i think in another life i could have been an olympic short-track speed skater.  too bad i only get one.  i went ice skating last night for the first time ever, but it felt like i had been doing it my entire life.  my butt is a little sore, but i still had a lot of fun with the church.  made me think of what could have been had i started skating much earlier as a kid.  made me think of what “beginner’s luck” is in the alchemist.  made me think of my childhood and another short-lived dream i had of being an olympic champion. 

i got my first and last archery set in the 4th grade.  tying a feather on my head and carrying a quiver i had made on my back, i was shooting targets left and right.  from afar i was nailing bulls-eyes and for a kid i was pretty accurate.  who knows what would have come about with a little bit of encouragement and olympic training.  also for a kid i was pretty responsible with my archery set.  i never did anything stupid.  i was never wreckless…only playing in my back yard and never ever pointed it at anyone. 

but that was from the standpoint of a little kid.  to my neighbors i could have hurt someone.  to them, i might have poked somebody’s eye out.  they called the cops and they came to my house confiscating my bow and arrow.  they didn’t even have the decency of leaving me the quiver i had made.  i could care less about that, but what they really did was confiscate my hope…my dreams.  right then and there, my dream to be a gold-medal winning olympian were shattered.  this is something that i wouldn’t want to wish upon even my greatest enemy. 

oh and on a side note:  koreans in archery and ice skating?  who would have thunk it?