Janingalina

Thursday my weekend plans fell through, so I asked Eric if I could tag along on his ski weekend. He was headed up with a couple guys from work and was a little concerned about logistics. After some discussion, it turned out that I knew the guy who had an extra seat in his truck and an extra bed in his room. Sweet.

Rob picked me up from work. We stopped at Shumaker's in Flint - I got a new tocque and some goggles. Then we had dinner at Culvers in Birch Run, mmm.. butter burgers, frozen custard. sooo yummy.

Saturday morning after a greasy spoon breakfast we hit the hill. I rode by myself in the morning, listening to a snowboarding mix on the ipod. The first song that came on was Crooked Fingers' New Drink for the Old Drunk - a good omen (thanks Sean!). They'd gotten 10 inches over the previous 2 days, so the hill was nice and fluffy. The weather was crazy, though. One minute it was scald your retinas sunny, the next minute the light was flat, and it was snowing so hard you couldn't see your boots. After a very patchy morning, feeling out the hill - exploring the greens and blues, trying not to find myself in mogul fields - Roby called about lunch. Pizza and beer, luncheon of champions.

In the afternoon I rode with the guys (Eric and Roby) until we split up a bit more. Roby and I found a crease in the hill, it was like a gentle half-pipe. I pulled off some moves I didn't think I could do. I was all proud of myself.

Saturday night was some drinkin, dinner, and more drinkin. We also shot the shit a bit. Sunday we were at the hill by 9:30 so Rob could do his work detail on the racecourse. I got a couple of runs in by myself. The weather was better, but the hill and the crease I'd been riding had been groomed into solid corduroy. Much harder to maneuver in.

I caught up with the guys, we rode some blue and green runs. Roby led the way in getting me off the groomed runs and riding in the in-between spaces. Fluffy loose snow, very different. I rode down a steep, narrow lift line. It was easier to manage because of the fluffiness of the snow. I fell once, a faceplant into the snowbank. Getting up from that, as I set myself up for the next turn, I must have hit my ipod button, because Interpol Lengths of Love came on. The rest of the run was swoopy and sweet. Made better by good tunes.

All told, good weekend. My calves are screamin, I did more than I thought I could on the hill, reinforced some friendships, met new people. It was a good time. Hopefully, it's helping to get me ready for Alyeska.

So my Alaska trip is kinda planned now. Or at least planned in the sense that I bought airline tix. *eee*

This is a visit to Shiela, while a Novi native, she's always living in exotic locales. We met in girl scouts, and our first trip together was backpacking across Isle Royale. When I was 15 I visited her in London England (her 'rents moved there for a job). And 2 years ago I spent a couple weeks with her in Nicaragua where she was serving in the Peace Corps.

I'm flying up in plenty of time for a St. Patrick's Day party on Friday. We'll probably spend Saturday and Sunday in Anchorage, going to the Native Hertiage Museum, and Musk Ox (quiviut) store/farm.

Monday/Tuesday we'll be snowboarding at the Alyeska ski resort. Wednesday-Friday is road-trip time - it looks like we'll go down into the Kenai peninsula and check out Homer, Seward and the Kenai Fjords. Then Friday-Sunday we're doing the Becoming an Outdoorswoman Alaska weekend (where classes include Dog Mushing, Avalanche Safety, Snow Machining, Skinning and Hide Prep, and Ice Fishing). Then I've got another day to burn in/near Anchorage before I could catch the red-eye back down to Michigan. :)

Homework Assignment:
Click and wander around Alaska in google maps' Hybrid mode, combining both map data and satellite images. too cool.

Prepare to be nauseated. I bought a chiki miki little camera to record my adventures. I can't wait to be in such a big open country. Mountains, ocean, rivers, fjords, and glaciers. yow.

Last night I saw She Wants Revenge at the Magic Stick in Detroit.

First, I love the Magic Stick - it's just the right size, and it's above a bowling alley. Plus they have 2 bars. It's a good place.

Next, She Wants Revenge - Bauhaus-esque with shades of Interpol. I like them. There's been a long-surviving gothy scene in the D for years, the faithful undead have way outlasted the mainstream affection for black eyeliner. It's also been years and years since bands stopped making good new music for the genre. Well, here come a coupla boys from California, lo and behold, they're being played all over our goth scene - on the radio, at Luna. I'm willing to bet they're played at City Club as well, but I haven't made it out there for a while.

It's pretty standard that our scenesters don't dance at live shows. But instead of doing the usual hipster head-bob, the cool cats and kittens were dancing their *sses off. This made the floor (above the bowling alley) bounce in a way that was slightly worrisome. It also made for a good concert. I was quite happy. :)

An unfortunate truth: I started feeling old there. I was there for the first two openers (I liked Johnny Headband), and partway through the SWR set I realized that my eyes were watering from the smoke around me. Could be I was standing in a big patch of Menthol smokers.. But I don't normally notice these things. Maybe it's too much clean living on my part. Yaarr. But showing up at the bf's house, he sent me to the shower immediately and bagged up my clothing. He claims it was worse than Luna stink. Nice was: the next morning he lent me clothes to go home in, so I didn't have to crawl back into the stinkystinky clothes.