10:43 p.m. | 2005-02-23 One Giant Step For Mankind? Works Well For Some, Not So Much For Me. I did some errands today with one of my friends. One of the errands involved walking down some stairs. I know. It sounds easy but sometimes a wee bit of mastery is required. These particular stairs? Yeah, some mastery was required. On my part, anyway. First, the stairwell was poorly lit. Second, the stairs were covered in dark carpeting. Third, I was wearing dark shoes, dark clothing and dark glasses. Finally, I have some spatial issues (sponsored by the fibro � thanks so much for �enriching my life� dear disability � you always give me a new perspective.) Anyway, I was fine for the first couple of steps. Then, all the dark blurred together and I couldn�t tell the steps from my feet. Fortunately, I�m always either clinging to the railing or my hand is hovering over it waiting for just this kind of moment. I�m not exactly sure what happened, but suddenly, my footing was gone. I started falling forward rapidly, recognized that, grabbed onto the railing � and my friend, I think � and somehow surfed, slid or stumbled down the flight of stairs. It�s kind of a blur. But, I managed not to fall which is good because that wouldn�t have been pretty. And, I wasn�t even wearing a pair of my new high heels. The funniest part though was my friend�s reaction. This is some of that. (My Friend:) What the hell are you doing? (CI:) Um, I don�t know. Falling down the stairs? That�d be my best guess. And yes, I do have the ability to logically analyze and verbally articulate what I�m doing when I�m falling down the stairs. I also have to ability to recognize what�s happening at that moment, picture the potential outcome of it and take corrective action. That may sound like a lot to do in a matter of seconds. Lets just say that this wasn�t the first time I fell down � or up � the stairs. When you know that it�s a distinct possibility it�ll happen and you walk up and down stairs on a daily basis, you get better at it. Yet, this was a very strange and singular event. Mostly because of the rounded steps and the carpeting. I�ve never really surfed-slid-stumbled three steps at a time at such a rapid pace before. Had the railing not been there, I�d have been lying injured at the bottom of the stairs. I�m pretty sure about that. As it is, some toes and an ankle are quite sore. Again, it�s hard to explain, but there was twisting, turning and blunt force involved. I�ll even be so bold as to say that if �corrective stair falling� was an Olympic sport, that particular performance was a 10. And the judge � my friend � seems to support that opinion as she asked me what I was doing. A typical fall just doesn�t seem to warrant such an inquiry. Usually, it�s quite clear. After all was said and done, I actually said: �Okay, that is my best move ever.� I meant �move� in a dance kind of way. The whole thing was so bizarre, yet so smooth it could�ve been choreographed. It was also very scary. Just saying. But, �what the hell are you doing�? That still cracks me up. She actually said that she had thought of grabbing me, but she had something in her hand� and well, she wasn�t quite sure what I was doing. I mean, that�s just funny. Not so funny if I�d actually landed on my head, but still. Obviously, that experience left an impression on me since I can right a whole entry about it. But, that�s what I call a mini-moment. There are those moments � especially the unexpected ones like this � when you realize that everything can change in a matter of seconds. I could�ve been seriously injured. Things just gain momentum and you can only do so much to change the equation. Those are also physics moments. And, it�s just not an even match when you�re up against physics. If you�re a control freak? Forget it. Because you have to give up control in those situations. That�s the only way that you can gain back some control. I couldn�t stop myself from falling forwards so I had to let that happen and do my best to grab control back when that momentum slacked. Which is what I did. And, college students all around the world wonder why physics class is important. Well, that�s one reason. (Ignore the fact I never took physics. However, my father and my grandfather were physics teachers. They taught me too, just in a more real life application kind of way. Obviously.) I guess the lesson here is, if you�re prone to falling down stairs and whatnot, learning physics is helpful. Or, well, you can just learn the old fashioned way. That works too. your thoughts? seed flower