Balance

Normally we walk without thinking; we swing our legs and our arms in rhyme, we can even  talk or read or text someone while walking. Do we understand that maintaining balance while walking is no easy matter?

Balance is maintained by three systems working simultaneously; visual, vestibular (the inner ear), and stretch detector in muscles and joints. If one of which doesn't work properly, we surely would have problem keeping ourselves stand still, let alone walking. Try standing one-footed with your eyes closed, you'll find yourself staggering.

Now i'm gonna start a really different type of paragraph. excuse me. 

Lately i've been fond of ice skating. It is really an enjoyable activity, but it requires a great deal of control and balance. I first ice-skate when i was seven or eight, just once, and i never skate again until i was fourteen. But it's a great fun and i've been enjoying it since. Now that i'm in college and i have more free time, i often visit the local ice-rink and skate to my heart's content. I even bought a book "Easy Guide to Ice-Skating" which provides really easy and helpful guide on how to skate like a pro. 

After several painful falls and slips, i've learned some cool moves like forward and backward crossover. But no matter how long i've skate, i still feel my body is stiff and i can't seem to move gracefully like other pro figure skaters on the rink. They have really good control of their body, they can stop and turn and jump and spin whenever and wherever they want to. They seem to move swiftly without any trace of stiffness. They fall sometimes, but even their fall is smooth and elegant, while me, i fall hard and clumsily. 

hhh. I've watched a Kim Yuna (a figure skating athlete from South Korea) video and she really looks "belongs" on ice. She skates around very smoothly and she does some complicated yet fascinating moves i'm dying to try (literally dying because i may fall and break my head if i dare try wkwk).

Although it's super fun, ice skating is rather expensive. It costs 36500 on weekdays, all day long (but usually i only last 4 hours before my body feels sore and aching all over). With the same amount of money i can buy 3 rolls of yarn for crochet (which i'm also fond of lately) or 4 bowls of Pisang ijo or 7 glass of Arabian Soda from cafetaria FKUI -__-" And on weekends, i have to spend 58000 for 2 hours! So i choose my free times on weekday. Besides, the rink is much more spacious on weekday, and i can skate backward freely without worrying to hit someone behind my back B)

So, next time i skate i'm gonna try spin and turn the skating directions (forward to backward or vice versa). Wish me luck :D

oyeah, tips from me if you want to skate like a pro (i'm no pro myself lol) is: DONT BE AFRAID OF FALLING. it's okay to fall. even the best skaters fall sometimes. In fact, if you try so hard not to fall, you might not be learning anything at all :) And falling feels good, it gives you a sense of learning something. Especially when it resulted in you mastering cool tricks :D

wanna skate gracefully like Kim Yuna :""")