Dialing all tabletops!

"Soursalt" will always be "bittersweet" to me, b/c of a certain devastating "first time- twisted knee- ride left w/out me" incident. Whenever I go there now, I always break out in a cold sweat on the ride there, and my stomach gets queasy. Once I hook up w/ Brooke or whoever, I'm fine, but I always get soo nervous. Goes to show how powerful the mind is. It's been 3-4 years now, and I still subconsiously recall the absolute terror. I'm just fine at Artillerytown. Anyways, it still ended up being a good time. I acheived two of my goals for this year's snowboarding season: I didn't fall coming off the lifts except for once when I had to put my knee down, and I conquered my fears of the tabletop. Not that I got huge air, or landed everything, but I got used to the feel of it and gained some landing confidence. Knowing you are physically capable of doing something makes doing it a whole lot easier. It was the first time I was out on my own board this year too. I found out at Artillery that my junior size bindings would not fit my new boots. (I bought the wrong size boots last year, size 6 as opposed to 7, so I had to put thinner liners in them, so they fit the tiny bindings that came w/ the board.) So anywayz I ended up getting a pair of last year's model Morrow Dimensions, with good solid plastic even my dad thought was quality. Anways, it was the first time out with my full gear, and I am pleased and infinitely relieved to say everything works and feels fine. I went out w/ my bro, Dairy Farm (a.k.a Manuel, chair lift partner of Dorito) to his little terrain park in the woods behind my house, and my board had felt weird, so I was a bit worried about it. But I quote Carolina... "It all came together." Not so for (I quote B. Raisin) "gentle giant" Dorito, who broke ANOTHER baseplate. Luckily, the ski shop guy was able to put it back in useable condition.
Besides boarding, I also got to catch up with peeps I haven't seen in a while, and I don't think I did anything stupid which is a step up from last year. I wore my white GDSU sweatshirt under my coat, and when I go to eat my hotdog it's ketchup all over, first thing, but that is only to be expected. This is a bit random, but I notice that the ski corral dude from last year was back again. The hispanic dude w/ the blonde highlights that looks like J.Rosie... Pretty cute, reminds me of A.E., but that's a whole nother post.
They played oldies the whole night, so I got to hear a bunch of songs I hadn't heard in forever. I went through an oldies phase somewhere around 9th grade. Still like 'em, but ever since the oldies station changed hands I stopped listening to them on the radio. So I only hear the ones my dad has in his extensive CD collection. Anyways, other than the above mentioned things, the night was pretty average, so I might as well make a list of my past Soursalt experiences. I like lists, if you haven't figured that out yet. They are a lot more organized than my writing.

• Learing (sort of) to ski, not knowing proper stopping procedure and ending up a foot away from the lodge.
• Twisting my knee real bad trying to turn without knowing proper turning procedure. My *ahem* "friends" did not wait for me, and I didn't see them the rest of the night.
• Having to ride home w/ the now Mrs. Little and a bunch of older boys b/c the same "friends" didn't wait for me afterwards either. (Yeah, I'm bitter.)
• Learing to ski w/ TB in a formal lesson. Incidentally, Manuel learned to snowboard during this time. On his $25 dollar what-we-now-know-is-one-of-the-earliest-Burtons board. More on that in the forthcoming Artillery list.
• Coming with Brooke for the first time, and the endearing sensation of having someone waiting for you at the bottom of the hill.
• Brooke playing chicken and me subsequently playing limbo with the lifts. That girl is nuts, and that Hawthorn lift is crazy fast.
• My first tabletop try. Keeps me humble to this day. I got just enough speed so my board reached the top, then I slowly started back down, fell on my back, rolled awkwardly off the side and ended in a heap on the ground. I didn't try it again that year.
• Landing my first airs- I went of the sides of one of the jumps farther down the hill, but b/c of the tabletop incident under the anonymifying cover of darkness.
• Falling getting off the ski lift, hitting the people's shed thing, and the stoner inside completely missing the whole episode. I fell right against his door, and he didn't stop the lift or anything. Brooke gets a lot of laughs at my expense on these little outings, btw.
• I was minding my own business when some dude behind me yells "Watch Out!" or something. I'm not about to look behind me b/c I wasn't exactly at a standstill, so I just stop carving and go straight, thinking anyone on a blue square hill can steer. Two seconds later, a well-fed young man who had apparently been bombing down the hill clipped my snowboard from behind, and we both ended up on the ground. He lost his hat, and I luckily got a whole bunch of snow in it when I fell. I didn't have the presense of mind to direct him not-so-nicely back to the bunny hill, as I now wish I would have. I think I said sorry, although it wasn't my fault.
• I was sitting on this same hill on the same night, chilling w/ Brooke and fam, when all of a sudden some dude just ollies over me. Just "BAM!" and some dude is landing right in front of me. Gave me the willies.
• Oh yes, and when recounting this year's adventures, I forgot to mention the two times I came withing 2 inches of a serious collision. 7bergen and I started down the hill at the same time, and he carved right in front of me, so I had to sit down fast or knock him over. Just missed him. Then Brooke and I were cutting over to another hill and some dude about took us both out. I was in front, and she was just behind and a bit to the right of me. This guy comes zipping right smack dab in between us. One more inch on either side and it could have been a painful experience.

Anyways, that's all for now, but I have a lot of stuff to post, and I might even have time what with it being Christmas break and all... Yay!