Wheats Skate Party

Ah. The many joys of cooperation. This past Thursday, we had a work skate party over at Play Land. This fancy shindig was arranged by the fine folks on our Communication Team, and a damn fine job they did in organizing everything.

First off, I don't skate. I grew up on a dirt road, I never skated, rollerbladed, or rode a skate board. I have skated, on ice even, but I would not go as far as to say that I skate well. I do, however, fall well. That old adage -- The bigger they are the harder they fall. -- is very true. I'm like 6'1" and 240 some odd pounds of hair and flesh. It hurts to fall.

That day at work everyone was asking each other about going to the party, and whether or not you where going to skate if you did. My response: "Johnny doesn't skate." The ride to the rink was hilarious and nearly a highlight to the whole event. Soutter drove us in his giant fucking van, and our crew was motley. Shane, Capi, Theron, Soutter, Ray, and I packed up the cooler with Dale's Pale Ale, and bottled water. Ray was in store for some great dude humor, with expletives and deep heavy referential comedy. She was a trooper, though, and seemed to come away unscathed.

Once at the rink, there were already some skaters skating, and since the rink was rented out just to us, they were friendlies. There was some vegan pizza, but we were told that more pizza would be coming, so don't hog the goods if you weren't vegan. Since I'm not vegan, I waited. 

I was not let down either. The Boot and her ladyfriend brought in a butt load of huge pizzas from a place called Rounders. It was the shit. I will definitely be going there soon.

There were good times to be had. After few Dale's, I was coaxed into donning the skates. Shane, who is one of the damn finest human beings I've had the pleasure of meeting, was doing it, and he gave me the whole, "If I'm doing it, you can do it too." thing.

Which was true. I sucked. It took about twenty minutes to get around the rink, and I fell on my ass, hard as hell, hurting my shoulder in the process (which wasn't noticed at the time, but has only gotten worse over the past week. 

Conti seemed be enjoying himself, stopping seem to be an issue, but what ev's. He came to work with an ACE™ bandage on his wrist. He also was the subject of a photograph that very nearly resembled the classic Sasquatch photograph. Blurry, arm extended and hirsuite. This is not that picture.

I hope to see more events like this in the future. Those Wheaties need this type of decompression. Working in a grocery store is a very interesting thing. It has been six years since I started at the Co-op, and I love it more all the time. I know that many of my co-workers find the constant customer service to be stressful at times, even if they really enjoy it, so some downtime to hang out with other workers in a social setting is rewarding and empowering.