All the talk of fitballs made me realize I hadn't blown my 85cm Pezzi up enough. Given that I nearly fainted with the effort of blowing it up by mouth even that far, I brought a compressor in the house and blew it up more with that. It's definitely better to sit on now. Though my general situation is really unergonomic due to some realities about my new room. It'll take a while for me to work the kinks out of the new place, post-move.

Where I grew up, unless you belonged to a pool at a local hotel (the HoJos or Rossi Hotel had pools you could join, which we did) or had one in your backyard, or maybe your family belonged to the Braidwood Recreational Area (expensive annual fees, so we didn't join) (but if you had skin darker than a tan, you didn't go there, either--I had a Pakistani friend in high school who had to get smuggled into Braidwood by his friends who were members because he would have gotten stopped at the gate otherwise), you weren't able to swim until high school, and that was only if you went to the public school. They didn't have a YMCA in the west side of Joliet until I was in high school.

We had to pass a swim test to graduate college. They just got rid of the requirement a few years ago.

I had to take swimming in high school, and I don't think there was any way to pass out of it.

I thought it rather strange that my (public) junior high had us going to a local bowling alley for part of our PE class, but didn't have us go to a local pool as well. Guess it was less hassle in terms of time (no changing time necessary) and insurance/liability.

You can imagine how traumatic swimming in the middle of the school day was in the era of big hair.

Heh. I remember the frantic re-application of mousse in the locker room after gym class, and that was in an all-girls school! Those stereotypical '80s 'dos were all over the place back then. I had the top high and the sides slicked back (very mulletesque, sad to say) when I didn't have it long (and usually pulled in a ponytail) or permed (which always went waaay too tight and I ended up looking like Linda Kelsey in Lou Grant).

is your mother originally from Jamaica?

Yup.

You can imagine how traumatic swimming in the middle of the school day was in the era of big hair.

Halloo. Try being black (and the concomitant typical processed hair). It was the inception of my Tina Turner hair, because that was the only low-maintenance way to go.

We had swimming classes at my high school in Jamaica, but I don't think they were mandatory. I took them because they were the easiest phys ed options. I even snuck onto the swim team (I was small and not a fast swimmer, but the perfect rescue subject).

In England they were mandatory, and I was one of the few kids to test out immediately, and spent time either on the high boards or teaching other girls to swim.

We didn't have mandatory swim lessons where I grew up, but almost everyone learned to swim as a kid. My brother and I had a few lessons and both took to it pretty quick, but then my dad tried to teach me to dive, and hello trauma. Worse than when he tried to teach me piano. He's not a natural teacher when it's someone he knows and expects to be able to do it.

I'm not a strong swimmer at all, but I love the water, and I can float forever. But I am still freaked out by going in headfirst. Thanks, Dad! Love you, man.

I thought it rather strange that my (public) junior high had us going to a local bowling alley for part of our PE class, but didn't have us go to a local pool as well. Guess it was less hassle in terms of time (no changing time necessary) and insurance/liability.

Our high school had swimming as a required part of required PE (two semesters)...unless you took PE during summer school. Then, there wasn't time, or other people were using the pool, or something...so we went bowling instead. I much preferred.