Yellow Fever is a self described “illness” where someone is infatuated with Asians. To be honest, I always felt a little weird about the term, being Korean, but I thought it could work on two levels. First of all, it’s hilarious. Second of all, it’s like saying that I’m in love with myself, which I think is a nice little reminder to self love. Shout out to Side Boob (another fellow league mate) who gave me the push to stick with YF.

Right now I’m a senior analyst at Accenture, focusing on software development. Total nerd about programming, but I still have a lot to learn. I used to be a kindergarten teacher in DC and a high school teacher in Boston, but I got out of that game two years ago. Much respect to everyone who’s in education.

A year ago, I saw a flat track game in Austin, and my friend and I couldn’t stop gushing about how awesome it was. When I moved to Houston in September, I thought it would be a good way to meet people and get out of the house (I was working remotely at the time). I also found a $10 Groupon for the beginner class.

It was like learning to walk all over again, except with wheels on your feet and people trying to knock you down all the time. I stuck with it because it’s making me stronger, it helps me feel okay about eating lots of ice cream, and it’s a great, legal way to get out my work related frustration.

I’m not going to lie to you, it’s hard. It is physically and mentally demanding as someone who had never learned how to stop, let alone hit people while on skates. But you get stronger, and experienced skaters are cheering for you along the way. They teach the weekly practices, they host Saturday morning group skate events, and they plan other exercise events during the week, like cycling and CrossFit (we also get discounts on massages, which is awesome). It’s more than just learning how to skate, it’s an opportunity to grow and become pretty kick ass, and there are always girls there to help you work towards the elusive full kick ass status.