20NOFEAR10

Alright lovelies, I'm back from the O-R, or California's beanie. I could type up my day by day experiences, or you could head on over to Shred Union and read my snowday log. Yeah. I'm going with the latter. He's a few things that didn't make it into my log though.

• Danny's mom chiropracted me.
• I have an ultra persona as a deaf person.
• I'm so stoked on airblaster. This jacket more specifically. Dinosaurs rock.
• Skiers get pissed off when you make Dinosaur noises.
• I'm applying for a job at Windells.
• Tim Windell ate it big time on a box in the baby park.

Time to talk about my NYR, that's New Year's Resolution to all you uncool cats. I call this 20-No Fear-10. Or, my Year Without Fear.
I have a history of backing out of things I should be able to do. I ride slower than I could, don't commit myself to tricks, etc. So I decided that this year there would be no backing out. I wrote my slogan on my arm and went out to ride. I decided that my first jump of the day would be a half cab. Now, I've never rotated jumps before because of my holding myself back. There would be no backing out. I went at the jump, picked up speed and flew. I didn't fully commit myself to the rotation though so I only made it half way. I hiked and did it again, completing the rotation. I completed the line, hitting every box, jump etc. And then I rode the pipe, going as far up the sides as I could, rather than my usual going up as little as I could. I had such a sick day hitting all sorts of things and jibbing all over the place. I almost lost my love for snowboarding but this day brought it back. I was able to relive the thrill of getting a new trick or landing something sick. I'm still addicted and it's great.

Swag bag from Shred Union

Well kids, my next batch of free stuff came in the mail today.
The lovely folks over at Shred Union sent me my swag back that I won a few weeks ago on the site. It came with a Capita tee shirt, a Burton beanie, a Holden banner thing, a backpack thing, shred union stickers, some other stickers, and eese or whatever socks.

How did I win it? For being popular of course. Haha. It's so funny how my life has changed in the past few years. Leper, to prizes for popularity. Oh jeeze. New beginnings are great. Speaking of new beginnings, it's almost time for college. I'm almost certain that I'm into Sierra Nevada and I'm still waiting on Boulder. I can't wait for next year...

Also arrived in the mail today: stickers and DVD from Windells Camp.
Still waiting for: mystery prize from Volcom

Trashy Snow Sluts

Not this type. Sorry, I'm talking about the trashy people that leave crap all over the snow. This topic just came up on Shredunion.com and it's one that I think needs some more light shed upon it. Let's face it, no one likes riding down a hill and seeing crap all over the place.

"You mean I shouldn't just throw my redbull can and clifbar wrapper on the snow when I'm done?"
No, Phatman, you should not. If someone sees you do this it's entirely possible, and highly probable, that they will beat you with their board and then proceed to jib your bloody carcass.

Bottom line, pick yo' shit up. It's not that hard to pocket your candy wrapper or hold on to your drink until you get to a garbage can. And another thought, real shredders don't take 'smoke breaks' half way down the mountain. No one wants their beautiful white stuff spotted with butts.
Keep it clean. Kaythanks.

The worst time of the year.

This guy was not right.
This is not "the most wonderful timmmmme of the year".
This is the worst.
For city kids that is.
Correction, for snow junkie city kids it is.

Here's why;

It's getting colder and colder and Bobby Shredder wakes up every morning thinking "OH BOY! It's time to get my shred stick out and shred the gnar!" As soon as he leaves his house however, his smile fades away. Poor Bobby has remembered that he lives in San Fransisco where one can pray for snow all they want but it will never happen. Poor Bobby wakes up every day to a dull gray landscape dotted with bright colors of tourists. There will never be a snow day in Bobby's personal world. So Bobby leaves his beloved Rome Snowboard in the trunk of his car and heads off to school, hoping something will take his mind of the lack of shred in his life.

Bobby Shredder goes into his first class and tries to focus. He only last five minutes. Out comes a sheet of binder paper and the doodling begins. The paper has soon become a master piece of tail grabs, boardslides, and 360s. He smiles at his work and then goes to his next class, super excited for what he has in mind to step it up another notch. During this class he draws a birds eye view version of a park and then draws the front side of himself on another paper. He cuts it out and draws the back side. He bends mini-Bobby's knees and butt and then sets them up at the top of the park. Mini-Bobby is guided down the slope and does some phat tricks with the help of big Bobby. Now Bobby doesn't just have to imagine hitting the slopes, he gets to watch it. "Hey! Check out this tail tap 270!" Bobby whispers to his neighbor, who doesn't really care at all. By 3:00pm Bobby is feeling pretty stoked for winter, even though he won't be able to actually go snowboarding for a while. There is hope for Bobby. There is a glimmer of light in Bobby's heart, telling him that it is possible for him to survive the next couple of shredless months.

Bobby Shredder goes home and logs onto his facebook to do some chit-chatting. His spirit is crushed however when he notices that his friends in Oregon and Colorado have added tons of pictures of them tearing shit up. He desperatly searches through their pictures, like an addict on the hunt for coke. He can't get enough. He begins to stalk his friends, feeding off every new picture they post. Bobby joins sites like shredunion.com where he can discuss snowboarding all day long with other members. Bobby is in a bad place; he wakes up in the morning, checks his friends profiles for new shreddage, logs onto Shred Union between his classes and straps on his board in his living room, just so he can imagine he's boarding. Every morning Bobby wakes up with an unsatiable craving for pow. Every morning Bobby wakes up to gray snowlessness. Every morning Bobby's friends get more and more annoyed with his endless talk of snowboarding. Bobby is scared. He isn't sure if he can make it. His future is looking bleak. Theres a big circle around December 26th, the day he flys out to Oregon to go boarding. All he can do until then is watch snowboarding videos, harass his mountain friends, and make believe with pieces of paper. "This is the worst time of the year." Bobby mutters, finally closing facebook, hoping that ignoring all the fun his buddies are having will lessen the pain in his soul. Poor Bobby.

Photo credits: Brie Tiffany (Oregon) & Matthew Steinquist (Colorado). fucking lucky asses.