The Physics of Ice Skating

Another item from TMBL was to go ice skating. I had wanted to go ice skating ever since a good friend suggested we do that for Christmas 2012. We didn't because it was a holiday and we had no funds and we wanted to sleep in and we wanted to just eat and eat and we had a whole lot of other reasons, too. But upon writing down TMBL, I thought to myself, "Why not tsoknut?" I've only ice skated once - way back in 2007. It would be fun pretending to be an Olympic figure skater again.

We went there on my birthday. And we went a second time on 12 June, my country's independence day.

There is one thing I've learned and have proven to be true during those two ice skating sessions. One: I'm no Olympic figure skater. Okay, just joking. But really, I'm not. But seriously, here's what I've learned:

Whenever you think you're in for an icy wipe out, lean forward, not back. When you lean forward, you'll just keep moving forward, but when you lean backward, you'll land on your bum. The physics is true. I stuck with this trick and not once did I fall - face down or otherwise.

I think the same is true with life. If you think you're going to fall, just lean forward. I mean, keep moving on. If you land splat on your face, it will hurt, but chances are you'll just slide, slide, slide a couple of inches further from where you were previously. That's a whole lot better than remaining stuck in the same spot forever, right?

Let's follow the physics of ice skating and lean forward instead of flailing back.

Boom.

And oh. As a post script, today marks my sixth year in Malaysia. Entering year seven. Hurray!