Ping Pong (Thanksgiving 2012)

 

       After Thanksgiving Day, my parents and I went to Big 5 to buy a pair of golf shoes for me because the old ones were a bit too tight. When I picked out a new pair that I liked, my parents were checking ping pong tables. I had always wanted one, and now they were seriously thinking of buying one of the ping pong tables on sale. Finally, they made their decision. They would buy the table! I was ecstatic and wanted to get the ping pong table back home immediately. But when I heard that our minivan was  too small to fit the table, I was crestfallen. But luckily, my dad said he would bring it home with the big cargo van his company had.

       A little bit after lunch my dad brought the ping pong table home. We quickly opened the flat, square box and started examining the instructions and figuring out how to put the table together. After a while, my mom seemed to have an idea, so my dad left for his office to return the cargo van. But as we started, there was a big problem. We could not classify the screws and bolts, for they were not clearly labeled.  After about an hour, my neighbor Darren came to help us. Sometimes, we made a mistake on the different bolts and screws and had to correct it. But I didn’t get annoyed; I simply would unscrew the wrong one and put on the right one.  But the  progress was slow and we still hadn’t finished it when my dad came back.

       The next day, my parents and I were up early and started to build from where we left off. My dad took over the process of making the ping pong table, for my mom was confused and annoyed by the instructions on the manual. We finally got to the last few steps and were about to put the two pieces of the table together. But before we could attach them, one piece fell down with a sickening crunch when my mom wasn’t holding the table firmly enough. The table smashed her hand and the knuckle on her index finger was swollen like a fat purple grape right away. Because some  screws were knocked out from that fall, my dad had to go to Lowes to buy some new ones to fix it.  

        Finally, we finished just before lunch. We played game after game of ping pong and also invited Darren, Wesley, and their parents to come join us. Even though I was using my tennis techniques, they worked out pretty well.  We all had a fun and exciting afternoon that day.

Although, there were a lot of frustration and accidents during our assembly of the table, it was still very amusing. Especially when I used the electric screwdriver, it made me feel like a professional mechanic. Also, this ping pong table can bring long-time entertainment for our families, and friends. I had a wonderful Thanksgiving break!