Didn't ever think Friday'd ever roll around. Been a pretty long work week. Not that work's bad or anything but after a 4-day work week last time, it was pretty difficult to switch the gears from funtime to worktime. Rode the rollers twice this week. Friday, I started the morning riding rollers and watched a 2007 foreign flick Melissa picked up at our library called, Du levande (You the Living). Watching scenes from Europe starts the wanderlust seed. It was your typical (like movies you've normally watched) voyeuristic-point-of-view-of-a-day-in-the-life-of-the-ennui-of-mostly-pathetic-people-of-pastey-white-scandinavian-haplotype(s) genre 'cept subtitled with artsy cinematography with parsimonious amounts of quirky, visual effects.
It wasn't enough to rate the film better'n "ite;" but I believe rating art is an irrelevant, moot, categorization-as opposed to owning a categorically cool, relevant Moot(s). Speaking of which, this film's from Sweden shot during the pre-wintry months so it's kinda drab but it also makes me miss my first sports wagon (which was not drab, instead quirky), a Volvo 850 (855 actually) GLT (light turbo). Quirky but functional interior and it'd hold a boatload o'junk replete with a Thule bike rack up top-with fairing!-clamped onto the stock railings. When cheese eating high school kids (as opposed to the ones you'll read about later) in their 4 cylinder Mustangs would attempt to get jiggy with me at the (red) light, I'd step on the brake pedal and the accelerator at the same time to spool up the turbo and when it went green my Swedish Fish would launch like no other when I released the brake and floored the accelerator even more. She was cool (see, the film and my Volvo_were_quirky-not to be confused with quark((y)).As school was ending on Friday, two of my former students and three current students came by to say hello at the same time. It was a real nice surprise. I wanted to leave because it was, after all Friday, but it was just too nice talking to them and hearing what they had to say as (relatively) mature, empathetic, classy teenagers from a Dad/teacher's perspective. Kids are cool generally except when they're not. Imagine, teenagers just stopping by to say hello (to me even!) The perks of teaching.
Saturday, pre-Valentine's day, was spent skiing with sweet Melissa. We went to WinterPark for ski-action and we had a blast. For a while, it seemed like the sun was trying to make an appearance but alas she didn't. We spent time on the Mary Jane side on the only runs near the Panoramic Express (lift) hoping they would open it so we could ski bowl-side; but I sadly regret to inform y'all that too didn't happen. During our hoping and praying it would open, we skied some moguls and blues. We hopped into the singles line to avoid the crowds in the lift lines. It worked out quite nicely. When we did ride singles (when the lines are mellow we actually ride together and converse) you meet a hodgepodge o'interesting peeps. For me, there were these free-heelers I rode up with and they were going on about the last episode of Car Talk (the click and clack bros.) and This American Life and it turned into an interesting conversation of people's favorite, free podcasts. I shared my The Moth and Radiolab gems with them. Melissa was turning nicely into the ungroomed snow (2-4 inches) laying on top of the crunch and the bumps. After we had a quick lunch, the weather opened up and down came the white stuff. We skied for another hour in the downpour then we called it quits. When weather turns south, it makes all the difference on the equipment surrounding your body that acts like a movable barrier and as an extension of one's actions. I'm very pleased with the gear we both have. Never got cold, nor wet and the skis were always responsive due to the glove-fitting boots. We relaxed at the Cheeky Monk Belgian Beer Cafe and ordered several St. Bernardus abt 12 and warm pretzels. Leave it to monks to create some of the world's most scrumptious, consumable liquids: beer and a certain espresso drink. I sometimes feel closer to the Supreme Being (just don't ask Philip Pullman) myself after absorbtion (as opposed to adsorption) of these liquids (my mental oneness with the SB is proportional to the quality of contents inside liquid palliative). Inside the Cafe we were warm and getting slightly buzzed while outside the snow was falling sideways. There was one point, after looking out the window, where it was a near whiteout (albeit brief). After taking the Cabriolet (a lift were the occupants stand completely open-no windows-but encased 2/3rds of the way up)
from the Village to the nearly empty parking lot
in our happy state o'mind, we changed out of ski-gear into our civvies. It was an excellent way to wind down, skiing a great mountain with one's honey bunch(es). On our way out of the nearly empty parking lot, the WinterPark Fire Dept., standing in the intersection, informed us of a nasty accident at Berthoud Pass (our nearest way out), so we pulled a U-turn and back to WinterPark Village we go again. When we did leave it was close to 1930 and the roads out were pretty bad until we got onto the highway back home.
Sunday, as sweet Melissa's waking up, I start the morning stoking the fireplace and doing a 30 minute workout (10 warmup 2X5min interval with 5 min recovery, and a 5' cool down) on the rollers facing my snow filled backyard as the snow continues to fall. It's purty. Next up? Reading the NYTimes (the actual newspaper not the on-line version!) and cleaning the house for when mother in-law visits later returning our wee-urchins o'love.
Monday is Prez day. A day spent for remembering our current and past presidents by doing absolutely nothing. We did familial somethings instead of nothing.
Happy Valentines day to y'all (if you choose to recognize this commercially lucrative holiday for a bunch of shameless, profiteering hedonists, that is)...
No comments:
Post a Comment