a pain in the ice

we went ice skating today with tito noel and aunt nancy. it was the first time i've gone in at least a year, so i was just a little rusty and i actually took a spill. ironically, i was not doing anything fancy, just trying to show pooka how she was supposed to skate. uh, like me, only don't fall.

actually, pooka did an excellent job. for most of the hour and a half session she used the traffic cone, but i made her abandon it towards the end. her actions were more like riding a skateboard: one foot stationary while the other one kept pushing. i managed to skate backwards in front of her holding her hands for a couple laps. finally, i let go and made her do it with no support. she DID it! she was skating by herself. she complained the whole time that she couldn't do it. typical pooka.

she went up and down the middle of the rink about 3 times without any support. she fell quite a few times, more frequently the longer she skated. she was getting fatigued and apathetic. sadly, even though she did a really good job, she never exhibited a sense of pride in her accomplishment. she maintained up to the very end that she couldn't do it, and even when we pointed out how well she did and how proud of her we were, she didn't seem happy about it. she likes skating well enough, but she doesn't think she's good at it. and she vehemently refuses to take skating lessons. what is it with this kid? the only lessons she'll deign to take are ballet...

when we left, we were both complaining about being sore and tired. i hurt my wrist when i fell and i know i am going to pay dearly tomorrow. pooka's dupah is going to be black and blue.

leaving the building we felt strange as our bodies tried to acclimate from approximately, what?, 40 degrees in the rink to the easily 85 degrees outside. we were dressed for the cold, not the hot. additionally, i had forgotten my hat and gloves, so i was REALLY cold. (speaking of forgetting: despite laying out not one, but two pairs of socks, pooka hadn't actually brought any. i had to get ripped off at the pro shop so she could be properly equipped to skate.) i felt rapid fluctuations in temperature as the chill emanating from my flesh came in contact with the heat of my fast warming clothes. very eerie sensation.