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(虎口餘生)
James Koo (A40)
An “attractive nuisance,” an ice-skating rink is right below our apartment. We walk by that every time we enter or leave our apartment. If you recall, I used skating to get to know Winnie. So the skating rink has a special meaning for me. While it is often said once you know how to ride a bike, you will always do, but it has been 40 years since I last skated. How about skating and would I do? I practice a few skating steps at home on the floor, and it seems A.OK. Falling is a common occurrence in ice skating. Can I take that abuse today? No one knows all these until you try. The curiosity or challenge got hold the better of me and finally, at the New Year 2011, I resolve to skate at least once after I turned 70. But a little practice is necessary ahead of the time.
One morning while Winnie went out to dance ballet, I decide to give it a try. First the skates are heavier than I thought. Had problem even standing up straight in them as my ankles kept wobbling left and right, and it was a big effort walking to the rink. There is no return. Once on the ice, I had to hold on to the railing like Winnie did. Finally I told myself, I can skate and pushed off. I immediately found out whatever the steps I practiced at home did not work on the ice. A small step here, a little skating there, finally I began to "skate." Just about when I thought I got a hang of it, I found myself fell flat on the ice and had problem getting a foothold to get up. With a little help from the rink patrols, I got back on my feet. Luckily, no serious hurt except my ego and confidence. Now a little more cautious, I gingerly took one small step at a time.
After 15 to 20 minutes, I really began to skate. No sooner than feeling a little more confident and trying to do a little different steps, I find myself fell flat on ice again. And this time it fell much harder as it was totally not expected or prepared. Ok, I dusted myself off and skated one more round the rink to have a video taken. Not to push the luck, I quit.
Came home, told my family about my adventure. Winnie said nothing as she knew it is useless. My son and daughter-in-law said nothing. My daughter initially said, “dad, life is about pushing the boundaries,” then her husband, an orthopedic surgeon, commented that he has seen many cases that the END starts with a bad fall. My HK PuiChing classmates, WT Pang in particular, reacted more vocally, admonishing me that it is stupid and irresponsible as a bad fall will impact not my life but lives of those surrounding me. But they also know as an old stubborn fool, “knowing there is a tiger in the mountain, I will walk towards the mountain (明知山有虎, 偏向虎山行)."
Now I have to skate at least one more time AFTER reaching 70. With all the advises and concerns weighing on my shoulder, I skated poorly, half crouching, afraid of a bad fall. However, I felt the exhilaration of relearning the steps. Like a drug addict, I was hooked.
Since then, I have skated several more times. Each new step brings me the ecstasies have not had for years and only fell two or three time as I relearned the simple steps such as T-stop, crossover turn and etc. I know I should not push the luck and quit while ahead. When? At first decided will quit after I can skate backwards. I did that on Sept. 9th (video 1, with the title page and music added by Larry Wan). Then, I debated if should quit or after I can turn from skating forward to backward, and Vice Versa. Winnie said why not, just like when I was contenplating a start-up company years ago. Her wish was my command, so I put the skates on again. Practiced a little, I "succeeded," and here is the video 2 on Sept. 16, a week later. That was my "farewell" or the last time around the rink. Believe the cinematographer covered the auto-focusing sensor, so the strip is very blurred. I was also skating worse with the camera on, knowoing this is THE last time, and almost fell the 2nd time doing the turn, violating the cardinal rule of "never fighting a fall, as it will only make the fall worse." OK, this is it. I am hanging up the skates, quit while ahead. I have been very lucky, survived the tiger mountain (虎口餘生) and counted my blessing.
Another execuse I skated was that so I can learn to post the videos on the web. Here they are. Please let me know if you have problem viewing them. I have problem to put controls with the pictures unless make drastic changes to the format. That will be for another day. So right click the picture and chose "Play" to view them.
Video1 Skating backwards. Title, music by Larry Wan Video2 Turning back and forth--the last skate 9/16/11
Right click on the picture then choose play to start the video
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