my boo-boo (cont.)

Okay.. Remember my previous post about my 'boo-boo'?? Here's what happened. Tara, Jarmilla and I were on our way to meet Vee, Maurice, Sean, TJ and April at the Salt River Tubing location. We took the highway to Payson and then planned to turn off at Bush highway. Somehow, Tara missed the turn and we kept going and going until I saw the sign that says approx. 30 miles until Payson. Jarmilla and I got wide-eyed. We are FAR and knew we missed our turn. Then I turned to Tara, "I think we passed the exit a LONG time ago!" Tara started cussing (it's so cute when she cusses, you'll have to see her do it to know what I meant!) and we got lucky we found an intersection, turned off and went BACK to the same way we came from. After a while, we FINALLY found the Bush Highway exit and turned off there. We passed a lot of sherrif cars. Oh, right!! Memorial weekends tend to have a lot of drunk drivers. So, we finally arrived at the tube rental place an hour late. We figured if we get everything ready and got on the bus, we might meet Vee, Maurice, Sean, TJ and April at the 2nd point of the river. We met this guy from San Francisco, Leonard. Interesting, friendly guy! He just moved to Arizona very recently. He's always smiling and cheerful. It's refreshing to hang out with someone like him. Anyway, he was also late and we caught a few other Deafies who are also late too. We had to use my ID to get 6 tubes, paid the fees and deposit. We all got in line with other Deafies and waited and waited and waited.. Gosh! It was sooo HOT. Finally, we got on the bus and went to the 1st point of the river. Some of the Deafies got off. Only Leo, Tara, Jarmilla and I stayed on the bus. The bus driver dropped us off at the 2nd point. We got all our stuff down on the river. I stepped in the water and gasped! It was COLD!! It feels so good, cold water with hot weather. Ahhhhh! Anyway, Tara wanted everyone tied together (bad move I felt, but went ahead with tying up the tubes). We pushed off into the river. Jarmilla didn't get in her tube and was about to miss the whole thing! So, I jumped off my tube and held the tied up bunch so she could hop on her tube. After she got on her tube, I got in mine. Wow! The water current was pretty fast! It was very leisurely. Some of the kids on the river were throwing marshmallows everywhere, and part of the trip, I could STILL see marshmallows floating by. Eww. There were some interesting characters floating past us. One guy dressed up like a pimp with velvet hat that has a boa rim. It's funny to see such people on the river. Sometimes we get stuck in parts of the river where there are no currents, so I tried to paddle back into the current. Damn! It was hard work trying to get 6 tied up tubes to MOVE in one direction! At one point, we got into a fast current that sent us dashing onto the boulders. I fell off my tube, went uderwater really fast and almost couldn't get up from the current! I almost lost my eyeglasses but caught them with my hand. I got back into my tube. Everything went fine for a while. It was a lot of fun and I was getting my tan. We passed a sign that said we need to get off at 4th point, so I started untying the tubes. Tara wanted me to use her Swiss Army knife. I didn't want to use a knife near the tubes full of air. What if I accidentally poke and the tube explodes? What if I fumbled with the knife and lose it in the water? Tara went, "Oh, come OOOON!" Forget it, I am taking the line apart with my own hands! We got close to the 4th point. Tara said we have to get up NOW. I had the rope tangled in one hand and trying to get out of my tube. Tara already got out of her tube and held it in place with Jarmilla beside her. I was STILL going with the current, the rope getting tight and my fingers became knotted into the rope. I couldn't break free. Then, I could feel my weight being pulled off my tube, so I tried to get a good foothold on the slippery, shallow riverbed. One hand was stuck in the rope and my free hand was trying to grab the tube with my 2 shirts. Knowing that I didn't have the extra cash on me, I'll be damned if I lose my tube or I'll have to pay 20 bucks to get my ID back! At the same time, I was clutching part of the tube, falling off and struck out my foot to catch my balance. I felt my toe hit a rock real hard but ignored the pain. The water current was SO strong! I fumbled around, Tara pulling on the rope and me losing my balance. During all that confusion, my eyeglasses FELL off! I saw my pair of eyeglasses fall from my face in slow motion and then *WHOOSH!* disappeared instantly when it touched the rushing river water. SHIT! My ONLY pair of eyeglasses!! And I am going to be blind until I get new eyeglasses! I also had 3 days left to do my research paper for my English class! Man.. May 2005 was a month full of bad luck! I got up again and something went past me really fast. It was Jarmilla!! She was already out of her tube and the tube was still tied to Tara's tube. Jarmilla was screaming Tara's name because Jarmilla is not familiar with walking on slippery rocks and going through strong water currents. She kept falling back in the water and getting washed down the river. Tara skittered carefully like a butch girl after Jarmilla. I knew they would be okay and looked at the girls' tubes. Leonard had already made sure no one is losing their tube. I helped him pull everything off the river. I was still pissed off but kept myself in check. Jarmilla and Tara finally got out the river and walked back on the beach. I am glad Jarmilla is okay! I told her that next time we go river tubing, two things will happen: one, I will use strap on my new eyeglasses, and two, NO MORE ROPE! Only to the cooler tube is fine, but to other tubes, no. I felt something throbbing painfully, so I looked down at my toe. Eww! My toenail was a little bloody with the river plant still stuck in the crack. 1/3 of it was cracked and seperated half-way from under my toenail skin. Everyone got out and got on the bus back to the rental place. We returned our tubes and Leo got his deposit back. I just wanted to go home and find out what I could do about my eyeglasses. I was so happy, pissy, mopey and tired from the events. I found out my eye doctor was out of town (later, found out his wife had a heart attack while vacationing!), so my mom decided to loan me some money to get 2 pairs of cheap-assed eyeglasses on Monday night. I really needed eyeglasses for my classes! With the new eyeglasses, I realized I was getting tired fast and easily because the lenses are a little strong for my eyes. I asked my English teacher if I could turn in my work later. He granted me until Thursday. But I was still too tired from reading all those sources and citations. Ugh. I gave up and told my teacher that I'll take the class again in the summer. Later on Thursday night, he told me by email I have until Monday at noon, to turn in my research paper on Aristotle. Whee! Now, that's my story. Two lucky things are that I got an extension on my research paper and my toenail never got infected! Whew! And, now, back to working on my research paper!