The Time I Was Truly a Salty Stressball (Part Two)

Okay, here's the thing: read Part One first.

"Swimmers, please stand. Lane six, step down."

When I heard those words, the man behind the lane helped me down from the blocks and a million thoughts were running through my head. I thought that we might have been disqualified because of our tardiness to getting up onto the blocks. I was just

wondering why this had to happened to me on my very first meet of the High School season.

My thoughts were only partially answered when the kind man behind the block told me that my coach said that my relay wasn't swimming in this event.

I was extremely confused at this point, but I saw Kelly's hair out of the corner of my eye, and looked at her with a questioning expression on my face.

"This is the 200 Free Relay not the 400 Free Relay."

My brain's first instinct after hearing these words was to cry. So, I did.

I burst into tears right behind that block.

This is probably what I looked like as I cried.
Courtesy of Love Beach Blog

I was shaking as if I was in Antarctica, I had the most pounding headache I've ever experienced, and, in front of multiple strangers, I cried.

My friends came to comfort me, but I probably looked like a maniac because, honestly, I had no idea why I was crying, but, no matter what I did, I couldn't stop.

This for some reason was funny for me, so I was laughing hysterically, while also crying about something else.

I guess it was the pure terror of being disqualified at my first meet, the extreme stress that the thought of that brought, and the relief that followed after hearing that I didn't actually have to do that was what made me cry.

This experience cycled me through the stages of a breakup, in a way. Maybe not quite in order, but I went through them all in one way or another.

First, I was confused what was going on, and I had too many questions that needed to be answered, but weren't quite being answered in the way I needed them to be.

Second, I kept telling myself that "this couldn't be happening." Instead, I was just having nightmare that was giving me a heart attack from the stress. 

Third, when it actually didn't happen, I collapsed into despair, and cried. Whether it was from relief or something else, I would be the only one to know, but I couldn't answer that if I tried.

Fourth, I was pretty dang salty (and not from the tears I had just previously shed). I was pissed. I didn't know why, but I was so frustrated with, not only Kelly, but myself for putting myself through that confusion, stress, and sadness.

Finally, I met acceptance with the fact that it was a mistake, and it was going to be okay. 

I even thought of it as a learning experience, and even though I left an entire three-fourths of my relay behind in the chaos, I was able to get the the blocks in time before they left.

I don't think I will every feel like I did that night ever again. Well, at least I hope not.

Anyway, carry on.

xx Em

The Time I Truly Was a Salty Stressball (Part One)

Okay, here's the thing: pay attention.

This past Friday, November 6, 2015, was my first High School Swim meet.

I have been swimming for quite a long time, so I was used for a certain type of meet set up, but High School Swimming is completely different, so I was pretty confused the whole night.

At the beginning of the meet, I found out that I was in the 400 Free Relay at the very end of the meet. I knew that the 200 IM Relay was at the beginning, so I thought that the whole night only consisted of the regular individual events and those two relays.

When I thought my relay was coming up, I asked my coach, Kelly, how much longer she thought I had until I had to swim in the relay. She checked and told me that I had around fifteen minutes or so, and that my relay would be in lane six.

What I didn't know is that Kelly thought I was talking about the 200 Free Relay which was a couple of events before the relay I was actually in.

I felt like this guy while I ran to my block.
Courtesy of Looney Tunes

All I knew about my relay is that it was right after the 100 Breaststrokes, so that was all I was looking out for.

For the next couple of minutes, I was talking to a couple of friends when all of the sudden, I hear someone yelling, "WHERE IS THE 'B' RELAY?!"

I didn't even think about what was going on, but when I made eye contact with Kelly and could clearly tell she was pointing directly at me, I dropped everything I ever thought in my entire life and ran.

I ripped the sweatshirt off of my body and grabbed my cap and goggles as I ran for my life to the block behind lane six. I threw my cap on, not even caring where the rest of my relay was (I didn't actually know who was on my relay). The rest of the teams were already up on the blocks, so my first instinct was to get right up on the blocks with them, even if the rest of my relay wasn't even there yet.

The man timing for my lane realized that I was the only one there, and asked, "Where's the rest of your relay?"

At that moment, I didn't even care. I knew I was supposed to be swimming the first leg of the relay in the first place, so I thought, I might as well show up and swim the first part of the relay than have our entire relay miss the race completely.

My heart had never beaten so hard, and I was so stressed out that my bottom lip actually started trembling as I was up on the blocks right before I was about to leave.

"Swimmers, please stand. Lane six, step down."

To be continued...

xx Em

Ants in My Drink (Flop Friday #3)

Okay, here’s the thing: ants do not add extra flavor.

This flop comes from a few weeks ago when I visited Washington DC for a wedding.

At the reception after the wedding there was an open bar for beverages. A group of us, consisting of Caroline, Carolina, and Leo. Yes, I do realize that Caroline and Carolina are very similar names, but they have pretty different personalities. I also realize that this is Leo, the same person who was mentioned in the last Flop Friday post. 

It was Carolina’s idea to order Shirley Temples. She was the one who sparked the idea for the rest of us. This obviously made Carolina get her drink first. She was kind enough to sit and wait for us as we ordered our drinks, so she was standing off to the side, peacefully sipping her drink. 

This looks similar to what my drink looked like -- minus the ants, of course.

Courtesy of Chowhound

All of the sudden we heard Carolina gasp.

“Guys…,” we heard as the man handed us each our drinks. We all asked what was happening, but all she did was pull out her phone and turn the flashlight on. 

Again we heard her murmur something and then she showed us what she was talking about. 

Floating around in her drink were multiple mini ants. We were all shocked and checked our own drinks, and, sure enough, we all had them in our drinks as well. 

Carolina wanted to try again, so she handed back the drink. Unfortunately, her second Shirley Temple also had ants in it.

We felt bad enough for the guy who gave us our drinks already and didn't want to embarrass him once again, so we just left the guy with his other drinks and walked away. 

The second we left the room, I stealthily placed my drink on top of a table and walked away as we went back to the area we were sitting. Carolina was too shocked by the fact that she probably just ingested a few ants into her system because of her drink, so she was just holding the drink in her hand, not quite knowing what to do with it.

On the other hand, Leo and Caroline actually wanted this Shirley Temple pretty badly. Once we got back to our seating area, Leo attempted to drink the beverage very carefully, trying to avoid the ants. Caroline was immediately off to work with her miniature straw, picking out every single ant from her drink. 

This was an incredible sight to watch from my perspective. I had Leo to my left, looking into his Shirley Temple as if it was telling him the answer to the universe. To my right was Caroline, who had the most disgusted look on her face as she picked out the ants from her drink. Carolina was in front of me, with a blank expression on her face as she tried to process everything that had just happened. 

Eventually, Caroline got all of the ants out of her drink and finished off the beverage. Leo spent a half an hour with the process he was trying before he eventually gave up. Carolina had discarded of her drink long before Leo had, but we could all tell she was still shaken up about the ant fiasco.

Later on throughout the night, we went back to check what might have caused the ants to be in the drink. One of the first things we check gave us our answer. It was the sweet, red flavoring, called grenadine, that they put in Shirley Temple drinks. The juice in the bottle had an abundance of small ants floating around in the liquid, clearly confirming that the insects in our drink were due to that beverage.

After the mystery of the ant-filled drinks was solved, we carried on with our night, and celebrated the marriage of the happy couple's wedding we were attending.

I'm not sure what happened to Carolina or Caroline after they drank even just a little bit of their drinks, but, according to Leo, he had thrown up during the middle of the night after he had the drink. Whether or not the same thing happened to the other two girls, or if the reason Leo got sick even had to do with the ants in the drink, is unknown.

The next time I see someone make me a Shirley Temple, I am going to make sure that the grenadine they add to my drink doesn't have a family of ants floating inside of it. I don't want to relive that experience again.

Anyway, carry on.

xx Em