my first burn

Before I present my first burn, let's go back in time!

April 1, 2006. My younger sisters and I learned how to zip for the first time by attending the Levi's Freedom Camp. There, we met the nice people of PlanetZips. We all got hooked after the first lesson and purchased a pair of zips right after. It was predominantly blue with a touch of pink (and screamed my personality!)

While enjoying the summer break, I took the pair of zips with me to different places in the Philippines. I went to Bantayan Island, Moalboal beach, and Kawasan Falls which were in the Northern and Southern parts of Cebu. I was with Ling, Franco, and Sas. Then, my zips and I went to La Playa Calatagan in Batangas. I was with Coco, Sara, the two Mikes, and Rally. Then a big bunch of us went to San Juan, La Union where one of the surfing instuctors, Jericho, and I exchanged basic zipping lessons for skimboarding lessons. And during the second trip to La Union, Coco and I taught some of our blockmates what we knew (the basics until weave part). For some reason, the guys got the moves right away but we were much impressed by two little kids there with natural spinning talents who borrowed our zips ;p They were half-Filipino and half-Japanese.

So anyway, here are my zips travelling during the summer break.

If you've noticed, I've always been surrounded by WATER!

But last week, I placed an end to that "wet streak".

After having dinner with my favorite photographers -- Hans & Louis (Guys, watch out for these two!) and the Empress in Makati on a drizzling night...

I had MY FIRST BURN!

The following photos were all taken by Ramir, an advanced student who also helps out in teaching us!

This is Tals with the lighter and me saying "I will forever remember this moment"

Admittedly I was a bit scared of doing it with fire at the start.

I remember my heart beating faster than usual which I knew was a combination of excitement and nervousness. (what if I burned my hair? what if I burned my pants? what if I burned the hairs on my skin? ;p etc etc)... Ok, with nervousness being 60 in a 60:40 ratio.

But soon enough...

My zips were lit!

And they were... gulp, they were hot! ...ang init! (well duh, fire is supposed to be hot, lala!)

Ok, ignore the extra heat. It's still basically the same. It's just fire. But that's the thing. For me, it wasn't just fire. It IS fire. Fire burns, baby!

But the moment I started with the routines from module 1, I remembered what Reg, one of the advanced students, told me. He said that all I would hear was the sound of fire moving around me. And he was right.

It was just me, the pavement, & two small balls of fire.

At the back of my head however, I knew I was still playing with fire. (As kids, we were taught not to play with fire precisely because it was dangerous :p)

My heart was still beating fast, although slower than its rate at the start. As I moved from module 1 to the next, my excitement somehow turned into vigilance. I had to make sure that I didn't burn myself. And at the same time, I needed to pacify my paranoid mind.

what if my "butterfly" got tangled around my arms? or what if I hit my head while doing the "windmill"? No, they won't. Just move and flow with the fire as if they were your own ribbons.

Soon enough, the ratio turned 70:30 with 70 as enjoying the moment and 30 as being cautious.

Caution is good but too much of it may lead to limiting one's self when one could do much more. In this case, fire can only burn and hurt if I let it burn and hurt me... I knew I had control over the fire. Getting burnt or not that night was literally in my hands.

And then I told myself that maybe, as with most things, IF I DIDN'T THINK TOO MUCH about it, I'd do better...

So I let go of all my apprehensions and just zipped away like I used to.

And this is me happily burning the pavement down!
It's another natural high!
*More burns to come*