Turning to the dark side?

S'up Yo? Ah, i haven't used that greeting in ages. It was always the way i used to say hi to Boo. It's getting to that time of year again when my brother is always on my mind. Well, to be fair he pops in and out of my thoughts pretty constantly. This September 5th will be the first away from my family and i must admit i am not looking forward to it. I have already sort of planned my day. I am working in the morning as i have a half day, then i'm gonna go ski, maybe catch a bit of night skiing (you get the most amazing sunsets through my vermillion tinted goggles), then head home and maybe walk down to the lake to light my Chinese lantern which i'll send up to heaven for Boo. Wow, the tears are streaming down my face as i am writing this. I miss you so much Bro. I just know that my brother would fucking love NZ. I know i am carrying him around with me but it is not the same as having him here to experience all the amazing things i am. It sucks so bad that i can't even tell him about my adventures. I know he is aware and i guess we will have a good old chin wag about it someday. I guess it's good to have a cry every now and then too. I will be thinking of you all at home and i am really sorry i won't be there with you. Just remember that that pain in your chest you will all feel is LOVE. I miss you so much guys.

Right, back to the business of this blog. I finally snowboarded!! It has been something i have wanted to try for years but for lots of reasons never got around to. When i first went to Bulgaria for Kates first ski trip, i decided i was going to board so it would put me on the same level as Kate but Lewy persuaded us to ski as Borovets has some pretty flat terrain (not good when you are a snowboarder). When i went to Canada for a month i was determined to give it a go then but i bought my skis there and just wanted to break them in, so never boarded. Finally, half way through this season i got onto a board. We have night skiing on Friday and Saturday nights at CP. Last Saturday we all booked ourselves into the ski club lodges that they have up on the hill. CP is a far cry from European resorts where your hotels can be right next to the lifts or actually on the hills. In fact, we only have 4 little lodges. The people who run one of them come into the shop every day to buy the paper and we have little chats with them. They offered us discounted rates so myself, Billy, T and Toshi snapped them up. A few others from other departments also decided to stay too. So we planned to catch some night skiing after work then crash at the lodge, roll out of bed and stumble to work the next day. As T is still learning to snowboard Billy thought it only fair that we boarded as well. I jumped at the chance to give it a bash. Kate came up and met us and Billy and me went to rentals to grab our gear. It's pretty sweet that they give us all our gear for just $8 but i play poker with one of the guys so can get it for free, if i ask nicely.

After work we headed to the hill. Man, snowboarding boots are comfortable! Seriously they are like slippers compared to heavy awkward ski boots. I thought it best if we hit the nursery slope first to learn a few of the basics. A few of the liftys asked what the hell we were doing so we explained we were snowboard virgins. Of course they all chipped in little nuggets of advice. I threw my snowboard down to get myself strapped in and immediately nearly lost it as it slid away from me. First rule of snowboarding? Never let go of your board! I managed to grab it before it slid away and crashed into a small french child (maybe i should of let it). Skis have little brake systems built into the bindings so when they fall off your feet they dig into the snow and don't shoot off down the mountain.

Anyway, i strapped myself in. Billy by this time was strapped in, upright and sliding down the slope. He did 3 really nice turns before taking a tumble. Now, he claimed to have never snowboarded before but after his first effort, i was dubious. Now, everyone told me that because i used to skateboard i would pick up snowboarding really easily so i was pretty confident i would crack it. Well, unlike my first ever go at surfing where i stood up straight away and rode the board all the way to the beach, my first attempt at snowboarding was far from graceful.

Firstly, i couldn't bloody stand up on the thing. Everytime i tried the board slid away. Being on the baby slope didn't help either as it was too flat. Sounds weird but when the slope is steep it's actually easier to stand up as you can push yourself up against the gradient. I managed to eventually get upright just before my toe edge dig in and flipped my forward onto my face. I rolled over onto my arse and tried again. T's boyfriend Blake gave me an awesome tip to help me stand up. He said to grab the edge of the board as i stood to pull myself up. After that i was away. It felt very weird at first as you can travel in pretty much any direction. Skis pretty much go where they are pointed and the same can be said about snowboarding but there is also lots of scope for multi-directional sliding. Without trying i started spinning as i slid along before catching my heel edge in the snow and getting thrown onto my backside. After just 5 minutes i could see why so many boarders break their wrists and coccyx's. When the edges of the board catch on the snow, your momentum flips you forward and almost catapults you to the floor. Snow is supposed to be soft but pack snow is not. It's pretty unforgiving. Something i discovered on my next attempt. I was now standing easily and managing to control a few turns but this meant i was also gaining speed. Half way down the slope i again caught my toe edge and was catapulted face first into the mountain. I was ready for it this time and flung my arms forward to protect myself. I had wrist guards on but all they did was send the shock of the impact up my arms to both shoulders. I collapsed in a heap and when i tried to get up i couldn't feel my arms! I thought i had dislocated something for sure but after a few seconds the feeling came back in my left arm so i immediately tried to grab my limp right arm to coax it back to life. It was another few seconds before my right arm came back online and i tentatively began to move it. Kate was watching from the adjacent run and panicked when she saw i wasn't moving for a while. I managed to roll over and get myself up onto my feet and coast the bottom half of the run. She met me at the bottom to check i was ok, but after a few arm stretches and a double check i wasn't broken, i was off again. No falls, no balls, as they say.

Billy continued to ride pretty well and took a few more tumbles before he got a call from his girlfriend (my next door neighbour Lisa). She had blown him out and had decided to not stay the night in the lodge with us. Billy threw his toys out the pram big time! He got so vexed. Apparently him and Lisa are going through a rough patch anyway and i think this was the final straw. He apologised but preceded to call it a day after just 3 runs, get changed and go home. I was a little disappointed in him really. He should of at least stayed in the lodge with us and drowned his sorrows, the drama queen!

I continued to ride the little magic carpet lift up the baby slope and after another couple of runs i was carving along nicely and more importantly, under control. Blake felt it was time to take it to the next level and actually get onto the big slopes. I agreed and we headed over to the chairlift. Don't worry, i wasn't about to throw myself down a double black diamond (that's an expert rated run - i piss those on my skis!). We got to the top of the meadows lift and i managed to get off without falling. You have to have one foot strapped in so have to ride the board sort of more like a skateboard. Something i found pretty easy. I strapped in and under Blakes watchful eye i headed off down the slope. Now the run is called 'the big easy' but there is a pretty steep bit at the top. I of course took a spill but because it was steep i slid down the hill a bit and actually took Blake out too! We collapsed in a heap together as Kate looked on and pissed herself laughing. She's so helpful. I got back up and carried on making it to the bottom in one piece. Blake gave me a few more pointers. I was carving really well on my heel edge but wasn't doing so well on my toe edge. I think that after my faceplant and near shoulder dislocation i was being a bit too tentative when turning on my toe edge. He told me to just go for it, so i did. When i got to the top for my next run, i linked a few really nice turns before taking a little tumble. Blake decided i was doing well enough to be left to it so he headed off to go ride some more challenging terrain. As Kate pointed out, the big easy run is super gay. See, their she goes again being not exactly helpful. She is right though but i reminded her of her first day on the hill when i rode all afternoon with her on the "Super Gay" big easy because she was scared of the big runs.

My next couple of runs just kept on improving and before long Kate couldn't keep up with me! I was carving around and gunning it along. I think that having skied before i wasn't afraid of the speed and after i figured out how to control myself and the direction i was going, i was away. They were right, having skateboarded before made it so much easier. Blake came back over and was astounded by the progress i had made. He rode with me to the bottom and struggled to keep up. He said i was carving like a pro. I doubt it very much but was pleased with myself. T couldn't believe that I was at a similar level to her after just 2 hours, and she has had numerous lessons and has ridden for 6 weeks! Ha Ha! (laughs in the style of Nelson from the Simpsons)

I was pretty tired after my efforts as snowboarding uses very different muscle groups to skiing. We got changed and headed over to our lodge. It was pretty basic but Kate and I had an 11 bed dorm to ourselves so it was all good. In the morning we got up and Kate hit the slopes for first tracks (meaning she got to ride the hill and the freshly groomed runs an hour before everyone else) while i went to work nursing my aching body. My shoulders were fine but my wrists and knees were pretty bruised. It was great fun and definitely something i want to do again. Don't worry i don't think i'm turning to the dark side just yet, i love my skis too much for that, but i can hear Darth Vader beckoning me.

Other news this week is that i have been asked to volunteer at the NZ Winter games. They are a huge event that is gonna be massive. Especially since everyone is gonna be using them as a warm up for the Winter Olympics which are in Vancouver in February. I have been asked to help out for the Mens freestyle half pipe in Cardrona, which is out near Wanaka. Not ideal for me for a number of reasons so i have respectfully declined. They have also offered me some of the ski racing at Coronet, which i am considering. It might be a pretty sweet day. We have had the USA, Canadian, Japanese and NZ ski teams at CP for a while now so i am keen to see those guys in action. I'll see how it goes.

Also this week, i finally completed my Bolle incentive, which i think sounds a lot like something from the TV show Lost with its 'Dharma initiative'. Bolle are a company who make goggles and very pricey sunglasses. They gave us a sales incentive where if we sell a pair of goggles we receive points based on how much the goggles are worth. If we get 60 points, we get a choice of any sunglasses and goggles for free. Well, between the 3 of us in the shop we have amassed around 400 points already this season! Not bad eh? So i finally got round to filling out the tedious forms and sending them off. I have decided to give the goggles to Kate as Bolle are quite small and i struggle to get them over my huge cheek bones. I was gonna order her the top of the range "Screams" but she didn't like them so went for the next level down "fathoms" which are still worth $250. I went for the cheap and nasty sunglasses as i reckon if i had a pair of $300 dollar sunnies i would immediately lose or break them. I have enough points to claim again though so still might get a really nice pair of goggles and sunnies which i can always ebay or something. I have already got a nice pair of free sunglasses from the Dirty Dog rep and am holding out for more free shit from the Icebreaker (really nice expensive Merino thermals) rep. Gotta love free shit.

Dodgeball was eventful as ever this week. We lost twice, again, to the English tea party team and a team of randoms who couldn't be bothered to dress up. It has started to become a bit of a farce really. Well, a load of us running around in bin bags and womens lingerie is definitely a farce but the organisation and refereeing has become a joke. It has taken a lot of the fun out of it as teams are just blatantly cheating. We hit a guy 3 times this week and he still refused to leave the court. So we claimed our losses as moral victories instead. I did see some pretty funny stuff though. One of the teams are all dressed in camouflage, with one guy actually disguised as a tree with real branches and everything. The guy in the tree outfit was standing at the side of the court chatting when a dodgeball hit him straight in the scrotal zone! He dropped like a sack of spuds and it was a good 5 minutes before he recovered. I also saw a girl get smacked in the tits by a dodgeball thrown by a mime artist. I resisted the urge to offer to rub them better but i bet she woke up the next day with a pretty swollen hooter!

Anyway guys, i will love you and leave you. Hope the blog is still keeping you entertained.


Peace

D

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