One thing I find innately and truly extremely embarrassing is that I'm 19 years old and I walk pass kids every other day whizzing away on their bicycles. The point is, I can't cycle. I can't cycle for nuts because I can't balance on one, I can't pedal for nuts and I'm afraid to fall (kakarrophiaphobia, anyone? I know it's the fear of failure but I'm guilty of that too!).

Today, the boyfriend TRIED (keyword here is tried because it's rather obvious that he didn't succeed). Yes, he took the trouble to fix his bike, bring it down and the moment I placed my hand to it, it felt like a ton. Look, I don't associate myself with being weak, because I spent 8 years in school learning how to carry people around as part of evacuation lessons . So if I can carry people close to MY WEIGHT, a bicycle shouldn't be a problem, right?

NO.

The bicycle was uncontrollable (bear in mind that this is a person NOT MEANT to cycle talking here) and it swivelled around with a mind of its own. Not to mention that when I first mounted the bike, it was so huge and tall (even when the seat's at the lowest possible point), I had to tip toe to spare my butt the agony of coming into contact with the seat (my butt truly aches now).

Anyway, when I first mounted, I couldn't even balance for a split second. Not to mention that that estate must have some device that sends out an alert the moment someone tries to learn cycling such that all the young kids start whizzing all over you (the learner) on their bikes. Then people start gawking at a near-adult struggling with a bicycle. At least I'm 'blessed' with the frame of a 14 year old. Yes, I've even seen 13 year old juniors larger sized than I am.

Embarrassing, need I say that again?

After a couple of hours, I eventually progressed from not being able to balance a split second to pushing myself (using my feet) in circles. I still can't pedal for nuts! But I can now balance for a few seconds, so does that count as progress???

My butt eventually conceded defeat.

Anyway, after some rest, I caught the National Day Parade on the telly. Wasn't as fantastic as I remembered them to be. Probably because I'm a lot more cynical now. But the navy guys still looked as dashing (if only the boyfriend would stop yelling "BATA!" and "white washed shoes" in my ear). There were a lot of fireworks thought, more in quantity but not on variety as compared to the one I saw at the fireworks festival.

Ok, I am going to stop now and let my butt get some rest.