Tuesday, February 10, 2009

Kite-Flying date

It seems like most of my embarrassing moments happened while I was at Ricks (specifically my first year). So, here we go again... another exciting chapter from the book of Julie's Embarrassing Life.

I had only been up in Rexburg for a couple of weeks. I didn't have any built-in friends (I was the only one from my hometown that went there). Naturally, I had to make do with what I had, which were the roommates that were randomly assigned to me. The girl that actually shared a room with me was Tiffany. She had a number of friends that she knew from back home, one of which was Matthew Edwin Lowe (she always called him by his full name). If you know him, don't tell him I was repeating this story- not that it is really embarrassing to him other than he was on the date with ME at the time. Well, Tiffy set us up on a date, and she came along with Matthew Edwin Lowe's roommate (sorry, can't remember his name but I do remember that he had an awesome collection of street signs he got from a closed military base- that's another story- sorry for straying). Matthew Edwin Lowe and his roommate came to pick us up for a surprise date...we didn't know what we were going to do until Matthew Edwin Lowe showed up at the door with a LARGE Star Wars kite.

Now, just so you know, this was his prized possession, so I guess I was supposed to be flattered that he would allow me to use it.

We walked across the street to the Greenbelt (which is no longer there, the new religion building took its place- which actually isn't really new anymore).

If any of you know Rexburg you know that it is ALWAYS windy. I don't know the ins and outs of it, but somehow with the valley being surrounded by the mountains there is wind from all directions all of the time (or at least it seems like that). Kite flying conditions are generally perfect, and this day was no exception.

Well, there was one exception- it was a little too windy, so it took a lot of strength to hold on to the kite. The 4 of us took turns holding on, letting it go higher, lowering it, all of the fun things you can do with a kite.

About half an hour into our date a young guy, probably around 11 or 12 came up, spitting every few words, trying to act cool (which was really pretty funny), asked Matthew Edwin Lowe if he could fly the kite for a little bit. (You see where this is going, don't you?) Matthew Edwin Lowe agreed reluctantly and passed off the string to the kids. Very quickly we all realized the kid had no weight to hold the thing down, fighting against the wind and he was picked up a little off the ground, but enough to totally freak him out and the kid let go of the string. The kite went flying!

Remember when I said that this was his prized possession? Well, being the nice date that I am, when Matthew Edwin Lowe yelled for us all to try and get it I was abliged to help. Since it wasn't my turn with the kite I was sitting on the ground, indian-style (or cross-legged if you want me to be PC) so I had to jump up from the ground. Note to self and all others who might have this happen to them (like this is a common occurrance, right?) MAKE SURE YOU ARE FULLY STANDING BEFORE YOU START TO RUN! I did not take such precautions, and my legs were still slightly crossed when I tried to run and went face first into the grass.

YES, it is true. You think I'm making this up, don't you. You think that no one could possibly be this embarrassing, but alas, it is I, the Embarrassing One! I have had this and so many more experiences in which you would think that I would just stay home and become agoraphobic or wear a papersack over my head when I exited my house. I've just had to come to terms with my life. I must have stood in line last up in heaven and got all the leftover embarrassing moments.

Back to the story- my roommate came running over to me and told me that I just missed it... WHAT? Apparently she thought I dove for the kite, dumb me, who loves to make things worse told her the truth, causing her to fall down laughing. Meanwhile, my date is still running after his kite, not worried that I, his date, have face-planted into the ground. When he finally did get the kite and made his way back to the place where the 3 of us were waiting he was let in on the full story (he hadn't been paying attention to anyone/anything but his kite that was on the lam.) He joined in on the laughter and I was yet again the butt of a joke that lasted the full 2 years of my Ricks experience.

I guess I don't have to tell you that Matthew Edwin Lowe only had one more date, in which he told me that he wasn't really interested, but he did kiss me. Talk about sending mixed signals. Maybe he was just trying to get his numbers up. I don't know. Either way, this was another ruined possible relationship due to my crazy life.

Can you top that?

Unfortunately no videos were taken of my face-plant, so her is a great compilation, I hope you enjoy it!



I only hope that one day my kids will read about my life and think to themselves..."Gee, I'm glad I didn't have to go through that!"

Theme song- Let's Go Fly A Kite from Mary Poppins (goodtimes!)