| Pause. |
[Mar. 7th, 2008|10:56 pm] |
| [ | Current Location |
| | Bedbed | ] |
| [ | what's in my ass |
| |  Great | ] |
| [ | flavor in my mouth |
| | Wawa | ] |
The rain on the roof is beautiful right now.
I took the day off today, and that was beautiful too.
It's nice having emotions again :) |
|
|
| This is Productivity |
[Jan. 30th, 2008|02:28 pm] |
| [ | Current Location |
| | Office | ] |
| [ | flavor in my mouth |
| | Missingtoof.com | ] |
...I think.
It's one of those moments of temporary relief and holistic satisfaction that comes from finally making it over that hill and getting shit done. I had a presentation about recreation management today, which is the first of 4 large assignments finished! I am excited, and thoroughly dressed to kill right now, or at least tell a story with Mr. Rogers..
School has put me back on a reliable schedule, and I'm happy to be back in good health again now that I have time to take care of myself. I've even made time to take couple days off and re-evaluate some things:
First of all, my interest in interning in the snowboard industry has changed severely, and the only thing I want to do is travel somewhere and do something new by myself. After speaking with Jill (my pseudo-adviser), she mentioned taking an internship in Alaska, or Montana, or somewhere remote and changing my skillset instead of being so closed-in on snowboarding. The snowboard industry is fucked, and I don't want to work in it unless it has something to do with instruction, and even that is taking a toll on my spirit these days. I'm pretty sure I'm not working at the mountain next year, and that means I'm going to get some weekend-warrior shit in that I have entirely prohibited myself from enjoying because I've been so hellbent on making a career out of teaching. The whole idea was that I could secure a position teaching snowboarding all the time so that I could GO snowboarding all the time, but it's not snowboarding. Having the obligation of checking in somewhere, worrying about finding rides, and dealing with the COMMITMENT to riding every day sucks. Half the time I'm up there, tired from teaching the day before when I could be out partying the night before, sleeping in, and heading up with my buddies at 10 or so. The couple Fridays I've had free from checking in and getting to ride with my friends have been worth more than the weekend days ever could be worth to me in terms of snowboarding. I love the community of instructors we have up there, but the novelty has worn off. I don't care about the organization anymore, and I do not care about introducing more people to the sport. I want to be selfish and have fun! Progress! Travel!
Snowboarding is incredibly fun, and I want to keep it that way.
Numero dos, there's this woman...um...she's a girl. I've found myself in another situation where the more I get to know her, the less I want to know her. It's all fun and games until someone gets attached...and now I think back to the one I denied in order to be in this position and it just feels like I'm just weighing out options between two girls I don't have a strict interest for. It needs to stop! I'm addicted to the comfort of being with someone and I just want it to be honest. So I'm at this point where I can keep my mouth shut, consider it a lesson in being less picky and ride it out in comfort, or I can be outspoken change the entire situation, which leaves me back where I started.
Shit.
Could be worse I guess. |
|
|
| Every weekend! |
[Jan. 20th, 2008|07:48 pm] |
| [ | Current Location |
| | Roomwomb | ] |
| [ | flavor in my mouth |
| | Nuuuuthin | ] |
Sweet bebe jeebus!
Every weekend I spend at Mt. Baker is so fucking crazy! I love it.
Yesterday I wrecked my car, which in any other situation would be a bad thing, and most likely not be something to laugh about but hot damn it was fun! No damage, no drama, no blah blah blah don't worry about it. I was doing extreme drifts on the way out of the parking lot after drinking a beer with some merry friends of mine and before I knew it I was driving like 40 and out of control! After hopelessly trying to correct, I hit the left snowbank which was luckily married to this cute little drift at the time, dragged my nose on it while sliding sideways for like 40 feet, caught some more drift and spun in a circle. The whole time everybody's screaming, but not the kind of scream that comes out when something really scary is happening, but the scream you make when you're on a roller coaster blasting through a contrived and deceivingly safe environment. Snow piled up all over the windshield when we hit the bank and engulfed it so our entire spin was blind. We came to a nice stop after spinning around and there was this second of exhalation and intense laughter as I got out and started wiping snow off the window. "That was fucking awesome!"
...then on the way home we almost got in a REAL wreck because the North Fork entrance is a genuine SHITSHOW on weekends. Screeches and dodges all around.
It's funny to think that this has become and average weekend for me. I think I might die soon. Please put my things in a recycle bin.
Thanks!
<3 Chas |
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| Mapmop |
[Jan. 16th, 2008|09:43 am] |
| [ | Current Location |
| | Office | ] |
| [ | what's in my ass |
| |  indescribable | ] |
Holy school! How the hell did this happen?
Winter break was so pleasant, and now I'm in the shitter. Readings, group projects, radio show, 2 jorbes, and a knack for more shit going all haywire. I guess in a general sense, being completely occupied at all times makes things a whole lot simpler, but I miss being social and I definitely haven't had any sort of 'romantic' pursuit in a long long time.
This weekend I was hit in the head by a block of ice. I should probably be dead, but coincidently I had a helmet on and it saved my life. No time for a life-altering epiphany though, so I might as well laugh it off and admit that coincidences like that make me realize how close death is at all times.
Fucking balls. |
|
|
| Woaaaaah woah woah |
[Dec. 30th, 2007|02:01 am] |
| [ | Current Location |
| | Bed. | ] |
| [ | what's in my ass |
| |  amused | ] |
| [ | flavor in my mouth |
| | None. | ] |
Where am I?
New Mexico!
This break is going by very quickly. So far on this journey I did things like brave the weather in Chicago to eat true deep dish pizza, stare into a metallic bean, visit ROCK AND ROLL MCDONALDS, be awkward in real life with a girl I met online when I was 16, see enormous lake Michigan freeze the coast, and hear local Chicago music...
THEN I went to Virginia to do a few things like try to pick up an accent, witness my aging grandmothers, read an entire book about the media using "catastrophic climate change" to instill a necessary fear in the masses to keep them under control, and fuck up my snowboard doing earth jibs on the side of a 20' wide man-made ski run...
THEN I came here! Last night I had some friendlies pick me up from the airport and we went straight to the jock bar to get free drinks. After which we left because we heard about a DWI checkpoint just up the street, so we walked over to watch from the sidewalk. It was very entertaining, though pretty tough to watch at the same time. Within 30 minutes we saw 4 people get busted, meaning their cars were towed away and they were thrown in the back of this bus until it filled up and they were taken to jail. The cops didn't mind us watching...
Today, went snowboarding all day at the quarry, (just like old times!), where did what we could with the freezer-burned snow, and tonight I went to a good ol' local show! Got to see Half-Stache, Made in Bangladesh, AND the Big Spank.
Of COURSE we ended up at the Frontier afterward.
Damn. Going home is sweet. |
|
|
| I <3 Drew Danburry |
[Dec. 14th, 2007|10:05 pm] |
| [ | Current Location |
| | Roooomdesk | ] |
| [ | what's in my ass |
| |  cheerful | ] |
| [ | flavor in my mouth |
| | Derrrr... | ] |
A little ode:
I love Drew Danburry.
I've seen him a couple of times, chatted, even e-mailed back and forth a little bit, and every single interaction with him has been the most genuine I have ever experienced with a stranger. His music is generally optimistic, warm, real, and sometimes ironic. Pretty fancy for a Mormon, eh? All I know is he makes me feel good inside, and that's important right now :)
Vote for Drew.
...or just try and meet him some time.
Watch these:
"Happy Birthday Mom"
"Artex Died in Truth or Consequences New Mexico"
"Yet to be titled"
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|
| Keep moving. |
[Nov. 28th, 2007|12:13 pm] |
| [ | Current Location |
| | Office | ] |
| [ | what's in my ass |
| |  exanimate | ] |
| [ | flavor in my mouth |
| | Kind of Like Spitting | ] |
I've been here for two years now, and it's about time to get restless.
Something about this year has changed me around in some weird ways, and I kinda like it. I've been having this total relapse of my childhood interests, and it's been putting a lot of things in what I consider to be a good perspective. I feel like more of my own true personality sticks out in these ways. I'm ready to be more honest to myself, and relapse is helping to identify who that really is and where I come from.
Before I was 9 years old, I moved to a new place every two years and I think that influence is now having an effect on me because of the influence of all these other childhood feelings that have been coming back to me.
Basically, I'm ready to move again but I can't right now. One more year of school, and then I am GONE. Outta here. I'm looking eastward->Montana, Colorado, Wyoming, Utah, Arizona. I want the Western-American feeling back in my life, and I want the sun.
I described what I see as northwestern outdoor culture to my friend's little sister last week, as she is looking at schools in the NW, and the best description I could come up with is that there is no such thing as a casual appreciation for the sun and the environment. When the sun comes out here, it is a fucking emergency and everyone runs outside, buys all the latest outdoor equipment, and when they get back they classify themselves using terms like hikers, bikers, runners, skiers, snowboarders, boaters, etc. It's all a part of the outdoorsy lifestyle, and people do it all over the country. I highly support this, and I'm glad that people are spending their money in these industries (as it is a part of my major), but it's just too frantic sometimes. When I lived in NM, I woke up every day and rode my bike, or walked around in the woods by myself and I felt I had a real connection with my environment. It was my form of enlightenment and I could count on its consistency to fill me up at any time. I could drive to the mountains and find somewhere new, get out to the foothills and walk to any point of my choosing, and for all of this I needed no equipment and I classified myself by nothing but who I am. It certainly was not a particularly noteworthy event to head outside and appreciate it because I could be humble and love it silently. Because of this I've found myself longing for other things lately, specifically better relationships with the people around me, and I just haven't been finding it. Of all the new people I have met this quarter I get it in small doses with certain ones, and oddly enough most of them have been from other states. I don't think it all has to do with northwestern culture, but it's just the perspective I'm seeing things at currently. I'm also a bit disappointed after spending such a brief amount of time in NM, where I really rushed it and may have upset a few people. I'd like to think I could move back and have certain things work out the way I'd always wanted, but the grass is always greener, right?
I'm caught up in the bullshit right now, and it's about time I go snowboarding.
God damn, tomorrow will be great. |
|
|
| THE SASS STOKE |
[Aug. 24th, 2007|06:08 pm] |
Hey everyone! This is Chas, Nick and Ben saying whats up from Bariloche, Argentina!
Tomorrow is the last day of our South American snowboarding experience, and we couldn't be more stoked on the adventure thus far. We felt that instead of simply leaving the camp with thoughts unspoken, it might be cool to share some of this experience with whoever is interested.
When going over our thoughts, we came to a general concensus that it has been something unique.
On the surface, it seemed like South American Snow Sessions was marketed as a camp for people looking to ride their snowboards and skiis in some powder instead of on the glacial muck that is North America during the summer. Sounds like a good idea, right? I think anyone interested in these activities can agree that this is a much better option, and pretty much markets itself.
The 3 of us each came from relatively different backgrounds and were brought together in this camp. Most of the people at this camp share the same stoke, and it inevitably brings everyone together in some form or another, like we were.
The SASS experience has been unique because the focus is never competitive, and encompasses what we believe to be a true essence of snowboarding. Instead of the coaches being in their own world seperate from the campers, they all ride the same bus, eat the same dinner, and ride the same stuff as we do. Instead of formal coaching, the coaches serve more as mountain guides, and advice is given on a friend to friend basis. This made it so that every day was all about having fun, and searching for the goods while experiencing the completely different world around us which is Argentina!
We threw together some recent photos that we think encompass the experience well:
Raul Pinto getting his wood on
Chas eats his vegitables
Nick having a party in the back
Ben is full of secrets
It's all about having a smile on your face at the end of the day....
iChiao! |
|
|
| (no subject) |
[Aug. 8th, 2007|02:21 pm] |
| [ | Current Location |
| | Office Chair | ] |
| [ | flavor in my mouth |
| | Form of Rocket | ] |
Uhhhh,
South America tomorrow.
I'll be snowboarding by the weekend.
See you in 6 weeks.
ArgentinaArgentinaArgentinaArgentinaArgentina! |
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|
| Reality |
[Jul. 26th, 2007|10:27 am] |
| [ | Current Location |
| | Office Chair | ] |
| [ | what's in my ass |
| | full | ] |
| [ | flavor in my mouth |
| | The Ponys - Celebration Castle | ] |
Things are happening quickly.
The reality of my trip is starting to hit me, along with the reality of my relationship, the next year of school, my job, and my not-too-distant future. Putting thought into two seperate trips is crazy, but at this point I feel like I need to be focusing more on the snowboarding trip, just because this is a great opportunity for me to learn a whole lot about how to snowboard, the snowboarding industry, and how to work my social interaction while I'm down there so that I can hopefully get on board for free next year when it becomes time for me to do an internship. I have to convince these dudes that I'm legit, and truly am motivated to do everything I need to in order to get where I want to be. I am so close to achieving an endless winter I can taste it!
As much as I want to go balls-forward on my snowboard, I'm going to have to keep in mind the fact that I need to stay physically and mentally healthy enough to explore Peru with this group. I'm the only guy on the trip, which is interesting in and of itself, and I'll be arriving a day earlier than the rest of the crew. Less than a week ago I was torn over the relationship I thought I was in, but practicality tends to prevail and due to some miscommunication I was proven wrong. Luckily, I'm a practical person when I'm not being completely fantastical so it makes sense after all, especially because I'm about to leave the US for 6 weeks.
Hopefully I'm getting everything taken care of. |
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|
| Weird... |
[Jul. 11th, 2007|02:19 pm] |
| [ | Current Location |
| | Office | ] |
| [ | flavor in my mouth |
| | None | ] |
Bellingham: 94 Degrees.
Albuquerque: 84 Degrees.
Heatwave.
I slept on the couch last night because my room is too hot. Damn these attics! |
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| I'm not coming down |
[Jul. 6th, 2007|05:11 pm] |
| [ | Current Location |
| | Office | ] |
| [ | what's in my ass |
| |  chipper | ] |
| [ | flavor in my mouth |
| | Systems Officer | ] |
Summer Lifestyle:
Work at a radio station.
Learning how to flyfish better.
Sail twice a week.
Scoop Kettle Corn 1-2 days per week -> $10 per hour, tons of free kettle corn.
Skateboarding on my own ramp.
Mountain biking.
My own radio show.
Relations with an amazing (but distant) girl.
Paying $150 per month for rent.
Riding a cool bike.
Staying healthy.
Snowboarding in Argentina in August.
Golly. |
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| Wowaweewa |
[Jun. 26th, 2007|09:05 pm] |
| [ | Current Location |
| | Office | ] |
| [ | what's in my ass |
| |  anxious | ] |
| [ | flavor in my mouth |
| | The Lovely Feathers - Hind Hind Legs | ] |
This is me working.
I've suddenly found myself in this awesome position, but I'm feeling very overwhelmed.
I've been working at the radio station for the past 2 weeks, and it looks like it's going to be an amazing year to look foreward to. Nothing serious has broken yet, but the anticipation is killing me! I've been doing various minor repairs on things and cleaning cds, but nothing too stressful. In fact, I spend a lot of my office time on the computer messing around with this and that. I recently ran into this crazy opportunity to go on this sweet trip to South America but since I got on board so late it's been hell trying to get all the paperwork taken care of when starting a new job, starting classes, and starting summer which means dealing with all the constant fun that is to be had!
When August rolls around, I'm going to Argentina to attend SASS (South American Snow Sessions) to do some sweet snowboarding and...networking (ewww). Once the camp is over, I'm taking a quick flight up to Peru to join some classmates and take a trip around to examine the "Potentials and Pitfalls of sustainable tourism in remote locations in Peru. Along with it being a sweet trip in general, I get school credit for it! So I should come back with a vast knowledge of eco-tourism in Peru...right?
Because of everything happening so fast, for the first time in my life I am feeling clumsy. I don't have the internet at my house, which at first seems like an awesome thing we can all live without, like Television for instance. Unfortunately, it's not so much ME that is addicted to the internet, but it is everyone else. Not having access to e-mails, missing immediate communications, and not being able to look things up on a whim has made it difficult to get things taken tare of. I missed my first class this week because I was gone all weekend and didn't read my e-mail, I missed the first important staff meeting at the radio station because I couldn't remember the meeting time and I couldn't look it up, then I was late to the second one. It feels like this kind of stuff as been more and more common recently and I fear I have become one of 'those' people who everyone just counts on being late and who everyone picks up the slack for. I wouldn't be bothered by it if it were a common thing, but it is SO rare that I am late for things that it's a kick in the self-esteem.
Berrrrrr.
In order to calm things down a bit, I'm spending more time writing things like this down. I feel better :) |
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|
| Dooooooo |
[May. 6th, 2007|01:59 pm] |
| [ | Current Location |
| | Attic | ] |
| [ | flavor in my mouth |
| | The Octopus Project - One Ten Hundred Thousand Million | ] |
So much to say and do and feel and hear and touch, but there's only so much that can be done while on a computer.
For the first time in my technological lifetime, the computer hiatus has not been a mental effort on my part. There is something about filling up the day with just about everything under the...clouds...that eventually the presence just fades away. I definitely feel that my writing has become less eloquent lately, but that's only because I'm out of practice. After taking the quarter off and joining this new major I have to admit I haven't been flexing the same muscles in my brain that I used to, but pushing to be more social and living through my actions instead of words has given a certain clarity that can't be done intrinsically.
Mt. Baker is over, and I got my final check for the year in the mail ($130 bonus!). I dropped that job at youngstocks right off the bat for said reasons, and now I've got nothing...except for a job at the radio station for the next year! Starting in June, my job title will be Maintenance Engineer at KUGS. The pay isn't amazing or anything, but I get 5 weeks of paid vacation, I get to be on salary for a full year, and I get my own office! From the time I've spent with Aaron (the current owner of the position) he says it can either be one of the easiest jobs, or one of the most frustrating depending on the week and depending on who's in the studio. Being on-call can be a pain in the ass, and most of the equipment is pretty much learning as-you-go, but the fixes are usually minor and/or user-related problems.
So now I just need another job for the summer and I'll be set!
The other news is that I passed the snowboard exam that I went down to Bachelor for 2 weeks ago, and I couldn't be more pleased with that. I passed the 3rd certification, which pretty much guarantees a career in the snowboarding industry as long as I continue to play my cards right. I settles me right in with a spot as supervisor during the winter (if I want it), and Chris H. offered to help me get a job at a snowboard camp next summer (since it's too late to get it this year). I feel like he really liked Hillary and I (she took the exam with me) and our philosophies toward the future of the organization, and I have the feeling that he helped us out quite a bit in succeeding on that test. He's pretty much the head of the NW division on the snowboard side, so being on his good side definitely won't hurt.
But I can't worry about snowboarding now! It's too far away.
Been skateboarding a lot more now that it's sunny, and the newest problem we've generated with that is with the LANDLORDS next door. The renting neighbor with the annoying dog moved out and now the landlords have been fixing up the house and getting ready to sell it. The only problem is that the woman owner is a FUCKING SUCKUBUS. She has completely lost her marbles, and I'm having a lot of trouble tracking them down to figure her out. The owners of the house are a pretty young couple (maybe late 20s, early 30s), and I know for a fact that they both have pretty good jobs; she is a high school teacher, and her husband is a mortgage broker at the local bank. This is not their first house, as they had sold another one down the street earlier this year. I guess Troy has been having a tough time with those people and their ability to get unreasonably angry over things for the past year, so it isn't completely unfamiliar territory.
The new argument started when she confronted Troy right after he started skateboarding one day with something along the lines of "Is that thing permanent?" He mentioned that yes, indeed the ramp is a pretty permanent part of our house now and it means a lot to us. From that point, it snowballed into a series of slanderous remarks and very personal attacks at Troy as a human being. Since then, I chose to go out and skate until she came a talked to me. Although she was much "nicer" in our conversation, she was still being very unreasonable. The issue is that the ramp makes too much noise, and she is appalled that we would build that thing in our back yard. She also explained how it brings down the property value of their house something like $15,000! (according to their realtor) Since those two arguments, she has made a point to come out and speak to us every time we skate. She has also taken the liberty to go out of her way to print out the 'courteous neighbor' BS from the college website, highlighting all of the facts she deemed important, making sure to include the Bellingham noise ordinance policy. Yesterday, she brought over a 3 page written letter to Troy's parents (the ladlords) explaining how she cries herself to sleep at night because she can't imagine someone being this disrespectful, and makes a big deal over how Troy must have been raised poorly and for them to reconsider the values that they are teaching their son. "I wake up with knots in my stomach worrying about what we are going to do. Will we lose our hard-earned equity? Will we be unable to have a baby in the next few years?" and "They have reacted to our concerns with an unimaginable attitude of entitlement and selfishness."
I try to think about this letter as if it were written to MY parents, and the fact that she chooses to attack the very way in which we were raised makes me sick. Throughout the letter she goes back and forth between calling us Men, and then redirecting it to the parents in such a tattle-taleish way that it seems like the way she is going about this is very immature. If the ramp were truly their major concern and if they were willing to compromise somehow then I might be more willing to, but due to the history of their relationship to us as neighboring landlords, I know that they have a problem with our lifestyle as a whole and it's not just with the ramp. They have made remarks about our property being a dump as a whole, specifically looking at the couch on our front porch, the ugly shed in the back yard, and random things like our toys and tendencies to have BBQs in our front yard. What really bugs me is that pushes the sympathy card so hard in all of her writings and speeches, when they AREN'T OUR NEIGHBORS! They aren't a member of this local community, and no, they don't live next door. Our other neighbors 15 feet in the other direction from the ramp do not care, and have encouraged us to make more noise on various occasions. Their opinion is that as long as we are courteous and stop skating before it gets too late, and respect their opinions then they will respect all of the reasons that we have the ramp there to begin with.
So as it stands, until she apologizes to Troy for cussing him out the other day, we aren't talking to them. If they keep coming over here to give us this stuff, then we're going to file for harassment. If she does apologize, then we are willing to negotiate. If the supposed $15,000 is so important to them, then we will ask them for something like $2000 to take the ramp down (which would make such a sicker ramp!).
The funny thing is that she makes herself out to be one of those people who lives their whole lives doing everything 'perfect' and right, and I have always had a distaste for those people. I love it when karma comes out and strikes people like that down. That's just ironic and I love it. |
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|
| Wowaweewa |
[Apr. 12th, 2007|08:48 pm] |
| [ | Current Location |
| | Red bed | ] |
| [ | what's in my ass |
| |  busy | ] |
| [ | flavor in my mouth |
| | Yoko Ono - Open Your Box | ] |
Nuts!
and balls!
Things get crazy!
I'm back in school. School is busy. The recreation phase is super fun, but there are sooo many different things to keep track of. Every class is in the same room, and 2 of them are taught by the same teacher, so when it comes to distinguishing between homework and classes; I've got nothing! The first week of class we went on a retreat, this week we went on a scavenger hunt, and we've got more field trips coming up. The phase itself is a silly creature, but (almost) everyone I've met in it so far are pretty rad people. Out of the 64 people I'll be sharing the next 2 years with, there are 14 boys...it's strange but I think I like it.
Today I got a job at Youngstocks, but it feels like a pretty shady place to work. The manager (who looks like he's 16) is this fast-paced guy who wants a whole lot of hours out of me right off the bat. It's pretty overwhelming considering today was my first day, and at 2:00 this afternoon I didn't even have the job. I've got my interview for the radio station maintenance engineer job next week and I'm pretty nervous/eager/excited to get the position, but I'll have to see how it all pans out. I'm definitely considering dropping the youngstock's job if I acquire the bigger and better one at the station. But w/e, I can handle 3 jobs AND school, right?
Ahh!
Next week is crazy, too, as I have the wrpa conference from tuesday to thursday while coming back for radio station obligations each night, then leaving early thursday for Oregon because I have the fucking level 3 test at Bachelor!! I'm feeling pretty apprehensive about the teaching on the exam, and I honestly have little to no time to work on it.
Skateboarding more has been a lot of fun as well, but we've been having troubles with the neighbor, since she is annoying older lady with an insane dog. First we agreed on a 9:30 curfew, then a few weeks back she came outside and asked us not to stand on one side of the ramp because she felt that it was "invasive" having someone standing there above her fence, and that her dog didn't like it (that dog never shuts the hell up), and yesterday she came out YELLING saying how frustrated she was, and that wednesdays and thursdays were the only days she had off from work and that the ramp is too noisy. We plan to do some soundproofing on it soon, but I'd rather the lady just move out. Shes only been in the house a year or two, and I'm guessing those two days off are spent in front of the TV because she NEVER comes outside except to feed the dogs and complain about the skateboarding.
....if only everybody appreciated recreation as a valuable tool to their own health...
I'm sleeping in my bed for the first time in a while. I've pretty much been staying at C's house for more than a month. It's been really nice to say the least, but I've definitely been feeling the stress/joy/panic/comfort/worry of going through a mature relationship with someone. It feels stable for the most part, but getting myself to just settle down and enjoy it for what it is, is pretty tough.
Tonight is good, though. It's just what I need.
Some time alone to think things over, stabilize, drink some wine, and listen to some new music.
Yoko Ono remixes? Ehhh?
New Bright Eyes disc? Ehhhh?
yehyeh |
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|
| Timetime |
[Mar. 26th, 2007|08:41 am] |
| [ | Current Location |
| | My red bed. | ] |
| [ | flavor in my mouth |
| | A Hawk and a Hacksaw | ] |
Time fucking flies sometimes.
All of a sudden, an entire quarter of school has gone by. All of a sudden snowboard season is nearing the end, and all of a sudden, my trip to the homeland is dwindling down.
After arriving on Thursday night and hanging around in town, Friday turned out to be one of the weirdest days I've had in a while. Emotions were carried all over the place and it was mostly because of the dream I had the night before. I woke up with one of those severely vivid feelings that what had occurred in the dream were true. I had the opportunity to make a phone call and get some reassurance from the subject of the dream, but I decided against it for the sake of keeping the weird feelings to myself and not spreading it around. Consequently, I had the thought in my head for the rest of the day, which started off as a dentist appointment. At the appointment, the lady found a strange chuck of something in my mouth that she immediately mistook for glue, or something like that. Turns out, it was a chunk of baby tooth that never came out, and nobody had noticed it (for 10 years!). After the doctor picked at it for a while, it was out at the sake of a little blood and watery eyes. I left that place and ended up hanging out at skate city for about 3 hours, which normally wouldn't have been that weird, but a lot has changed about the place and it was all Emelia's doing! Her dad was considering selling the place (and I was considering buying it) but after trying a few things, he trusts her to change the store around to her own desire, so we shared ideas and I gave some snowboard knowledge to consider for later, and I ended up leaving with this sweet-ass Z-flex board that is totally retro, and totally rad!
After eating a fairly normal dinner with the fam, followed by mini-golf, I went and checked out the new skatepark with Josh, and it is soooo crazy! It is honestly one of the sickest parks I've ever been to, and it is humbly located in a guetto-ass neighborhood on the west side. I had planned on taking it easy (like I always do when I skate these days), but still ended up falling and wrecking the shit out of the skin on my knee, and ripping through my favorite pants.
sweet, right before snowboarding...
After that entirely bummed me out, I left and packed all the snow gear in Ben's car, only to then be encountered by one of his friends walking by, offering a shot of rum...so it began. We headed over to a birthday party until the others got off work at 10:30 where I got to see some fantastic people that make me miss this place, and then we got in the car and headed to Colorado. Due to distractions and the altitude, I ended up pretty drunk for the duration of the drive that had plenty of mishaps to go around such as getting pulled over near Cuba for purposefully turning the lights off, avoiding the 55 rabbits we counted in 15 minutes, and getting into Pagosa just in time to pass out in Corey's cabin. Yeesh.
The rest of the weekend was just plain rad, and I'll have pictures to prove soon.
Nucka please. |
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| Ah! |
[Mar. 4th, 2007|05:19 pm] |
| [ | Current Location |
| | Broken Chair | ] |
| [ | flavor in my mouth |
| | The Arcade Fire - Neon Bible | ] |
It's beginning to feel like spring!
The sun is still awake at this hour, and the snow is getting slushier!
ALSO: New music is coming out again!
So much good stuff: Shins, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, Bloc Party, Arcade FIre, Minus the Bear (remix album), Deerhoof, Modest Mouse, Swan lake, !!!, Explosions in the Sky, Aqueduct, Arab Strap!
Ah!
Right now I'm having trouble with the new Arcade Fire CD. After listening to it a few times, I realize that it feels very different from the last one (Funeral), and it tends to give out these little tastes of sunshine every once in a while that make things just peachy. The problem I have with it is that it doesn't get good until halfway through the 5th song (Black Wave/Bad Vibrations), then slumps off again at the end. Compared to Funeral, it definitely doesn't have the immediate bangers that stand out right away... :(
Oh, well...
I feel like all of a sudden I've been getting more responsibility at work, and I like it! I was in charge of painting the Komo race podium and DJ-ing the hits both mornings, and then today they let me take out a clinic for some of the people taking their level 1 snowboard exam this year, and that was a definite flex of my snowboard knowledge. I kept battling with wanting to just go out and ride with them as friends, and then stopping to teach them some crap about all these specific movements. It seems like for every task we worked on, I preluded it with: "this is what THEY are going to be looking for when you take this test," which is exactly what I want to hear when I take the tests. I don't really care about getting all the movements right, but I DO want to know the easiest way to pass one of these tests. Flexing here, bending there, down-weighting instead of upweighting, etc. The funny thing is that as dumb as I felt talking about it all, I realized that it was all new to these guys and it reminded me of how amazing and helpful it was the first time I heard it, so I might as well keep at it!
Wait...beer run! |
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| Fock |
[Mar. 1st, 2007|05:17 pm] |
| [ | Current Location |
| | Lower Bunk | ] |
| [ | what's in my ass |
| |  annoyed | ] |
| [ | flavor in my mouth |
| | Four Tet | ] |
I'm having one of those, "what the fuck" moments in my life where I'm not entirely sure how to feel.
I'm in a slump! Enough of a slump that I've been skiing more lately, to the point where Jeff Pike has granted me permission to rent performance skis for free, and apparently he's not an easy guy to reason with. Skiing is actually pretty fun now that I'm better at it, but it's fun in the sense that I don't have to go out and get hurt to push myself. I'm at the point snowboarding where pushing myself and trying to progress presents more and more danger of getting hurt than it used to. I know exactly how to push myself, but every once in a while I eat shit and it takes me out for a week at a time. I'm over that part, but definitly not over this lifestyle. I skateboarded yesterday for the first time in a while, also, and I think the combination of that and the skiing put me in a somewhat different perspective, but it takes so little to bring me back in the lodge after riding that today I found myself complaining over the cold, when it was my own fault for not preparing correctly. I'm living a dream, but I'm damn tired. Nothing is fun when you're tired all the time.
I think I need some sort of supplemental activity, or maybe some sort of healthy habit to get into that mellows things out a bit. I also need to spend more time riding with friends and not being the solo pow-hound sneaking in and out of the trees. I don't want to end up like that elf guy up here....
I hope to spend some time in New Mexico soon, and I'm thinking of doing a full week that involves half of my spring break, but I've got to plan things ahead this time. To be honest, I am looking forward to spring break, and getting back into school to work part-time at Baker again. Whether or not I get to ride more or less, at least I'll get to ride with my friends and have a good time instead of trying to get my stoke on all by myself!
Geoooosh.
It is now dinner time.
EDIT: Wait...this new Minus the Bear remix CD is making things pretty cool for now...
!!
Interpretaciones Del Oso!!! |
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| Dumpage! |
[Feb. 19th, 2007|06:38 pm] |
| [ | Current Location |
| | E-lodge | ] |
| [ | flavor in my mouth |
| | Neutral Milk Hotel | ] |
Snowing again......
Blizzard conditions and a lack of teaching motivation exist. It's a busy week and all I need is ONE night of decent sober sleepage (in a bed!). It's been something different every night for the past week and I've developed a powerful knot in my back from sleeping on too many unfamiliar couches.
I got to ride a bit today between stormy lesson plans and I feel sloppy to the point where I'm blaming my board for it all, but when I think about it some of the best days this year have been on the same board, so it could either be the snow conditions, my energy, my stance, or just the fact that I haven't been riding pow lately. It's so frustrating riding pow up here sometimes because the hill will get tracked out so quick on a weekend, but the visibility always sucks so it's pretty much a point and shoot situation with haggard bumps everywhere and the occasional goodies that simply MUST be slashed. Since it's been snowing again, my motivation has gone down a bit toward teaching and unfortunately that carries on into my riding outside of lessons as well. I don't get to spend time riding with my friends and consequently I haven't been pushed in a while. I also think I HAVE gotten better in many ways this year, but I don't notice it. I've definitely gotten better about staying very calm in hairy situations, but in some ways that takes the fun out of them.
Unrelated to snowboarding, Dustin's birthday is today and last night was a mighty fine shindig. The weird part about it was that there were multiple high-school boys/girls there and it made me realize what a weird age I am at right now. This age feels very transitional, and I've noticed in the past that I get along with people who are either 2 years older or 2 years younger than me. Now, the split feels different because 2 years younger than me means high-school age, and high school already feels like it was a long time ago in terms of what I have experienced since then. It sucks, but now I have this stigma about hanging out with high-school aged kids, but only when I'm aware of it. At the mountain the split never made a difference but last night when the three girls were still at the house I felt very aware of it and it made me really hesitant to talk to them openly as if I was afraid of getting too involved with a younger scene. Part of me is living my life at my house, dealing with my school/work situation and "growing up" in this way and that, but then the other part of me wants to go back to what I know and what is a easy and fun as hanging out with friends and doing something illegal like getting drunk and rallying around just to get a taste of the life I live right now. Last night I probably could have gotten a phone number, hung out with a cool girl, and made a new friend or two but that stigma held me back from it all (plus the fact that the cool girl was Rory's sister). I think I either need to stop hesitating or just tell the reason in my head to shut the hell up...or maybe just continue with the safe bet and avoid contact with other humans, cause that seems to be what I'm good at.
...what an odd feeling |
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| Beh? |
[Feb. 14th, 2007|12:12 pm] |
| [ | Current Location |
| | Couchroom | ] |
| [ | what's in my ass |
| |  sick | ] |
| [ | flavor in my mouth |
| | Band of Horses | ] |
Happy contemporary buying holiday!
So far it's been nothing but alone-time.
I've gotten sick somehow, but I can't! Fuck it. Instead of staying inside, I went on an adventure this morning to the bay, ate some super-market breakfast courtesy of Haggen, and tried my best to mellow out. The ride down there was awesome, and it was relaxing to sit there until I got cold.
I just need to chill out in general. I get so bent on doing things right away every time I get back into Bellingham that I forget that everyone else has lives of their own, that sometimes people lose phones, and sometimes I can't control everything that goes on in my life.
Now I'm going to sit here, listen to music, and make a mix-TAPE for valentine's day. It's ok to celebrate as long as you don't go out and buy anything, right?
Right. |
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