I went to the Canyons today to ski. They did block my pass after all, but the ticket checker just waved me up. I was going to argue with HR about it but won’t bother, because I’m not going back: One day of rain was all it took to ruin the base completely. The south side of every mountain I saw showed dirt. It’s end-of-season conditions, not just spring-conditions. It was snowing on the hill today but the flurries lasted for literally just a few minutes at a time.
Today I skied from Super Condor lift to find runs I haven’t done yet. I skied Canis Lupis, perhaps the most challenging natural half-pipe, and saw the root systems of the trees sticking out of the sides of the half-pipe. There wasn’t much room for me to play around in there and I just bounced along on the rollers. After that I tried Condor Woods, which I’d been afraid to go on before, because the gate seems to lead to nothing but an impenetrably thick wood. It is pretty thick and challenging, but I was all right if I kept a speed that demanded I ski on instinct. The problem was, whenever I stopped I was afraid to get moving again. From the depth and signs of the snow, it looked like it had been good powder in Condor Woods at some point in the past. There is no word for how bad it is now. It’s heavy crunchy stuff on a base of cold hardpack and dirt. I really only did a couple of runs, and then I took Golden Eagle chair up to return home through Silverado. I didn’t think I’d have time to get over to 9990 and see if it was any better. Whenever I could use moguls, that was fine because I could control my speed with them: they demand mainly quick rotary movement. My edges were so dull they had no grip at all on steep hardpack, and my first run of the day had me sliding straight down the hill through each turn. I kept to moguls where I could find them. The bottom of Silverado bowl was strange: I expected it to be uncovered hardpack like the top, but instead it had something on it with the consistency of sand. Turns through that substance were slow and demanded effort. I didn’t fall today because it could have hurt if I had.
I collected my payroll record to prove to PSIA the hours that I’ve worked, and they directed me to HR to cancel my direct deposit; wouldn’t you know they hadn’t done that yet. While I was there I began to fill out a feedback form but they didn’t want one from me ‘cause I'm no longer employed. That sort of stupidity is one of the reasons I’m not coming back to work here, and why they really need my feedback. I also picked up a copy of my performance review that details what the numbers are supposed to mean.
Josh was in the locker room tired after snowboarding all day on that crap. I asked to hitch a ride home and bring back all my gear. He and Vanessa were going up to Smokie’s so I joined them for an early dinner. I had another buffalo burger. Just so you won’t risk eating anything healthy or low in fat, they put cheese and bacon on that.
When I returned I discovered our new roommate Zeke had brought a Wii Fit (a special accessory for a video game console), a pot roast, and still more beer. The pot roast was delicious: he insisted I eat some of the beef.
Today was Scott’s birthday, so some liftie friends of his that live nearby threw him a party at their house. Craig was there, which may be why none of the other roommates wanted to go. I went with Scott and his friends though he didn’t seem sure of where he was going. We found the place after a long walk. It was a nice enough party, and the house is great, like ours but with lots more doors. I played several games of foosball in the less crowded downstairs living room. It got smoky soon, and I don’t like crowded house parties, so I left early after one nasty can of beer and a shot or two of tequila. They were rolling a cage of bingo numbers to randomly call out who got to take a shot of tequila. My number was “2” and I was one of the first called. When I left people protested that it was too early and I should stay, but I made an excuse about having to do stuff before I leave here soon.
Back home the guys were playing with the new Wii Fit toy, and invited me to join in on that so we played with it for much of the night. That thing takes itself really seriously: it is just a set of four scales arranged in a square to measure your balance, but it thinks it’s a personal trainer that will completely revolutionize your health. Josh says it really can do that and fatties lose lots of weight playing it. The first thing it does is weigh you and check your balance, and assign you an “age” based on your real age and your performance in its tests. If it’s more than your real age, you’re not as healthy as you could be. It said my body-mass-index was almost exactly 22, which it considers perfect, and my balance was dead-center... It said I’m 23 years old. Josh and Zeke were both told they were about 15 years older than their real age, and when they did the balance tests the Wii asked them if they trip a lot. That thing is a jerk. After playing it for a few hours I tried the test again when I was tired and my balance was so off that it said I’d aged to 40. The others were delighted to have someone older than them: Zeke’s really 23 but the thing consistently said he was 39.
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