It's a Blustery Day In the Neighborhood

Remember that crazy wind we had a few days ago? If you don't, you must not be from NorCal. However, I am proud to say that all of us here at UH... are not biased against anybody except those we choose to be biased against, so you can still read this post. Back to the relevant details:

The 22nd of May here in NorCal, it was a very windy day. Many people decided to stay indoors during the wind storm, thus missing out on all the fun one can have with wind. I was not one of those people. I decided to get my skateboard and go wind sailing down a smooth road. So I loaded up a couple PVC pipes, a large sheet and my skateboard and drove to the nearest smooth road I knew of: Interstate 5.

I parked on the side of the road and began setting up my equipment. Within minutes I was standing on my board sailing along with about a quarter sail in the wind. Apparently some people did not like my pioneering of this new sport; I could deduce as much from the honking, gesturing and yelling of most of the cars that passed me. Suddenly I heard sirens, so I naturally turned my head to see who the cop was after. This caused me to swerve across two lanes and into the fast lane with the cop car coming on at a furious pace. I knew I needed lots of speed really soon to avoid a collision with the cop, so I opened up full sail. I shot forward with a lunge and was quickly gaining on and passing many of the cars that had passed me before. Luckily the cop car stayed pretty close behind me, so the traffic parted before me like the red sea before Moses.

I continued like this for a few miles, when suddenly the road pitched upwards and I realized I was on one of the exits that go from the fast lane into a three way intersection in the sky. I was on a death path straight through the intersection and into a 6 foot wall on the other side. I knew what I needed to do, so I did it. I held my sail with one hand, held onto my board with the other hand, and jumped as high as I could. The sail lifted me over the wall safely, then slowly lowered me towards the ground. When I say slowly, I mean I was falling slowly, but I was still being propelled at over 100mph. When I touched down, I was jerked forward and then I felt like I was in a giant tumble dryer on its highest setting.

When my kinetic energy was finally exhausted, I looked behind me. About 40 feet above and 1000 feet behind me I saw an overpass with a gaping hole in its wall. 10 feet behind me I saw the burning remains of a dodge charger with blinking lights on its roof. I struggled to my hands and knees and crawled over to the wreckage. Inside was an unconscious middle-aged man. I pulled him out of the vehicle and had barely drug him 5 feet when the entire car blew up into a million pieces and everything went black.

The next thing I remember is waking up in an uncomfortable bed with a thousand bright flashes going off in my face. When the flashing calmed down I saw hundreds of photographers and reporters yelling questions at me. At that point I remembered nothing, so somebody told everyone to be quiet and told me that a witness had seen me pull a man out of his burning car just before it blew up. Was this true? I said yes, even though I had no clue if it was or not. Then a doctor told me I had pieces of shrapnel all in my back, so I couldn't leave the hospital for a few weeks. Then the reporters started screaming again, the room started spinning and everything went black. The next morning I awoke in time to have somebody shove a newspaper in my face. The front page was all about me and how I was the greatest hero of all time! The man I saved from the car said he didn't remember anything that had happened or why he was in a burning car, and I wasn't about to enlighten him.

Life in the Spotlight, part six

It was pretty easy to pull the wool over the head lifeguard's eyes. It seems they were short handed and needed someone real bad. The dude hardly even glanced at my papers before telling me I started in two days. He said my papers showed I had done some lifeguarding before, so he wouldn't bother going over my duties, except to show me where the lemon squeezer and ice were. So two days later at noon I was all settled in my high chair, shaded by an umbrella and sipping lemonade. As far as I could tell I was the only staff member there, so I didn't even pretend to be for real. The day went smoothly besides the few times some kids tried to climb out of the pool, but after some firm shoves and a little yelling I managed to keep all those brats in the water.
The next day is when it all happened. I was sitting on my throne, sipping my lemonade and controlling my pool with an iron fist, when some kid started screaming that he was drowning. Then my self-sacrificing instinct kicked in. Soon I had climbed down from my chair, ran over to the steps, climbed down the steps, and sunk to the bottom. Now it was an all out fight for survival. I thrashed, kicked and struggled for what seemed like hours, all to no avail. My life flashed before me in a time-lapse slideshow. Could this really be the heroic end to my wonderful life? No! I would never give up! I must complete my mission, impossible though it may seem. So I struggled onwards and downwards. Then it all came to an end as suddenly as it had begun. I felt my limp body being drug across the cement deck. I slowly and painfully lifted my eyelids. All I could see was a blinding white light. As the light faded, I became aware of three kids, not over ten years old, pulling me by the arms and head. Then my ears emptied of water and I heard a torrent of laughter that rolled on and on. Looking around I saw hundreds of kids rolling on the ground erupting with merriment.
After my brief encounter with the shallow end of the pool and what followed immediately thereafter, I have decided to retire from the lifeguard corps and find another career path to follow. I am still looking and any suggestions are welcome.

An Epic Skiing Adventure, Part Three

Jellyfish had just performed a beautiful, inverted-180 and was on the downwind
side of the jump when I flew off it at about 80mph. My cowboy hat and shades had left me long ago, and I was left with only my t-shirt, poles and Bermuda shorts.
As I flew over nearly all the trails between “BIG JUMP” and the lodge, a sudden
rush of fear jolted me with the realization that I might not have a good chance of landing very well, or even surviving this jump. - An Epic Skiing Adventure, Part Two

As I soared through the air, a thought occurred to me. What had become of my good pal Jellyfish? I'd seen him perform his near perfect inverted 180, but after that I had no idea how he'd faired on "Big Staircase" (the only foreseeable landing pad for "Big Jump"). So naturally, I was worried.

Now it turns out that Jellyfish, upon leaving the lip of the jump, realized he had not taken a good look at the landing pad. In his effort to look down and plan his landing, Jell ended up pointing his head in that very direction. The fact that he was still facing backwards with his head turned to see where he was going caused his whole body to suddenly spin back around. He was nearing the ground when one of his skis nicked a rail and the momentum sent him flying towards the side of the run where he hit an especially soft and deep snowbank, and climbed out perfectly fine.

I however, did not know this. So with all my might I tried desperately to turn myself around in mid-air to look for him. However, because of the near 50-mph winds and my velocity of 80-MPH, my efforts did not command the desired result, but did prove to change my course in a direction aiming strait for the lodge. At this point, seeing the advantage of the high-speed winds involved, I held out my arms and legs in an effort to increase my surface area in order to decrease my velocity & impending collision with the northeast wall of the lodge. My method worked to some degree, but having misjudged my exact elevation, & ability to increase my surface area, I ended up having to performing a second jump (off the roof of the lodge), sending me a further 20-ft or so.



Aiming for the passenger seat of a comfortable looking red convertible, I unsnapped my skis, threw them in the back seat, and landed (with only slight discomfort) next to a formidable looking businessman in a ski-suit and tie with a fresh steaming-hot cup of jelly in my cup holder. Speaking of jelly, my thoughts immediately turned to my trusty friend...



Jellyfish, having been witness to this entire streak of uncanny luck, and observing that in at least one area the snow-bank had risen high enough to reach the roof of the lodge, endeavoured to attempt a similar feat. It was imperative that the driver of the said convertible should stop, giving Jellyfish a steady landing pad. This he did, and Jellyfish, having securely stowed his ski's in the same seat I had, landed (with a thud) in the seat directly behind me. Although we both suffered some minor back injuries from our respective landings, we still had an enjoyable time on the way home, recounting our recent events with our new found Chauffeur, the good businessman Mr. James Clydesdale from Buckingham Massachusetts.