should just take me a weekend, right?