A humbling day

Well today knocked me off my pedestal. I mean, I wasn't really on one to begin with, but I thought that maybe I could make it to half pipe and slope finals at least. I thought I had some skills.

After watching the girls out here during pipe practice I realized I'd be lucky to make Top 15. I got super discouraged after my first practice run. I couldn't even get to the top of the walls. I was able to air out every hit when I went to Mammoth so I kinda freaked out. Why could I not even see above the walls now? I was super bummed and rode like crap all morning.

It's hard doing a contest like Rev for the first time and not having a coach there for support. I called Austen, my mom, and Eric and talked to them all for a bit, which really really helped. They all told me the same thing "do it for you, don't think of it as competing against the other girls". We all know I'm new to this and don't have as much experience or skills as the other girls so really all I can do is my best.

After talking to them I went back out with a new attitude and my riding improved right away. Still not going as big as the other girls though. I just have to remember that snowboarding is fun, and as far as competing goes, I'm a newbie.

I hate losing. All I want to do is win. But I obviously have a couple of years of hard training until I'm there. I've gotta be tough, work hard, and not forget that I started all this because of my passion.

Colorado, I'm coming for ya

Wow, I can't believe Rev Tour is already here. My flight to Denver is tomorrow and I'm in the process of making sure I'm getting everything I need packed into my board bag.

I thought I'd feel really unprepared but I actually don't feel too bad. I'm kind of excited. I was feeling awesome on the jump line at Northstar today (btw, I got banned from Northstar today and then reallowed in the period of an hour), and now I don't feel so scared of Slopestyle. I can't wait to see what the slopestyle course is going to be- How big will the jumps be? How many? What type of rails? And of course I can't wait to ride pipe again!

I'm not expecting to place at the top, but hopefully I'll make it to finals for both events, and then maybe by the Northstar and Vermont Rev stops I'll have a shot at winning some money.

I'm just going to ride the best I can and have fun. See you tomorrow Co!

New pants

Action hooked it up today with some sweet Volcom pants and Van's "Spicoli" sunglasses. I'm stoked to have pants that have liners in them and don't have a huge hole in the butt. I'm gonna be looking freshhh at Copper. Yeah! The quality of my old Volcom pants was pretty low but I feel like these ones are gonna hold up a lot better. I think Volcom makes their low end gear pretty poorly, and their high end gear good, so I should be set. Anyways, just wanted to thank Fritz and Action Sports, San Carlos. You rock!

Good feelings

Yesterday I met up with Josh Fricke and a couple of the HEY! Crew guys at Northstar. I didn't get out there until the afternoon because of my last final, but I was still able to get two couple runs filmed. Last time Josh filmed me he got a sweet shot of me gapping an up-down box to my rib cage. This time I managed to stay on my feet.

I'm really excited about one trick I got. I'm always scared of spinning real jumps but it hit me yesterday that I'm going to have to actually spin good sized jumps at Rev Tour in Copper next week. The biggest jump at Northstar right now is only 15-20ft but on Tuesday I spun a five to the deck (wasn't even CLOSE to the knuckle) so I've been kind of worried about spinning it since then. But since Josh was filming yesterday I figured I'd go fast, try to be mellow and just three. I ended up bringing it around to 5 (because I can't control my rotations) and rode away. It was super clean and the shot looked pretty good. I was just totally stoked that it worked out because I've never 5ed something that size before. The feeling of getting something new was so awesome. Just pure joy. It was one of those "This is the reason I snowboard" moments. It just felt so good.

Getting that also helped me out a lot mentally because now I know I'm capable of spinning real jumps, I just have to trust myself enough to do it. I've been nervous about Rev but I think I've got it in me to do well. I want to ride the best I can but my mind always holds me back. I think I'll be able to get past it now though. I'm feeling good.

I'm back in the bay now but I can't wait to get back to Tahoe and ride with my new confidence. I love snowboarding. I love everything about it. I'll be holding my breath till I'm on the hill again.

Novembrrrrrr cont.

A couple posts ago I said "This month has been pretty fucking awesome so far." I'm following that statement up with "This month is still fucking awesome."

I just had another incredible weekend and its starting to seem like the month of November can do no wrong.

Jaegs Mckegs and I in dirty Reno

On Wednesday Mitch came up to Reno to pick up his car and brought Jaeger and Spiegel with him. I was riding Boreal that night but once they closed, I headed out to Reno to meet the guys. I first went into some random club inside the Circus Circus/El Dorado/Silver Legacy complex while I waited for the guys. Some random dudes in the bar bought me drinks, I gave out fake numbers and then left as soon as Jaeger called me. The rest of the night disappeared in a blur of alcohol and bright lights. A small portion of the night was preserved when Nicola started video messaging me and Jaeger and I sent videos back. I think around 2am we made it to the Nugget and split an Awful Awful. Soo good. I think from there we went back to the hotel, partied more, and went to sleep when the sun started coming back out.

Stocking up for the year.

I planned on stopping at Boreal the next morning on the way home to ride a bit but that didn't happen. I was physically incapable of getting out of bed so I didn't leave Reno until around noon. I headed straight to San Francisco and made it to my aunt's house in time for Thanksgiving Dinner. Dinner was awesome. I ate until I thought I was going to puke. Then I went to Walmart with my mom for their 10pm Black Friday event. That was ridiculous. I'm never going there for Black Friday again. The line went around the entire building in a maze pattern. My mom and I were just going to leave but apparently I'm Walmart VIP and one of the security guards asked me if I wanted to go into the store and then let me through the metal gates and in the store without having to wait in the line. Inside Walmart was frightening. There were people running, pushing, and climbing over each other. You know those end of the world movies were people are running around and raiding stores? It was like that. Oh and if there was a fire in that building EVERY SINGLE PERSON WOULD HAVE FUCKING DIED. We ended up leaving without buying anything because it was so ridiculous in there.

First face bleeding sesh of the season. Nice.

Friday morning my mom woke me up at 5:30 to go Black Friday shopping with her. I was so tired but I ended up getting a couple cute things. I left around 1 to drive back to Tahoe. I made it to Boreal around 5:15 and was about to ride when I lost my keys somewhere between my car and the lodge. I had to wait an hour for AAA to come open my car so I could get my stuff. While I waited some gapers parked next to me gave me beer and food so that was nice. I finally made it onto the hill at like 6:45 and was having a pretty good time riding. Then a skier snaked me a couple feet before a rail but I still wanted to hit it so I did. He was so close that I would have landed on his skis so I while I planned to just 50-50 (my only rail trick), I had to front board the rail. I held it for most of the rail until I fell off and landed on my face. That was a bummer. I bled a lot but kept riding. A couple hours later I was starting to feel nauseous so I called it a night.

I woke up at 5am on Saturday morning and drove down to Mammoth. I had the worst time ever trying to park. I ended up 2 miles away. When I finally got off the chair for my first run I found out that I was missing my toe strap and my binding was barely attached. So I did a pipe run with my back foot not really even secured to my board. That was cool. Not. I went and bought a new strap and went back out. I met up with Jaeger, Mitch, and a couple of the other Bataleon guys and rode with them for a while. They dipped and I stayed until like 3. Finally my body started hurting so I went back to town and picked Jaeger up. We found a hotel and the owner made us promise we weren't going to throw a party. We went over to some guy's house for dinner and then brought everyone back to the hotel to party. Duh. We played fun games, got drunk, and then got the owner of the hotel pissed. Party broken, I crashed.

Mmmmm Sushi and sake bombs. <3

5am Sunday morning I'm up. I meant to leave Mammoth at 5:30 but couldn't get out of cuddle mode until 6:30. Give a girl a break. When I finally got out of the hotel, I pointed back to Incline. I made it back home at like 9:15 and then left for Northstar with Nicola. I had an awesome time riding there. I met up with Shannon and rode with her and a couple dudes for a little while. They had to leave around midday but I stayed to ride more. That evening Nicola and I went to sushi with a fun group for Dave's birthday. I think after 7 sake bombs we went back to his house and partied there. The night drowned in beer pong and celebration shots and at some point we went to sleep.

Nicola and I did the 7am wake up and dip-out maneuver, sent it back to Incline, and then went back to the real world. School for me, snowboarding for her. It was a solid weekend I think. Here's to next weekend!

Thanksgiving

I try to remember to be thankful for everything, everyday, but when Thanksgiving comes around it brings all those things to mind at once and I realize just how many lucky stars I have to count.  Last year I made a post on Thanksgiving about the things I was thankful for and I wanted to do it again this year but didn't have time to do it before the holiday so here it is now:


I'm thankful that I have found my passion in life and don't have to wander aimlessly looking for something to love.

I'm thankful for my good friends, like Nicola and Liz, because I haven't had very many really good friends in my life and it's awesome to finally have people to gossip, laugh, and share secrets with.


I'm so thankful for my parents and everything they've done to support me over the years. Not everyone has parents who support them like mine do and it's taken some time, but I now realize how fortunate I am.



I'm thankful that when things go wrong in my life they eventually work themselves out.


I'm thankful for the understanding of myself I've developed recently and the clear vision it's given me on my life.

I'm thankful for the adventure in my heart. Because of this my life will never be boring.


I'm thankful for all the opportunities there are in the world and how so many are just waiting to be found and seized.

I'm thankful I haven't had any injuries that would require surgery.


I'm thankful to be able to see the magic in every day life.


I'm thankful for the opportunity to be on the Sierra Nevada College snowboard team and all the support the team is giving me.




And I'm thankful for so many other things as well.

Novembrrrr

Getting right to the point- This month has been pretty fucking awesome so far.

Nicola and I killing it in Truckee

1. Nicola Barry moved into my house. She's the best.  Nicola is so awesome to live with and its fun to not be alone in my house for the month. We make pretty awesome dinners and go snowboarding almost every day together. Which brings me to awesome point 2.

Classic "Girls on Chair lift" photo

Front 3. © 2011 Ben Birk, All Rights Reserved

2. Boreal is open 7 days a week now. I've gotten 6 days there so far (school is sooo in the way of me having fun). I've learned some cool tricks that I'm pretty stoked about and finally have a picture of myself, thanks to Mr. Ben Birk. I've also discovered I really like gaping boxes. And doing MJs. Another discovery is that I ride 8x better when I listen to Gucci Mane radio. It's funny riding Boreal right now because it makes me think back to this time last year when there were only like two features I'd hit in the whole park run. I'm so happy and grateful that I'm at the point now where I'm not scared of hitting any of the features they have. It makes snowboarding even more fun, if that is even possible.

3. I entered Rome's Magic Shred Contest and won myself a new board. My new Detail Rocker should be arriving any day now and I'm so stoked to get on that baby. You can see the contest here. I'm a little nervous about riding a rocker board but I'm down to try anything once I guess. It's coming just in time too because my Roxy is about to be no bueno. I got the edge drag going on and it's really harshing my mellow.

A little more snow please?

We're the three best friends that anyone could have.

4. Mammoth BWKO was the sickest fucking weekend ever. Ever. I headed down there after my thursday night soccer game (I scored my first goal!!!) and made it down to Mammoth just in time for some afterpartying at the Hyde Lounge. I met new people, saw some old friends, and drank a healthy amount of alcohol. I went with some guys to a party at someone's house and then crashed in some random hotel room. I made it out at 7am to go up to the mountain and get my ticket. I was told that the school was only going to buy me a one day ticket but it turned out to be a three day ticket, which made my weekend so much better. The weather on Friday was ridiculous, but I met some guys who taught me how to Miller Flip so the weather didn't even matter. I was so stoked to learn a new trick. Liz and Nicola came down with Armeen and two skier kids that night. We partied more at Lakanuki's and then went to Hyde Lounge where we were treated to even more free drinks. I met up with Jaeger at some point and gave him my wristband so he could get into Lakanuki's with us. We partied there until I don't know when, and then went up to the Bataleon condo right there in the village. I dipped out fairly early the next morning and rode with Nicola and Liz for the rest of the day. That night we met up with some guys we met while riding for drinks at Gomez's. Turns out our margaritas were paid for there as well, by Binky from Smokin (Thank you <3). We headed back to Lakanuki with the boys and Cody gave us free drink wristbands (Thanks to which ever company paid for our 50 red bull vodkas). Cha-ching. The rest of the night is a blur, with lots of details that I remember but would never share on the internet. Sorry ;]. Basically, we had a good time. Lots of drinking, lots of playing. I stayed in the Bataleon condo again that night and then next morning I set up my bindings up on Jaeger's old Disaster- luckily Jaeger rides the same size as me. We went out riding together and had an awesome time. I kept the board because I can't handle the edge drag I have on my Roxy right now. The Bataleon board rides super differently but it'll work out until my new Rome board shows up. Nicola, Liz, and I sent it back to Tahoe at 1:30, only making the mandatory In-N-Out stop. Liz had to go back home but Nicola and I went out to Boreal and rode there until the lifts stopped. Such a good weekend, with amazing memories, and amazing friends.

5. Northstar is opening in a couple days and I'll be there with Nicola, destroying the park like we always do. Haha. We locked our penguin slides in at Boreal on Sunday night so look out for our mad steeze. Jaeger is also going to come up and stay at my house for the weekend so that'll be fun.

This winter is already topping last years 100 fold. I can't wait for the rest of the season. So happy to be here. So happy to be snowboarding.

Back home/ Down Town Throw Down SF

When I left San Francisco last year it was so I could be in the snow and be surrounded by the snowboard community. This past weekend however, I traveled back home to go to the first ever San Francisco stop of Down Town Throw Down. Here's the recap:


On Thursday I finished school at 5:15 and started my journey down to the city. I was supposed to play in a soccer game in Incline at 8, but Lucas had called me earlier in the day to see if I was going to be at the Absinthe premier. I had planned on only going to the after party but I wanted to see the movie and see Lucas again so I bailed on the game and went straight to SF. (Sorry Team)

The Victoria Theater

I made it to San Francisco a little after 9pm and found a parking spot around the corner of the Victoria Theater. There was a "no parking from 6am-8am" sign posted so I made the mental note to get up and move my car in the morning. I already knew that there would be no way I would be able to drive my car that night. I walked to the Victoria and there was a pretty big line outside to get tickets. While I was in line, Lucas walked by and told me I was on the guest list. Stoked. Finally made it to the ticket window, got my free ticket and went inside.

Inside Lucas showed me where everyone was sitting and introduced me to David, JP, and Romain. We hung out and drank beer until the Absinthe movie started. Of course we yelled ridiculously loud for Lucas, and every other person who was there. At some point Romain, who was sitting behind me, pulled my hair back and put a beer in my mouth. He didn't stop when it started overflowing so naturally when he let go of me I turned around and spit all the beer back at him. That was probably the highlight of my night. Then came the product toss. One of the guys chucked a dvd at me. It hurt a little but hey, I got a movie. Then the YES movie played. Again, more screaming obscenities, drinking, and other activities went down. Both movies were super awesome. I'm not normally into the big mountain stuff, but the shots in these movies were legit and made me want to ride so badly. After YES there was a push up contest to win a board. I was the only girl in it. I made it to 50 push ups before my arms stopped working. Some guy made it to 69, pretty much cheating the whole time so I still consider myself the winner. Everyone left the theater except us and I picked up a box of stuff they never tossed. I only wanted a couple of the items but I figured I could give out all the rest on this website in another giveaway.

Lucas and I, classy as always

I went back to my car with Lucas and considered driving it to the after party at Delirium. We ended up just sitting in my car talking for a while before deciding to walk over to the party. I think by the time we got to Delirium I was fairly drunk. I don't remember too much besides a lot of sitting around and talking to people. At one point David and I went down the street and got some pizza. I'm not exactly sure when we left Delirium and went back to the hotel that the guys were staying at.

David, me, and Romain. Three drunk fucks in an elevator.

I think we stayed up at the hotel partying for a little bit longer. Don't know too much about that though. I do know I slept on the floor between JP and a wall. Living life in luxury. My alarm woke me up at 7am and I was like "shit! Taxi to the car time!" I convinced Romain, who was still drunk and 80% asleep to come with me. I was so worried about my car the entire time. When I set my alarm clock for 7 the night before I figured they wouldn't go around towing or giving tickets for the first hour. I was wrong. We got to the car and it had a $55 ticket in the window. Damn. Drove back to the hotel, paid to put my car in a garage and then went back to sleep. By the time we left the hotel and I picked my car up for the second time I had a $14 garage fee. The city is so fucking expensive.

Climbing stuff and causing trouble. Pretty Average.

I got out of the city and went to Mercy High School in Burlingame. By this point I had absolutely no voice, but I spent two hours or so visiting teachers and friends. The first thing almost every teacher (and some students) commented on was that my face looked normal again. The last time I had visited the school I had raccoon eyes from hell. Also, I apparently didn't have a voice last time I visited either so now everyone thinks I just loose my voice all the time. Which is so not true. After Mercy I went to San Carlos to Action so I could send my shop time. I always have to spend time in Action when I'm home. For one, I love Alex, my friend who works there, and I only see him when I go to Action. Secondly, the let me climb on things and wreck havoc throughout the shop. I like places that embrace my inner tsunami so Action is a good place for me. The next couple of hours were full of me skating around the shop, climbing stuff, rearranging merchandise, and pretending I worked there when customers were around. I left Action around dinner time and went home- 20 hours in the bay and I finally got to my house. That night I went to Mercy-Notre Dame- Serra's production of To Kill a Mockingbird.  And then it was bed time.

The champion of the day, Dylan Juggalito

The next morning I drove back to San Francisco for the Down Town Throw Down. I parked in front of a meter but all the change I had on me only got me an hour of parking. I ended up moving my car to a random little alley and gave the homeless sitting next to my car some food. DTTD was pretty cool. I ended up taking over 300 pictures of the action (which were a total bitch to go through). Dylan Alito shocked everyone with his juggalo costume, and wielded a battle axe the entire contest, earning him the nick-name Juggalito. Eventually he incorporated the axe into his tricks, like passing it from hand to hand around his body as he frontboarded the kink of the DFD box. My favorite trick I saw all day though was Ryan Paul's Frontboard to back rodeo off the pole jam. What?? That kid is nuts. Anyways, Dylan Alito won and the crowd dispersed. I spent the next couple hours wandering around the city with some Tahoe friends.

Rooftop of the Haight Party

Night rolled around and it was time for the after partying. I was at the party at the Jim Collins (or something) Club with everyone for a little while. I ended up in the green room and found some face paint. Sometime later Del the Funky Homosapian came in and I offered to paint his face. He wouldn't let me and I got bummed so I went back into the club. I ran into Sean a bit later and he swooped me off to a house party in lower Haight. The party was super weird. People had to buy tickets on livenation to get in, and there was a huge line outside the house that went down the block. There was security at the door that carded everyone too. Inside was probably at least 400 hipster kids. It was really weird. I wandered around for a while telling people how much I hated everyone there and then finally collected a couple bucks, a Swedish guy, and took a cab back to the DTTD party. I found my Tahoe friends, we ditched the Swed and did some more city wandering. A couple fights with strangers broke out to keep things interesting. I finally called it at some point and went back to my car to sleep.

The rest of the weekend is boring. I drove back home in the morning, went to Redwood City Ice Rink to watch my mom's production team in a competition, went back home, watched a TLC series about Gypsy weddings, and then went to dinner at the Cheese Cake Factory with my parents. Then I headed up to Truckee for some more partying. I left Truckee at 11:30, tried to drive to Incline but was way too tired. I slept in my car in the CBC parking lot until 1am, and finished the journey. Annnd that's pretty much it. Good full weekend. I love going back to the city, but I've gotten my fill for a while. It's snow season and I'm perfectly happy in my Incline abode for now.


Hope everyone else had a fun weekend. :]

working for the village

Today the ski and snowboard teams had to meet at Diamond Peak to do some work for the mountain to "earn" our season passes. I envisioned having to hike up the mountain and do back breaking labor for the entire day on only a couple hours of sleep. Luckily, I was wrong. We split into groups and my group just walked around the base by the parking lot picking up trash. I hate touching other people's trash and I felt gross for the first couple of minutes but then I got over it. Finding trash was like a scavenger hunt and the weather was pretty nice so I had a good time. We only had to work for like an hour and then we left. I like doing work like that. It makes me feel like I'm doing something worthwhile with my day.The experience made me respect the mountain so much more. I don't litter anyways, but now I definitely won't and will call people out when they do (primarily because I'll just have to pick the trash up next October).

Familia 2 and stuff.

Another fun weekend. I'm going three for three now with these Reno trips.

My mom came up for Sierra Nevada College's parent's weekend and was planning on staying at my place until Sunday. On Saturday there was a whole slew of activities at the Freight House District in Reno and I convinced my mom that she had to come with me to see what snowboard life is like.

The set up. Photo By Boreal

The first event at the Freight House was Boreal's rail jam. I thought I'd be able to do a bunch of tricks and get some gear but I was wrong. They didn't have enough snow so they had to take the box out. This left the flat bar rail. It would have been fun and I could have still done some cool tricks but I just couldn't get enough speed. Even a lot of the guys were having trouble making it to the end. The funnest thing I did was stall on the rail, rock back down the lip, ride up the drop in ramp and 180. I didn't make it across the whole rail once. Not like it mattered because they didn't have any girl prizes anyways. It was fun to ride with my friends though. And how can I complain about riding a rail in Reno on October 15?

After the jam were the festivities inside the Freight House. The guy at the door knew me and let me and my mom in without the $15 tickets, making this the first premier I haven't had to pay for this year (I have no idea who the guy was and even after a ten minute conversation with him I was still bluffing my way through our relationship). The only thing going on inside was the autograph signing. I don't usually participate in those but since there wasn't anything else to do I got some magazines signed. I talked with Sean for a couple minutes and he was like "I need a picture with Dylan Thompson and a bunch of girls" so we got a group of girls together, took a couple pictures and then we went to the bar and Sean bought each of us a couple of drinks. I had a good time talking to him. He was super nice and I was stoked to meet someone new. I love meeting people.

Screen on the field. (Photo: Josh Parker)

The first movie started and I honestly can't even tell you what it was. I went to the back of the Freight House and sat in the seats facing the screen above the baseball field with Sean. We ended up talking most of the movie and I was under the influence enough that I could watch the movie screen and not be able to process a single shot. Finally I was like "Oh shoot my mom is sitting alone. I'm gonna tell her to come back here." I brought her back to where I had been sitting and watched the rest of the movie with her.

Then came the product toss. Having two people doubles your chances of catching stuff so that was awesome. Ended up with a couple of things. None of which I would ever wear, but my giveaway collection is growing so I should be able to have another one of those soon.

Finally Familia started. I'm not writing a review of the movie here, so all I'm going to say is that is was good and you should watch it. I tried narrating what all the tricks were to my mom. Before I brought her to the event I was like "I want you to see what snowboarding is about" and she replied "I know about snowboarding. I watch the Olympics." I attempted to help her understand the video the best I could so that she could see that people snowboard outside the Olympics.

After Familia 2 was the raffle, for which I had no tickets. Then was the win a date with Brewer auction. I was ready to put $10 down for a date, but some older blonde lady put down $75 and I was beat. I didn't think anyone would pay more than $15 for that guy but I was wrong. Ha

"White boy wasted" (Photo: Josh Parker)

Then the music started and my mom went back to our hotel room at the Circus Circus to sleep. She had no desire to see Kreayshawn. Shame. The show started with a bunch of random DJ rap group things. I was maybe a bit tipsy and didn't know who was playing at all. I was on stage for most of the sets until too many people ended up on stage and security kicked everyone off. I stayed up there and finally security was like "You need to get off." And I was like "No way. I'm PR for Technine. This is my job to be up here. Do you know who I am? I've been here all night. Do you know who I am??" It didn't work. I had to get off the stage. Haha. I thought it was funny to try though. Then before Kreayshawn started I went back onto the stage and was standing by the back with Jay, Eric, and Brewer. Security once again came to kick us off, Jay did some sweet talking, something about being a photographer, and the rest of us just stayed up there.

The DJ was playing tracks. Everyone was just moving around pretending to do stuff.

Kreayshawn started and while I don't know any of her songs besides Gucci Gucci (come on, can anyone name ONE other Kreayshawn song? Didn't think so), her music was actually pretty catchy. She started with no shoes on and threw her socks into the crowd while she was singing and did the rest of her set barefoot. Security came up a few more times to kick randoms off the stage, and while I could probably win the random-person-of-the-year award, I managed to not get kicked off by just staying at the back of the stage. By the end of the show Eric, Brewer, Johnny, and I were all dancing towards the front of the stage, just having a good time. When they finished performing I hugged Kreayshawn's sister, high fived Kreayshawn, and then they were gone. And so were we. (Later friends of mine questioned how I was on stage the whole time. I have no idea how it worked out, really, but cool things seem to happen to me when I'm drunk.)

Paul in the zone. (Photo: Alana Vaccaro)

First stop after the show was Lincoln Lounge. Which was the best place ever. They played a bunch of classic rock songs and I danced my little heart out. Who did I dance with?? I'm pretty sure I had a few different dance partners, but I don't remember all too well. I know Skeetiter showed up and I danced with him. And then Keeks came out of nowhere too. Oh and Seanderson, Sierra, Marina, Alana, Woj, and Stickupthebutt were with us as well (Looking at photos I realize there were a lot more people than I remembered, so I'm not even going to try listing everyone). At some point a food truck showed up outside the Lounge and I thought it was the delicious Taco Truck so I grabbed Sierra and we ran out to get tacos. Turns out it was the Italian Truck so she bought us some chicken parm, spaghetti, and lasagna. We went back inside to eat and I couldn't finish my stuff so Johnny, Woj, Skeetiter and some others were able to feast as well.

America. Fuck Yeah. (Photo: Alana Vaccaro)

Next stop was Wurk. It took us pretty long to get there. I think we went the wrong way. At some point we ran into a singing cowboy who wasn't very good. We hung out with him for a little while. Finally our ragtag pack made it to Wurk. We found out it was a $10 cover and not many of us wanted to pay that. So there we are, standing in front of the building, figuring out how we're going to sneak in. A couple kids tried to just rush the side door but security was on top of it and checked them for stamps. I had two stamps on top of my hands from the earlier events so I thought about trying to pretend one of those was the Wurk stamp until I realized the security guards were checking underneath the wrists for a stamp. I remembered I had eyeliner in my purse so I did a quick sketch of a stamp on my wrist and went to the side door. I walked in with Johnny who had just walked out so it would look like I had been with him. They still checked my wrist, but somehow my scheme worked and I made it in.

Some good Old Fashioned Reno Planking. (Photo: Alana Vaccaro)

Wurk was Wurk. Not much to say about it. More drinks, I think Brewer bought me a couple, I don't remember really. Lots of standing around talking. Kinda dancing. Trancing out in front of the speakers. All that. Finally around 4:30 I called it. I wanted to stay and I was down to party until the sun's out, which has been my Reno tradition I've kept up the past couple of weekends, but I had a hotel room and plans for the morning. The first time I tried leaving Jay grabbed me and was like "No. You aren't leaving." And brought me back in. I stayed for a couple more minutes, said my goodbyes to everyone, and then dipped out before anybody could stop me.

Finding Circus Circus was no problem, but finding the Hotel Tower was. I wandered around the casino for a while before I could find the actual hotel. I finally made it to my room and got in bed. Jay noticed I was gone at this point and started doing the "Where did you go? Come back!" drunk texts, which I found amusing. But it wasn't happening.

I woke back up at 8 and sent it back to Incline with my mom. I had to do some work at Diamond Peak at ten, and was thankfully done with it in like an hour. I came back home just as my mom was leaving. I hugged her good-bye and then passed the fuck out. I slept for the entire day, in my typical day-after-Reno tradition. I had such a good time last night and it was awesome to have my mom there with me for it. I think she enjoyed it too.

Can't wait for Sacramento sending next weekend!
Thanks for taking so many photos Josh & Alana! Many lost memories have been pieced together through these gems.

5 days of October shreddage

By some fortunate act of God, a storm rolled by last week and dropped a beautiful two feet of snow. I could talk about how awesome is was to be riding with friends again, or the cool stuff we had set up, but I'm just going to leave a couple videos for you to watch instead.

First is bHappy's edit. Always a fun time with them. Nicest guys you'll meet and they're so stoked on riding and having fun that you can't but to have fun either, even if you've spent four whole days trying to get the same trick and eating shit every time. I've got a fun little cameo in the beginning.

bHappy at Rose from bHappyFilms on Vimeo.



This next edit was made by Peter Rispoli, and features a bunch of kids from Sierra Nevada College. There are a ton of talented Freshmen this year. I have one shot in this one too. And it's me eating shit. Hopefully one-shot-of-Jenise-getting-wrecked in every edit doesn't become a trend this season. I do land some of my tricks too...


Mt Rose. October 2011 from Peter Rispoli on Vimeo.

First snow of the season.

October 5th. BOOM.
Snow made it all the way down to Incline Village. Getting my shred on later, but here are some pictures for this morning.

Had to check the webcam as soon as I woke up.

On the way to Reno. Saw an accident, and love tapped the car in front of us as well

Grey and still snowing

Way back from Reno. Beautiful blue skies and light, dry snow

The storm be approaching!

It's the moment we've all been waiting for! See on Wednesday where there's a 1 followed by two 0s and a %? Yeah 100% chance of snow. It's not likely- it's actually happening. All I can say is I know where I'll be on Wednesday. Snowboarding on rocks covered by an inch and a half of snow is the best! Mt. Rose, here I come.

Rome The Shred Remains premiere

Friday night was the The Shred Remains premier at the Freight House in Reno and let me tell you- it was probably the most epic night of partying I ever had. Here's the story. (Please excuse my constant shifting from past to present tense. My brain is only half working today)

I'm hanging out around campus on Friday trying to find a ride to Reno. Two weekends ago I drove to SF, and last weekend I drove to Bear. I was not down with driving more. Just completely over it. 6pm rolls around and it's looking like everyone has a full car. My issue was that I wanted to drink and have fun, but Mt. Rose highway is so gnarly that I wouldn't drive it after having anything to drink. If I only have to drive a mile through Bear, or Incline, or Govy after drinking I feel ok about it. But Mt. Rose is another story. I finally decide "Fuck it. I'm driving myself and just staying there for the night." I throw my sleeping bag in my car, get ready and head out.

I make it to Reno around 7:30 and run into people I know in like 3 seconds upon arrival. First it was little Lewis from my team at Northstar, and then I run into Ryan who I met riding Mt. Rose Summit last year and have been friends with since. I paid $3 for a PBR (ridiculous), and then wandered about chatting with my various friends there. My friend Jay has a free-drink wristband so of course I'm like "Nice wristband." which he responds with "Play your cards right and I might get you a drink later." So I immediately start laying the lines out real thick: "You look really nice tonight." "That jacket gives you a real nice shape. All rectanguler and manly." "Your eyes are sparkling". ch-ching. More beer for me.

It must have been 8 at this point, but the movie was like an hour late. Which I didn't mind because I was enjoying the company. I had ran into Marie briefly earlier and was super stoked to see her. She's an amazingly nice girl and always fun to be around. I want to find her again to spend more time catching up but I don't see her so I go to LNP who is unsurprisingly easy to find and ask him if he's seen her. One of my friends (I forget who) was standing near him and introduces me to LNP and a couple other Rome guys standing around. I had met Laurent last spring skating Truckee and then riding Boreal the next day with Marie and Victor and I guess he remembered because he goes "Ohhh yeah! I remember you!" and the game of catch-up begins with him. I end up talking to him until the movie starts, primarily about the nasty stuff that goes on inside the Rome van on the road. Laurent is such a nice guy and super easy to talk to. A+ quality human.

The movie finally starts, maybe at 9 or later, I wasn't really checking my phone for the time. It's a great movie and got me super stoked to ride. I liked the music all the way through. It was pretty balanced between jibbing, and powder which surprised me. I'm not into the big mountain stuff (pretty much because I can't do it) but they definitely had some cool shots. Here's the teaser if you haven't seen it yet.

Keeping it real. (Photo: Alana Vaccaro)

After the movie there was the product toss (Marie passed me a t-shirt, and I rock-paper-scissored for a banner) and then a party right there at the Freight House. If you haven't been there, it's a really cool venue. There's the indoor bar/restaurant, the outdoor bar, and then a dance club with bar. There was a random rock band playing outside on the stage where the movie was, so I danced with my friends, the group of us pretty much owning the dance floor. We eventually moved over to the club area and go crazy. I was throwing out dance moves like it was going out of style. I dipped out to the bar for a bit to take a break and end up exchanging some words with Lucas. We got to talking and totally clicked with each other. You know someone's ill when you can drop a Harry Potter reference and they get it right away. He treated me to a whiskey-coke and we spent a good amount of time at the bar just talking about everything. Together we went back to the club to dance.

Some Shout action at the Lincoln Lounge (Photo: Alana Vaccaro)

At this point I decide to really send it and have fun. And how do I go about doing that? Spitting my drink in the air of course. I did this a couple time but some girls started getting mad so I dipped off the floor and made my move to a chick with a cake in the lounge area. It's her birthday and she offers me a slice. I take a slice, duh, and wish her happy birthday. I start eating some and when I'm over it I start tossing pieces of cake onto the dance floor. I was in destructo mode, what can I say? Then I start climbing the furniture and dancing on that.  Lucas and I eventually dip out with a couple other people to this place down the street called the Lincoln Lounge. We dance there for a while and eat some awesome tacos from a food truck parked on the road. The vibe at LL was sick because they played a ton of classics.

After a while our whole mob moves down the street to Würk. As soon as we go in some drunk guy projectile vomits and I'm in the cross fire. That was shitty. I went to the bathroom to wash up and met RenoGirl. RenoGirl and I go back out to the club together, and she gives me the boost I need to walk around the club in just a bra and jeans. I had to ditch my shirt behind a couch because it was wet and gross. The plus side is that immediately upon getting to the bar some guy bought RenoGirl and I drinks. Jay sees me, takes pity on me and I end up wearing his jacket for the rest of the night. Besides the puke incident Wurk is fun, and a ton of people I know are there. I stay with Lucas almost the entire time, with RenoGirl by my side like a faithful companion.

I had my spy-cam out the whole time of course.

As we're leaving we get cornered by this crazy Mexican kid. It's me, Thomas, Jay, and Lucas standing against a wall around the corner of the club with this kid venting "I'm about to fucking lose it! I'm going to fucking lose it! My mind is going fucking crazy. I need someone to talk to before I go away. I will seriously beat the shit out of anybody right now." At one point I whisper something to Lucas that makes me giggle, and CrazyMexican, who had bat powers or something heard and started flipping out thinking I was laughing at him. I shifted to the side slightly and he freaked out about me trying to leave, saying something about smashing my face into the floor. This kid had just been in juvie for nine years and now he was totally losing it. Finally Jay bolted back to the club, and CrazyMexican chased after him. Jay manages to make it out without CrazyMexican and we dash across the street to the casinos. Crazy Mexican is on our trail though and we're dipping between rows of slot machines with the gangster kid that looks like he wants to kill us close behind. After some cat-and-mouse we manage to lose him and continue on with our partying (which included me losing money playing blackjack- very disappointing.)

When the sun comes back up I finally call it a night and go back to the Freight House parking lot to sleep in my car. I dozed for two hours but my car turned into an oven so I hit the road. I had planned on "sight-seeing" in Reno before going back to Incline but I was totally beat. And I had no money because I lost my last $5 on the black jack table. I made it to the bottom of Mt. Rose and pulled off into a neighborhood to nap for another hour before trekking over the mountain. I made it back to my place around 11am and have been laying in bed ever since. I don't see myself getting out of bed until tomorrow morning when I have to go paintballing for snowboard team bonding day. I'm exhausted, I can barely move, and I'm completely 100% stoked on how the night turned out. Hopefully I'll be sending it as hard for Capita's premier next week.

The Feeders! Sacramento

This showed up in my inbox this morning. I'm so stoked! A week ago I wouldn't have thought about entering this contest, but after going to Hot Dawgs and Hand Rails last weekend I realized that I could hold my own with the girls in a rail jam. I'm so happy that I'll be able to get back on my board in a couple weeks.

I'm nervous for sure. But it's an exciting nervousness. It's going to be my first contest that's not just open to everyone and there's some added pressure in that. The other jams I've done haven't required any sort of application so anyone who learned how to snowboard the day before could enter.

This time last year I was that girl. I'd be lucky to stomp a 50-50 on a flat box. Ollie-on features? Forget about it. Ironically though, when I couldn't ride I thought very highly of my abilities and potential. Now that I actually have some skill, I don't feel quite as sure about my abilities and second guess myself quite often.

My biggest challenge with this contest will be to trust myself and just have a good time. I think I can do it. I think I can put some faith in myself and be confident. I can't wait for October 22. I'm feeling good about this.

bHappy Films, Happy Days

It's finally out! bHappy's full film for this year was released yesterday. Last year's Happy Thoughts blew me away and this one tops even that. Makes me (and everyone else I've heard from) want to ride. Enjoy!


"Happy Days" (Full Video) from bHappyFilms on Vimeo.

video by: Paul Heran, Bryce Hymans, Ryan Scardigli, Max Tokunaga, Sean Lucey, Rob Balding, June Bhongjan, Mike Miller, Essex Prescott, Jon Stark, Brett Spur.

Hot Dawgz and Hand Rails

HDHR is at Bear tomorrow.
And so, the mass exodus from Tahoe to Bear begins.



Can't wait to get this 9 hour drive over with.
Too bad it takes forever to get five people organized.

Another year gone by

Tomorrow is my birthday. The big 1-9. My last year as a teen. I'm pretty stoked for tomorrow. I'm starting off the morning with this stretch class at the rec center that's just the ultimate in relaxation, then I have school till 5:30, I'm getting my pass for High Altitude, and then I'm going to the Videograss premier at Best Pies. Jam packed day. Just the way I like it.

It's crazy to think about how much has changed in a single year. 365 days ago I was 17, living in the dorms, kind of a mess, and didn't really know what I was doing (I thought I did though). But today I'm independent, not so lost, and have a clear view of who I am and what I want. I'm a lot happier with where I am in life right now and I'm looking forward to this next year.

I went back home this last weekend and had a little birthday dinner with my parents and grandpa. I didn't really get anything cool, except a pair of Von Zipper shades I picked out at Action this weekend. The rest of my gifts were pretty much just snacks. Still no shake weights or impact shorts (the only two things I've been asking for since last Christmas). But whatever. I honestly don't need sick gifts because I already have everything I need to be happy- pants, a jacket, a snowboard and season pass.

Goals for nineteen;
have a good winter- get upsidedown, get over my fear of spinning big jumps (and spinning onto rails), do my best in contests, do some filming
become closer with my friends
go viral on youtube (ridiculousness is on it's way, and my plan has nothing to do with snowboarding)
have way too much fun <- the most important goal
Get A's in all my classes and somehow take enough credits to be a senior next year.
Learn more about the world I live in.
Travel to some cool places

22' pipe at northstar

Shaun White is making Northstar his new "home mountain". This means there's going to be a 22 footer at Northstar this year and I'm SO stoked. I became such a pipe jock this summer its not even funny. Really, I wanted to hit rails and jumps, but I'd find myself hiking the pipe for three hours straight without stopping. I love it. I love it. Pipe is so much fun. I could ride it all day and not be bored. I can't wait to hit this new pipe up. You can bet I'll be there every morning before class. :]

SNC Snowboard Team

I just found out yesterday that I'm getting a spot on Sierra Nevada's snowboard team for this year. I'm so so stoked! This is why I came to the school and what I've been working for since I found out I couldn't get on the team a year ago. I'm looking forward to it all: the dry land training, on hill training, having new team mates to ride and become friends with, and the competing. I'm just really happy. I can't wait for the winter. I have a good feeling about this one.

First day of school

Today was the first day of classes at Sierra Nevada. I didn't have to start until 11:30 so I started off my morning by going to the rec center. I ran for a little while, did some stretching, weights, and then went to a Zumba class. Then I went to my actual classes which were pretty interesting. I started with Media Ethics and Law, then went to Intro to Marketing, then Managerial Accounting, and Earth Gym. It was awesome to go to classes again. I'm so excited for this semester. I'll miss snowboarding, but it's awesome to do other things with my day for a change, like going to the beach and hanging out in the sun.

A change for this fall is that I'm living in my own place instead of the dorms. I've got a one bedroom condo and it's such a better vibe than the other living situations I've been in. Both the Summits and Sawmill Heights were less than great because it was random people that lived with me, my stuff went missing, and people ate my food. Now my stuff is safe and the only people hanging around my house are the people I want to have there.

I'm really excited for the rest of this year. It'll be hard going to school in the spring when I want to be riding all day, but I definitely love Sierra Nevada and the people who go here. So far I've been on a ropes course trip and a rafting trip. I can't wait for all the other sick field trips. Well, it's movie night at my house tonight so I've got to get off and get Finding Nemo fired up. Later. :]

Summer's end

Well summer is almost over and my time in Oregon has ended. The summer on Hood didn't turn out to be quite what I expected but overall I had a good experience. I expected to learn a ton of tricks and get loads of pictures and video to back it up with. That didn't really happen. But what did happen was good in a different way. I learned some things, met a ton of people, and had an extraordinary summer. Here's what happened since my last post.

My friends from Canada, Jodie and Deja came and stayed out my house for a week. We rode and filmed a little bit. It was cool seeing them again for the first time since Windells two years ago.

I had one of the most fun nights of my life. Between sessions the Windells crew gets together for summer fun and I tagged along to this camping trip in the middle of the forrest. There were like seven campfires scattered around this river, and everyone was just so stoked to hang out and have a good time.

I finally sent Nathan's prize pack out to him. Proof to the trusnow forum that I'm not a scammer. haha. Thanks for trusting me enough to give me your address Nate.

I had more shenanigan filled nights at the Burton House. I'm so glad I spent as much time there as I did because I would have turned into a wreck if I was constantly surrounded by the Govydrunks. Instead of becoming a Shoeless Bonfire-of-Broken-Dreams-er (you wouldn't believe how depressing bonfires with this crowd are), I got to be a part of Burton Summer Camp, which was a lot more constructive to my mental state. Thank you so much for letting me hang.

The Burton summer sales meeting came by and I met a ton of people from around the country who work for Burton. Everyone was really awesome and it made me so stoked on Burton. And I ended up with a couple of really good friends. Now I have a reason to travel to other places this winter!

I finally did something other than snowboarding/hanging out in Govy, and went to the Hood River County fair with Riley, Lemi, Blake, and Kendel. Riley and I were just drunk messes that night, but we had a fantastic time. Fast rides, excessive amounts of food, and too many Mexicans definitely made this one of the best nights of my summer.

The one day I took off from riding to do something else this summer was awesome. I would have liked to be snowboarding, but the day of rest at Punch Bowls Falls wasn't a bad substitute. I had never been cliff jumping before so this was a new experience. It scared the crap out of me. But in a good way. I opted out of the 60' and 80' cliffs because the water was too cold for me to handle, but the one I jumped a couple times was 45' which I guess is a good size for a first timer.

I started doing boot testing for Burton which is really cool because I get to rock pairs of 2013 boots and give the company feedback. The two boots I tested this summer were the Supremes and Sapphires, which ended up being really awesome boots. I'd be stoked to rock either of them for a whole season.

I went to the Ark for the first time. The Ark is the employee housing for Windells and it's a very interesting place. I hung out in the skate house mainly with a friend of mine who's a skate coach there. I melted my brains out and vowed that I would have to hang out at the Ark more.

My Rome finally crapped out. I kept getting caught on the boxes and when I finally took my board off to see what was up I was more than bummed.

The thing that I was stoked on the most this summer is that Kyre Malkemes from Roxy replied to an email I had sent her in the beginning of the summer. I had wanted to know if there was any way I could get on Roxy's rider list for High Cascade or Windells. A day before High Cascade's last session she got back to me letting me know I'd be on the rider list for the session. I was so so incredibly thankful that that happened. I had a great week at High Cascade. I started spinning jumps again (something I hadn't really done since my concussion) and just had a fun time all around. I was so exhausted at the end of everyday! But I'd still find energy to skate the High Cascade skatepark or jump on their trampolines anyways. That session ended up being the photo session as well so I'm hoping to get some photos of me in the next week that I can send to Roxy.

I drove home after the High Cascade session ended. I didn't want to wait for public park to be moved and I got 65 days of riding in so I was ready to be in the city again. I did the whole 11.5 hour drive in one day and made it home for dinner.

My mom and I went to Santa Cruz together yesterday. It was awesome to spend a day with her, go on rides, eat too much food, and play in the ocean. I love love love the beach. I became friends with younger brother of one of the skate coaches at Windells, and since he lives in Santa Cruz I hit him up to hang out. It was awesome to see Alex and then we had the best 30 minutes ever taking the sky tram thing and talking shit about the people below us. Ha.

That's about it for my summer adventures. Today I'm packing my stuff again and then moving to Tahoe tomorrow. I'll try to post more frequently so I don't have to do this horrible long posts anymore. Hope your summer was as crazy and fun as mine!

Woodward Tahoe??

So on my interweb searching I came across news of Woodward Tahoe. I don't know what to think of it really. I'm kind of in a neutral place. Like "Oh. Well. Okay. I guess that's neat." I'm wondering how this will change Boreal and the local atmosphere. As of right now, I really can't make an assumption on whether this will positively impact the Tahoe scene or negatively impact it. But yeah. We'll see. They're set to open summer 2012. There's not even really any information on the official site so who knows what they have planned. I'm definitely excited to see the finished product though and hopefully I'll have some sort of hook up to play there for free.

The fuuuuture

People are always asking me what I want to do as a profession when I'm out of college. I guess I'm at the age where I'm supposed to be able to come up with a reasonable answer like "computer programmer" or "fashion designer."  Instead, I've been fairly consistent in my response of "pro snowboarder." I mean, it's like any other skilled professional position: if you want to play violin in the World Elite Symphony (I totally made that up. I don't know any prestigious musical positions one could aspire to) you're gonna to keep practicing and giving it your all so you can play with the best. I want to play my snowboard in the Olympics so I'm going to keep practicing and trying to get to that point.  I'm still only 18 and I've got a fair amount of confidence in my ability to make it to my goal.*

But what do I do after that? I'm working in a restaurant right now as a buser and it's such ridiculously hard work that I'm crossing "busing tables" off my after-pro-possible-career list. I don't particularly want a desk job, unless its some cool snowboard-related job. In the words of the great Wayne and Garth, I just want to "Party on!" My ultimate ultimate super awesome future career would be one that requires me to travel, go to parties, and meet people. I like being social and doing/seeing new things. I like excitement. Eric suggested being a social media director of a snowboard company. I think that would be cool. It'd definitely require hard work and it's probably a difficult job to get. But I think that will be my new post-snowboard get-a-real-job goal. Who knows if that will still be the position I want five years down the road? At least it's some sort of goal for now.



*I know I'll get shit from anybody who reads this because there's some sort of stigma in the snowboarding world about wanting to snowboard professionally. But I don't care. I'm not writing this to win friends or look cool. This is my diary and I'm being real. I'm not snowboarding for the sole purpose of going pro. I'm snowboarding because I love it more than anything in the world. Becoming a pro rider would just be a really exciting step in me living my dream.