life in general- continued from "life as I've seen it"

Added Saturday 10-30-2010

I remember learning to snow ski in a park with rental gear. My mom, older bro and sis were all there and it was fun. We went to MT Spokane for our first day on a mtn. I think my brother and I ditched out on lessons. They were just too slow and we were good. Good enough anyway. I switched to snowboarding in jr high as I started going to the mtn with my friend Dave. To say that we went often, would be an understatement. We had season passes most years and put them to good use. So much that the lift operators all knew us. We were also fast enough that on some lifts they would time us coming down. Those were the day, right up until that fateful day. It was at golf course of all places when I destroyed my knee. The drop from the second tee box to the fairway is about 50 feet and flat at the bottom. You get the picture, and if not, try jumping from the 5th floor of the nearest building. No, not really I wouldn’t recommend that.

When it wasn’t ski season I was outside doing something. I shot hoops for hours and then learned to rock-climb. Or rather learned to use ropes and climb harder stuff safely. I was hooked immediately. I started climbing 5-6 days a week among my other hobbies. A typical day may have looked something like this. With an early start for weight training at 6am, finish class about 1130 then ride my mtn bike to the climbing area. Which also happened to be, a fun riding spot. Ditch the climbing gear ride to the top and fly back down. A round or two of that before I set a rope up and wait for Ken to arrive. We’d climb til our arms hurt and then part ways. At which point I would I would ride one of two directions. West to downtown if I had to work or there was a pool tourney or E to my dads house where the river and ski boated waited. If I went skiing I would normally end up playing pool after anyhow. So we’ll go that way. Work was 6-midnight or 2 am normally. Pool nights I was usually out til 3as they closed around 2 and we often went for food after. On some nights we would go bowling and on those nights and late work nights I’d be up til 430ish. Then back to school by 6. Saturdays, oh gosh, Saturdays were hard. About 3 a month I had to work long shifts. This meant starting at7am and going til close. This was anywhere from midnight to 4am again. Needless to say, I didn’t sleep much, except in chemistry class.

Throw in golf, wrestling, football, shooting, hunting and all the other stuff I mentioned earlier and this was me. Rather what I did, all the time. I have in the last couple years eliminated several hobbies/activities and may be knocking a couple more off my list soon as well.

Enough of this randomness….