Note To Self:

Do not arm-wrestle Anyone. Ever. Again.

An aquaintence has been giving me tips on the art of arm-wrestling. It seems there is some strategy involved. Not just brute force and grunting, as I had previously assumed. First to twist the others wrist and muscle them down from the shoulder, using upper body strength, will be victorious. Huh. How silly of me! All along I thought it was just about the arms.

I have been told, in not so many words, that if I do this correctly, cave-man trophies will be awarded and hot babes will flock from near and far to watch me take down my opponents one after another. This does not appeal to me so much. I do, however, appreciate arm-wrestling as a time-honoured male-bonding ritual.

As I am an open-minded artist, I thought I should give this art-form a try. See what all of the hoopla was about. I also thought it would be cool if I was the gal who could put the men-folk in their place. My teacher agreed. If he could do it, so could I.

My teacher is not a large lad. This gave me hope for my own arm-wrestling career. He's actually a lanky fellow of average build who no one ever suspects of being an expert. I have watched him win copious amounts of money from much larger men. Sometimes, sadly, the same man over and over again. Guys who opt to be repeatedly taken down seem to have a larger than average ego, and to have imbibed more alcohol than others.

But after an evening of arm-wrestling with him and others, old tree-planting injuries flared up. A couple of days after my lesson, I could barely do dishes, and certainly couldn't sleep. Haha! Serves me right, I suppose.

When I spoke with him about this unexpected turn of events, my teacher explained that the key is to only arm-wrestle people who are weaker than you to begin with. Build up some arm strength. Huh. Looks like maybe I was at least patially right after all. I told him I am going to practice on my kids for a while. But secretly I am hoping that he won't broach the subject again. I don't think my ego can take it.