In my previous posting, I attempted to explain all the things I tried to do before I decided to become a designer.

On top of my musical escapades, I also tried my hands (and feet) at sports. After all I grew up in a Soviet Union, the land of Olympic athletes, it wasn't out of the realm of possibilities that I could excel at a sport. At least one sport.

So I started where every girl started. At a gymnastics class.

My leotard was specially brought for me from Hungary. I stood out, and although I might have thought being an individual was a good thing, the rest of the country did not. No one likes a show off.

They got rid of me by making me do a somersault....right out of the window

Next I took up tennis.

And I would have been good at it too

If I hadn't treated tennis balls like weapons of mass destruction.

Tennis didn't work out quite as my parents hoped. Noticing that I was being overly physical with my sports, my mother had a brilliant idea of signing me up for karate. Where did she find a karate instructor I have no idea, but he was a an excellent teacher. Especially when it came to karate chop.
I might have overdone it a bit....

Chastised for breaking dinning room furniture, I was sent out to join a soccer team. Soccer is what a proper Football game is called all around the world, except in the US. It's called Football because there are feet involved dammit. And a head from time to time. But nowhere are hands involved- in fact using your hands is a penalty. American football is not football- it's kick a weird shaped ball once and then cradle it in your arms for the rest of the play. How is that Football?

Anyhow, don't I look cute? I was a goalie.

But not a very good one.I was bored out of my mind for 90 % of the game. Kind of like I am now when I try to watch a match on TV. Manchester United- you were pitiful.

You'd understand if you saw our team ( by the way, I am not knocking women's soccer- our team was mostly male)

You would think I would stop here and go home, but no, I tried again.

I tried running

The important thing was that I tried....

Hey, some people can run for hours, others (me) need a motivation (someone chasing me with a gun) That did actually happen once in Chicago - I ran like I'd never run before.

I tried swimming

Pitiful, eh? Grew up on the sea side and I'm scared of pools.

So I wasn't going to be the next Maradona. On the bright side no cocaine addiction or Hand of God. (ask Gives about it, if you don't know). Nor was I going to be the next Navratilova, although I was dangerously close to becoming another Mcenroe. I also tried to become the next Peggy Flemming, but it was so pitiful, I couldn't bring myself to draw it. Lets just say, I can only skate in one direction. In any case all of this was quite disheartening. I took to brooding silently in my room with drapes drawn, listening to Shostakovitch's String Quartet No. 8 in C minor. I was on my way to becoming disillusioned eight year old.

But then my sister asked me if I wanted to go play 'elastic' in the park, and I was over it.

This actually is a fun game/exercise. Game when I was young, exercise now.

The way to play this is with teams of people. But if people are unavailable, thin tress will do.

Two people stay inside the elastic and stretch it out. The game starts at ankles and goes all the way up to ears. I've never been able to jump higher than number five. But two of my classmates went up to number seven.

It's a fun game. The easiest jump is to jump in one place on one side of the elastic three times and then put one foot in and jump three times, then follow the first foot on the inside of the elastic, then right foot goes out of the elastic and jump three times. When the left foot follows the right foot, jump twice and then back to repeat the whole thing and then do it by jumping one time. And then progress to knees and so on.

When one person messes up, they have to take the place of one of the standing people and that person gets to jump instead. My sister and I practiced with trees instead of people. Easier this way, no one gets bored.

Here's my feeble attempt to explain the jumping thing.

Level 1- the whole body is involved.

Level 2- one foot, and then at 4 where a waist should be, the elastic is held in a fist.Only professionals should do this. I so wish this was an actual sport- I might have been a champion...if I could get past level 5.

If anyone is at all interested to see how the game is played, do leave a comment and if enough people ask, I will post a video.

All this talk of body parts....hehem...stay tuned for part 3 of how I decided to become a designer. Yes, there's more!