80's Flashback

A good friend of my sister Jenn's who I've met and hung out with on a couple occasions when I visited invited me to join her at Adult Night at the roller skating rink.

I remember roller skating as a kid, and at least in my memories, I was fairly good. Nothing fancy, but I could skate backwards or forwards and jam to the music. So while it's not an activity I would have sought out on my own, I thought I could enjoy it and experience something with new eyes.

Jenn's friend is a petite, mixed ethnicity girl full of laughter and fun. She jokes with everyone in a nice way and is completely willing to laugh at herself as well. Her infectious laugh usually entices everyone to join in. She is a beautiful mix of Japanese and Indian, and she's the first one to poke fun at her two cultures. She calls her mix Japindian, which seems as good a name as any for the blog.

So Japindian and I went roller skating on Tuesday. She's very serious about her skating and has even bought her own skates! She was nice enough to stay with me as I relearned how to navigate on wheels, and I am proud to say I didn't fall once, not even when some idiot ran into my right calf as he was trying to weave through the crowd. Speaking of the right leg, it got a great workout. They only did one "reverse skate" song, so the left leg was basically just along for the ride.

I think the biggest entertainment of the evening for Japindian was to escort me to the women's bathroom. I understand why that area isn't carpeted, but it seems ridiculous that the floor is also sloped. So while you're trying to hygienically squat over the porcelain fixture which seems significantly lower since you're on skates, you also have to hold on to the walls of the stall and hope you don't go crashing through the door with your pants down. Japindian had warned me about this but still kept laughing as I (successfully!) balanced through.

There weren't any interesting guys at the skating rink, at least not interesting in the would-like-to-date way. There were several show-boaters, and besides the speedy ones weaving and dodging through the crowd, there were a few doing spins and tricks in the middle of the floor. Some of these guys look the same as the ones who hung around the rink back in the 80's. I was grateful no one asked us to join in on the Couples Skate song.

Japindian wants me to commit to joining her every Tuesday. I don't know about a long-term commitment, but I'd probably do it again.