Kayaking
2007-07-01 - 7:44 p.m.

I got an email from E on Friday night inviting me to go kayaking with her and P today, so that's what I did this morning.

I'd never been kayaking and neither had E, but P had been a couple times so she was able to help us with our paddling. I was afraid I'd spend half the day in the water because of flipping over, but I guess that's canoes that flip easily and not kayaks because I had no problem.

We went to a marina on the lake right up the street from my house and I've been there many times to hike the trail around the lake, but I never realized that they rent kayaks and canoes. We each had our own kayak and someone that worked there helped get us set up and into the water. I had a hard time at first because the wind was blowing me in the opposite direction we were trying to go and right away I thought, "I'm not going to last very long," because my arms started getting tired.

I wasn't the only one having trouble, so we decided to go back in closer to the shore where it wasn't so windy and then I was able to maneuver much easier. We paddled into a couple little coves...places that I recognized from walking the trail...and we saw about 20 turtles sunning themselves on some logs sticking up out of the water in one area. We also saw several bigs cranes, or maybe just one crane, that kept flying away every time we got too close. The first one that flew away from us made this loud squaking sound as it went. It sounded like a dinosaur (actually, it sounded pissed).

We spent some time resting in a shady area near the shore and then I had to pee so bad that I couldn't wait any longer, so we went back in. There was a bathroom there, but when I got to it I saw that it had an "Out of Order" sign on it, so I had to wait until I got home. Fortunately the drive was only a couple minutes, but I had to pee so bad I was in pain. I went to the bathroom twice before this picked me up this morning, too. Geez.

Anyway, it was fun and I definitely want to do it again, though my arms are going to need some time to recover first. They're still feeling kind of shakey even now, and I can only imagine how sore they'll be tomorrow.

I finished my training for the new job this past Friday, which overall was pretty easy, and I'm supposed to be hearing from someone who will set me up with their templates and whatnot some time this coming week. Then after that, presumably I can start requesting work from them. Yay! I'm looking forward to making more money.

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