Still Upright and Facing Forward

I bought rollerblades today. They looked like a lot of fun, and I need something fast to do while Steve Jr. is getting a tune up next week. I didn't ride Steve Jr. very much while in NM, but there are a lot of nice biking trails in Houston, so it's much easier to get out and enjoy Going Fast. Steve Jr. has ridden on the bike rack across the country twice since his last tune up, and I suspect he picked up just a little dust and dirt in the process. I will have to wash the Buffalo Bayou mud of him before he goes to the bike hospital, which will be a bit disappointing, but I am sure we can get him looking pretty (not to mention Much Cooler than those wussy road bikes) in no time!
Anyway.
I bought the rollerblades. They're very pretty. My driveway has about a 1.5-foot elevation change, all at the bottom, which seemed like a bad way to start out my first stab at rollerblading (I think I was on rollerblades once, about 7 years ago - doesn't count). So I took the skates down to the curb and put them on there. I laced them up. I tightened the clicky thing. I stood up.
That's when things got amusing - for everyone else, anyway. My first trip up and down the block was... well, disappointing. I had a great deal of trouble moving forward. Then I noticed a distressing lack of ability to keep both feet pointed in the same direction. The neighbors' chihuahua started chasing me, but soon gave up because I wasn't going fast enough for it to be a challenge for him. He did, however, stand near me and continue to bark, probably to make sure that no one inside the house missed seeing this. I made a rude comment to him, which was cut short by the abrupt realization that there was a curb about six inches in front of me. Curb made a good brake, turned out.
The second trip went much better. Not sure why. I just... got it, I suppose. It went well enough that I... went... down... the road! That's right, a public road, in broad daylight. And somewhat surprisingly, I did not hear any laughter. A young man enjoying perhaps his fourth or fifth year of life did ask me why I was on rollerskates - a valid question, and one that I frankly did not have an answer for, other than, "It seemed like a good idea at the time."
I made it back to the house with all my blood inside me. Today's status: sore as hell.