On the 8th, I Ate (Pavement)

On September 8th, I took the e-scooter to school instead of the usual bike riding, and I ate!

I have likened myself to an individual with taste and style—some cool girl you would see walking down the street and think, “Damn, I wanna be her.” Unfortunately, that was not the case on the 8th (← actually, this is true no matter the day).

There was no critical thinking that led up to the events that happened. It was a rainy day, and I was running late for work, so I thought it was the ideal day to scooter to campus with an umbrella. After all, I thought, it shouldn’t be that hard since all it took was standing still the whole time (no pedaling required!). Maybe in the panic of being late, I had forgotten that I never had a positive experience riding the e-scooter.

The first minute of scootering and struggling with the umbrella was already a red flag, but I pressed onwards anyway. I was hunched over, cradling the umbrella with my shoulder and neck. I reached the first intersection by my house and saw cars stopped in the middle of the intersection. This intersection has no lights, so I had to maneuver around the vehicles since they weren’t moving anyway. I have no clue why they were blocking the road, but it was so selfish and rude!

I made it safely past the intersection, but I had no doubt I looked stupid in front of all those stalled people. At this point, I knew I had to stop and get off, as I couldn’t endure this awkward stance where I was still getting wet anyway cause of the wind. But it was too late!!!! I wanted to slow down, but a strong wind blew and inverted my umbrella, and I lost balance.

I flew and belly-flopped a couple of feet away from the scooter, my headphones landing further up from me. I was shocked and wanted to die from the embarrassment cause I knew that the cars from the intersection definitely saw what happened. I quickly got up, gathered my things, and parked the scooter. My walk back home was humbling, as the front part of my jorts was wet, and my left knee hurt.

The diagnosis? I ended up sustaining two big fat wounds on my knee that looked like nipples, took three weeks to scab up, and left ugly scars. These scars will fade, but this embarrassing experience will live with me forever.

October 9, 2023