Heelys - Not Just For Kids... Really.

One of the great athletic pleasures of my childhood (and adolescence, and heck, my adulthood) was skating. First there was rollerskating, at which I and every other kid my age was a whiz. The difference for me was that my mother (a PE teacher, volleyball and basketball coach, and killer on the tennis court) was never the "be careful, honey!" type. No, she was more like Bela Karolyi with a ball. Harder, faster, and more daring was her motto. I recall her on a ladder pounding volleyballs at me and bellowing "SACRIFICE YOUR BODY!" as I dove here and there to bump the ball. I still wake sweating on occasion thinking BUMP SET SPIKE! I think I was in fifth grade, being coached two years ahead of time to try out for seventh grade volleyball. Goaded by my mother's athletic ethic, which I feared more than falls and scraped knees, I rollerskated, rollerbladed, skateboarded and cycled like a fiend. Rollerskating and rollerblading were probably my favorite things, and I spent many a day ditching college classes and rollerblading from Will Rogers State Beach to Redondo, past the Santa Monica Pier and Venice Beach somewhere in the middle. Oh, Southern California! Anyhow, I love skating of all types.

The reason people my age still skate and baby boomers don't is because when we were kids, skates were already pretty good, and when boomers were kids, they were rickety pieces o' crap which you had to, like, unlock with keys and whose wheels would barely turn. Bad sports equipment sets you up for failure. Kids these days won't stand for lesser ball bearings than ABEC 7s in their wheels.

There are two rather strange and futuristic-functional types of shoes I've been coveting for some time. One is a pair of expensive, hella-ugly walking shoes from Bliss Spa that are supposed to really shape your legs and butt up fast as you walk around in them. I want them, but it's hard to spend so much for something so ugly, when you're not really 100% sure they're any better than a regular good walking or running shoe.

The other, much more affordable shoe I've been wanting, and just got, are Heelys. Heelys have a little wheel in the heel of each shoes. I've enviously watched everyone's kids rolling and walking around in these things, and I finally got a pair for myself. Heelys are quite different from regular skates, so it takes some practice to understand how to use them. I got them yesterday and spend the greater part of last night rolling around on my hardwood floors. I'm sure my downstairs neighbor loved it (if she could hear it over her blaring TV). Then I spent the greater part of this morning rolling around the smooth floors at Ross Dress For Less, looking for discount shirts.

They make Heelys in adult sizes, and they're well under $100. I wish everyone could be on wheels, all the time!