Flashes of Brilliance And Long Spans of Mediocrity: My Moment on the Ice

Friday, December 23, 2011

My Moment on the Ice

I like this one because it
makes it look like I was going
fast (not so much).

As part of my Holiday Spirit Quest, I wanted to go ice skating. I haven't been in a really long time, but was suckered into taking ice skating as a class in college. My friend Schultz convinced me that it would be fun (and it was), but when I admitted that I hadn't been skating in years, she neglected to tell me that she had taken figure skating lessons for years before.

Anyway, it was a fun class and I wanted to get back on the ice to get in the holiday spirit. As you can imagine, there aren't a ton of places to go ice skating in southern California, but there were two outdoor skating rinks that were put up just for the season. One was at a mall near work and one was at LA Live the entertainment area near Staples Center. I choose LA Live.

Good shot of Staples Center
behind me.

Chef and I went together. He had said he would skate with me (having not skated himself in quite some time), but when he saw the size of the rink (tiny) and the amount of skaters on it (more than enough), he bowed out. And I don't blame him. I shouldn't have expected much, as how many Southern Californians have a ton of ice experience (the answer was very very few). So there were a lot of bad skaters in a small space. I couldn't get going as fast as I wanted, but only stumbled a few times, got plowed into from behind from an asshole skater who didn't know how to stop (or apologize apparently), and did not fall once.

I want to go skating again, but on an actual regulation rink with as few people on the ice as possible. It was a nice (albeit odd) experience to skate outside when it was 68 degrees and sunny, but a ton of fun.