I was riding past the pavilion on campus, where there were about 500 people attending some robotics convention thing. So I managed to weave in and out of people, and as soon as my path cleared, I sped up. Of course, I wanted to get the hell out of all the commotion. I entered a bike circle and there was someone on the outer edge of it, so without thinking, I swerved slightly left. My left pedal, meanwhile, was coming back down and embedded itself on the curb that lines the inside of the circle. This caused my bike to come to a complete stop...however, I did not. I took flight over the handlebars, landed on my wrists and belly (finally, it does something for me!) and because my feet were still attached to the bike, it promptly came down on me and landed a few feet in front of me. I laid there for a second, on the nice warm pavement, in a shock induced nirvana state. Do I really want to get up? The sun was so nice and warm.
Turns out that robotics convention was for middle- schoolers. I found myself surrounded by 20 pre-teens armed with band aids, good intentions, and too many questions.
"Can you get up?" "Can you move?" "Is your back okay?"
"Can you give me a second? I just flew off my bike."
"Sorry! Do you need ice?"
"Probably."
Some paramedics were nearby and bandaged me up and sent me on my merry way. It wasn't until I got home that things started to really hurt. I basically felt like I got hit by a bus -- everything was sore. I couldn't use my hands for anything, and I had unexplained bruises in weird places.
A few x-rays and many anti-inflammatories later, I am happy to report that nothing is broken... I'm just a little beat up. I've regained use of my right hand so I am not so dependent on Mark to open doors and bottles for me. My left hand is still badly sprained but I'll be good to go in far time. All that was lost was a little bit of pride and half of my big toenail. Lovely. The whole reason I was on my bike that day? I wanted to buy some delicious broccoli from the farmer's market.
Spring quarter began yesterday. So far, I am optimistic about my classes and am motivated to work my ass off. I suppose everyone starts the quarter that way -- but I intend to keep this mentality for the next few months. These grades are my currency, the salary I earn in exchange for attending school. I know that I've worked hard for crap pay... so the logic is that I should be perfectly capable of busting my ass for something much more important in the long run... right?
Tuesdays provide me some nice free time between classes to take a break and get some sunshine. My original plan was to continue the nap that I began in my morning Microeconomics class, but it's much too pretty of a day to close my eyes.
Off to class!
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