plasticboarding.

well i havnt written on this for a while. thats because i havnt really done anything worthy of this quality blog, i didnt want to let the standard drop. but, last night i went snowboarding, well its snowboarding without the snow- someone obviously couldnt get enough of the sport during the 3-4 months snow period so they built a place where you can do it all year round. pretty much they get a big hill about 100m long/40m high. so they gradient on the slope is pretty decent, and they put this matting stuff on it, which looks like giant velco- the plastic hook side. and you strap on your board or ski's and off you go. simple. now as there is a pretty high risk of injury on the slopes you are supposed to have 4 lessons before you can go by yourself. but i thought, ive done quite a bit of skateboarding, mountainboarding, and a bit of surfing, if i combine all that skill and balance together i should be able to give it a decent crack. so luckily there was a girl working behind the desk who didnt really look like she knew what she was doing, so i just asked to go boarding and she let me. woohoo. so i strapped in, and went down the small slope to the lift. i thought i shouldnt try the huge run with the jumps and rails on my first try. so i caught this little lift thing up a pretty big slope which didnt have any obstacles in my path for me to smash when i barreled down the hill totally out of control. i got to the top and as i didnt have any idea of how to start off i thought, ill just go straight down and then move my feet and body a bit and see how the board reacts. sounds like a solid plan. its not that solid when you are going dead straight and really fast(you use the edge of the boarding to control your speed and course-by digging it into the slope at different angles- it would have been nice to know that about 20 seconds ago.) so im barrelling down the slope dead straight and i can feel the back end starting to slide around. im a goofy footer, so my left foot is at the back- so i am now caning down the hill backwards- yep only a matter of time before i stacked it. hard. and it was right at the bottom of the hill, when you're going the fastest, coincidently. the first 30 minutes were very hardcore, i took quite a beating. in hindight, lessons could have been a wise decision. using the trial and error method used to sometimes work in grade 8 maths. but i wouldnt recommend it when you are strapped to a piece of a wood going down a steep hill. by the end of the 2 hour session i was actually going pretty good, compared to the start anyways. but i dont think ive really learnt how to snowboard properly, i learnt ways how not to do it- give me a couple more sessions and ill be pulling backflips of the kicker ramp. so over all was great fun and i can't wait to do it again. also can't wait to do it in the real snow apparently its easier as well. i also went ice skating twice last week, but i wont write about that cause its pretty tame and non eventful compared to grating down plastic sheeting on your head with a board strapped to your feet.

ps. how was the cricket-i was so cut, been copping it from every pom at the hotel-2 runs. would have been the best victory ever, oh well at least it makes the series interesting. hope life is good where you are. keep smilin. andyb