Busy Busy

I work in a ski town, and February kind of explodes for all of us. February is the month where everyone decides the snow has been around long enough and they can finally go skiing. I work at the mountain from 11:30 until 8pm. This generally speaking, give me the morning to do whatever chores I need to do and then I get to work. Lately however I've been working at a bed and breakfast as a waitress as well.

I worked at this place one summer mostly working wedding parties serving breakfast and doing housekeeping, as well as the occasional busing routine at the wedding. During this time between my junior and senior year of college I made enough in one summer that I didn't have to take out a private loan to pay my rent senior year.

When I'm in the area again I give them a call, it's not like it was when I could work there full time but the owner of the place does keep it in mind for someone to fill work breakfast. It works pretty well for me to serve breakfast and then go to my next job, it makes for a long day but it's a little extra money in my pocket. Usually I can buy groceries for the week with my tip money. This year I'm looking at this money as a trip to San Francisco.

However, during the Presidents vacation week the entire town blows up. Forget being able to get from Point A to Point B, get gas, get a dinner reservation, ski, or get a drink at the bar. I'm not complaining about this at all, I can do all these thing again when everyone leaves to go home, after spending lots of $$ in the area. This also means I work ALL THE TIME. 7am until 8pm. Next week is going to be crazy, but I'm glad for it. I'm looking forward to a nap next Friday.

Hiking

I love to hike, its is probably my favorite activity of all time. I also realized that I've been hiking in quite a few places. I now have made it a goal to try to go hiking to every state/ country I visit, even if it's only for a mile.

Here are the places I've already gone:

Vermont

This picture was taken just after returning from Benin. It's at Little Rock Pond near to where I grew up. 

Wyoming and Montana

I led backpacking trips in and out of Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Park one summer. This picture is taken at the lower saddle of the Grand Teton. I had pretty bad altitude sickness that day. 

Burkina Faso, Niger, Benin 

Park W

My fellow Peace Corps volunteers and I along with local guides took children on safari in the park and hiked through the three countries it is located in.  

Wyoming

This picture was taken at Heart Lake, beautiful spot but FULL of mosquitoes.

California

This was taken at Joshua Tree National Park. Absolutely stunning place. I really fell in love with Joshua Tree. Backpacking is really the way to go, the stars are unforgettable! 

New Hampshire 

I've been on many hikes in New Hampshire, but this was one of my favorites, hiking up Mt. Moat with my Wilderness First Responder friends! 

Alaska 

I was in Skagway for a time and this was taken at Lower Dewey Lake, a 3 mile round trip hike that is straight up hill, but well worth the hike. 

North Carolina

This was taken on my birthday last year we hiked at the Pisgah National Forest. What a great way to spend a birthday! 

I've also been hiking in New York, Maine, and Florida. 

Catfish

I've recently gotten into watching the show Catfish its about people who have built connections and relationships online, and the show is a documentary about people meeting their online 'loves'.

Have you ever met anyone online or known anyone who has met someone in life they met online? I bet you do.

I know many people who have met friends, significant others and those they would choose to forget online. Emotions don't have to be face to face. If someone feels strongly about someone, who is to say that it isn't real? Just because something starts online, or even stays there, doesn't mean that the connections are any more or less important.

I personally have never met anyone that I've come in contact with only online. I used to think that it was dangerous, after all what types of people are online looking for emotional connections with other people? My original thoughts were the 'online' people were desperate and only interested in taking advantage of others. One by one many of my sane friends and family went online to look for dates. At first I was afraid for them. I then learned that 'online' people are in fact, real people somewhere. My friends and family were dating people they'd met online. These were real people, with real emotions and real interests. I have found that many people I know who use online dating sites to be very happy with the results. They find people who make them feel good.

To say that online dating is without problems is to say that life is without problems. There are those you meet online, just as in life who aren't worth while who are only out to take advantage of you. The more trust that is built in a relationship the harder it is to find out the truth.

Catfish explores the darker side, when people lie online. When someone lies to your face, it's easier to tell, it's easier to pick up on body language. When someone lies to you in a text message it's much harder to extract the truth. This is my fear for my loved ones who date online, that the person they think they have feeling for is hiding something from them. This person who they think they love isn't real, giving them a half truth. While one could argue that this same behavior happens in reality I still think it's much easier to get away with it online. People lie all the time, men pretend to be women, women pretend to be men, people cheat on each other, use each other, take advantage of each other. I can't think of one person I know who hasn't been hurt by another person they trusted.

My point isn't to single out those who use online dating, because it does work. Do you meet jackasses? Yes. But there are still jackasses just walking around in real life who you also could have met. Don't you get your hopes too high and build a relationship based around technology. The people I see in Catfish who are hurt in the end are those who don't meet their crushes, and put too much stock in the technology that holds them together rather than a friendship that doesn't hide behind a phone.

Best Day Ever

I'd like to tell you all about the best day ever.

Here's a little background information. So you all know that I recently broke up with someone well the icing on the cake that is when we broke up I realized that I had about $500 worth of outdoor gear stored at his house. So I asked him to ship it, he agreed. Well when it came time to put the box in the mail lets just say that funds on his end ran short and he sent me a text which started off with 'since I was nice enough to let you store your things at my house'. Talked about how it wasn't his responsibility... blah blah blah. You all get the picture. Frankly, he was right, it's not his responsibility. My shit, my responsibility. BUT.... since you were nice enough to let me store stuff at your house (what?! we were together, you have a two bedroom house, I have a two door car... I'm having a hard time finding where it was such an problem but whatever.) So I offered to send money or go and get it. You guessed it, I had to go and get it.

And so that's how the best day ever started out. With a 3 hour car ride to get my stuff.

When I got there he politely asked how I was, to which I responded in very gruff fashion 'FINE!' Clearly I wasn't fine but if I had said 'I'm really feeling stressed and awkward right now and I don't really want to see you because seeing you and being here makes me feel uncomfortable' I have the feeling that would have just opened doors for more conversation, which I wasn't up for. And it's always easier to believe you will have more composure when times like this happen, apparently I overestimated myself. So I was there a grand total of about 7 minutes. I dropped off some tupperware and a coffee mug that he had let me borrow. The most amount of communicating I did was with his dog, Lupin who I do really miss. She's a sweetheart.

Next driving another 3 hours to my cousin Nathans house in Vermont. I got to stew about how terribly rude I was and how things could have gone SO MUCH BETTER if I was able to keep some level of sanity, the entire ride was like this.

Upon arrival at my cousins I notice there is a horrible smell coming from... somewhere. It's the unmistakable smell of dog poop. I check my shoes... nothing. I was really hoping that's where it was because if it wasn't it meant that the smell was coming from somewhere in the house. There are two dogs living here, Zeus the boston terrier and Apollo the lab/ golden mix. It wasn't a total surprise if I found dog poop on the floor. The dogs are crated during the day and so I could hear them getting excited upstairs, but I was on the lookout for dog poop. They were just going to have to wait. No dog poop was found. Then I went upstairs and the smell was worse up there. I found where the smell was coming from, the crate. Apollo had diarrhea and it was all over BOTH dogs. This was going to be bad.

I knew that they both had to go out immediately and then they were going to both need baths. There was nothing else I could do but open up the crate both dogs came bursting out and like all dogs that are covered in shit they jumped on me. Awesome. Now I have shitty pants. I put them both out and made sure that they were very well done with any business I was also hoping the snow would clean off their paws. Then one at a time, Zeus first, they got baths. Zues is very good in the bath. Apollo on the other hand isn't. I had to lift him into the tub consequently getting poop pretty much on all the parts of my jeans that didn't already have dog poop on them. Zeus also came in the bathroom while Apollo was being washed and just watched. His little dog expression was one of empathy for his brother, as if he were there for moral support. Both dogs left the bath much cleaner.

I also put more wood on the stove so that they could be warm while they dried off.

I then cleaned up the crate as best as I could. An entire roll of paper towels later and lots of simple green I felt I could leave the rest for my cousin. The whole crate really needs to be taken apart and scrubbed, which I really don't know how to do, nor do I want to do it.

I then took off my dog poop pants and got into some pj's, I had brought my laundry and was hoping to wash them but it wasn't that important to wash the pj pants.

Then after not a whole lot of convincing my cousin Abbie came over and with her ukulele we sang some songs about my already terrible day. I cracked my first beer as this was my plan all along to get a little inebriated to drown my stress.

I then decided that the kettle on the stove needed some water. So I took it and began to fill it up, well like a moron I forgot that adding water to a hot kettle only just makes it steam for a little while. Now I have two steam burned fingers on my right hand. The worst has a nice blister on it. That smarted.

My cousin Nathan came in and offered to put my dog poop jeans in with his work pants.

I cracked a bunch more beers and opened my mail and realized that I have been summoned for jury duty. Awesome.

I also realized I got a new phone from verizon, sweet.

I then went to bed and my fuzzy head was asleep before it even hit the pillow.

I woke up today and the smell of dog pee was all I could smell, I found where it was coming from, my pillow. So I took a shower because my hair reeked of dog pee.

After watching some Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory I decided it was time to leave and gave my cousins a hug and pet the peeing and pooping dogs on the head.

Upon entering the car I saw a bag with my ex's coffee mug, tupperware and a jar. The bag I thought I had left at his place. But nope, I left an entirely different bag at his house, full of tupperware. Frankly, he wins, the bag full of tupperware more than replaces what he had lent me. So if he ever reads this, I have your coffee mug still but keep reading and I'll keep it for the treatment of my things.

When I got home and was unloading the box that I had retrieved from my ex's house I realized that the box had gotten wet. He didn't do anything about it, or notice it. Consequently, my bedding that was inside the cardboard box is full of mold and is probably stained for life.

Best day and half ever. Not so sure I can take much more of this good luck.

Fire and Earth

I'm an April baby, born on the cusp of Taurus and Aries. So astrologically speaking, I'm a little torn. Here is what I found online as a small description of us cusp birthdays:

They enjoy challenges of all kinds, whether it is in business, sports or intellectual areas. They play as hard as they work. They are known to be flirtatious, bold, opinionated, strong, quiet, talented, sensitive, humorous, money-oriented, eloquent, dependable, practical, patient, aggressive, helpful, aloof, stubborn, jealous, moody, fickle, over-sensitive, quarrelsome and changeable. Quite a handful, aren't they?

Thank you alwaysastrology.com for that assessment.

Also Taurus is practical and well grounded while Aries is impulsive and aggressive. Where am I going with this you might ask. 'where are you going with this?' I've recently done a few impulsive things lately. Such as, buying new clothes (not something I do), drinking most of a bottle of wine by myself, and the biggest thing, buying a plane ticket to San Francisco to visit my friend. I had been trying to plan a time to go visit Sarah and I was talking with her one night and realized that my financial situation isn't so dire and that I could just book a ticket to see her. So in a matter of an hour and half I went from 'I can't come' to booking a ticket.

April is a slow month for me. I stop working at the mountain because it closes, and I don't start work until the end of the month. So I have this time on my hands. Normally, I'm so busy with work without the choice of getting some time off that I don't get to plan anything. I figured that instead of wallowing at my Aunts house and watching billions of movies all April I could instead travel. Carpe Diem. My April is shaping up quite nicely, going to North Carolina to visit my brother and future sister in law/ best friend, then directly on to San Fran to visit Sarah and then from there I go home and go to camp for my birthday, then I start work again in New Hampshire. A whirl-wind of a month but I can't think of a better way to spend it than visiting family and friends.

Cooking

I consider myself a pretty good cook. My brother has said that I'm a mix of my mom and dad when I cook. If I'm making a meal, I don't follow a recipe. I look at a few and kind of do what I feel might be best. I add this, take this away, taste, add what it tells me it needs. My dad has an uncanny ability to throw a bunch of stuff in a pan or pot and make it taste delicious. It was always an exciting night when we had 'goop'. My mom is a better baker and can follow a recipe. She made all our bread growing up and I've become a bread snob because of it. When I make pizza I make the crust too, my cinnamon rolls have fixed seemingly unfixable social situations and my bread has made a grown man cry (no I'm not joking).

But one food continues to make me shake my fist at the sky, pancakes. Yes, I know, pancakes aren't hard to make. It's the cooking process is where I always go wrong. I overcook, undercook, don't wait for the pan to get hot enough, everything wrong you could do to make you mess up a pancake, I've done it. I'm a much better back country pancake maker. It's not because things taste better in the back country, which they do, maybe it's because I'm not trying to make coffee, fiddle with the radio, and taking vitamins at the same time. It's also not like my mom never taught me how to make pancakes, I've made them with her dozens of times. So this is my new years resolution, I know it's late, to be a better pancake maker. I know, I am aim high. I'm not going for awesome, just average would be OK. To make pancakes not to be embarrassed of.

Skiing is Meditation

Today was my first real day of skiing. I say that it was the first real day because I went on the Friday before New Years and I didn't count it. I had to work, the lines were long and there were so many people I felt I playing dodge-the-tourist, instead of skiing. Last time I went it was a very intense stressful game of frogger, this time it was that nice therapeutic, meditative, speed which I love.

Skiing is comforting to me. My cousin once said that it's the only time he's ever seen me be graceful. Which is probably true. I'm not a graceful person. In fact, my life seems to be a series of mistakes and trip ups rather than some sort of higher calling. Maybe that's why today I felt 100 times better after being out on the hill. I needed to shut my mind off and just go. I think it speaks pretty loudly when I come back from spending time on my skis that I always feel the need to write about it, to share how I feel with the rest of the world.

Some might not understand how attaching two planks to your feet and careening down a frozen mountain is relaxing, but it is. Trust me. Perhaps it's because I began learning when I was 6 years old. If you watch an adult ski lesson versus and small childs ski lesson there are vast differences. 1st the adult doesn't want to mess up and almost tries too hard. A child on the other hand isn't afriad to make mistakes, to go a little out of control, to leave their comfort zone. An adult might say 'oh the kid just doesn't know how dangerous skiing can be, and isn't rightfully afraid.' I taught for three years, never once having an injured child in one of my lessons. In fact, I was the only one who has ever gotten seriously injured as a ski instructor where I work and I wasn't even teaching a lesson, I was skiing from one school to another. The worst thing that happens is a skier starts going down the hill out of control, and then sits. Seriously, the worst thing that happens to beginner skiers is a wet butt.

Once someone learns how to ski or ride it becomes second nature. There is less thought that goes into 'what should I do now' your body just responds to the situation. This is where the relaxing piece comes in. Your brain stops thinking in words and starts thinking in motion and action. Even now as I'm thinking to myself I'm thinking in words instead of feelings or emotions. It's nice to get back in touch with the part of your brain that doesn't think in just words. Skiing does this for me, every time.