June 1: Noodle Trouble

A man stands with a mallet. It takes all of his upper-body strength to lift the tool's head from the ground and swing at its target. The head of the mallet smashes into the flat surface and sends a deep ringing wave of energy from the point of contact and throughout the wall. Loud, thunderous vibrations take control of the previously placid surface which just so happens to be my skull.

I have a pounding headache. The skin on my back burns and is hot to the touch. My eyes are tired and bloodshot. The man with the mallet is merciless as he continues to slam his blunt instrument on my skull over and over again.

Today I spent six hours jumping off and swimming around a barge on Lake Travis for a coworker's birthday. There was drinking and dancing. Loud music and more drinking. There was leaping from second-floor levels and flying through blue water slides. Floating on multicolored noodles and saving runaway noodles.

At one point, I found myself swimming after one of these escaping noodles. No matter how hard I tried, I could not gain on the floating device, but I found myself further and further away from the party. Before I knew it, I was sucking in a combination of air and water doing everything I could to stay afloat. If I could only get to the noodle, I could rest and hope for the captains of the barge to see me floating on the horizon and turn the party to come and get me.

If it wasn't for the boat of strangers, I may not be writing this post. They maneuvered their craft so one of the passengers could grab the noodle and then came to my rescue. I grabbed on to the orange float and was pulled toward the barge while trying to keep from being sucked into the motor. After waving my thanks and gratitude to my new friends and watching them drive off, I breathlessly hoisted myself on to the barge and collapsed on the floor. No one even noticed I was gone. No one saw how far away I was. No one even saw the boat save me and drop me off!

Drinking, swimming, dancing, yelling, jumping, burning, and being saved has left me exhausted and worn out. The mallet is smashed into my skull once again and my ears are left ringing. I had a great time today, but now I need another day off of work to recuperate from my day off of work.