life lesson #3,428

i'd like to consider myself a reasonably adventurous person. i have yet to jump out of a plane or climb mt. everest, but i've done my share of relatively adventurous things. i've gone white-water rafting in crazy costa rican rapids, i've gone caving with gigantic spiders and centuries-old skeletons, i've climbed waterfalls, i've gone glacier hiking in argentina, i've skied down plenty of black diamond slopes, i've eaten termites in a belizean jungle. hell, i 've even agreed to go on a blind date and, for apparently no reason whatsoever aside from "hey, it's time for a change," i decided to pick up and move to the crazy-ass state of texas (although those last two actions may be more stupidity than adventurousness).

so, then, i figured a nice, calm tubing trip down the sunny james river was no biggie. what's to worry? you sit, you tan, you drink, you float. nothin' to it. easy as pie. i mean come on, i was a seasoned traveler and, as proven above, a reasonably adventurous soul.

what's the saying? "pride goes before a fall," right?

well, yes. this wknd i learned the valuable life lesson that contrary to popular belief, it IS possible to sustain personal injuries to one's self while participating in the seemingly harmless activity of tubing. it is also possible to capsize while tubing in approximately three feet of crystal-clear water, sending the unexpecting tuber completely head-over-heels in a move that, i must admit, must have looked freaking hiLARious from afar.

yes, folks, it's true. i, jennifer kim, flipped over when i hit a mini-rapid while on a tubing trip this wknd. i lost my sunglasses (see: three feet of crystal clear water mentioned above), spilled my drink, got water in my nose (again, see: three feet of crystal clear water mentioned above), and managed to scrape the hell out of my back. my shoulder is scraped and bruised, and i think i may have lost my pride somewhere in the james river.

let me know if you find it. i'd be ever so grateful.

(in my defense, i must pipe up and say that i was not the only unfortunate person to be tossed about by the james river in this undignified fashion. there were other tubers who experienced similar humiliation and disgrace, much to the amusement of both ourselves and the others in our party. thank god for good friends who are willing to laugh at each other and, most importantly, laugh at ourselves.)