Glimpses of the present

It's long overdue but the reason I haven't posted anything is that nothing's really new with me. Still working at the Beaver Creek Tubing Hill, some part time work for PERCH, and skiing and snowboarding. I've got into a lax routine, waking up late on my days off (and working days since I don't have to be in til noon), heading to the mountain late, and skiing for just a couple of hours. Before this year, if I had an opportunity to ski, it would be from the open of the lift til about 4 pm. I suppose I'm spoiled, having such convenient access to the mountain. Like today, did some remote work, then decided I wanted to see what the mountain was like. Rushed out, found some parking, skied 4 runs and done.

Still taking Tai Chi classes... no real progression other than memorizing patterns and movements. I'm supposed to be using energy from my body rather than my arms... I don't quite get it... how am I supposed to push with energy from my body through my hands? It's a mystery to me. It's worse when he says to focus and imagine your hand moving towards a persons stomach... it just complicates things for me. Eh... well I'll go through the motion and hope it comes around.

As for my next adventure, it pops in and out of my mind. Anchorage seems to be the most prominent vision... I'm not sure why... something about experiencing 20 hours of light in the summer and 20 hours of darkness in the winter.... it just seems interesting. Plus in Anchorage, I'm never to far from nature. Even here in the mountains, it's a bit too remote... and I still haven't hiked yet. I considered Vegas but those who know me, know that's a bad choice. I don't quite have the confidence yet to go outside the U.S. I would really need someone to invite me first... or go to Canada cause I'll be close enough to the U.S... but who wants to go there. I might if I drive to Anchorage.... 60 hours!!! 

Passing moments

Earlier today I was on the bus from the Beaver Creek Village down to the Elk Lot, where my mini had been patiently waiting for half the day. It's often a packed sardine can around 4 p.m. as skiiers and boarders, locals and tourists alike, fill every void possible, not wanting to wait for the next bus down to the lots. It's filled with random banter about people's vacations, other ski areas, crazy stunts that highlighted the day...  bragging or lying about 20 ft cliff drops, foreign park slang... kids staring around... a mother telling her daughter to watch her massively large backpack so she doesn't bump into anyone... confusion of what lot someone parked in...

I've gotten comfortable with it but some reason, this ride was different. I found myself, rather than complacently amused, my mind randomly firing... shut up, shut up, no one cares, keep it to yourself. Instead of an interesting story from one friend to another, I see one friend so desperate for attention and seeking the other's approval. A child's curiosity and ignorance becomes a personal annoyance. Some girls' debate of where to go out tonight... well does it matter so much... or are you so indecisive that you need to spend that long discussing it? The general mood was set.... people don't care enough about anything and their lives are filled with trivial details of entertainment.

Later (now), I relook at this... my introspective psycho babble is no better.... if any of them were to hear my rants and raves, I would understand their perspective of it being so trivial... that I should be concerned with what's in front of me, rather than some analytical ill-logic attempt to justify and rationalize my own actions and thoughts. Perhaps that's the wrong realization. I should move to a lighter view... that those things are important to them. Still... I can't imagine or understand why they would be important to them. It seems like such nonsense. I guess it's better to care about trivial things than nothing at all... not in my mind though. I suppose I'm just narrow minded... how about focused... that sounds much better... either way you look at it... it's all the same. There's some of my focused-ness again.

Life is good

I'd like to take a moment to be thankful. It's been on my mind recently. I was sitting at Starbucks today, after skiing for 3 hours at Beaver Creek, ready to do some work remotely for the physical therapy office in Hawaii, PERCH, and it just came to me... I got it pretty good right now! I have a more than comfortable place to stay, some work to keep me a float, and what struck me as grand was.... as I said, I was in a Starbucks, at the base of the mountain, casually doing work after skiing a bit... it's not something that many people have... and I'll take it. I'm surrounded by fresh air, people to chat with, and in a moments notice, I could grab my skis or board and hit the slopes. Pretty sweet!


I'm grateful for what my parents gave me... freedom. I have this opportunity to see this world as long as I have the drive to do so. Many of us can the same though some are bounded by other freedoms. A bit ironic. My parents have always given me that and let me find my own way. The direction I took was out of the box but nonetheless accepted. I think at times, I'm so selfish for living the way I do. I don't know how I can give anything back to them. I hope that me being happy is enough but question it at times.

Thank you Mom and Dad. Love you!

Tai Chi - First Full Session

So I've decided to part take in a 2 times a week, 8 week series of Tai Chi courses. You can read my initial thoughts on it as I dropped in for the last 45 minutes of last weeks session. It's a few posts below.

So my teacher is Terrill Sumara and have 5 other classmates, 4 of whom I met last time. So we started with some exercises just to loosen up your body. Everything is a rotation of a joint or serious of joints. Quite honestly, they didn't feel comfortable. My knee doesn't need to move that way so as opposed to Terrill's smooth and controlled movements, mine suffered from Parkinson's. Some wrist and arms movements showed me yet again, that my arms are not accustom to moving in that manner. We also did some breathing exercises. The idea is to have your breathe controlled and flowing with the motion of your body. From what I can see, that's the essence of it. To have everything controlled yet relaxed and fluid.

After that we went onto some exercises with a partner. Terrill spoke of bows and their natural strength and flexibility over being linear and rigid. It makes sense. I though of how a sphere is stronger then a box and he went into explaining the dissipation of tension and energy when your body is bowed in certain ways. He showed me the difference as a partook in various stances and showed me how easily he could push me in one stance vs the other. Then onto practicing the 2 basic stances: empty stance and bow stance. They are very particular and even after being broken down, the movements are a handful. Such a simple thing has very fine intricacies and once again unnatural to me. I hope that it becomes second nature one day. It was a good start and glad I'm starting at the beginning of an 8 week session. Jumping in like last time would have proven more difficult.

On another note, I ate so much snow today trying to board though I'm glad I'm progressing. Last week when I went boarding, I realized that I couldn't always turn from toe to heel. I wasn't quite sure what it was but knew it was a combination of posture and more importantly my mind. I wasn't letting the board do it's job and transition. I was afraid of letting go of that edge and ended up turning uphill til I just stopped. Now I trust my board, let it slide a bit and transition to my heel. I did find myself taking so nasty spills today, flipping over at times, or crashing on my back, sliding down 15 plus feet until I finally stopped. My ass is sore. I'm breaking too much on my heel! There are these patches of snow I hit and just lose it. I realized I gotta carve right through them which made me realize I'm not finishing my turns. It's an abrupt motion to get to the edge of my board to slow down. I'll figure it out... and if I can't, time to get a lesson. For now, I'll rest up my body and just ski.