A day in the life of...

Skate-skiing

2007-02-05T14:14:00.000-08:00

A childish glee escapes me as I sheepishly peer over the crest of a ski slope.
I say to myself that there is nothing to worry about, I have been down the bunny hill a million times. However this moderate slope has turned into a giant, mocking me as I try to get the nerve to send myself over the edge.

This time is different than all others.
I glance at my feet and take note of the two long, thin, slick pieces of wood connected to my feet by only a tiny clip at the tip of my toes. My heals are free to lift and move. My feet feel wider than the ski itself.
I catch myself as I teeters to the side. At this point, just standing has been an accomplishment.

I laugh out loud as I see Erika and Elise launch over the side. Erika has grace, poise, and excessive style as she magically floats over the surface. Elise, well is slightly less elegant, but still is impressive as she fearlessly whizzes by me.

I can't stand here forever. There is only one way to get out of this situation...and that's to embrace it. Take the plunge and whatever happens happens.

Deep breath...A final push with my poles pushes me into the unknown.

Crap! I should've asked how to stop, control my speed, turn...all the essentials. An idea thought of too late as I am obviously flying out of control. I hear Erika's voice shouting muffled instructions my way. I hear none of it. Her words are carried away by the wind.

The inevitable happens. And it all takes place in a fraction of a second.
Legs begin to wobble,
Try to compensate,
Skiis shoot out from underneath,
Poles go flying,
Snow down my pants,
Face scrapes across the slope,
Finally the tumble comes to a stop,

Laughter erupts from all.

A big smile spreads across my face as I realize all is uninjured...well except for a bit of my pride:)

As I pick myself up all the snow, I think to myself..."I only have 10km to go!"

A few pictures

2007-02-05T13:32:00.000-08:00

I have a few pictures from a night out at Manning Park. One thing I do love about this place is that there is alot of good times shared with good people.

This photo is Elise and Erika demonstrating how girls would use the guys urinals...bet they didn't think this shot would end up on the net!!

Creativity

2007-01-22T08:04:00.000-08:00

(A friend of mine wrote this poem. Since it's so good, I thought I'd share it with you)

lake huron, your western coast chills me.

and the breath of winter whips at this town-
over the waves and onto the shoreroad
across our main street and through the gravestones at the
top of the town.

i see crows clinging to the sky like the kites of dead
pirates and imagine hooks in their burnt beaks; fishing line
leading to the waters below.

i wonder if these crooked sailors are attempting to
resurface, or do they fly these caw'ing creatures simply for
pleasure, after a short life of losing toes, teeth and
treasure.

i can almost see how purple their finger tips would be,
wound with the clear line shooting up at angles like
reflected sun
rays towards those blackened birds.

-and as quickly as the waves crash, the pair seems to desnag
and explode east like leftover patches of the previous night
suddenly realizing it's midday.

the gulls are up now.
but im uncertain just whose holding on at the other end. ..

---------------------------------------------------Nathan Whitney

Strange Dreams

2007-01-15T11:01:00.000-08:00

Most of you who know me, know that I tend to have some very weird dreams. I do not know if the word weird can acurately describe what goes on in my head at night. Last night was no exception...

For some strange reason I was stuck in a 2 storey house awaiting the owners to return so that I could go home. The house had a strange feel to it. The dream became more vivid when i realized that I was in the basement and the bit of natural light that flowed in from the small windows was begining to fade. I turned around and was going to walk back up stairs. As I turned I noticed a stash of all toys in the far corner to the right of the stairway. Amongst the toys was a small tupperware box filled with dolls, and stuffed animals. All of a sudden to my disbelief, the box began to shake. As I looked closer I actually saw something move. Fear gripped me. The only explaination I could think of was that it was a battery operated toy that must have accidentally been turned on. I continued to stare, not able to walk any closer to the stairs because then I would have had to walk closer to the toys. Suddenly a doll sat up, shook it's head and stared at me for a second, and then layed back in the box. I was freaked out at this point because the dream felt so real. Finally, what ever was holding me frozen in place released and I rushed over to the box. I picked up the doll (which had somehow turned into a stuff animal dog...i know doesn't make sense) and shook the it like i was trying to wake it back up. "There is no way this can be happening, I must be seeing things...there is no way I saw what I saw!" But sure enough when I shook the dog hard enough it's eyes came alive, it shook it's head, and it looked straight at me. I threw the stuffed animal back into the box and ran up the stairs as fast as possible.

Communal Showers

2006-12-15T00:10:00.000-08:00

It has become tradition to go swimming every Tues and Thurs. It's only 2 bucks and since it runs between 9-10pm it's usually not too busy. I was running a bit late tonight so my regular work out was cut a tad bit short. No big deal, I still got in a pretty good swim. I hopped out of the pool at 10 and walk into the changing room. After rummaging around in my bag, I grab my shampoo and headed to the showers. To my suprise I find (i think... I'm trying to count them in my head right now...) 8 naked Asian women sharing the showers. They were all chatting friendly away to each other without a care in the world.

Now guys, I don't know what goes on in your showers, but I do know that most women keep there bathing suits on when they shower in a public place. I grew up swimming at pools, I have worked at pools, and I have also played on sports teams, and only once before have I ever seen this many women naked in the shower together.

So I'm standing there being the only clothed english speaking white girl. Who do you think felt out of place? Them for being naked? Or me for being clothed? I hesitated for a second, then thought "what the heck..." and stripped off my clothes, hung them on the hook beside the other numerous bathing suits, and join the group in the showers. Oddly enough, it didn't seem that weird. I had felt more self-conscious when I was fully clothed. The ladies began smiling and laughing with me, sharing their shower. I still had no clue what the heck they were saying...or maybe I didn't want to know...nonetheless, it was actually quite a freeing experience.

Later, while I was drying off and putting my clothes back on, I realized that all of my various jobs are usually working with people, encouraging them to step out of their comfort zone and experience something new. It is easy to forget how hard this is to do, so I figured tonight was a good reminder.

Good Times

2006-12-13T14:15:00.000-08:00

Well, it wasn't just body climbing that I had discovered this weekend. I also had the priviledge of exploring two mountains. Silverstar and Big White. There were 7 of us in total, who decided that there is nothing better than snowboarding on days off. Inevitably a trip fell into place.

The trip started off with a few complications with checking into our condo. You see, the condo did not have a front desk so that we could check into our room. Apparently we were just supposed to know that our keys were hidden in the village at a local pub that was under construction. If you are not asking the question "why the heck were their keys at a pub?" you should be! Cause this one still has me stumped.

Snowboarding the next day was so much fun. We almost made it through the day without any hick-ups (well, besides loosing Kelsey in the first 10 minutes!) but then at the end of the day Landon, Terry and myself found ourselves lost on the backside of the mountain. Well, not really lost, we just had no way out. We had taken our time getting down the moutain and by the time we had reached the bottom of the run the chair was closed. Ski patrol was not happy. It was actually quite funny. The ski patroller guy must have been new, cause he looked all confused and didn't know what to do with the three of us. He radioed managment and they told him to make us walk back to the village.

Ok, first of all, it would have been a long bloody hike out of there, and second, he was sitting on a skidoo which is obviously a better solution to this problem. So with a bit of a smile, and the other 2 guys showing him a bit of leg;) we coaxed him into letting us ride on his skidoo back to the top.

Some highlights of the trip were getting to know some pretty cool people and sharing in a few gong show experiences. I do believe that it is these unplanned events that make for a great trip. Wouldn't you agree Robyn? I believe randomness is your trade mark.

Body Climbing

2006-12-11T08:13:00.000-08:00

I discovered a new sport this weekend. I'm not sure where it originated, or who would have ever been creative enough to invent it, but it had most of us rolling with laughter and the rest sweating profusely as we tried to wiggle, manouver, and contourt our bodies in and around others without touching the ground. Allow me to introduce Body Climbing.

This is Alida in the starting position. Her objective is to circle around the two guys and end up back in this same spot.

As you can see she is doing quite well...

A little bit of an awkard spot. However, she has quite a nice left toe hook around the guys arms, which is allowing her to slide her right leg in between one of the guys legs. Now that's impressive flexiblity!

With pure talent and skill she manages to get both legs down. However, as we all discovered, going down is easy but ascending is the hard part. This is the point where "fight or flight" begins to play an important role. You would do almost anything to get yourself back up to the starting position. Unfortunately for those who were being climbed upon, clothing and skin become tools to aid the person as they try to grovel their way upward. However for Alida, this is where her journey would end. Valiant effort my friend!

This final shot is of Terry who is attempting to weave his way through 3 guys. He has found himself in a peculiar position, and an unfortunate one depending on what Kelsey (the middle guy) has eaten in the past 12 hours.

Yeah...26!

2006-12-03T02:10:00.000-08:00

What a crazy few days its been. Again i'm writing on my blog at 2am. I'm incredibly tired, but have no desire to sleep. The past couple of days have been phenomenal. Yesterday it was my birthday. Yeah... 26! So to celebrate, my friend Paul and I went snowboarding out at Whistler. Snowboarding was a bit of a love/hate relationship. My mind was telling me this was the best day ever, but my body was saying "WTF". My legs wouldn't give me an inch of grace. But in the end, the aches and pains were well worth the the fresh snow, panoramic views, and absolutely gorgeous day. The day was topped off with friends and beer at a local pub. Good times:)

Snow

2006-11-29T08:14:00.000-08:00

The pictures that I wanted to post were of stuff that most of you guys could probably look out your windows and see. Snow!!! Isn't it incredible! I went for a walk the other day and the snowflakes were so big that they would blind you if they fell into your eyes.
Weather is phenomenal. It can hold all of society in the palm of its hand. Because of the snow, schools were shut down, business couldn't function properly, electricity was cut off, and the roads were chaotic. But who cares! If you watch people they have slowed down, are more understanding to one another, and will quickly lend a helping hand. This happened to us. We got stuck going up a small hill and began to hold up traffic. Trying as hard as we might, we could not coax our small VW golf up the icy slope. The cars began to line up behind us and the pressure began to mount that we needed to get our vehicle out of the way. Luckily someone walking by quickly helped push us up the hill. This is something that would not normally occur. Usually the people waiting in line would have been swearing and honking (granted they probably were swearing, but at least had the courtesy to so in their heads) and the guy walking by would have thought to himself "wow, sucks to be them".
Enough ramblings. What are you doing in front of the computer reading this? You should be outside playing in the snow!

Oregon Caves

2006-11-20T12:26:00.000-08:00

This picture was taken inside large caves down in Oregon. Take notice how everyone has either a headlamp or flashlight except of course me! Leave it to me to forget a source of light. It definetly was interesting to fumble my way through the tunnels. In the end it was a good time had by all... well except for Julia's minor head injury. Now take notice of how none of us are wearing helmets!! Safety first boys and girls.

A few thoughts

2006-11-18T12:19:00.000-08:00

I recently received an email that had some pretty amazing quotes in it. What I love about quotes is that every time I read them I seem to take something else from them. It can be the same thought; but read a year later can have a slightly different meaning. I figured I would share one with you. Maybe it will say something, maybe it won't...but here it is:

Light

Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate
Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure
It is our light,
Not our darkness, that most frightens us.
We ask ourselves,
Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented and fabulous?
Actually, who are you not to be?
You are a child of the Earth.
Your playing small doesn't serve the world.
There's nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you.
We were born to make manifest
The glory that is within us.
It's not in some of us:
It's in everyone.
And as we let our own light shine,
We unconsciously give other people
Permission to do the same.
As we are liberated from our own fear;
Our presence automaticaly liberates others.

-- Marianne Willeamsom

A blog...ahh, what am i thinking???

2006-11-15T01:56:00.000-08:00

Well, after some time I have finally caved under peer pressure to begin my own blog. As many of you know, I am a complete disaster when it comes to keeping in touch with people. So I figured a blog might be the way to go. Lets be honest, this might just be a spure of the moment, whimsical idea that seems fabulous at 2am, but who knows maybe it will turn out to be something more...

So, how do I begin writing about myself? Let's start with the 2am senario shall we?

"can't sleep..."
This has become a common occurance on Tues. nights. I try to fall asleep but my mind is continually awakend by thoughts of the climbing sess that just ended a few hours ago. My mind begins to process all the routes and problems that I'm working on.

A little side note, I have been involved in a training program that is designed to develop climbing skills through effective movement of the body. It is a unique program, because it challenges the idea that being stronger = better climbing. It would argue that better movement = better climbing.

I completely agree with Nate and Graham. My mind is the biggest thing holding me back. My body is strong, and I apparently have good movement skills, so what the hell is my problem? I have tried coming up with answers, and to some success, I have began to realize that I lack intrinsic motivation. I have always been content with what I can do (sports, school, work etc.) And it has always been enough that I can get by. Why try for an "A", "B" sounds good enough to me, and I only have to do half the amount of work!! This doesn't seem like rocket science.

However, now i'm realizing that I want to do more than just "get by", I actually want to being to improve; to excell in something. Is this where the intrinsic motivation begins? Just simply with the desire?