College Years: 32
By Corbin, corbinforte@yahoo.com
How life tests the endurance, patience, and sometimes faith of one young woman.
 
Pre-Story Introduction/Ranting/Venting/Observations...

Rant 1:
For the short period of time that I worked in the Corporate World, I can say, happily, 
that I was never subjected to sexual harassment; No butt-slapping, groping or lewd 
comments made directly at me, nor was I ever invited to a peer gathering that took 
place off site at Hooters, Strip Bars...or something else foul like that. Also, I do not 
believe I worked in an unusual work environment, I feel that allot of Companies are 
like mine. They had ethical standards and hired ethical people while promoting a very 
balanced working environment. Management was quick to jump on anyone that was 
even perceived to be acting inappropriate.
 
The more I think about it, I am mostly thankful for the fact I am not in jail. I bet you 
didn't expect that comment, but it's true. I know how I am, and if I am standing in an 
elevator or someone's office...or whatever...and some guy was to grab my butt, I can 
honestly say that I would be beating that man to within an inch of his life. Thus I 
would be guilty of violence in the workplace and probably hauled off to jail, not to 
mention fired!
 
I've punched a guy before...uhm...make that two...okay, I'm not going to sit here and 
recollect each one but they had it coming. I aimed straight for the nose, the nose 
provides some cushion for the blow, but my knuckles would still ring out with a bit of 
pain because ultimately bone connects with bone. But I'll never forget that first time, 
I was so stunned...not that I threw the punch, but at the effects! He just collapsed 
to the ground while cupping his face, it took a second but then blood started to 
smear everywhere and I suspect it was good and broken too. I could even feel the 
cartilage crunching under my knuckles as it flattened...ewww...isn't that gross! I 
thought it was...or maybe it was my imagination working now...I'm sure I felt 
something giving and popping.
 
You know what was really gross? The sound he was making afterwards, that gurgling, 
coughing sound as he spit blood out of his mouth, I guess from where it was running 
down the back of his throat.
 
That was it...end of fight...not very dramatic huh? Most fights are very anti-climactic.
 
Aren't you glad I shared that? :) 
 
But I'm really such a cuddly, romantic girly-girl sometimes it's sickening (blush).


Rant 2:
I actually get emails from women who say things like "Pushing up 65lb dumbbells ain't 
shit!" or "Is that all?"

Uhm, no that's not ALL I can do, I just don't make it a habit of walking into the gym 
and throwing on the maximum number of plates every time. What's the sense in that? 
Besides wrecking your body...joints and so on. You have to pace yourself, over the 
years I watched many a 'big' man and women cripple themselves by coming into the 
gym and doing the absolute maximum their body can tolerate.

The one thing that grates on my nerves most of all are the guys and girls that feel 
the need to DROP the dumbbells on the floor. There are signs posted all around the 
gym "Please do not drop the weights". But apparently that does not apply to these 
knuckleheads, they huff-and-puff and have about ten aneurism trying to get those 
giant dumbbells into the air, and when they've exhausted every last ounce of strength 
from their body, the go totally lax. Letting the big weights flop to the ground with 
jarring THUMP!

Instead of struggling to do just one-more-rep, I use that last bit of energy to gently 
set the weights down on the ground. It's called respecting the rules of the 
establishment, but respect in this society is becoming a foreign term to most people.


32

Just in case everyone thinks that I am invulnerable to feeling certain emotions, let me 
recount an event that happened one evening;

On a whim one night I decided to hoof it down to one of the bars on campus, knowing 
a number of my friends would be there and hoping that Nikki might be as well. Maybe 
we could make amends...I don't know...I had a million thoughts swirling around my 
brain as I strolled down the sidewalk. 

"Hey tubby" I say to the bouncer at the door. No, I'm not being a smart ass, his 
nickname was TUBBY, cause he was a bit of a lard ass. 

"How are you doing Corbin?" He asked.

"Okay." I sigh.

"Three bucks." He says.

"Three bucks? Cover tonight?" I pause in shock. I don't like paying cover to get into 
any place.

"There's a band tonight." He groans.

"They should pay me three bucks to listen to that fingernails-on-blackboard music." I 
mumble while fishing into my pockets. He just shrugs, sometimes he would give me a 
pass, letting me in for free, but Management was cracking down on the freebies. So 
he takes my three bucks, stamps my hand and I walk in.

I took about five steps and stopped, I always do that...survey the scene and decide 
if I am going to leave or stay. So I'm standing there in my most fashionable attire: 
running shoes, faded jeans, button down dark blue silk shirt, long sleeve cause it was 
chilly that night.

Now let me pause here and explain a few things about my state of mind. I was in my 
senior year and full of my self...(full of crap...:) whatever you want to call it). But I 
had imposed some self-important status on my shoulders at this time...I could out 
lift...out run...any girl on campus and most any guy. With Dale no longer in the 
picture, I moved into my free spirit stage...not wanting to be tied down to anyone, 
guy or girl...my aloof attitude it seems made me all the more desirable. My grades 
were outstanding having acquired several honors over the years ( I will spare you the 
details, unless you really want me to get into some serious back patting ). So 
basically I thought I was HOT, and why not, it took me years of socially struggling to 
reach where I was, while still maintaining my self respect and dignity. Uhm, I suppose 
arrogant, self-righteous were also terms that applied to me, but so what.

So, I'm scanning the bar...and some guys are now scanning me...come on guys, plain 
as day I can see you elbowing each other and nodding in my direction. That still 
makes me uncomfortable as hell, so I do my little awkward shuffle of my feet and flip 
some of my blonde hair over my right shoulder before stuffing my hands into my 
pockets as I continue to look for Nikki. But what I caught sight of next caused my 
stomach to turn, there was Dale, leaning up against the bar with his arm around 
Tiffany. (Don't remember her? Well you'll have to go back to around part 9, she's had 
her sights on Dale for years now and with us broken up, well...how convenient.) So 
there you have it, my face is pinched into an uncomfortable expression as I kind of 
block out the band...loud patrons...cigarette smoke...and try to come to terms with 
seeing Dale with what I can assume is his *new* girlfriend...or one night 
stand...or...whatever.

Ah, so now I don't feel like staying and do a quick about face, thinking I will go back 
to my apartment and just chill.

"You okay?" Tubby asks as I reappear just a few minutes later.

"Yeah, tired." I groan and stroll back to my car, head down, thinking about how all of 
that makes me feel. 

"Hey...HEY!..." 

I though I was hearing things....somebody is really being annoying, so much that I 
finally look over my left shoulder to see these girls coming up behind me. I don't 
recognize them at first...so I am about ready to ignore them cause I figure they must 
be talking to someone else.

"Hey...DUMMY!...YO!...YOU!...BLONDE GIRL!" I hear the voice, "What's your name!", "Corbin" 
I hear another one say behind me.

"What?" I snap and abruptly stop, turning around, but that's when I notice it's the 
anorexic chick from the party, the hostess who punched me in the gut when I was so 
drunk. You must be kidding, this is a dream come true...cause I ain't sick...or 
drunk...and a little irritated. But honestly, I don't feel like arguing and turn around, 
doing a detour thru this parking lot, hoping they won't follow me.

"What's a matter honey, looking for another bush to pee in?" She say's, and the two 
other girls with her burst out laughing.

"Maybe she's going to puke after seeing Dale with his new girlfriend?" Another one 
pipes up.

Ahhh, so these girl's are Tiffany's friends...I see now...the pieces are coming together 
and I stop. Slowly I turn around to face my harassers, while diplomatically putting my 
hands into my pockets. Thinking maybe if I take up a none threatening posture the 
situation will maybe diffuse. I suppose to any passerby, we look like four girl's having 
a nice little conversation...well, let's just see about that.

"Are you done?" I sigh.

"Hardly." She sneers while her two bean pole friends look on with grand approval of 
her comments. You see, I can't quite figure out what this girl's agenda is? Do they 
just like to pick on people? And why me? So I guess she's thinks that if she clobbers 
me in this parking lot, she'll have some bragging rights...to something...whatever. I 
mean she tried pulling that little bragging ritual when I was drunk at her party, but 
people paid her no mind...cause I was being restrained and I was so sick, so I guess 
she figured if she took another shot at me she might gain some great notoriety. 
What's the achievement in that anyway? 

Really now, this skeleton of a girl and her two lap dogs are dressed to socialize, so are 
they really looking to fight? Maybe they think I'll back down and start crying or 
something. This is just too bizarre to figure out. 

"Okay" I sigh and I can feel my heart starting to flutter because I'm shifting into my 
aggressive mode, I hate making this transition, but once I make it, I'm pretty 
comfortable. "How do you want to do this?"

"Do what you idiot?" The black haired girl snaps.

"One at a time...or are all of you jumping me at once?" I look her dead in the eye and 
then over at her two friends. I notice that these social divas are really dolled up 
tonight. Par for the course you know, they live for partying...clubbing...driving their 
BMW's and Mercedes around campus.

"You must be kidding you stupid bitch, you think you can take all three of us?" The 
girl nervously chuckles. I don't even know this girl's name I realize, I also observe that 
the other two are looking more to their ring leader for direction now cause fighting is 
the last thing they expected tonight.

'I'm going to smack her with my left hand...no wait....my right hand, which will setup 
a kick to her friend on my right...the one in the middle...not my far right. (got that 
folks?)' Is what I'm thinking. So I just kind of give the girl this disarming smile and 
raise my eyebrows like 'Well let's see how you like this?'. Some of you are thinking I'm 
going to punch her, No...My bare knuckles crashing into her skull would not feel 
good...and I don't feel like damaging her nose, so I decide to throw caution to the 
wind and find out just how good this girl's reaction's are. I jerk my right hand out of 
my pocket and throw this wide arching swing, I telegraphed it fairly well, but the idiot 
is still standing there! So here is comes, me cupping my hand to nicely fit around her 
high cheek bones, nice bone structure, girl could be a model...well not in a few 
seconds...

WHOOSH....and CRACK! 
HOLY SHIT! On a scale of 1 to 10 that was a perfect 10...good form...and follow thru 
on my part.

So this girl squeal's in horror...her other two friends scream as they watch her 
head...then the rest of her body corkscrew in a clockwise fashion before falling 
backwards. But I'm not done, my body twisted around to the left from delivering the 
slap, which sets me up for my next move....my left knee comes up and I now twist my 
hips to the right, shooting my leg forward, like a front kick, very basic, *POW* this 
catapults the middle girl backward, damn just about chopped the girl in half. The third 
girl to my right is taking several steps back now, her hands covering her face as she 
trembles...and going 'Oh my god...oh my god' (funny how people get all religious in 
moments like this) as she looks back and forth at her two fallen friends.

Wait...you people didn't actually think I was going to like, wait for one of them to lash 
out first did you?

"Now are we....UGH!" I grunt as someone has just grabbed me from behind. Wait a 
second, is this a setup? I don't remember a forth girl...but wait....this is no girl 
grabbing me but a guy and he's kind of strong. But not tall, cause he's trying to crush 
me in a bear hug from behind. I guess all he wants to do is restrain me as I am 
obviously dismantling these three girl's with little effort. Still, don't try and restrain me 
like this. So, I got this guy behind me, or some girl with hairy arms wrapped around my 
torso, trying to pull me backwards and up. But since he is my height, maybe a tad 
shorter he can't get me up off the ground...maybe he's just not strong enough. Hey 
look at that...there's his right foot and he's wearing sandal's...so I lift my right leg and 
stomp down on his right foot with all of my might. He just found out that this blonde 
can squat allot of weight...hence strong legs...hence lots of downward 
thrust...actually his poor foot just found out.

"AAAGGHHHHHHGGGGHH" I wish you all could have been there to here him yelp in pain. 
It worked...I'll be damned, his grip slackens a bit and I shoot my elbows out while 
dropping a few inches, thus breaking his hold completely. Basic stuff her 
folks...really...but that was where I was at in my grappling class...drilling the basics.

"Fucking bitch!" He yells.

So now I'm out of his clutches and still crouched down low as I hop back, as I 
indicated, I was still taking classes with Nikki and had started to learn those fancy 
Thai Kicks. Amazing how you retain stuff because now his left thigh was looking good, 
like a good target, that very moment. So this guy is not expecting a girl to throw a 
kick like that, and I explode with a twist of my body slamming my lower shin into his 
thigh. Is he going down, almost...she stumbling back...grimacing in agony and I 
charge, throwing punches at his neck...ribs...and then he goes down.

"CORBIN!" I hear someone yell and look over my shoulder...and it's Tubby, poor guy is 
huffing and doing his best to move his fat ass over to the parking lot to break things 
up. And what a mess it is, total confusion...half the bar has poured out into the 
parking lot now and you have my friends yelling at their friends who are yelling back 
at my friends. I am just standing still now, fists balled up ready to take on the next in 
line. No one knows what to do...that's what Campus Police are for...uh-oh.

Just great...you have an ambulance...local police and campus police. And hey...how 
come nobody is asking me what happened! Take twenty some girls and guys all talking 
at once...everyone is pointing at me....two girls sobbing (Oh they are playing it up a 
little I think) and I'm just leaning against someone's car with my arms folded as I 
watch this officer walk over to me. I full expect to get charged with disturbing the 
peace...or some offense, instigating a riot...or something. Just my shitty luck.

Thank god for Tubby...he's friends with the cops and his word is gold. He goes on 
record as saying he watched those three girl's follow me out of the bar (true!) and 
started to harass me (true again), I was just defending myself (now he's fudging 
things a little). Well that started allot of wailing and screaming FOUL! by the girls.

My silk shirt is drenched in sweat and I'm shaking a little bit as I am allowed to leave, 
the crowd disperses and I amazingly get out of there before anybody corners me with 
a barrage of questions.

Back at the apartment, Sharon chewed my ass out...god...I really got an earful from 
her. She's fairly protective of me and listening to her lecture me is one thing I 
hate...cause she goes on...and on...and on!

"IRRESPONSIBLE!"
"TROUBLEMAKER!" 
"COULD GET HURT!"
"MIGHT GET ARRESTED!"
"MAKE ME WORRY ALL THE TIME!"

See what I mean?

Hey, like said, I'm just trying make it to the end of the day...people come looking for 
me for some reason.

Well folks...I only feel like sharing one more thing from College and that will be it....