Wow

What an insane week.

I got fired from ski instructing last Saturday (the 5th) for internet postings that were deemed unflattering to the mountain.  Then I spent the rest of the week in a deep depression trying desperately to get my job back (to no avail), only to have to spend a ton of money (which I don't really have) to buy a season pass so that I will be able to ski this year.  Weak.  There are any number of things that I could complain about (but won't), and right now I'm really just trying to put the whole thing behind me.  I would, however,  like to talk about the difference between working my ass off ski instructing and just freeskiing.

When Ace and I were on our honeymoon, the day we got down there, we set up dinner reservations at this place that was really beautiful.  It was on this pier overlooking the Caribbean Sea, the decor was really nice, and everything was free because it was one of those all-inclusive vacations.  We got to the place we were eating and they said that we'd be seated in 20 minutes.  We went to the bar, had a couple of drinks, and soon, 30 minutes had passed.  We walked around the place for a little, had a couple more drinks, looked at my watch, and noticed that 45 minutes had passed and I was starting to get a little hungry.  We sat down in the bar on these big sofas, continued to drink, and soon, 1 hour had passed, and now I was getting angry.  I get really ummm . . . moody when I'm hungry, and Ace was trying to calm me down, but it wasn't doing any good.  I was ready to go crazy when an hour and fifteen minutes had passed.  I went outside to let off some steam, but it was no good.  I ruined a perfectly nice night because I was so wound up.

It wasn't until the next day that I realized that I was still living life like I was back in New York.  It's just not the island way to do things right away, and I should not of expected that.  It took me a little while, but eventually, I was able to adjust to "island time".  Once I made that adjustment, nothing seemed to bother me anymore.  I could look around, realize that I was in a tropical paradise and everything was free, and I'd feel content and happy.

Saturday at the mountain was my adjustment day.  I was so amped up on skiing that I was trying to fit everything in, and ski every run like a crazy person, and eat really quickly so I could move on to the next thing.  It took me more than half the day to realize that I don't have to be like that any more.  When I used to work at the mountain, I always had to be in certain places at certain times.  I had to clinic and teach and help out with other things, so I was never really able to fit in too much freeskiing.  For that reason, my freeskiing was always crazy hard charging runs that occurred whenever I could fit them in.  Even if I was dead tired at the end of the day, I had to go out and do a couple of crazy free runs, because they were so hard to come by.

Now, I'm completely different.  It's just so relaxed.  I don't have to rush to fit runs in.  I have the whole season!  I don't have to worry about being in certain places at certain times (in fact, the only time I even looked at my watch was around noon when I was supposed to meet Ace for lunch).  It's like . . . a vacation.  And that's how I think about the mountain now.  Every weekend is like a two day vacation.  I'm on island time now.  And it feels damn good.