11/29/11

Today was a really good day. I didn’t go up the mountain; instead, I decided to sleep in. It was the first time I have slept in since I moved out here and it was really necessary. I went down to the skate park and cruised around there for a bit. Snowboarding stresses me out, but skateboarding centers me. I put too much pressure on myself to be good at snowboarding, but skateboarding is still really pure for me. It is just fun. It was also nice to be away from snowboarders and around skateboarders for the day. They really are a different breed. It has been really warm here all week, so I was able to come home and just sit on my deck for a couple hours and read. So good, so perfect, really. Now I am just feeling good. Everything is good.

I finished up training this week and got to teach my first lesson on Saturday. Because of the warm weather, ski school has been pretty slow, and it has been difficult for me to get work, but I am going to continue to bother people until I finally get on the schedule full time. Other than that I have just been doing a lot of riding. It has all been pretty great. I need to start making some money soon though, which is sort of stressing me out at the moment.

So yeah, I am one month in, and things are going well. I still feel like there is a lot I want to do here, and I am hoping I can get it all in. Time is flying right now. I do miss things back home, but I am trying to remind myself that I will be there soon enough, and until I get there I should ensure I have as much fun as possible.

11/22/11

 Tahoe is sick. It is probably one of the most incredible places to live in the world. The weather is perfect. 20’s at night and 40’s every day. Sunny 300 days a year. Great snow, Great Mountains. It is hard to complain. This is a really great way to live a life.

I started my training yesterday. Yesterday was more classroom type stuff, but it was still pretty interesting, but also kind-of boring. Today was on snow, so we kind-of got to explore the hills a bit. That was also fun, because it was snowboarding, and snowboarding is great, but we pretty much just stuck to green runs, which is whatever. I am having a hard time coming to terms with the fact that I am a Vail resorts employee. It is a great company to work for, but it is still a multi-billion dollar corporation, that is solely profit motivated, and they don’t try to hide it. Some of the things said during training make me really upset, too. Like for instance, they were proud of the fact that they raised their prices to keep lower income clientele out to improve the experience for their higher income clientele. I really can’t stand behind a company that takes pride in that, but I mean, it is a really great company to be a part of. Right now, I am really conflicted on that whole issue, and I am anxious to see how I feel about it as time goes on. I am sure it will be a fine experience over all, but yeah, those weird political beliefs of mine are always standing in the way.

I really like riding at Boreal. Night riding there reminds me of being home. Small resort. Local focused. Super great vibes all the time. I wish I could just work there, but it would probably be really silly for me to move all the way out here to ride a resort smaller than Boyne. That northstar season pass is a big deal for me. And they give me a lot of money.

I don’t feel like I have much to say. This is good. All is well. I live in the mountains. I snowboard every day. Sometimes I go to Reno which is a pretty fun little city. I am meeting people, a lot of nice God believing folk who really value community. Which is nice, because I really value community, and I want to value community with them. I hope I can find some non-god believing folk who also value community, because I really like being part of those communities too. I am working on this. It is an interesting project. Making friends in a new place is an interesting experience and something that I am still trying to figure out how to do. I am going to a lot of random shows and spending a lot of time and money at that food coop. I hang out with snowboarders a lot too, which is pretty cool, but I need more in my life than snowboarders.

This is a pretty weak blog post; I am a pretty weak blogger. But yeah, this is the latest on my life. Now you know.

I moved.

I moved to the Lake Tahoe area. Specifically, Truckee, CA. It is absolutely beautiful here. The water, and the mountains, and the snow, and the rocks. It is hard to fully take in. I’ve wanted to do this for a really long time. To move to a place that is completely different from one I have ever lived in, to snowboard a lot, and maybe even to find some freedom in a lifestyle that is completely different from the one I was previously pursuing, one that is completely different from the “American dream.”



This is the lake.



Today marks my 2^nd week anniversary of being here. I flew in with my dad and had my car and my possessions shipped out to me here. I got a job as a snowboard instructor at Northstar-at-Tahoe, and moved into an apartment at the base of the mountain.

This is my apartment.

So far things have been going well, but off to a slow start. I’ve gone snowboarding quite a few times at a resort called Boreal. Their terrain park right now is better than anything I have ever ridden in Michigan and we are only a couple weeks into the season. I went to the skatepark that is 10 minutes away from my house once. It is pretty fun and flowy. I have never lived so close to a concrete skatepark, and it is going to be really nice to have around. There are a lot more nearby skateparks too that I cannot wait to check out. I’ve gone into Reno, NV a couple times (the nearest city) in search of community and friends that care about more than just snowboarding (not to say there is anything wrong with my snowboarding friends, there is just more to my life than the shred). I joined a cool food co-op in Reno. I had mixed feelings about it, but the people who run it seem rad (both meanings) and it seems like a good way to get my foot into the door of the activist community out here.

Last Friday I found this cool show space called The Holland Project and saw a ton of Reno’s finest bands play. I really enjoyed that place and plan on going back. It is weird, when you have already been established in a local music scene for so many years to move to a new city with a new scene where you don’t know anyone. All of this is a new experience for me and it is pretty fun and exciting, but also, it makes me appreciate a lot of what I had back home. A couple months ago, I pictured moving out here could be this great new start for me, where I could have the chance to get back involved in music and things I relate with my interest in music, that I had drifted so far away from back home. I still kind-of see it as that, but I didn’t think it would make me miss back home so much. I want to see familiar faces at shows, and know where to go with your friends after shows. I am sure I will develop that here, but for now it is just weird and I fear that I am not outgoing enough to really make the friends I hope to in such a short period of time.

In other news, Northstar-at-Tahoe opens Friday, and I can’t wait. It is going to be so great to ride some of the longest runs of my life which also happen to be right outside my door. What else? I cut my hair shorter. My dreads aren’t so out of control anymore.

This is me being half done.

Anything else, hmmm? Oh yeah, I like a boy. He seems to like me too, which is nice. He lives in Grand Rapids though, which is terribly inconvenient at this time. We Skype a lot, which is super uncool, but I still like it a lot. I miss him, and friends, and family, but I will be home soon, and until then I am going to try to have the best winter of my life.

This is the most recent picture of codi and I.