"creative" is mandatory

Current Mood: sore
Current Music: "Eleanor Rigby" by The Beatles

Here I am in Angola, IN enjoying the hospitality of fellow Fool John (Freshman) before I head back home to Cincy. I'm still sore from two full days of skiing, but it was entirely worth it.

I was in ski club in high school, and skied Monday evenings all winter for three years (about eight weeks during the season). I stopped after my Junior year since my surgery prevented me from doing much of anything, much less go barreling down the wintery slopes of Perfect North. Since then, I've yearned to return to the powdery goodness. The ski club provided us with lift tickets and rentals, as well as transportation. Outside of that, I really had no means to just up and go skiing anyway, since a single trip (even by myself, much less with great company) would cost around 200 dollars. This is why I was so glad I was able to make it for the ski trip so wonderfully provided by the Tubergens.

Start time: 8:45am
I borrowed mom's car (without speakers!) and drove all the way up to the northeast corner of Indiana. I drove past Dayton (UC, Univ. of Dayton, WPAFB), Piqua (Science Olympiad semifinals in high school), Wapakonetta (Neil Armstrong Museum and hometown), stopped for a half hour McBreakfast, saw signs for Findlay, drove through Lima (where I got lost. Twice.), and finally into Indiana past Ft. Wayne and into Angola...where they have a roundabout. I was completely taken by surprise. I hate mapquest. After I got there, we headed out into Michigan (my first time in that state) and stopped in Ithaca for Subway. We finally drove to Gaylord, Michigan past the 45th parallel (into the upper half of the Northern Hemisphere) where the ski resort was.
Arrive: 6:10pm

I was amazed when we got there. The Tubergens have a condo at the Otsego Club Ski Resort that is literally 20 feet from the slope. The entire lodge looks like a Swiss hunting lodge, the lift attendants smile and play rock music, people there are friendly and say hi. There was probably 1/5 of the people at a public ski slope (like PN). I think the lifts slowed twice and I probably only waited in line for perhaps five minutes the entire trip. I was blown away. Ladies and gentleman, this is skiing at it's finest.

I was able to borrow skis from John's brother, which saved me some money. Even better was the fact that after one or two runs, I'd gotten my "ski legs" back and found that my balance and form so painfully created all those years ago came back effortlessly. I was able to keep pace with anybody in the group (John, a 10 year skier, gave me very high praise indeed when he told me that my form was "excellent" and "probably better than his"). I was speeding down the slopes and felt at home even on the black diamonds. Yup, that's right- after a few minutes of skiing, I was conquering the toughest runs of a brand new valley.

I won the un-race down the hill, even when John took a side run to not beat me to the bottom. We contemplated snowboards, but with only two days two learn what Brian said was "falling all day", we went for the skis instead. I got gutsy the second day and attempted some jumps made by some 'boarders, and got a bit of air and a lot more spectacular wipeouts in return. One in particular rattled my spines but I suppose that any fall that would bend those rods would likely paralyze me, so I got up, dusted the snow off, and continued down the hill.

Dramatis personae:
Ryan Garwood (Sophomore, Aeronautical Engineering, Purdue)
Robert Herbig (Junior, Computer Science & Software Engineering, Rose-Hulman)
Brian Carlson (Freshman, Psychology, Hanover)
Boyd Stevens (Sophomore, Computer Science, Kettering)
John Tubergen (Sophomore, Nuclear Engineering, Purdue)
Mr. Tubergen (Business, Purdue alum)
and the twins
Carl Nance (Sophomore, Aeronautical Engineering, University of Michigan)
David Nance (Sophomore, Material Science Engineering, University of Michigan)

Needless to say our conversations on the lifts and at dinner weren't your typical college boy talk. Mostly we talked about WOW, MOO2, computers, programming, Sid Meier's Pirates!, physics, improv, and making fun of Brian, the only liberal arts major. We played Munchkin, 1000 BWC, and Risk. We also watched U of M lose their bowl game to Nebraska. I also enjoyed the finest cuisine of the area, including Big Buck Brewery and The Sugarbowl (including brewed black cherry soda and saganaki, a type of flaming cheese).

Now I'm staying with John for a little bit before making the long drive home. I'm sore in places I didn't even know I had. I learned the finder points of MOO2, played 007: Nightfire, watched movies, and even found my equal in SSB:M (he plays as Sheik and I have a hard time catching him). I even got to sit in on a molten core run for WOW, whatever that is...

Winter break will certainly slow down once I get back home. I will drive home Saturday afternoon and I leave to go back to Purdue probably on Friday. Other than watching the OSU/Notre Dame bowl game, I really don't have a lot planned. Probably the best part of all this is that I've been invited back for next year!