I'm In Hawaii. Let's Begin Again

Ahhh hah! Okay, I'm back. There's no doubt I have to improve my writing skeeelz. So this may not be random athlete notes, and it will have nothing to do with snowboarding, but I've missed this blog and I have decided to come back.

Hawaii 2010, we're here.

16 Rollers Make My Legs Go Poof!

My Horoscope: Libra (Sept. 23-Oct. 23): You raise your self-esteem with a pep talk and suddenly realize that life has put you right next to the people you are supposed to meet.

I wonder who I'm supposed to meet. We're all wearing full face helmets and padded gear up there, I can't tell who anyone is. It's not like surfing where you can see everyone's face and their tan line too. Mmmm . . . tan lines.

Practice was delightful. Hmm, first time in my life I might have said that, regarding any practice for any sport. I texted my old boyfriend to tell him I was back in the VIP tent making dozens of sandwiches and stuffing my pockets, like we did in the Athlete's Tent at the X Games. Ahh, to be so poor and so athletic. Ah well.

Back on course early tomorrow morning. One more day of practice, visualization, and well, high speeds baby.

U.S. Snowboarding Grand Prix

Someone asked me, on a scale of 1 to 10, what was I at. I couldn't answer. Every hour I fluctuate from a 5, maybe a 4, then up to a 7 a few hours later, then maybe an 8. I think that's the beauty of being an athlete before a big competition. I love and hate the anxiety, anticipation, the joy, and the energy. It has replaced the drugs I used, the highs of love and lows of loss. I dig boardercross. It's very real - shaping snow into features so that we can slam into each other and then into bank turns. Too cool.

Coarse inspection and practice starts tomorrow for the Grand Prix at Boreal.

Oh, and that's my room above. I love that there are snowboards around every turn in our house. We're people full of passion.

Sunday Night of the X Games

Every year I watch the X Games. Every year I give everything I've got to snowboarding. Right now the fire is raging, Snowy is chewing a bone, Chipwich is blaring from the ipod in the background, and Louie Vito just hit his run in the pipe in the finals of the X Games on tv. A jibber boy I dig may or may not show up here at Ziemba pad in Alpine, and I've got 5 days until the Grand Prix Boardercross at Boreal. Could things be better? I don't know. I don't think so.

Shawn White has to rely on his 3rd run in the pipe to see if he medals. I have to ride and relax the next few days, and no, things couldn't be better. This is juuuusssttt finnne.

rip rip rip schred my friends.

dig and be dug.

A Small Note, For the End of 2008

Security . . . what does this mean in relation to life as we know it today? For the most part it means safety and freedom from worry. It is said to be the end that all men strive for; but is security a utopian goal or is it another word for rut?

Let us visualize the secure man; and by this term, I mean a man who has settled for financial and personal security for his goal in life. In general, he is a man who has pushed ambition and initiative aside and settled down, so to speak, in a boring, but safe and comfortable rut for the rest of his life. His future is but an extension of his present, and he accepts it as such with a complacent shrug of his shoulders. His ideas and ideals are those of society in general and he is accepted as a respectable, but average and prosaic man. But is he a man? Has he any self-respect or pride in himself? How could he, when he has risked nothing and gained nothing? What does he think when he sees his youthful dreams of adventure, accomplishment, travel and romance buried under the cloak of conformity? How does he feel when he realizes that he has barely tasted the meal of life; when he sees the prison he has made for himself in pursuit of the almightydollar? If he thinks this is all well and good, fine, but think of the tradgedy of a man who has sacrificed his freedom on the altar of security, and wishes he could turn back the hands of time. A man is to be pitied who lacked the courage to accept the challenge of freedom and depart from the cushion of security and see life as it is instead of living it second-hand. Life has by-passed this man and he has watched from a secure place, afraid to seek anything better. What has he done except to sit and wait for the tomorrow which never comes?

Turn back the pages of history and see the men who have shaped the destiny of the world. Security was never theirs, but they lived rather than existed. Where would the world be if all men had sought security and not taken risks or gambled with their lives on the chance that, if they won, life would be different and richer? It is from the bystanders (who are in the vast majority) that we receive the propaganda that life is not worth living, that life is drudgery, that the ambitions of youth must be laid aside for a life which is but a painful wait for death. . . .

They lacked the only true courage: the kind which enables men to face the unknown regardless of the consequences.. . .
who is the happier man, he who has braved the storm of life and lived or he who has stayed securely on shore and merely existed?

THE SPECTATOR"SECURITY"BY HUNTER S. THOMPSON, 1955

Rhonda Pulled Us Out

This is Rhonda, our tow, from Alpine Meadows Ski Resort, which is what it took to get the cars out of the driveway.

A long season ahead . . .

Bombing on Christmas Morning

I woke up this morning to the sounds of bombing happening at Alpine, so as to avoid avalanches during the day. It's been going on for the last two hours. I instantly thought of my brother in Baghdad, and I think it's possible, though we're world's apart and over 9,000 miles away, we could very well be hearing similar sounds on this Christmas morning.

Go figure.

This picture is of our porch. That is a car, buried under 3 or more feet of snow.

Most importantly, I woke up to David Sedaris reading the "Santaland Diaries" on NPR. (http://www.npr.org/templates/player/mediaPlayer.html?action=1&t=1&islist=false&id=98669879&m=98706010) Good stuff. I instantly called my friend Spoony, stuck in Florida golfing right now, as he was the one who introduced it to me many years ago.

A strange Christmas message. Spoony has lost his job too. He was always the one most stable, with the same job for maybe, 10 years, and managed to make it through the Dot Bomb time, in the early part of this century.

Most of all, Snowy was able to experience a first of the morning denial of his Christmas pee. It was just too deep out there.

Here he is with a full bladder, and he remains so right now, laying on the floor here.

Oh well,

Merry Christmas.

Competitions? Sponsorship?

I am set for the Grand Prix and the Revoltion Tour, in about a month and a half, when it snows. I was just clicking around for the other comps - there's this: http://www.jeepsports.com/index.php#

"With news that Jeep has decided to no longer continue its sponsorship of Jeep 48STRAIGHT, the company has announced that the 2008-2009 winter event series has been cancelled."

I hear so much about womens' surfing losing sponsors and my favorite abstract extreme sports struggling for money, sponsorship . . . breaks my heart. The Jeep King of the Mountain is a cool one. Will miss it.

Okay snow. Ready . . . ? Now!

Dang.

Dry as the Sahara out there.

SeeYa

The boards, kicking it after working out in the water.

Video from Sunset Beach, of Boneyards, and Backyards.
View from the shower behind the house, where I scrubbed.

I was stuck in the Foodland Parking lot waiting for a friend to drop off a car he was selling. Sitting in the rain, the waves blown out, I was able to scout the many hundreds of boys who decided this was the day to go get more meat and beer for the house. Yippee. That's why they call it Dudeland I guess. It's the only supermarket on the North Shore, and many a dude walk in and out. It's nice.

I didn't want to talk to any of them. I don't think they might say anything I want to hear. Surfer Dudes Galore. The tan muscles and floppy hair from a short distance were enough for me.

These pictures are of the next leg of the Triple Crown set up at Sunset beach, a block from our house. Me, catching a wave. Drew, the artist, in red; a nice kid in front of his work.

Another sunset behind Paul's house. It's crazy, they happen, like, every day.

Making Fun of Surfers

These pictures are of Ian Walsh and Jordy Smith, whom I shared dead baby jokes with and made fun of. I didn't know who they really were. (http://www.surfermag.com/features/onlineexclusives/starsanddollars2007/Who Deserves The Most Money?
SURFER's Opinion Poll
After multiple amateur world titles, a very strong showing in Hawaii, plus several cage-rattling appearances on the World Tour as a wildcard, it’s now rumored that Jordy Smith is poised to sign one of the largest contracts ever offered to a rookie in the history of professional surfing. If the conjecture surrounding the deal is correct, it’s possible that soon, Jordy could be one of the highest-paid surfers in the world—besides, of course, Kelly Slater.)

I made fun of Ian for shipping his stationary bike over from Maui for the duration of the Triple Crown. Jordy is shown here with his "g-string" - his shoelace belt creeping up actually.

All good, I suppose. I had one girl in hysterics as I poked fun at Ian and his workout girliness for having this stationary bike upstairs in the bathroom. He was such a sarcastic mo fo, it was good to communicate with another of my kind.

Then last night we ran into Fred Patacchia

and we got into a conversation about Budweiser, mostly because he and another pro-guy were on their way to the Budweiser party at Turtle Bay. Here he is surfing.

I said, "Have you tried Budlight Lime? It's disgusting. It tastes like soap."

Fred replied, "What kind of soap? Like Dove, or Dawn?"

After consideration I replied, "Like Dawn. Lemon Dawn."

"At least you can do the dishes and get drunk at the same time," he said.

We agreed that it's best never to do anything sober, or with lime, involving Bud. He had a strange look on his face though.

As Janna and I were driving away, she said, "You know, that guy is a pro and he's sponsored by Budweiser."

This racks up a solid handful of pros I've keenly been unaware of and made fun of to their face, either about their sponsor, or their clothing, whatever. I told Janna to have me shut my mouth in the next circumstance like this we might face, but she thanked me instead for shaving down the egos of these promiscuous pros who dog girls and get to surf empty breaks around the world, leading their tough pedestal lives (as she summed up), even if I just get the chance for a moment.

That's cool.

Monday Morning

Most people are up and out to work, but here on the North Shore that consists of getting up and watching the waves. I'm actually not quite sure what we're looking for here for so long. I only need about 7 to 10 minutes to check the scene beyond our yard, but the dudes in the houses to the left and right of us will go and look out at the ocean for sometimes half an hour. I suppose sets do come in and out like that, but they don't really differ from the first set I witness. I glance out the window, and yup, the four dudes that were there a while ago are still looking.

Anyway, I have it in my heart that at the end of these three weeks I will have improved my surf capabilities. I can't get any worse, since I've been pummeled and caught on the lips of waves and my arms are exhausted. I'm trying to work up the energy to head over to Hale'iwa, about 10 miles west of here to join Paul's girl Janna in a yoga class. Sitting here on this laptop is just so easy though. Perhaps I can take a stretch by myself a little later. I'm good at weaseling out of things I know I need to do for my body.

Injury Report

Perhaps I shouldn't jinx myself by writing a title like that. Not many injuries to report quite yet, just little annoying ones, like hip bruises and rib calluses from the surfboard, feet cuts and shoulder aches. I wake up and they annoy me though, and I just woke up.

I don't know why I keep swallowing so much water. I've been pounded on the head by sets before and lost in the washing machine of waves, but this time around I seem to get caught with my mouth open. Salt water in the belly is upsetting. Mixed with coffee and chocolate - breakfast of champions.

Looking out at the waves again today and the people staring at the waves, and every morning so far it's nice because it feels like we're in this together. There goes another cat riding his bike through the grass in the yard in front of me to stare a the ocean. He must be 50.

I suppose my generation will be the first to support the old women in the water. I haven't seen any over 40, ever. If I have to move here and practice for the next 7 years so I can be in the water at 40 and not get pounded, well, then, I do what I have to do to keep pushing the female sex to the next level.

Oahu North Shore

It's been some time since I've blogged, or done anything really. Per the request of my friend Paul who I'm crashing with for the next three weeks, I will be writing every day while I'm here on Oahu, North Shore, getting ready for the season of snow, surfing every day, and tanning my butt. Things are looking good so far, the mere 30 hours I've been here.



You see, I used to be a really good writer, or so Paul thinks. I wrote him 9 page letters from Africa and emails years ago that he told me changed his writing. That's not so hard when he used to write me letters that were much like Jack Handy's, from SNL. Yeah. I'm still out of practice, but he really believes in my once polished craft, so I'll humor him and write again, just for the sake of writing.



I'm sitting here at his desk looking out at the waves. This is what it looks like:



In the morning, people line up at the back of their houses and stare out at the ocean, like we're all at some giant surf camp, and the day is beginning again. To the left and right they saunter down their yards to the beach with board in hand, and go out and slide the ocean all day. There's no work up here, though there is a Starbucks. That, Foodland, and a place called Ted's which serves MahiMahi sandwiches which gave me the most incredible gas while in the water yesterday, are the only establishments within a few miles. Of course, I wouldn't be outraged if there was a Starbucks in the Sarhara by now. They're everywhere and oh so yummy. So my fellow campers and I surf. They surf all day every day. At this time I'm mostly paddling around and trying not to get knocked up by the ocean. In three weeks time I pray that I can report my skills will be much better.



I'm off to go stare at the ocean with my cohorts now. Blog One Day Two Out my brothers and sisters.

At Tahoe City Library on a Wednesday at 4:30 P.M. with all the other 70 year olds.

Sexy.

I got 5th place at Nationals. It wasn't awesome, but it surely wasn't bad. Great race, and I was just a hair off hitting the finals and killing it. Here's what a friend wrote to me anyway:

"5th, that's awesome. Would it have been funny if i started it out with,'5th, 5th just means you lost 4 times worst that the person who came in second'?
No but seriously that is fantastic. I wish i was there in my thong to spray champagne all over the place. Ehhh why do i need to do it there.. maybe i'll go out after work and do it to a stranger coming out of there office. I'll act like they just won something and there will be confetti and me in a thong spraying champagne."

Thanks Spoony. It's nice having freaks of my own. Some people call them friends.

While my computer is getting over its virus and I'm waiting for pictures and video to come in of the races, I will get back to this with a really cool final multi-media showing next week.

It was a good year.

Gliding on the Snow

No one, except Olympic skiers, their wax techs, guys in the back rooms at SOME board shops, the Start Haus in Truckee, and Rob from the snowboard team have a grasp on the complication of race waxing. I'd begin to explain but I'm still working on getting a clue. For those of you that don't know, basically there's hotboxing and base grinds, high fluoro wax, graphite, overlays, rub on wax, hot wax, new snow wax, old snow wax, temperature of the snow (we have a thermometer we stick in the snow), temperature of the air, humidity, iron temperature for hot wax, spray on wax, travel wax, wax that looks like cocaine or powdered sugar you dash on the base and rub in with cork just before jumping in the start gates, and speaking of, I've been told there's wax more expensive per gram than cocaine; there's horse hair brushes, soft brushes, brass brushes, umm other brushes . . .

Don't touch the base of your snowboard with your hands or the oils from your skin may get into the base. Don't put a hot iron on a cold snowboard or you could delaminate the thing. Take off your bindings or the screws could expand in the board when you put a hot iron on it. It's best to wait all night then scrape in the morning for it all to really absorb. If you really want to glide it's recommended to brush a lot, 45 minutes or so.

I had no idea until this year. We've gotten very detailed. I'd say they're testy planks of wood and fiber glass.

It'd be dope to rub soap on the bottom and see how that sends the dang thing down the hill, although I think it's illegal, like a spitball.

Tomorrow is Nationals Finals in Open Class in Boardercross, some of the best kids in the nation will bang into each other down the course. Delightful.

USASA NATIONALS

Sorry for the delay in keeping this up to date. It's still difficult not having internet in Tahoma, because of our tree cover, and living off the grid. I figured out I'm more isolated with my inability to get cell reception and the internet, than my brother, who was in Afghanistan, emailing me all the time. He even had a cell phone sometimes, and said he got lattes at the Bagram Base's coffee shop, Cool Beans, or something like that. I have to trek 11 miles from my house to get a latte. Jeez.


I'm back here in Colorado for USASA Nationals, the amateur snowboarding association's finals, http://www.usasa.org/. We had to race in our local series all year to qualify. There are about 3,000 athletes, competing in all snowboard disciplines for 6 days. Slalom, Giant Slalom, Pipe, Slopestyle, and Boadercross, of course. We've taken over the hill, kids from 8 years old to 60. I'm in Open Class, made up of ex pros, up-and-coming pros, and just a mix of really great athletes. The venues are set up all over the mountain and we rotate to other venues each day, like the Olympics, or the Decathlon.

Monday and Tuesday I raced Slalom and Giant Slalom, shown above. I placed 8th, out of 18 or something, but it's not one I really care too much about. The girls who beat me wore speed suits and hard boots, I raced in soft boots and regular bindings. There might have been wind drag from my baggy pants, I don't know. It matters to me how my form is, and my coach said I looked the best I ever have charging around the gates.

Now some rest, then onto Boardercross Friday! Last competition of the year!

Here's me in Oregon, which looks like I'm out of control going over the spine, but when I pump I throw my arms up in the air, then down, in case you're not familiar with Boardercross at all.

Just Back from the Vet Hospital

I've had a suspicion my dog and I are connected to each other beyond love and friendship - we feel each others' pain. At least that's what it seems like lately. I went to the hospital and got stitches. He went to the hospital, got a staple in his head. I have a bum right shoulder, now he has a bum right shoulder.

People wanted a picture of my hand with my stitches - well here it is.

Here is the staple in Snowy's head.

As the vet would describe it, "The little guy was pretty much hit with a mack truck." I thought he was in pain just now because he kept doing that dog whining thing. But I just spoke to the vet on the phone and apparently I've overdrugged him. He's just really high on morphine, and wants to voice himself.

All of this is because an Alaskan Malamute attacked Snowy in front of my house on the street. I managed to join the fray and pull that dog (who was gigantic) off of my dog. I thought my pup was going to lose his eye, perhaps have broken ribs, etc. etc. I've never heard him cry so loud in my life, and there was blood in his eye. We were saved by a lady named Beth who was driving by and witnessed the whole thing. She yelled for me to get in the car, I grabbed Snowy, crying and all, and we were off to the hospital. She told me I was crazy to jump in there, but I couldn't just stand by and watch my dog get torn apart. It would have been the equivalent of Barry Bonds jumping onto a midget, or something like that. This punk dog must've been 160 lbs. He was bigger than me. Snowy weighs 27 lbs. Luckily, I didn't get bitten, but if it was a pit bull I'd be dead. I'm pretty sure of that. Snowy seems to be okay now, other than just being really doped up because of his mom.

This has been a harrowing week (along with the past few). Thank god I get to go back to snowboarding tomorrow - where it's safe.

Just Back From The Hospital

Did not injure myself snowboarding this time, but cutting steak and managing to nearly slice my thumb off. There's blood on the cabinets in the kitchen because I flung my hand through the air in a state of shock. Yum.

I was sitting at the hospital putting pressure on my hand, when the nurse needed to take a look at it and pulled away my gauze. She fiddled around then left me, with no gauze. I didn't have anything to put pressure on the wound with, so my hand just lay there, blood forming a puddle around it on the sheet. It took me back to the time I accompanied my friend J. Evil to see a play of the "Night of the Living Dead." People wore plastic bags and the actors squirted blood into the audience throughout the play, so that by the end there were red rivers floating down the aisles. It was delightful. At the hospital just now, I literally sat there as people walked by and blood ran from my hand. It didn't hurt, so I didn't want to be a baby and ask for more gauze. Nobody ever said anything; it was a little strange, just letting it bleed. I wonder if every time I go to the hospital I'll think of that play we went to. The Living Dead folk really got the color of blood right.

These days I give thanks every Sunday for another week I stay alive. It would seem I'm trying to destroy my body one limb at a time.

Back to the mountain on Wednesday. Pray I don't open up the stitches. Must run for now, it hurts to type and it's taking forever.

A Little Bit About the Oregon Stop of the Revolution Tour

This picture is from the Oregon stop of the Revolution Tour last weekend. Much to talk about, now that my computer is up and running and I've gotten my pictures organized again. The riders below are shaving down the lip of the 2nd feature. You see, you pull out of gates, go down and up over a jump, then there was a quarterpipe, which we were supposed to clear and go over, but which really sent almost all the riders way into the back seat and flipping over the thing. This was, most definitely, the funniest boardercross course I've ever been on. They way we all rode it kept cracking me up. I was lucky not to reinjure my shoulder, which is feeling much better now. I rode conservatively, made it to finals anyway, and placed 10th out of 25. Okay for not really charging. Mostly I had fun.

I will post video through Youtube when I get a moment. Enjoy these for now.















Funny enough, the feature I was most nervous about ended up being my favorite. After the quarter pipe, a big bank turn to a road/gap drop off. The drop off was pretty fun.

How can anyone not love Boardercross?

Video to come.