12.27.2011

I am right at the heart of a 13 day straight stint at work. I am pretty tired, but pressing on. Holidays are tough for resort employees, and, right now, I am feeling the blow. It is tough, but there is money coming in, which is a really good thing, and it isn’t like I can’t complain about the work too much. I mean, I get to go out and ride my snowboard all day, that isn’t a bad thing. My only work related complaint is our class sizes. Teaching 10 first-timers how to ride is bad for the people taking the lesson and equally bad for the instructors. Everyone would have a better experience if we could trim those down a bit.

Christmas came and went. I stayed busy, so it wasn’t horrible, but I did find myself missing home quite a bit. My family is really great and I really value being able to spend time with them. I don’t know if I can do Christmas away from home every year.

We still haven’t gotten any snow, but I am really not that upset about it. As much as I would like some good powder riding, I am a park rider at heart, and the minimal park northstar has set up is better than anything I have ever experienced. I am seriously loving it. Actually though, I haven’t even rode northstar’s park in over a week. I have been hitting up boreal after work though, and I really like it. The features are all huge, but that is good for me. I need to be forced out of my comfort zone sometime.

The people out here are interesting. I am meeting a lot of different people with different life stories which is really interesting and I am almost never alone, but it is difficult because everyone just likes to party so much. It is hard being the kid that just wants to go home and play silly games and go on sober adventures with people out here. I haven’t really found that community I desire yet, which kind-of bums me out.

I guess though, having said all of this, things are going well. I am still enjoying my time and getting this whole ski-bum thing out of my system. I don’t know if I can do this forever, only time will tell, but I can say that I will enjoy it while it is happening. I am trying (unsuccessfully) to not think too much about the future, and to just enjoy life in the moment. If I only take one life lesson from this adventure, I want it to be that; to just enjoy life now.