The other day while helping my Dad clean up our old vanagon to get it ready to sell an interesting thing happened. A kid, maybe 10 years old, rolled by on his skateboard. I use the term rolled loosely only because the lines in the sidewalk would constantly cause him to tip over his board. This would not be noteable if it were not for the fact that the kid reminded me of myself.
- He was kinda small and had glasses
- He was decked out in safety gear
- He was rather unsure of how to really ride the skateboard
- At one point he seemed to be talking to noone in particular
- He was alone
To me it seemed much like I did at that age. I had glasses and I have never been of any great stature.
My Mom always made be put on full gear, even if I was just rolling around the street. He lucked out in that his parents only made him wear a helmet.
The bit with the skateboard really hit home. I was just old enough to be entrhalled by my older friends and their skateboards. That and I watched the videos of Tony Hawk and felt in awe. Also I knew I was rather a dork so I hoped that the skateboard would give me “cool” creds. Heh, what they don’t tell you is that you have to ride well before you get “cool creds”, also they don’t tell you that you spend nearly as much time on your back as you do standing up. I still have yet to truely master even one trick on my skateboard. I found being a geek far less painful, if socially handicaping. But that seems to be turning around … so I don’t mind so much. ^_^ That means I’m a happy lil’ geek.
The talking to noone in particular and being alone really made me take notice. Mostly because I’m an only child and what he was doing reminded me of all the things I used to do when I was all alone. It was a little scary seeing him. I felt like I was in some weird time loop where I was looking at an alternate version of myself.
Yeh. Weird. That is all. You may now return to your regulary scheduled odditiy.
A Geekish View of Life 