Monday, February 02, 2004

Music: New Found Glory - Bruised and Broken
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The aftermath of yesterday's snowboarding is a mass of bruises, aching muscles, and a massive post-concussion headache. None of my limbs move as well as they should and my abs are burning.

I seriously can't wait until our next trip!

Okay so here's how the day started. I got up way too early (6:45) and put up and away message. After making some tea, I proceded to put on the two under-layers of pants Carrie gave me and then the big and complicated over-pants. Right after I finished putting on my shirt, I realized I had to pee, but that would wait until I got to Galloway.

I packed all of the basics (lip balm, cash, credit card, driver's license, and eyedrops) in the pockets of my jacket and went to the house. I there spent 5 minuts in the bathroom re-fastening my pants after peeing.

You think we were on our way to ski yet? Oh no. First we needed doughnuts. Then we needed gas. *Then* we got going.

It may surprise those who know me to hear that we didn't get at all lost. The ski place (Sawmill) was just so small that we didn't see it the first time. And this place was *tiny.* You could see the end of all the run from the lodge. But it was nice. Very very well kept runs.

Rentals were a pain in the ass. I told the guy I wanted snowboard boot but he gave me ski boots. I didn't know the difference, so I spent twenty minutes trying to clip the damned things closed (they're like corsets for your ankles) and when I got up there to ask for my board, the guy was like "Oh. You wanted a board? Those are for skiing, you know."

Of course I wanted to board! I told you that twice you stoner moron!

But I eventually got my boots (nice ones too). The boots could be reason enough to snowboard instead of ski. They felt more like sneakers and were just overall way more comfortable, so I was happy. My board was pretty okay, but I thought the bindings looked kind of shadey (more on those later).

Everybody got their stuff (Lauren, Carrie, and Andy brought their own so they had to wait for us other three :P) and we headed out back toward the slope. Andy was nice enough to teach me the basics of snowbaording: heel-side vs. toe-side, getting up on to the board (I still can't get up on heel-side very easily), and stopping. After that we went up on a run. I freaked out and made myself fall just about every time I really got going, but Andy was really patient. Eventually Carrie and Lauren found us and we let poor Andy go take a run without having to babysit.

I started getting some confidence up, so I started going fast...really really fast. I stopped myself at a point where I could see the bottom of the run, and started again. Still going super fast, I started stopping by the bottom, leaning back. This wasn't good enough, though, since I hit a huge line of snow someone had kicked up and fell forward (can't figure that part out) and took a big fall right on my face.

The entire group came up behind me to see if I was okay and I said I was. In all honesty, I wasn't. My head was spinning and I had twisted my knee. I decided to go take a break back in the lodge and hope my head would stop spinning, but that got boring after awhile so I went back out. Back to the trail I had done before.

This was a very bad idea since I had no confidence in myself anymore and just fell over and over again if I ever got to stand up (which was rare). I hadn't even made it halfway down the run when Andy found me and tried to help, but I was too off to even try. I had a splitting headache and just wanted to lay down. My big idea was to un-clip completely out of my board and just walk down, but even that didn't go as planned. Remember the shadey bindings? Well one of the bindings had frozen and didn't want to give me my foot back. I was just so hurting and frustrated that I wouldn't give up on getting back my foot that I used both hands to pull at the release trigger. Unfortunately, this eventually worked and sent my board flying in to the woods by the double black diamond...in the powder. Not only that, but I ripped off about half of the nail on my right ring finger. Pretty lame injury, but it hurt a lot and was bleeding pretty bad. At this point Jeff skied by and saw my bleeding finger. He went down to tell the others I was hurt, which was nice of him. I stuck my finger in the snow for a bit, than walked in to the powder to look for my board. When I found it, I told Andy he could head back down to meet the rest of the group and I'd walk down. And walk I did. I made to the bottom without any real incident, but my finger hurt pretty bad. Turns out that after Jeff's announcement, the others thought that I had like a broken leg or something.

I went in to the nice ski-patrol pace for a band-aide and hid back in the lodge for awhile, deciding that maybe I really did need lessons from a pro. I rented a helmet and booked a private one for 2:30.

Everyone came in and we had a little lunch before the went back out. I waited in the lodge reading Carrie's book on Freud until it was lesson time.

When I took the lesson, the guy said I was already doing pretty good. We even skipped one form of stopping after I chained a heel-side and a toe-side together trying to avoid a little baby skiier in a lesson. Mostly it was nice to learn how you're supposed to chain and it gave me my confidence back...too bad I was too exhausted afterward to try another run.

At about 4 something we headed home, unfortunately not to sleep, but to the Superbowl party.

I took some Tylenol before bed and that's the end of the story.

But before I finish this entry I'd like to point out that I really had fun. I'll bet this post doesn't make it sound like it, but when I was up and moving on the board it was great. I'm gonna keep practicing and trying to get good. After all, the better I get, the more fun it will be.

Now if you'll excuse me, I have to take some more pills so I'll be able to walk to class.

::transmission ended::
This transmission logged byErisSaid on 11:33 AM

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