2008-11-13

Building Batman - Boomerang: Day 3


I went out to practice with my boomerang again and things started out really well. I decided to try a new park - one more on my daily path. Its smaller with more trees and all-n-all a bit nicer than the one I had been going to. To test the wind and the size of the park my first throw was pretty light hearted. My throw curved but definitely didn't come back. My second throw was a lot more serious though. I chucked it low and hard. It came back perfectly - my second throw of the day and it was great. The next three throws were nearly perfect - the boomerang started low and straight, turned and climbed then came right back to me. It was great. On my fourth throw, I got the boomerang stuck in a tree - a big tree.

Fact: When throwing a boomerang you really, really... really really need as much space as they say you need. If your boomerang goes into the foliage of a tree, you are royally screwed. It is a light bent object and so it will not come down.

I felt like a little kid looking way up there and knowing that I would never be able to have my toy again. But I decided I would try to get it back. The branches were too a few feet too high to reach and the trunk too wide to shimmy so I tipped over a nearby garbage can and climbed up that for some added height. It still wasn't enough to reach a branch so that I could start climbing.

I tossed a stick up into the leaves a bunch but I never hit it and did alot of staring up, trying to look like I was formulating a plan and not just praying that a gust of wind would magically come by and blow it out of the branches.

Luckily, some people playing football in the park had been impressed enough with my initial throws (or just the fact that someone was actually trying to throwing a boomerang) to start a conversation with me. They now came over and after a couple of tries and some sharp eyes, they had knocked the boomerang back down to earth.

At that point, I went home. I'll try again tomorrow.

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