Friday, December 28, 2007

The Most Perfect Snowflake

I must be a bit boring lately. Thank god no one reads this. I haven't started racing and the mountain is pretty rocky and icy, so not much to report.

I was out walking my best friend, and the most perfect snowflakes are falling right now.
Check it out:
Nevermind my dog's hair there. Eew, now that I look at it, it looks kind of gross, more like a microscopic image of some rare African parasite, with worms swimming around it.




Hmm, how about this instead:
This is my jacket, looks like the folds of an elephant butt though, or a really fat person.
I guess all snowflakes are almost perfect. These are pretty cool, minus my poor camera skills. Usually the snow in Tahoe is pretty mushy, and we don't get perfectly formed flakes, or it's too warm and it melts before you can take them in.
This guy must've thought I was crazy as I sat there taking pictures of my arm.
Is this what isolated, lonely, single people do with their time: take their animals on walks and shoot pictures of snowflakes, and dead bugs caught in the spider webs of their windowsills?
Crap.

I have to stay busier. Another week until the season opener?





Sunday, December 23, 2007

The Greatest Dog in the World

Moved, drove, moved again. Tahoe's great, blah blah blah.

I had to suddenly head to the restaurant I now work at and put in a quick four hours tonight. There was nothing I could do with my dog since I had to head 15 miles the opposite direction after work. So I swaddled him upin my Clifbar sweatshirt and other random warm things I could find in the car and left him in the hope that I wouldn't come back to a frozen best friend.

This is what I found.

Is he real? Daaammmnnn he's cute.
He's the greatest.

This is not how I left him either. He managed to cocoon deeper into the heavenly folds of the sweatshirt and was blissfully toasty under there. It was difficult to leave this site.

Meanwhile I'm back at the house and my brother and dad are looking for change or a missing remote or something, lifting up each section of the couch - this could go on for days. They remind me of a Far Side comic . . .

Thursday, December 20, 2007

San Francisco - brings to mind Sly and The Family Stone:

I want to Thank You Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin.


Yeah. Thanks for letting me be freakish, loud, uncontained, expressive. Coool. Dig and be dug. And loved. Good people here.

I haven't been really sad or nostalgic to leave SF again, except for today, my last day at Mission Cliffs Gym. I'll miss watching the sinewy-zero-fat-chalked-up-hippie-nerds swing from the ropes of the climbing walls in the gym while I pump the hard weights in the tiny tiny weight room to the side. I'll miss ripping farts on Flo as he does his sets on the machines, harrassing Arthur, the spinning guy over his choice in music over and over, getting in trouble with my roommate in yoga class (for godsakes), and basically watching my leg go from strong to really strong. I spent so much time there this past year. Today, by myself, I thought, "Cool, finally ready."

It seemed to take forever.

I'll b heading over the bridge tomorrow for Tahoe. Seeya homeless camped on my doorstep every day and land of too many DJs. Stayed just so long and long enough.


Done With the Desk Job

At work right now . . . shhh, just checking weather updates, watched Jeep King of the Mountain recap online http://www.jeepsports.com/, facebooked, a little porn. I told one customer who I dislike that I'd give her a call back tomorrow, but since today's my last day, Ha Ha, I win in the end. Lick it Terry from Kingsway Sales.

Lovely send off and a great crew here at L.N. Curtis and Sons. I'll do my best to send updates of my races, but only if I am a top finisher. Otherwise I'll just pretend I didn't know anyone and continue onto Hawaii, where "Phase 2: The Surf Report" of my life begins.

A final recap of my life here at a desk:

Owner of the company: "Well Jen, this is it huh?"

Me: "Well, for you."

He smiled, but I don't think he liked my comment.

Am I supposed to have an exit interview? They're probably sick of me anyway. Who cares what I really have to say anymore? Stoopid snowboarder.

I'm off!

Wednesday, December 19, 2007

Burning Man Video 2007 - as a last thought



Just because I'm cleaning up my work computer here before I quit, I figured I'd put in my Burning Man video from our Space Cowboys Camp 2007. Great times.


Lots of snowboarding videos to come this winter. Hold tight . . .

Tuesday, December 18, 2007

I Think I'm Funny at Work

I just xeroxed my face and made photocopies to place strategically throughout the catalog of my coworker here, so that when he's searching for items while speaking with Captains and Chiefs and whatnot from fire departments, he'll lose his concentration and start laughing.

Yeah, I think I'm funny.

Really going out with a bang here from L.N. Curtis. Well, not really, but I still think I'm funny. I hope I get a chance to put them in there, that guy gets to work early and leaves late; and I get to late work and leave early.

Two 1/2 Days Left of Work, 104 Days of Snowboarding to Go

Alrighty, last time I posted was August, at the Summer X Games. Have I really been that busy?

My legs will attest to that actually, and my core. I'm strong as hell, and sick of working out, jumping with weights, riding a damn stationary bike. Time to ride the mountain.

I'm in the office, the same one I've been in for over a year now while rehabbing my knee, and my brain for that matter, staring at the same computer screen. What a strange existance. Two more days, or rather, 22 more hours total left here. Just enough time to erase all my criminal emails and raunchy pictures from the hard drive. It's raining outside, meaning it's snowing somewhere I belong, meaning, yes, I'm finally ready to go.

I'd meant to write about all the training, but with 9 hours of work everyday and two hours of excersize, 1 hour to walk my dog and step through the door, that left me about 20 minutes a day to shower, and 7 minutes to eat. I just didn't have time. Plus I had to party here and there, but mostly everywhere. It was either continue to blog, or shower. My friends apprecitate the latter.

Who cares about my training regimen anyway? If you want to know how I got my thighs so thick, just ask me. Nothing to it.

Someone just called on my line, wants a price for a ladder and a super skull saver.
Some of my favorite names of firefighting tools: the Hooligan tool, Dual Deadman Valve, Shake and Bake (forestry shelter), Blitzfire Monitor, Jumbo Ball (valve), the Quic-Mount (tool holder), Discharge and Reaction, and my favorite, Dragonhide shell material. I didn't touch on Jaws of Life or SCBA equipment, but I could go on and on. This job has been funny, and I'll miss it in a subtle and unemotional way.

My favorite interaction from my outside sales partner,
"Ziemba, where the hell is the Chief's brush coat? He ordered it 5 months ago."
"Jimmy, I've got no record of this order, he didn't place it."
"Okay Ziemba, this is what I need you to do: Go into the ladies room, go into the stall, pull down your pants, and pull it outta your ass."

Funny enough, I was listening very intently, and did end up pulling it outta my ass.

Tuesday, August 7, 2007

Extreme Shawn


A few days after the X Games here, but first off, a word about Shawn White. We watched Skate Vert finals from the crowd of Home Depot Center, outdoors, standing in the beating sun, not in our usual VIP and/or Athlete Pass hook-up spot, damn me for losing Linda at EXPN's number. Linda? Are you out there? Give a shout because you're great and I know you want to hook a sister up again.






Saw Dr. Chang, or Chin, umm . . . yeah, Chang, when we walked into the BMX Vert finals. He was the first line of defense when I blew out my knee at Winter X 10. The doctor for the San Diego Chargers, and a real nice guy. Gave him a hug and sanuntered on by. He'd be proud to see my muscle and how I've built my leg back up nicely. Had them under long shorts, though next time I see him I just might flex a thigh. You know, for fun.





Anyway, back to Shawn White. Another stellar performance under the heat and pressure of the Skate Vert line-up. They changed the format this year so that the moment a skater falls, their time is up, and that's the score. No charging back up the transition in the pipe to start again. Some guys fell after 15 seconds, some around 30. I believe the time frame was a 1:15. It was a little dry in the beginning there, with Bob Burnquist and Bucky Lasek all chumping in the pipe, falling and cutting sessions short. Jon and I glanced at each other, up at the sun, back down through the crowd . . . yawned a bit . . . back over all of the heads to the pipe.





So Shawn pulls out another spectacular performance, above and through the mess of the other skaters. Who does this? X Games Gold, Olympic Gold, Gold in Summer X Games now, along with all the other crap he does, and wins. He's unstoppable. One of the most stellar athletes I've ever seen under pressure. I wonder what is going in his brain. Truely. He was emotional, grabbing his nappy red head, kneeling in the pipe, throwing his arms up in the air, thanking his grandma, who they interviewed right before his run. A pistol of an old woman. Very entertaining.



I would like to pick Shawn's brain. I fear he'd just give cheeky answers though, about his visualizations, mental focus, and alien ability to find calm and force in those down to the wire performances over and over again; that I'm more and more curious to know about. He's very funny, when they ask him questions in competition. Maybe he just doesn't think at all. Maybe he's all visualization. I need this kid to write a book. Or Terry Gross from NPR should interview him. She's does great interviews. I'm sure I'd get all the information from his interview with her. But hopefully, a book. It'd be a good read, and cute.





That kid's performance was the lasting impression for me for X Games 13. God bless him. We walked away, satisfied for sure, and Jon and I continued our horse-play rough-housing scene through to the parking lot, that we always do. I bloodied up my knee and elbow, pretty narly like. I ran after him, caught his heel, and flew through the air to the pavement. I chased him and fell down. Symbolic, I thought.





Thanks Shawn, for the entertainment

Saturday, August 4, 2007

Still Thinking about Jake Brown, Skate Big Air




It's all very familiar, in an unfamiliar way.

We sat in the stands for BMX Big Air last night next to a rider who did not make the finals. Chad Kagy, my favorite BMX competitor in both Vert and Big Air did not make the finals this year either. He broke his collar bone in practice. I made it out to Aspen and jacked my knee in my practice run at Winter X 10, although I chock that up to inexperience, not pulling double flairs over 70 ft. gaps. But it got me thinking about injury and how many athletes don't make the finals, and how many hurt themselves in the process of shooting for them.

Is anyone else having a problem getting Jake Brown's Big Air Skate crash outta their head? He ended up suffering liver and lung contusions, from what I've heard so far, and will be released from the trauma unit today. Who falls 50 ft. from the air, lands on hard wood, literally gets their shoes blown off, and doesn't die, let alone brake a bone? Jesus, not me. This guy's internal composition is different from the rest of us. That's the only thing that can explain it. Not even a broken toe? Contused lungs I'm sure ain't great, but it could have been so much worse. I guess it's a good thing, for all of us, to know how to fall. Whether you're falling from love, or a 25 ft. gap, it's best to land on your feet and protect your heart and your head. What doesn't bend, breaks. - ani difranco

Today begins the outdoor Home Depot setting for X. I love BMX Vert. If you don't know what this is you shouldn't be reading this blog. No, but really, BMX Vert is where the riders take to the halfpipe. We all know the halfpipe. If I could come back and do this life over I would be the first female BMX rider to compete in Vert in the X Games, oh, and I would dj at night, hip hop, oh, and I wouldn't have curly hair. Yup, that's about it. Well, I'd be good looking too, of course. Man I'd get so much action, my pick of the tough guy, sinewy muscled, tattoo set that is the X Games participant and patron. Mmmmm . . . . Well, it's either that or I'd have to be a big wave surfer, on the level near Laird. But I'd still be female. Who would want to be a guy if they had a choice?

Friday, August 3, 2007

My First Blog - Yikes!


Well, here I am, in Redondo beach, visiting my ex, going to the X Games. Just this morning I realized the irony of that, and decided to create a blog. No really, all in all I think my experiences warrant a little note here and there, 1st because I'm afraid I'll forget it all, 2nd because personally, my experiences, (god help me, I think) are somewhat unique and interesting, and lastly, because it's August now, and as I head into another snowboard season, I think this is the best way to let all the goofy nutballs who've chosen to call themselves my friends keep in touch with me and know what I'm doing out there on the mountain, whichever mountain it may be. I plan to keep this f-ing thing updated, as I let them know whether I cross that damn finish line first or last, whether I crash or send someone else into the fence, and whether it was all worth it.

Ha!

So there it is.

I want to first thank Jayne, because her blog is simply wonderful and charming, and it has allowed me to keep in touch with her through this nether-world. A fantastic friend and a cheeky little writer, her words have consistently put a smile on my face. She can write about a Chevron gas station experience or avoiding lattes at Starbucks, and make it all very amusing. I guess that's the mark of a great writer; to write about mundane everyday events and keep us coming back for more. I suppose I may end up writing about exciting blood pumping events (women's Grand Prix Boardercross Time Trials, god help me) and make it sound so-so and uneventful. But I will try for you Jayne, my inspiration and blogging friend.

2ndly I want to thank Jon because I'm using his computer right now and sitting in his house, going off to his gym in a bit with his free pass, but importantly, still wishing he was my manager, but glad he's agreed to be my friend. My buddy, my ultimate respect. Indeed, let's make a game of the Ex/X business, hit these Games together and let the athletes and the events, the amazing aerials, and fearless X factor stunt undertakings, everything, fill our vision and set us straight for the next year. I know that's what the X Games did for me last year; filled my tiny brain with visions of what true athleticism is, helping me see a little bit how I am really not that far removed from the greatest of them, and pushing me forward to become a better rider, because it's what I love.

I just love to see people move, what can I say? If they move backward and upside down and over and under, all whilst 70 ft in the air, well, then Bravo! What more is life really about? God help me I don't know, but that's my answer for now.

So thank you Jon, for the invitation down and diggin' all the stuff nearly as much as I do. Or at least humoring me through all of it.

Tonight is BMX Big Air, or Vert, and Moto Big Air, or wait, maybe not. Jeez, I can't remember them all or keep the event schedule straight in my head anymore. I wish the schedule was exactly like last year, so I know which event I am supposed to go to and be shocked by. I guess that was part of the magic last year, seeing Travis Pastrana's double back flip at Staples, my first time watching BMX Vert and being right on the top of the vert ramp during the skate competition with our athlete's passes. I was pleasantly surprised through it all. Then I walked away pleasantly stoked, reafirming my love for all things sport, especially in the extreme category.

Here we go!