Back to School: Endo Style

So today was an eventful day. Woke up early for work, took my shower, ate my blueberry muffin, kissed Aya and Kai goodbye and then headed off to work. On my way out Aya said that it was going to rain today, so I grabbed my umbrella, which turned out to be a very, very, bad decision.

Normally I would just fair the weather without the umbrella, and brave the elements without any worries. I am used to a little rain, and getting a little wet has never really bothered me. I am also a rain coat kind of guy, and until I came to Japan, I always wore one. But here, everyone uses umbrellas so I guess you could say, I wanted to fit in (and saw the obvious advantages to an umbrella vs. a raincoat in a huge downpour). Anyway enough of the tangent.

I took the umbrella and went downstairs, dressed in my nice suit for my first day on the Job, and hopped on my bike. Today I had to met all the teachers, give a speech in Japanese, and then go on in the gym in front of all the students and say hello, yada yada. On my way to work I stopped at a convenient store to pick up some lunch, and then I got back on my bike and was about 100 yards from school when something out of the ordinary happened. POP-SHOVE-IT (aka the Endo)!!!

This is the term in BMX biking, for stopping hard on your front wheel, and lifting up your back wheel, of course in a controlled fashion. The only thing was I was in my suit and was in no mood for an endo. Brian did one of these awhile back in Kiawah, followed by a prompt trip to the hospital on a stretcher with a neck-brace (which I thought was a little excessive). Since then we would always joke about it, but it looks like the joke’s on me, cause the Pop-Shove-It, ain’t as fun as it looks.

At first I heard a crack, then a jolt and the bike came to a screeching halt. The possessed umbrella had found its way into my spokes and I was thrown over the handle bars, while crossing the street mind you. I picked my lunch and myself up and tried to survey the damage. At first all was well, no cuts, no breaks, and the bike even ran smoothly (minus the one spoke that got jammed). Then I kinda laughed at myself and thought, wow that coulda’ been a lot worse.

My casual demeanor quickly turned to one of panic as I noticed something strange dangling from my back pocket. “What’s up with the sting back there?” I thought to myself and then noticed that there was a massive rip down the back side of my paints, exposing my boxers. SWEET.

I’ll have you know, I went into that school, and nailed my speech. I just kept my hands at my side and made sure that my coat was completely covering my paints. At the end of the day I learned a valuable lesson: umbrellas + bikes = Endo.