Totebag winner

[rootbeer1]

Been a pretty busy week. Last weekend we went to keanubear's birthday party, where we received the grand prize, the official John Ashfield Totebag, after Neil, the original winner, left it behind:



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As another way to remember poohbearhjim, I've created a web page for some of his family's recipes, and it can be found here.

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I went to the gym yesterday and met a friend who, surprisingly to me, can't swim. I had time, so I helped him try to do some rudimentary dog-paddling. It just sort of amazes me when I find friends who can't swim, especially since my family's vacations, when I was growing up, seemed to center around water -- swimming in the ocean, pools or lakes. In high school I opted out of the regular PE requirement in order to swim all year, and at the end was certified as a lifeguard. And even now, although the ocean is too cold to swim in here, I look forward every summer to the various pool parties around the bay area, and not just because they are filled with hairy bearded men in Speedos.

But I think there are more people than expected who don't swim, or never learned how. So ... poll-time!

[Poll #1134139]

Comments

[reslbear.livejournal.com]

If I rescued you then you would have to pay me back with mouth-to-mouth resuscitation. :-)

[quirkstreet.livejournal.com]

I can swim the length of a pool much better via backstroke than face-down. For some reason, an ordinary crawl stroke just wears me right out. So I usually say I'm not a swimmer. I wouldn't want to count on my abilities in a crisis.

[muckefuck.livejournal.com]

In order to graduate from my college, you had to pass a swimming course. (The school legend is that the donor for the athletic centre had a daughter who drowned and so made that a condition for his gift.) I wasn't looking forward to it because I'd gone to swimming lessons at least three times before and flunked every time. But then my teacher showed me the backstroke and back crawl and I was like, Wait, I can swim WITHOUT having to put my face in the water? Holy moly, this shit is fun! Turns out it wasn't the swimming I didn't like, it was the breathing. Also, I was too ectomorphic back in the day to float well, so just treading water was a bitch, but time and tide have taken care of that.

[beg1n.livejournal.com]

Never did for some odd reason. But I love splashing around in a pool, lake, ocean, or gutter.

[paterson-si.livejournal.com]

and you can hardly get me out of the water when i am the coast :)

[ponycub.livejournal.com]

I could not swim untill just this last summer. Britbear got me swimming lessons. I still wouldnt say i can swim. But i could probably make it to the side of the pool or something if i fell in the deep end.

[fogbear.livejournal.com]

Swimming was my sport between the ages of 11 and 18. When I developed sleep apnea a dozen years ago, my most frequent nightmare was that I was drowning. I haven't been able to swim the same way since.

Where are the pictures of this man in speedos, hmmm?

[erik415.livejournal.com]

I guess I'd have to say that I can swim pretty well. I was a lifeguard for several years when I was younger. During the summer I'd work at beaches & lakes and in the winter I'd work at health clubs with indoor pools. It was a great gig to have in highschool and college. I eventually became tired of roasting myself in the sun and became a lifeguard trainer for the American Red Cross.

[chuckersil.livejournal.com]

I can swim... I won a gold medal in my summer camp olympics once for swimming.. then I got fat and couldn't win anymore.. but I can still swim.

Luckily for me, the males in my family have always been "buoyant."

[geofferbear.livejournal.com]

my mom was insistent that her kids learn how to swim and swim well. i think she had some quasi-irrational fear we'd drown or something. i was captain of my HS swim team and swam for exercise thruout college and grad school. i gave up swimming regularly because it makes me, uh, too lithe.

[akil.livejournal.com]

I was *way* too uncoordinated as a kid to learn how to swim. My mom enrolled me in classes when I was a kid but I never got very far.

Fearing that I'd have to take California's "mandatory" swim test in order to graduate from high school, I tried again when I was 14, but to no avail. I took that set of classes at the YMCA. Enrollment dwindled so much that by the end, I was the only student in the class. Even with the dedicated attention, I was unable to swim. (I never had to take the swim test, either ... Whew!)

I feel that now, as an adult, I have a much better awareness of my body and that I'd be successful. I'd like to think that learning to float on my back or tread water won't be nearly as daunting now.

I can float and make it from one end of a pool to the other but it's not pretty. :)

F.M.S.

[abearius.livejournal.com]

I tried to start a group called Fat Men Swimming. It never got off the ground because I ran out of steam and ambition. But it was a cool idea. :-D