I learned how to use Heelys and I taught about longboarding.
Never before had I even worn Heelys but the concept has always fascinated me. I mean, let's get this straight: THEY ARE SHOES WITH WHEELS. How much more awesome can shoes get?! Answer: Not much more awesome. It's a very strange thing to get used to, however. They require a great deal of balance and leg strength. The balance thing I expected but the leg strength not so much. It's not that I have wimpy calves or anything but I didn't realize how much work they would get. I ended up being able to go a few feet without holding onto anything after about 10 or 15 minutes. Maybe someday I'll buy a pair of my own and go zooming around.
As for the longboarding, that is something I have come to excel at and love. It's weird wheeling around on a piece of wood, in my case bamboo. My friend Kate has had her longboard much longer than I have had mine but she hasn't quite gotten the hang of it yet. She fell one time pretty bad and since then sort of gave up on it. Boarding can present a huge mental block, just like any semi-dangerous activity can. (Look at me, acting all legit, using the word "boarding.") After she let me mess around on her Heelys, we came to the conclusion that we should hit up the freshly paved road right by my house. It was a great night for it: not too hot and the road was very empty. For me, I wanted to be good at longboarding from the get-go, so I made myself good. I've only crashed once, though it was pretty bad, almost exactly a year ago. Since then I've just become more confident. Kate's biggest issue came from trusting herself to push off, something that troubled me for quite some time. I like to think I at least got her on the way to feeling more comfortable on her board. It was actually really fun trying to figure out what she was doing and how we could make it easier. I like the problem solving aspect of it.
What great fun. I'm quite excited to get back to Provo and find some new friends to board with. That's always a need in my book.
Last YouTube video I watched: Philadelphia Airport Speedrun (While writing this post about Heelys, I knew I had to watch this video again.)
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