You Really Wanna Know??

Well, today I'm going to answer a question that I've been asked over and over again from various people. It's actually a funny (and slightly random) story.

Once upon a time, about a year ago, Nick Blaylock was at my house. (if you don't know Nick, click here) Yeeeeah... and it was really cold outside. So, being the smart guys that we are, we stayed inside and played video games. Not really... We're both adventurous guys, so we messed around in the backyard. It was super cold, and we really weren't dressed properly for outdoor fun.

We found a couple of huge walking sticks that were just conveniently sitting outside. When we saw these sticks and a tether-ball pole, we got a great idea. This is where things started to go wrong.

Tether-ball is an extreme sport. It's a rubber ball tied to a rope and attached to the top of a pole. The pole is lodged into the ground like a flagpole, and the two opponents stand facing each other with the pole in between them. One person would hit the ball in one direction, while the other person would hit it in the opposite direction. The first person to get the rope wrapped around the pole in their direction would win.

Normally, you would use your hands to hit the tether-ball. But since Nick and I are so hardcore, we used thick, wooden, walking sticks. That's wassup.

Nick has about 5x the muscle that I didn't have. So when Nick inevitably hit the pole with his walking stick, we heard a massive crack, and saw half of the walking stick go flying into the yard.

With his former 7ft limb, now shortened to a 4ft chunk, Nick continued hitting the tether-ball repeatedly until he hit the pole again. The walking stick shrunk once more. He wielded this 2ft log like a club clenched in his fist. This was great. This was the most intense game of tether-ball I had ever played.

As the game went on, we got closer and closer to the pole. Nick was winning, of course, and our competitive edges were showing their teeth. The game was almost over, and I was this close to being defeated. All that Nick needed to win the game was one last blow to that tether-ball and it would've been finished. But instead of hitting the tether-ball, Nick, standing closer than an arms-length away, delivered one very solid blow... Straight to my face.

Oh the pain... I remember it well. Just mentioning, it was still cold outside. The chilly weather had taken the feeling from just about every part of my body. But as soon as that 2ft stick smashed into my face, a warm, burning sensation flooded in. All I could do was turn around, cover my nose, and say "Owwwwwwwwww...."

Nick stared in disbelief. And then, like every good friend would do, stood there and laughed like a jolly old man. That's right. Friends really do stand there and laugh. I removed my frozen hands away from my face to reveal a swollen, red nose, with blood dripping onto my shirt and shoes. Great. My first bloody nose.**

Nick and I got inside as fast as we could and ran to the kitchen sink. He tried to get my nose to stop bleeding. This was promptly followed by him backing away, staring, and busting out laughing again. Oh boy. What a friend.

** disclaimer. My nose wasn't broken, but something inside was broken. Which is why every now and then, my nose will just randomly start bleeding. If you were in mod lit class two weeks ago, you might've witnessed this. I know, right? Ewwww... Yuck fest.

Question:   Zeb, why is your nose bleeding?

Answer:   ... ... It's a long story. Read my blog.

The moral of this story is: There's a reason for everything. Amen.