365 Days (Part 1) | ✓

108. Taking Chances

108. Taking Chances: Everyone takes a risk at some point in their life. Write about a time when you took a chance and what the result was.

It's called the Blob, and it doesn't like me.

The Blob is a gjant blue sack filled with air. The premise of it is that you jump onto it from a tall height and catapult someone, who is lying on the end, into the water. It is both dangerous and fun and why the heck did I think I could do it?

It's me, Connor, Maddie, and Morgan. I am by far the least athletic of the group, but I also felt very adventurous. I don't know why. Probably a random strike of insanity.

Everyone performed the Blobbing perfectly. They made it look so easy and effortless, like all that it was was jumping.

Do it, they told me. It will be fun, they told me.

Lies.

When it came to be my turn to jump on the Blob, I had to go with Maddie, because the differences between me and Connor's weight range exceeded the amount they accepted. So poor Connor waited very patiently and tolerantly while I learned the rules.

Your goal in jumping on the Blob is that you don't fall off of it, but stick. So your bottom has to be the first thing that hits the blob, and I don't know about anyone else, but that just doesn't feel natural. However, I tried, and I failed. I slid into the water.

Okay. Okay, first try, never done this before, it's not too bad. Embarrassing? Yes. I mean, I had a huge crush on Connor, and I didn't fancy making a fool of myself in front of Morgan and Maddie either. But not that bad.

I tried again. This time I stuck... but I was too far off center. I tried to claw my way back to the middle, but I was in a very compromising position. I was showing a little too much of myself than I was comfortable with and thought it in my best interests (and Connor's) to slide off.

Embarassing? Why yes. Yes, it was.

Maddie was especially encouraging in getting me to try for the third time. Connor was very patient and good-humored, though I am sure I looked like an utter fool. But that's how it works with crushes, I'm learning. I tried one last time. Some other friends had drifted over, and sat on the banks of the river watching. I had an audience.

"Please, God, let my bottom hit that stupid sack first," I prayed, and jumped.

Miracle of miracles, I stuck! Maddie was launched off of the end, and I now had to crawl to her vacated position myself.

Let me give you an idea of the blob: it's made of plastic canvas material, is very slippery, and filled entirely with air. If I were to rate its sliding-off easiness, it would be about... What comes after trillion? Anyway, crawling to the end was a slow and careful process. But I got there, and it was better than winning the Olympics. I laid on by back as instructed and asked the lady in the water who was supposed to be helping us, "Am I close enough to the edge."

Now, I think by this time, the staff was getting tired of me, so she just went, "Yeah, yeah, that's fine."

Let me tell you something, lady: It was most definitely not fine!

Connor jumped from the platform. They had stopped caring about the weight difference by now also, they were so ready to be rid of us.

However, instead of being thrown into an arc into the water like I was supposed to, I flew straight up into the air, then smacked back down into the Blob again and slid into the water. While I was flying through the air, I head cries of "Oh, no!" from my friends sitting on the banks.

It did not go well.

I was laughing hysterically though, because I was just such a failure that it was comically bad. Connor was swimming towards the shore; he had not managed to stick the landing when blobbing me. He has never said anything about that incident, but I was stupid enough to tell my mom, and for weeks after that she made me tell it to everyone.