My Story 36
By Corbin
How life tests the endurance, patience, and sometimes faith of one young woman.

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Courage
Integrity
Dignity
Self Respect
And respect towards others...

Above all that, try to remain humble. 

This is what I try to live by, although one might not come to that conclusion 
about me if you have been reading along, but If there is one thing I have 
learned, you had better self-inflict that trait of being 'humble' on yourself 
or life has a way of teaching you how to be humble. I would rather teach myself 
then have life humiliate me in front of a bunch of people. For example, last 
winter I was walking to my car and started to believe that the slippery 
qualities of ice have no affect on me, and then I was on my ass in front of a 
bunch of people in the parking lot. Three guys were there to assist (nice to be 
a girl sometimes) even if I was probably stronger then all three combined, I did 
enjoy the lavish attention as they competed to be the ONE that helped me to my 
feet.

While I may bellyache about the men and women I encounter on a daily basis, I 
believe that the forces of good outnumber the bad, that most men and women do 
try to attain the above aforementioned qualities. But sadly, it's only the bad 
apples you hear about in the media, rarely the achievements of the good or the 
wholesome. If you watch even a little television you would probably assume that 
the world is full of nothing but underachievers and girls/guys gone wild, yet I 
believe that is only a small minority of the population.

When I was still in College (which wasn't that long ago) most of the girls I 
knew kept their heads down and focused on studying. Yes we partied and dated, 
but me and my friends were not the whore mongers that MTV makes this generation 
out to be. We did not binge drink and we did not sleep around (Err, most of us), 
and not just my friends but A LOT of guys and girls I knew acted with self 
respect.

As I may have mentioned, almost right out of College I went to work for 
Insurance Company in their Actuarial department. I was very good with statistics 
and crunching numbers, believe it or not. It was an insanely boring job, but it 
paid very well and the benefits were outstanding. The company supplied me with 
my own laptop, which I carried with me everywhere I went. I got some pleasure 
out of mocking the guys in my department who complained about how heavy the 
laptop bag was when filled with all of their junk. Heavy? You must be kidding 
me, what a bunch of wimps! But then again these guys were poster children for 
the pale, weak and anemic, so having me around the office was somewhat of a 
delight for them.

Take this jewel of a moment, when several guys were discussing how to slide a 
large file cabinet several feet down the hallway. So they were putting forth a 
great deal of energy in talking about how to move it, could they even move it, 
and how heavy was it, all without ever TRYING to move it. I was eavesdropping on 
all of this from my office only about a few yards away, but I just had to go 
over and see this first hand. By the time I worked my way over it was obvious 
they were now ready to give up and call Administrative Services and have some 
movers come up to the sixth floor and jack the thing up with one of those 
hydraulic hand carts.

Now, nothing gets me more fired up then people who waste time, so I'm now 
ignoring their conversation and studying the subject of this massive discussion. 
I'm looking at this hulking cabinet, it's made by HON and it's one of those 
large, metal, lateral file cabinets that is also designed to be fire resistant. 
It's slightly taller then I am, and I stand about 6' tall, and it's about 8' 
wide, and I know it's bulging with files. Maybe they're right, the thing looks 
damn heavy, but fuck it and I walk over to the left side and start to adjust my 
feet, this may not go to well because I had on some nice shoes that did not have 
much grip on the soles. Also, did I mention there are no feet or rollers on this 
thing?

"Don't bother Corbin, were going to put a call into..."

"How far?" I grunt and began to push. I wasn't going to throw everything I had 
into it; I was dressed nice and didn't want to break into a stinky sweat.

"No, no, don't hurt yourself! Let us help!" The guys were calling out, more of 
a panic in the sense that they might have to do some physical labor or maybe 
because some girl was showing them up? Hmmmmm

"How far?" I huffed, getting impatient and I'll be damned, that thing started 
to creak and I really leaned into it now. With a sudden jolt, the base skidded a 
few inches and I knew I had to keep up the momentum cause one little snag on the 
carpet and it would leave a nice little rip.

"It's going to rip the carpet!" One of the adorable geeks yelped.

"It'll be fine." I sighed.

"Okay, okay that's good." I heard one guy say after I had pushed the thing 
several feet down the hall. In fact, I noticed that it had gotten pretty darn 
quiet as about five of the guys simply stood there looking at me. But it wasn't 
until I followed their line of sight that I saw it was my arms they were looking 
at as I remained leaning against the side of the cabinet, not pushing, just 
bracing my body with my arms. Apparently the effort had swelled my triceps and 
forearms up just a little and if there is one thing I am blessed with, is an 
incredible muscular definition throughout my entire body. 

"What?" I awkwardly mumbled and just dropped my arms to my side. A few of the 
guys realized what they were doing and kind of milled about trying to play off 
the moment. 

"We have our own moving department in Corbin!" Nick piped up in an attempt at 
humor, which did get a round of laughter from everyone. Nick was cool, he was 
short, thin and a self admitted weakling, he took that in great stride and had a 
great sense of humor about it. He didn't try and act manly, he knew his 
limitations and recognized the fact I could probably squash him easily, a part 
of me suspected that he would enjoy that a great deal. The other guys appeared 
to be going thru various stages of macho self doubt, how could I just plow this 
cabinet down the hall, single handedly, while it's sheer size and presence had 
intimidated them into inactivity.

"How much can you lift?" 

Ahhhhh, crap! I knew that question was coming, that is one of the first 
questions guys always ask. I shrugged and walked back to my office, "I don't' 
know." They always hate it when I tell them I don't know, "I don't keep track 
of that stuff." 

So now, I have this legion of followers and fans that follow me back to my 
office. I suspected I should have just closed the door and not helped, but I 
smoothed out my skirt and sat down behind my desk. I did the polite thing and 
chatted with the guys until it became clear I wanted to get back to work. I 
admit, I enjoyed my reign of power while working in that office, we used to go 
on team outings and the Director even got these slugs out to play volleyball 
when the weather got warm. I love volleyball and had to restrain my efforts as I 
easily pulverized my opponents, smashing the ball into some guy's face who has 
little to no athletic ability can be dangerous. Eventually, I got saddled with 
all of the worst players but I could still carry my team to victory every time, 
it did mean I would have to exert and sweat my butt off a bit more, but then 
again maybe that's what the guys loved to see me do.

I tried to get these goobers to play soccer, but forget that, it required way 
too much physical effort and skill. 

It's rather hard to describe, the only thing that made this job bearable was 
the amount of respect my peers gave me. Based first and foremost on my physical 
appearance and abilities, then my skills on the job. I didn't mind that order 
of things because like I said, I started to enjoy the insulating effect this 
hero worshiping was starting to have.

Come the month of May in North Carolina, it can get pretty hot, and being so 
active, I am usually forced to wear clothes that help keep me cool. Fewer 
clothes means more skin, more skin means lot's of attention from guys and some 
women, but there were times when I just would sweat it out and where the 
lightest long sleeve shirt I could. One particular problem I was starting to 
have was with the width of my shoulders, a serious downside to having a body 
that responds so well to exercise and weight lifting. 

So there you have it, I had a nice little job right out of college, a new 
boyfriend, Sharon was dating her new guy Paul, so everything seemed just picture 
perfect...right? Wrong! You have to remember, my life is a story of ultimate 
tragedy, so whenever I would have a moments peace and quiet, the 'invader' would 
creep in from the dark recesses of my mind, in retaliation I would cover my eyes 
and try to banish the thoughts. I so longed to be with Nikki that it tormented 
me day and night, I know stupid silly stuff for sure, it's not like I am sick or 
anything, and I know people that are out there having REAL problems to confront 
and mine are strictly of a social nature. But take it or leave it, that's my 
world.

The one thing I was looking forward to doing, was stomping Tasha. That would be 
one of the many catalysts which would motivate me into jiu-jitsu competitions 
and stomping the shit of other people, a sheer joy in kicking ass. Thankfully, 
Tasha was a hard headed idiot that was determined to prove that if she picked on 
me enough, I would just cower and run away.

I tried talking sense into the girl...I can think of only one other thing to do, 
maybe try beating some sense into her? :)


  
36_My_Story