Monty Python Moment #142

I actually have not been keeping track of how many times I have drifted out of a situation simply to look at it from an objective angle and think, "Here's yet another instance in my life that greatly resembled a Monty Python skit."

So today the schedule gods were nice to me and gently guided my Geography and History teachers to not show up. No voodoo going on, and no ironic twist. The magical deities of school classes just decided to cut me a break on a Monday. (Which, unless there is a shuttle launch or some other remarkable event is scheduled, tends to be the least-looked-forward-to day of the week.)

After English, I went home and got to chill for a while before going back to school for Fitness, aka Sport, aka Physical Education, aka why do we have so many darn names for running around the track? Well, something to ponder tonight when you, dear reader, are trying to sleep but cannot due to the fact that I have now made it practically impossible for you to forget this singular question. Oh, find the cup if you can, but be wary... (Sorry, Dumbledor snuck in there...) So just warning you lovely people that this little thought has now been embedded into your subconscious. Your Welcome ;)

Now, where was I? Oh, yes, that institution of mandatory physical activity to which all students are subjected. I have already told you how the idea of me successfully learning to juggle is simply inconceivable, but hey, I deal with it. I try, and when the teacher comes around to tell me what I should be doing, I try to take the advice as it is intended, not as my sensitive American ego perceives it. That is, I try to not let the tone of superiority I half-imagine and control my urge to hurl the cursed tennis balls at the wall as hard as I can. I am very glad that our teacher had the foresight not to ask us to juggle baseballs...

Later in the class, we worked with jump ropes. Now, in the US, jump ropes are for children, having fun, and then for crazy competitions where you attempt to catch sight of the rope as it reaches supersonic speed. In a German PE course, you better take "Skipping Hearts," seriously. But really, can you blame me if I fail to suppress giggles. I mean, come on! It's like I'm eight again!! To me, the jump rope signifies something that does not require me to be the best in order to have fun.

And now I get to work out by skipping rope? Heck yeah!! It brought back so many memories. Way back to that time when I wore my hair in a pony, instead of a bun. Back to when the sun beat down on the blacktop and the sand from the sandbox gave off this dry, desert smell. So there I was, attempting the tricks that had been assigned to my partner and me, when my Sport teacher comes up to tell me not to stomp.

Wait, wow, wow, wow... Did someone just come up, ruin my reverie, interrupt my fitness activity, to accuse me of stomping?! I am sorry, sir, but have you seen me? I am no cream puff or daisy. I am a good ol' American girl, and sometimes, we stomp! (And I would like to admit that my accussed "stomping" was not affecting my skipping rope in some drastic, apocalyptic manner.) It felt like someone had gone back to my origins and told me that I had been wrong. How I jump rope is like how I ride a bike, or form a sentence. It's something I learned very early on, and it's not something that's going to change any time soon.

After this ran through my head, I thought about the irony of the situation. My teacher really needed to help everyone improve how they jump rope for... what exactly? And then the word stomping brought to mind an American elephant (hey, maybe it was born in a zoo) who doesn't give a darn if she steps around daintily. My train of thought then naturally ran to the Monty Python skit in which a man speaks of the life he dreams of, singing, "Oh, I'm a lumberjack and I don't care!"

So I would just like to thank Monty Python for reminding me to take everything with a grain of salt and just keep spinning the rope. TGWTC.. WALASDC (whose a lumberjill and she don't care! jk, Leute, I would never do that to the trees, hahaha!), taking it one PE period at a time!