OK, so I realized after I posted the entry about Whirlyball that I neglected to address an obvious question: How did I do in my first foray at it?
Well, while it is true that one might expect me, an Asian American woman, to fare poorly at Whirlyball, a recreational activity that requires some driving skills, I assure you that I did much better than you might think. I even scored a few points! True, I did get stuck in the corner a few times, but I eventually figured out how to free myself.
Granted, I am not the best driver in the world. I hate to reinforce stereotypes, but I'm afraid I fit the bill when it comes to the idea of Asian women being bad drivers. This issue was raised recently, after I noticed how torn up our tree lawn was. There were tire tracks and deep mud grooves where there should have been nice grass (carefully planted and cared for by my lovely husband). Standing on our driveway with hands on my hips, I had decided enough was enough. "That's IT!" I declared. "I've had enough of these random people tearing up our lawn! Let's dissuade these randoms from using our driveway. Let's put ROCKS on the sides of the driveway. Big ROCKS!"
"Uh, are you sure about that?" Vic asked.
"Yeah, why not? Let's put big rocks there so these randoms will pick someone else's driveway to plow over."
"Rocks? You sure?"
"YES! BIG ROCKS!"
I talked to our neighbor about the plan. He was amenable and followed our lead in putting a big rock on his side of the driveway. Vic asked me one more time if I was sure I wanted to go through with this plan. Annoyed by his reluctance, I asked him what his problem was.
"YOU are the one who keeps tearing up the tree lawn! You and your dad!" Vic finally blurted out.
Since it was my own plan, I didn't want to abort the mission. I also needed to prove that I could navigate our car between the rocks. So the rocks went down, according to plan.
Then I noticed how narrow our driveway apron was. It's abnormally narrow! I don't even know how regular cars fit on it. We have a compact car even - I can't imagine how one would drive an SUV on it. I asked Vic if maybe we should remove the rocks and hire a contractor to expand the apron. Vic responded with a sound that was half-growl, half-guffaw.
My dad has been complaining about the rocks too. I don't know about him, but I've run over the rocks only once.
So far.
