Saturday, June 12, 2010

Swimming and its related stories

I started swimming this summer and its always fun. There are so many memories of swimming and would like to document some of my observations

1 ) People don't care about whether you are fat or thin (Thank you America , I am not the big guy in the pool)
2 ) When I went to the Pool opening party , i was glad that I knew a bunch of people , one person is the one who organizes my place and there is another girl who helped me in finding my phone , I kept in my car and I tried to call it using the "whereismyphone.com" website , but I know it was there somewhere , but I was not able to find it.
I knocked this girls door , that too her Patio door , and asked her to help me locate my phone , to call my phone , she was kind enough to do that and also located my phone(I have fat fingers !! ). Thanks to her.
3 ) The amount of confidence you get when you know the depth of the pool is only 4 feet is a lot. Once you know that you are not going to drown and die , that takes a big zinger out of the fear of swimming, last time i heard , dieing not very cool :).
4 ) Never challenge a 10 year old girl that you can have a race with her in spite of the fact that she asks you 10 or 15 times, she can kick your butt very efficiently and dance around the pool with that creed.
5 ) Its always fun to see kids and their single moms (nice place to get to know single moms is the apartment pool ).
6 ) May be its me (or all men ), I find it sexy not when the women are in two-piece swim-wear , but wearing a simple shirt over it.
7 ) I have been going to the gym and was always thinking that the depth was 6 feet and never even ventured into the pool , I went for it and saw it was only 4 feet and its temperature controlled and next to it we have a whirlpool also. I have been paying for this for the past 3 years and never used it (Knowledge is power !! )
8 ) In the Gym , its a long stretch (may be over 25 feet), I struggle to finish one round even with 3 breaks, there was one person(may be in his early 50s) who was swimming so quick from one end to another , that before I finish one stretch , he will do 3 rounds, usually I will take it in my stride , because I will be under the impression , guys here are taught swimming from their kinder garden and I learned recently (by myself).
But after around 45 minutes when he left , I was speechless, he had only one LEG and he was not able to walk with support , but he swims like a fish. This was my source of inspiration now.
9 ) The first time when I tried to learn swimming , I had scheduled classes with the YMCA near my old place , I was working in New York and would come early for swimming. The last day of my class , they ask you to do a Dive (water depth 8 feet), I dived and sunk like a stone and I was sure that I am going to die, all good thoughts came to me and I was relieved , finally one of my swimming instructor pulled me out, it was such a nice feeling , just to come out of water and breathing. So the best thing ever said to me was "Breathe ! Breathe" , thats the best thing.
10 ) Young girls get offended when you say that they are younger than their look they do get offended, but if I said that a older woman , they would take it as a compliment.
In my Pool ,there comes a girl who says she is 14 , I tease her that she looks like 8 or 9 , she gets so mad and its fun to watch that expression. She will bring all her friends to the rescue, i am 14 and then she will kick my butt in Swimming.