Inertial Invites on Nostr: I fell off a ladder earlier, so that's yet another thing which both hasn't killed me ...
I fell off a ladder earlier, so that's yet another thing which both hasn't killed me and hasn't made me any stronger. If that saying were correct, I'd be an invincible behemoth by now instead of a thoroughly broken human being.
I'm fine. Bruised but fine. At least I think so. It's been long enough that the adrenaline has worn off and I'm still not collapsing or bleeding internally to the best of my knowledge.
They also say that when you fall you should go limp, but not only is that really hard to do if you're not expecting it, but I think it's also assuming that you're not falling into concrete, because if I'd gone limp, my head would have hit the concrete really hard.
And I actually have training in how to fall as a stunt. If I intend to do it and I'm expecting it, I can do a pretty decent pratfall (which, apparently, means to fall on one's ass originally, which is pretty much the last way you want to do a staged fall if you have no ass like I do). I've fallen down flights of stairs and over backwards and so forth. And if that skill had translated into actually falling at all, I would have deftly executed a tuck and roll or something.
But instead I pretty much made a stupid noise and face and then descended in an uncontrolled manner from a height. Not so much height that I'm lucky to be alive, but certainly enough of one that I'm very glad I didn't land on my head.
And such is life, I guess. You can have all the preparation in the world (and let's be clear, I didn't, but I had more than none) and when push comes to shove you're probably going to make a stupid face, maybe a stupid noise, and fall regardless. I guess you can choose how you hit, somewhat, but you can't put yourself back on the ladder. Chances are good that, in a crisis situation, you're going to go blank for a moment, which is fine if the crisis is hourly, but not so much if the crisis is an instant.
If there's one thing I've learned from this experience, it's that I'm probably going to continue to do things on ladders because while I'm terrified of heights, I'm able to totally ignore that if I'm working on something. If there's another, it's to check the rated load limit on ladders because it turns out that I was significantly over the one printed on that ladder. I mean, who the fuck ever heard of a fiberglass ladder which was only rated for 250 lbs?
I lay there for a minute taking stock of myself and checked the various things I know how to check, then I got up and got back to work. Had I had the presence of mind, I would have made the obvious Chumbawumba joke, but as it was, I was slightly embarrassed. How's that for stupid? "Jeez, I'm sorry I collapsed a ladder and nearly killed myself; I'm mortified."
I've broken plenty of things in my life. One time I broke the head off a sledge hammer and everyone cheered. But I've never turned a ladder into twisted wreckage simply by landing on it. I'll add it to the collection.
I'm fine. Bruised but fine. At least I think so. It's been long enough that the adrenaline has worn off and I'm still not collapsing or bleeding internally to the best of my knowledge.
They also say that when you fall you should go limp, but not only is that really hard to do if you're not expecting it, but I think it's also assuming that you're not falling into concrete, because if I'd gone limp, my head would have hit the concrete really hard.
And I actually have training in how to fall as a stunt. If I intend to do it and I'm expecting it, I can do a pretty decent pratfall (which, apparently, means to fall on one's ass originally, which is pretty much the last way you want to do a staged fall if you have no ass like I do). I've fallen down flights of stairs and over backwards and so forth. And if that skill had translated into actually falling at all, I would have deftly executed a tuck and roll or something.
But instead I pretty much made a stupid noise and face and then descended in an uncontrolled manner from a height. Not so much height that I'm lucky to be alive, but certainly enough of one that I'm very glad I didn't land on my head.
And such is life, I guess. You can have all the preparation in the world (and let's be clear, I didn't, but I had more than none) and when push comes to shove you're probably going to make a stupid face, maybe a stupid noise, and fall regardless. I guess you can choose how you hit, somewhat, but you can't put yourself back on the ladder. Chances are good that, in a crisis situation, you're going to go blank for a moment, which is fine if the crisis is hourly, but not so much if the crisis is an instant.
If there's one thing I've learned from this experience, it's that I'm probably going to continue to do things on ladders because while I'm terrified of heights, I'm able to totally ignore that if I'm working on something. If there's another, it's to check the rated load limit on ladders because it turns out that I was significantly over the one printed on that ladder. I mean, who the fuck ever heard of a fiberglass ladder which was only rated for 250 lbs?
I lay there for a minute taking stock of myself and checked the various things I know how to check, then I got up and got back to work. Had I had the presence of mind, I would have made the obvious Chumbawumba joke, but as it was, I was slightly embarrassed. How's that for stupid? "Jeez, I'm sorry I collapsed a ladder and nearly killed myself; I'm mortified."
I've broken plenty of things in my life. One time I broke the head off a sledge hammer and everyone cheered. But I've never turned a ladder into twisted wreckage simply by landing on it. I'll add it to the collection.