Return to Normal...
Finally... January is once again January, and not some late-February nightmare. It's been melty for a few weeks now, and it is weather I absolutely hate. That early-spring weather, when everything is brown, muddy, squashed and ugly. You can't snowboard, and it's a long time before any sane person thinks of tubing and skiing or hauling out the trampoline. We have an unprecedented 6 crocuses popping up already, deceived by the mild weather, and doomed to frost-burned leaves for their stupidity seeing as last night we got a nice 6 inch dump of snow. Of course, it didn't happen during school, and it's already getting melty again, but we sure had a glorious day of snowboarding. It was an early Saturday for me, up at eight, but there was a lovely sunrise, especially with all the snow.
We got to Artillery around 9, and arrived just in time to walk in with the Marines and the ski teams. It was cool but kind of weird having the Marines there. A lot of them were just learning, and it was surreal hearing announcements like "All Marines who would like a lesson, please report to the small hill, your instructors are waiting for you." and "Gunner Sgt. Somebody, please report to the main office." I did my bit to support the troops- I showed a struggling soldier an easier way to walk with one foot strapped in your snowboard.
Our group ended up being Manuel, Dorito, Crispy, TB, Rinita and myself, and later we had a rendevous with JR. Because of the big snow, there was a lot of powder, the most I've ever been priveledged to board on actually. About two runs in we suffered our first casualty, a "skis meet spine" incident that sent Dorito home early. This put a dent in the day somewhat, and I believe we are still waiting for a day when he goes home with body AND snowboard in one piece. Anyways, Manuel and Crispy had a jolly ole time running around shirtless and talking in accents. I must confess to taking part in the accents a little.
It was Rinita's second time out, and I am happy to say that she's getting a lot better. Next time you'll have it! Learning to snowboard takes three trips to the hill, it's one of Murphy's Laws. One to learn the art of falling on the posterior, one to learn the art of falling on the cranium, and one to learn the art of snowboarding.
I tried a couple jumps, but with all the confusion I never got around to trying a 180 like I promised myself. I did learn, however, that something must be done about the lump in my boot. My right boot has this strange bulge in the liner that rubs against that bumpy bone on your ankle. This makes walking, turning and, eventually, so much as standing on the foot a painful experience. The closest comparison would be constantly tapping a fresh bruise. I also lost all my calluses since we last had snow, so that didn't help any. I'm a bit of a pansy about stuff like that, so I probably did more than my share of complaining.
TB was nursing a sprained and re-sprained ankle, which she said did ok, so that's all good. She also found a pair of gloves that stay dry. They were only $5, but I will still vouch for my "mitten exteriors, glove interiors" as being the best option.
Anyways, we wrapped it up around four, and I actually got some reading done. The Flying Carpet, by Richard Halliburton. Old fashioned, but rather interesting, especially since it's a true story. It's a sort of journal of a man and his friend who just take of in his plane one day, and go wherever their whims lead. Something that isn't feasible today, unfortunately. Red tape... everywhere there is red tape. Phooey on civilization.
We got to Artillery around 9, and arrived just in time to walk in with the Marines and the ski teams. It was cool but kind of weird having the Marines there. A lot of them were just learning, and it was surreal hearing announcements like "All Marines who would like a lesson, please report to the small hill, your instructors are waiting for you." and "Gunner Sgt. Somebody, please report to the main office." I did my bit to support the troops- I showed a struggling soldier an easier way to walk with one foot strapped in your snowboard.
Our group ended up being Manuel, Dorito, Crispy, TB, Rinita and myself, and later we had a rendevous with JR. Because of the big snow, there was a lot of powder, the most I've ever been priveledged to board on actually. About two runs in we suffered our first casualty, a "skis meet spine" incident that sent Dorito home early. This put a dent in the day somewhat, and I believe we are still waiting for a day when he goes home with body AND snowboard in one piece. Anyways, Manuel and Crispy had a jolly ole time running around shirtless and talking in accents. I must confess to taking part in the accents a little.
It was Rinita's second time out, and I am happy to say that she's getting a lot better. Next time you'll have it! Learning to snowboard takes three trips to the hill, it's one of Murphy's Laws. One to learn the art of falling on the posterior, one to learn the art of falling on the cranium, and one to learn the art of snowboarding.
I tried a couple jumps, but with all the confusion I never got around to trying a 180 like I promised myself. I did learn, however, that something must be done about the lump in my boot. My right boot has this strange bulge in the liner that rubs against that bumpy bone on your ankle. This makes walking, turning and, eventually, so much as standing on the foot a painful experience. The closest comparison would be constantly tapping a fresh bruise. I also lost all my calluses since we last had snow, so that didn't help any. I'm a bit of a pansy about stuff like that, so I probably did more than my share of complaining.
TB was nursing a sprained and re-sprained ankle, which she said did ok, so that's all good. She also found a pair of gloves that stay dry. They were only $5, but I will still vouch for my "mitten exteriors, glove interiors" as being the best option.
Anyways, we wrapped it up around four, and I actually got some reading done. The Flying Carpet, by Richard Halliburton. Old fashioned, but rather interesting, especially since it's a true story. It's a sort of journal of a man and his friend who just take of in his plane one day, and go wherever their whims lead. Something that isn't feasible today, unfortunately. Red tape... everywhere there is red tape. Phooey on civilization.
posted by Darselo at 9:34 PM
1 Comments:
Ugh, I get greatly confused btwn u n Darrens blogs trying to figger out who's who!! And I'm a MAJOR wuss when it comes to that sorta thing...I'm sure ur bettern I am!!
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