Hammer

It dawned on me that I want to be here:

Only problem?

There looks like here...

...right now.

Yikes.

But I'm stubborn. So I went there anyway.

Every once in a while I get fixated on something and can't let it go. Snowboarding is like that for me right now. I'm serious. I have flashcards about halfpipe tricks, and I know the seasonal geography of most places on earth according to when you can snowboard there. I might go crazy from now until December. Just might.

I think it started when I wasn't terrible. I guess I assumed because I run into walls in everday life that I wouldn't stand a chance on a snowboard. I gambled paying for a weekend pass last year before setting foot on a board. I earned the nickname "snowbunny" from a colleague at work who could not believe I was even trying this.

But then one day, S and I decided to go up the mountain, after zero-to-ten-percent success in the beginner's area. I realized that day, already on the mountain, that I was supposed to be riding goofy. Too bad the board I'd rented for the season was set up for a regular rider. So it was another uphill battle, which lasted half of the season, for me to stop riding fakie (backwards) and actually look where I was going. Though I must say, during that time, I learned a mean toe edge that S is still jealous of, and I learned how to properly fall on my butt (the trick is to fall and roll, fall and roll.)

Next big trick was going from beginner to intermediate. I had a moment of truth when I looked down Big Blue and could not see the bottom of the mountain. I felt like I might as well be orbitting the earth, ready to drop, and I thought I was going to die before I got down that thing. But in time, Big Blue gave me the chance to get my heel edge down, and by the time I switched back to the beginner slope, I was carving and accelerating on purpose. It was a turning point.

Now I just want to be back there. I've heard that the best thing for new riders is to ride in any and every condition, and I just want to have at it.

Until then, ugh, there's so much time, but there's also - hey - summer. Summer's good too.