sometimes lifeguarding is a hazard to your health

In the past two days at work I have managed to strain my left bicep, procure a rather impressive lump on my head, and score a nasty bout of whiplash. All resulting in pain when I try to hold anything in my left arm, pain when I brush my hair/pull my hair up, etc, and the inability to either pick my head up from a lying down position or lean my head back at all, unless I want to inflict more pain upon myself.

I can hear you now, saying,
"Surely Alyssa suffered these injuries while gallantly rescuing small children from water that was too deep for them..."
This is not the case.

The strained bicep is a result of picking up and putting away not one, not two.....but four {not all at the same time, mind you} forty-five pound weights used for bench pressing. {The rec. center makes the life guards put away all of the weights left out in the weight room, and I assure you that before the summer is out there will most likely be a similar post about a barbell meeting my foot.}

The lump on the back of my head and the whiplash came as a direct result from going from a sitting position to a lying down position in a space of about one-half of a second while riding a water slide. You see, the fastest way to rotate from the top of the slide to the bottom is, naturally, to ride the slide. Yet, while going down the dip in "The Slide Winder," my head whipped back and slammed against said slide, resulting in me seeing stars and experiencing quite a bit of pain. I'm just glad that I didn't knock myself out, seeing as there is a four-foot deep pool of water at the bottom of the slides that would not be too good to land in if rendered unconscious. {Granted, there is a guard at the bottom, but I'm pretty sure he/she didn't want to have to jump in to save a fellow guard}

To quote the lovely movie Australia:
"In the end, the only thing you really own is your story."
{I guess this is just a small snippet of a chapter from mine.}