Back to School

Hello everyone, now that summer break is over we are all slowly getting back into the routine of blogging every week.

I came back from my 5 month vacation snowboarding in Colorado in late march after I tore my medial meniscus snowboarding, I then started off my summer with knee surgery in May. I am working on a lake at the marina again with Kendyl and Megan. I spent the summer working, longboarding, mountain biking, rock climbing, and chilling to quickly sum it up.

I am currently taking 2 classes’ speech and math at the local community college before I get back into being a fulltime student next semester. Why just 2 classes?

1. I started paying my student loans last December and they suck and I am broke. So I decided to make myself temporarily even more broke by paying for my classes this semester in cash to avoid more loans and I could only afford two.

2. I am taking the last of my general education classes which means I need to declare a major so I know what classes to take next. This is a problem because I have no idea what the hell I want to do the rest of my life.

I really did not want to go back to college simply because I want to do too many different things, and several times I almost hit the abort button. Since coming back in March I considered, looked into, or almost did all of the following before ultimately going back to school.

1. Joining the Air force
2. Joining the navy
3. Moving to Seattle (Had a job offer)
4. Going back to Colorado (Had a Job offer)
5. Peace corps (I filled out the first page of the application)
6. Working in Alaska (Friend asked me to work there with him)
7. Working in New Zealand (Friend ask me to work there with him)
8. Working in California
9. Without telling anyone emptying my bank account and leaving to travel the country
10. Winning the Lottery
11. Conservation corps abroad
12. Starting a Company (Had partners and a business plan)
13. Buying a one way ticket to Costa Rica to surf and live on a beach for a few years

Ultimately I went back to school which was probably the best choice but I still have no idea what career path I want to take. I wish traveling the world with friends and having fun was the description of a decent paying job because that’s all I want to do (I’m pumped for London in November).

Also this winter I will probably work as a snowboard instructor at our local ski area, I am pretty excited to spend a second straight winter working on a snowboard.

PS. Community college sucks

Peace, Love, and Happiness

Live A Little

-Derek

Knee Surgery

Two and a half months after tearing my medial meniscus snowboarding in Colorado I finally had surgery to repair it.

Chills

I have now been home from my winter job working in Colorado for almost a month after coming home early. Five months of snowboarding every day and pushing my limits finally caught up with me about a month ago when I tore my medial meniscus in my right knee while snowboarding ending my season. I was snowboarding way up on the mountain when I felt my knee pop and instantly knew that I had torn something and my season was done, but I didn’t want to end 100+ days of snowboarding with a ride down the mountain on a ski patrol snowmobile. So I snowboarded the 2 miles down the mountain with all my weight on my good leg unable turn in any direction. A few days later I said my goodbyes packed up my stuff and headed home ending what had been a insanely fun winter.

A few weeks after I came home on Saturday April 20 I heard about a massive backcountry avalanche 600 feet wide and 8 feet deep that killed 5 people at Loveland Pass 20 minutes from where I lived in Colorado. Hearing about it gave me the chills, because for the last month I was in Colorado Loveland Pass had been my favorite place to snowboard and I would typically ride there every Friday and Saturday to get away from the big weekend crowds at the resorts. I always knew I was taking a risk when snowboarding there, and I would only go with at the least a group of 3 people who along with me all had an avalanche beacon, shovel, and probe. Having the proper rescue gear always made me feel more than safe enough to take the risk of snowboarding backcountry. But all 5 people who died also had the proper safety gear, the avalanche was just so massive that it left nobody to dig them out. Hearing about the avalanche made me glad I was home, because had I not torn my meniscus and came home from Colorado a month early I probably would have been at the pass snowboarding that entire day one last time before coming home on the 21 and at some point I would have snowboarded that same zone the avalanche occurred in and who knows.

http://xgames.espn.go.com/article/9196383/colorado-authorities-identify-5-riders-killed-loveland-pass-avalanche

I had a MRI on my knee a few weeks ago after which my doctor informed me my medial meniscus is torn and I need to have surgery to repair it on May 31. This will be my second knee surgery in the last 10 months and third surgery in the last year and a half all results of dirt jumping, mountain biking and snowboarding accidents. Since talking with my doctor I have decided to quit mountain biking for a while and to quit dirt jumping forever. I have been thinking a lot about my personal health and the fact that I want to be able to walk and care for myself when I get old, so I have also considered quitting snowboarding. But snowboarding is my favorite sport so I can’t get myself to give it up, I can however give up on my hopes of one day competitively snowboarding. Over the last few winters while trying to reach the competitive level I constantly pushed my limits to far causing several close calls with serious injuries, 5 dislocated shoulders and several bad tumbles along with one avalanche that I was lucky to ride away from all leading to me ultimately re injuring my knee. So from now on I am done taking risk with my physical health.

Also last week I got a gym membership at Planet Fitness

Sorry I haven’t posted much these last few months, I just got my computer back after sending it in for repairs three separate times.

Total days I Snowboarded this winter: 129

Peace, Love, And Happiness

Live A little

-Derek

Snowboarding, Hitchhiking, and Macklemore

Last weekend I went backcountry snowboarding for the first time with my neighbor Cliff and his roommate Eric at Loveland Pass. I was the only one with a car so we parked at the bottom of the pass walked out to the road and stuck our thumbs up, not even a minute later a pickup truck pulled over and we all jumped into the back for a free ride to the top. Mountain passes seem a little more dangerous from the back of a stranger’s truck as they speed up a snow-covered road with a hundred foot drop on one side. Once we got to the top we jumped out thanked the driver, turned on our avalanche beacons and started a 30 minute hike along the ridge to a steep face we saw from the road.

From the top of the face the snow looked deep with no rocks and only a few other tracks. I dropped in first and almost immediately hit a rock under the snow sending me rag dolling head over heels for a good 50 yards down the almost vertical face. Then Cliff and Eric came down with a little more caution while laughing their asses off and helped pull me out of the waist deep snow I was stuck in. We ended up boarding down and hitchhiking back up about 10 times before traffic over the pass died off and we weren’t able to hitch a ride up after 30 minutes of waiting so we left for the day.

Friday I went snowboarding at Aspen/Snowmass with one of my coworkers, they had awesome terrain consisting of huge cliff drops and steep tree runs and million dollar houses way up on the mountain right next to trails. It was a pretty cool resort, definitely some where I would consider working if I ever spend a winter in Colorado again.

Friday night I went to a free Macklemore and Ryan Lewis concert at Vail for the Burton U.S. Open snowboarding championships and it was by far the craziest concert I have ever been to. It was outdoors in a plaza packed body to body with mostly stoned and drunk people in an off and on snowstorm. I was a little sore Saturday from getting smashed in between a few thousand jumping people but it was well worth it.

After 100+ days of snowboarding this winter I have gotten a little bored,  I spent the last month riding every trail I came across as fast as possible with pure  reckless abandonment. I have had some horrible falls, slams, and collisions with objects while snowboarding this last month so it’s probably a good thing the season is almost over. I have decided to play it mostly safe for the rest of the season, but I still want to improve my riding some and one of my goals is to hit 65 maybe 70 mph on my snowboard but I haven’t gotten faster than 61 yet.

Days I Have Snowboarded This Winter: 111

Peace, Love, and Happiness

Live A Little

-Derek

70 Days and counting

A few weeks ago I went to Red Rocks Amphitheater and looked around. It is easily the coolest concert venue I have ever been to and I plan on attending a concert there sometime this year. Then me and some guys I work with rode longboards around Denver for a few hours and hit up a few skate parks we also went to my favorite store on earth REI.

This last week Ski Patrol opened some black diamond terrain only accessible by a 150 yard hike uphill in knee and waist deep snow. I jumped at the opportunity to ride somewhere that only a few dozen people have skied this winter and tried out my new camera. The hike was a killer and parts were so steep I had to jam my board into the snow for traction. I was sweating a lot by the time I finally reached the top but it was worth getting to ride the deepest snow on the mountain.

Thats Me^

This next week I am going to start learning to ride superpipe and after that my knee should be strong enough to hit some big jump lines.

Days I Have Snowboarded This Year: 70

Peace, Love, and Happiness

Live A Little

-Derek

Bucket List!

Five or Six years ago around my freshman year of high school I typed out my bucket list for a school project, I have added to it a few times over the years but mostly it has sat on my flash drive untouched. So I decided to see just how many things I have actually done on this list.

Bucket List

1. Learn to Break Dance
2. Learn to Surf
3. Learn to Wakeboard
4. Learn to Water Ski
5. Learn Bike Back flip
6. Learn to Snowboard Back flip
7.  Learn to Long Board
8.  Learn to 360 on a Snowboard
9. Learn to Superman on Bike
10. Learn to table on bike
11. Go Scuba Diving
12. Go Stand up Paddle boarding
13. Cliff drop 20+ feet on snowboard
14. Learn to Wall flip
15. Learn to Method on Snowboard
16. Learn to Whip on Mountain Bike
17. Week+ Kayaking trip
18. Climb up a 14,000 foot mountain from bottom to top
19. Get a college degree
20. Mountain Bike in Utah
21. Mountain bike in Vancouver
22. Snowboard in Vancouver
23. Get Dread Locks
24. Drive across North America
25. Drive across Canada
26. Drive to Alaska
27. Spend a night on a mountain
28. Go to or throw a Huge epic Party
29. Go to Burning Man
30. Hike the Grand Canyon
31. Go on a several night backpacking trip
32. Go on a week + road trip
33. Travel to another continent
34. See a wild Bear
35. Snowboard 100 days in a winter
36. Work at a ski resort
37. Run from the police
38. Drive to the top of Trail Ridge Road
39. Drive to the top of Pikes Peek
40. Go white water Kayaking
41. Go on  a overnight Kayaking trip
42. Go to a huge rave
43. Visit Yellowstone national park
44. Visit Yosemite national park
45. Visit Glacier national park
46. Visit every national park
47. Fly in a airplane
48. See the northern lights
49. Master ultimate Frisbee
50. Bowl more then 120
51. Score a goal on a bicycle kick
52. Climb all of Colorado’s 14eeners
53. Explore a cave
54. Go zip lining
55. Go to the Winter X Games
56. Go to Summer X Games
57. See a rain forest
58. Go over 150 MPH
59. Go to a playoff game at Allen Fieldhouse
60. Go to a chiefs playoff game
61. Go to a Royals playoff game
62. Go to a college football playoff game
63. Go to a Sporting KC playoff game
64. Rush the field after a playoff game
65. Compete in a Snowboard Competition
66. Snowboard in the backcountry
67. Climb Mt. McKinley
68. Go bouldering
69. Go to New York city
70. Go to Chicago
71. Go to Denver
72. Go to Milwaukee
73. Go to Seattle, WA
74. See Niagara Falls
75. Go to Boston
76. Go to Salt Lake City, UT
77. Go to Moab, UT
78. Go to Las Vegas
79. Visit every Province in Canada
80. Go to the most eastern part of Main possible
81. Go Snowboarding in Europe
82. See the Himalayas
83. See the seven natural wonders of the world
84. Hike Yosemite Half Dome
85. Meet Shawn white
86. Meet Louie Vito
87. Play Humans Vs. Zombies
88. Camp on snow
89. Learn to Ski
90. Hit 60 mph on snowboard
91. Party in another country

If I were to retype this now is would easily be over 500 items long. But I do most things spur of the moment which is why this list sat untouched on my flash drive for years. I will probably never add to it or look at it again, if I do anything else on this list it will be because I woke up one morning and thought to myself  “I am going to do (insert awesome thing here) today”.

Next weekend I plan on going backcountry snowboarding off Loveland Pass. I plan on hiking from my car at the summit along the top of the peaks until I am about a half mile into the backcountry, where I will hopefully find fresh powder and not trigger a avalanche. Wish me Luck!

Days I Have Snowboarded This Winter: 46

Peace, Love, and Happiness

Live A Little

-Derek

Picture Time!

All I did this week was work, party, and snowboard, so I don’t really have anything interesting to talk about. But here are some pictures. I will have a longer post next week!

Days I Have Snowboarded This Winter: 40

Peace, Love, and Happiness

Live A Little

-Derek

Dislocated Shoulder

Last Tuesday I dislocated my left shoulder. I was snowboarding pretty fast (around 40 mph) down a not very busy part of the mountain when I jumped off a roller only to see a guy sitting on the other side. I didn’t see him until I was already in the air so when I landed all I could do to avoid him was make a very hard cut to my left. But the cut was too much for my knee which gave out causing my toe side edge to dig into the snow slamming me forward onto my head and shoulder which I felt and heard pop out of place on impact. Luckily I was able to pop it back in place with only one try, and I didn’t have to snowboard down the mountain with my shoulder out of its socket swinging around freely. Its been pretty sore very since I dislocated it and it makes a popping noise any time I lift anything or move my arm fast which sucks because my job is a lot of lifting things/people and having quick hands. I’m a little worried I might have torn something in my shoulder just because of the constant pain I have had the last week and the fact that I cant even hold my arm straight out without it shaking real bad and giving out.

It’s been snowing off and on but mainly on for about 4 straight days now and it’s not supposed to stop for another 2 days. A lot of snow means new terrain will open on the mountain very soon, which is great because I am getting bored with riding overcrowded green and blue runs. I’m ready for all the steeper  more challenging black diamond runs to open up along with tree skiing. All this snow also means powder to ride which I enjoy doing for than pretty much anything on earth. I don’t think there is anything more fun than floating through a few feet of fresh snow making fast sharp turns while bombing down the mountain as fast as possible.

About a week ago the Super Pipe here became the first in the world to open this winter. Being the only one in the world open it naturally attracted pretty much every professional skier and snowboarder on earth. In my last two weeks of work I have seen, met, or talked to more Olympic skiers/snowboarders then I can name, including two of my favorite snowboarders Shaun White and Louie Vito. I have wanted to learn to ride pipe since I first started snowboarding 5 years ago. But since my knee is still healing from ACL surgery I am going to wait another month until it’s at full strength, then I will finally ride a super pipe.

It’s hard for me to blog about my time here because for the most part I do the same things every day and every night. I either work all day and snowboard some, or I don’t work at all and I get to snowboard all day and every night I bro down throw down with my fellow employees (party, chill, have as much fun as humanly possible). I have snowboarded everyday for the last 31 days and although fun and super awesome I feel like it’s a little boring to blog about after a month and a half.

Days I Have Snowboarded This Winter: 34

Peace, Love, and Happiness

Live A Little

-Derek

What If Money Didn’t Matter?

Unless I win the lottery, I don’t plan on ever being super rich. But that’s fine with me I will never be the person who sits in an office cubicle all day doing paper work while counting down the hours until closing time, even if that person makes a 100 grand a year. I believe in putting a job that you like over a job you hate that pay’s well. I don’t make very much money as a lift operator but I love it. I snowboard to and from work, my office is the Rocky Mountains, my fellow employees are awesome and so are the customers that come here, and all day every day all I see is smiling faces not the frown of the cubicle worker who hates their job.

In my opinion to many people work away their youth not traveling, not having hobbies or doing what they love, because they tell themselves they will do it in the future. But then when the future comes something comes up like starting a family and they no longer have the freedom or money to do what they want. My point I am getting at is that every person when fresh out of high school, while they still have no responsibilities, and no debt should decide what to do next with their lives based on what they love to do  and not money.

I wish I had decided to travel and work seasonal jobs right out of high school when I had no bills to pay. But instead I went to college making my decision to come here harder because I now have to pay for that year of college with my very small salary. I intend to finish college but I should have waited to start it until after I am done traveling around working seasonal jobs and doing what I love. When I do go back to college my major will be something I like not just something that pays well. To me money doesn’t matter I will always figure out a way to travel and do what I want without making a 100 grand a year.

So I ask the question, If money didn’t matter what would you do with your life?

Days I Have Snowboarded This Winter: 19

Peace, Love, and Happiness

Live A Little

-Derek

The negatives of sports

The lift operations department here at the resort has a few shifts that start at 5am, Last week I worked one of these shifts meaning I had to report to the Lift Ops locker room by 5am dressed and ready to work. I woke up at 4:30 probably setting the record for the earliest I have ever woken up for anything. After reporting on time to the locker room me and the 6 other people working the 5am shift walked out to the base of the mountain where we buckled into are snowboards/skis and hopped on the main chair lift heading up the mountain. I then looked up at the sky and saw more stars at once then I have ever seen my entire life, I felt completed surrounded by stars from being so high up the mountain, when I looked behind me away from the mountain the stars seemed to be almost at eye level. After the mile long ride I got off my chair and snowboarded the half mile or so to the bottom of the lift I was working for the day in complete darkness surrounded by stars and trees. After shoveling some snow at the bottom I rode a chair to my first station at the top lift shack one of the highest points on the mountain as the sun was rising. I worked a really long day 5am to 5pm but between the night sky, watching the sunrise, the awesome weather, and getting to snowboard on my lunch break it was probably my favorite day of work for any job I have ever had. Also you can’t beat getting to snowboarding to and from work.

I don’t know if it’s the cold weather, the altitude, or just that I snowboard everyday but most mornings when I wake up it seems like almost every part of my body I have ever injured is incredibly sore. My right knee is the worst it’s only been 4 months since my acl/meniscus surgery but most mornings it takes a few hours before I can even bend it more than 20 degrees or walk without a limp. My ankles aren’t much better, throughout the 12 years I played soccer I probably sprained each of them at least 5 times and usually after a day of snowboarding my ankles feel like they are on fire.

I can barely hold a pen or pencil with my right hand after surgery on my arm I broke 6 years ago playing soccer, and then hand surgery again after shattering the bone in the palm of my hand and around my thumb mountain biking last December also when it gets cold enough my arm and hand just generally ache in pain.

Last winter was my most painful injury. I caught an edge while snowboarding off a jump at a ski area in Missouri and dropped about 8 feet onto mostly solid ice landing on my back with my feet still in the air I also smacked my head on the ice. My first thought after falling on my back was “oh shit oh shit I hope I didn’t break my back” followed by “shit I might have a concussion”. But after rolling around in pain for a few minutes I ended up standing up on my own while still in extreme pain and hiking down the hill to my car where I sat for an hour before the pain resided enough for me to drive home. I had a horrible headache and a huge black bruise on my back the next day and I still have back pain every now and then from that fall if I stand up for extended periods of time.

I have never been diagnosed with a concussion but that’s probably because I have never gone to the doctor for a head injury. I have hit my head several times the worst last year when I was in college. While playing club soccer I ran full speed for a header and ended up getting knocked to the ground out cold after colliding with an Austrian on the team who was twice my size. After waking up I rolled around on the ground for a few seconds until I stopped seeing black, then I got up and kept playing with the worst headache and whiplash I have ever had.

I really want to get into surfing, climbing, and long boarding this summer because I think they would be a little easier on my body.

Peace, Love, and Happiness

Live A Little

-Derek

Powder Days

I am currently eating chicken noodle soup for lunch. I will also have chicken noodle soup for dinner and probably breakfast tomorrow. Until I moved to Colorado I was not a fan of any canned foods but I went grocery shopping last week for the first time and realized canned foods, ramen noodles, and sandwiches are cheaper than steak, barbecue pork, ribs, sausage, bacon and all the other meats I love dearly. That being said I may drop down to an unhealthy weight by the end of winter, but the free snowboarding will make it well worth it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It has been snowing almost nonstop for the last two days here, I snowboarded all day yesterday in 7 inches of fresh powder as snow kept falling. Then today after snowboarding all morning my neighbor Cliff and I caught one of the first chairs up to the newly opened Ptarmigan trail up near the summit of the mountain. We dropped into Ptarmigan and were in waist deep powder almost all the way down. Deep snow is almost any snowboarder/skiers dream, it’s awesome when the snow is so deep that you feel like you are floating as you ride and you can get as gnarly as you want launching off make shift jumps or flying through the trees while going as fast as possible and if you wipe out it’s almost painless as long as you fall into the snow and not a tree. I have snowboarded more in a week here then I did all last winter in Kansas City, and I am not missing the icy slopes of the Midwest.

I had training this week Monday-Thursday I enjoyed most of it, I also got to meet all my fellow first year lift operators 99% of which live in employee housing with me and I also got a free lunch. My first day of work was Friday I worked a lift that was open only to racing teams which was a little boring because they are all so good that you don’t really need to help them load or unload, but I enjoyed it and I think I am going to love this job.

I think I am going to take an avalanche safety training course and buy some backcountry safety gear here pretty soon, that way once the heavy snow starts falling on the summits in a month or two I can go backcountry snowboarding away from the resort on the giant untouched mountains around here.

Peace, Love, and Happiness

Live A Little

-Derek

Florence + The Machine

Whats Up Party People?

Last monday night I attended the Florence + The Machine Concert at Starlight theater with Kendyl and Megan. The night started with Kendyl forgetting the tickets and having to drive back home to get them. Then after arriving at Starlight and walking half way to the theater Megan realized she forgot to lock her car so me and Kendyl had to wait as she went back to lock it. After Megan locked her car we finally got to the ticket gate where after getting my ticket scanned I turned around to see the event staff telling Kendyl she could not take her camera in, so I waited again as Kendyl and Megan went back to the car again. A little bit later after finally getting in and taking our seats I smiled at an events staff lady and charmed her into giving us free wristbands so we could stand right in front of the stage for the concert which was amazing. We were standing right in front of the stage by a wall of speakers throughout the entire concert, I could feel my internal organs vibrating to the music. Me and Florence had a moment when we locked eyes and she looked right into my soul, although I think she is into witchcraft I could go along with it if we were to ever get married. The concert was pretty zesty and I got to do a bit of fist pumping and screaming. I want to see Florence + The Machine live again but hopefully next time it will be at Red Rocks.

I have not done much of interest lately, I leave for Colorado in 26 days and I spend a decent amount of my time every day staring at my snowboard and giving him the attention and affection he deserves. I started running again last week for the first time since I tore my ACL in May and I can say that I have never enjoyed running more.

I have been rock climbing a lot lately, not at IBEX but out in nature where it is free. Friday I was about 10 feet up a 20 foot rock face at the lakes when I reached for a crack in the cliff and ended up pulling a frying pan sized rock down on my head causing me to fall to the ground. I ended up with a bleeding forehead, bloody scalp, a huge headache, and a deep cut to the bone on my left thumb. From now on I think I am going to pay to climb at IBEX where its safer and they have ropes that catch you when you fall.

This is Me in 26 days!

Peace, Love, and Happiness

Live A Little

-Derek Neely

46 Days Till Colorado!

I am counting down the days until I leave for Colorado on Nov 2. However I am not looking forward to driving 11 hours there all by myself. I am looking forward to snowboarding EVERYDAY for 5 1/2 months, hopefully I make it through the winter injury free. I am going to be living a dorm sized room with a random roommate, but I wont know who my roommate is until I meet him face to face hopefully he wont be weird. All and all this winter should be Legen wait for ittttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttt Dairy.

I haven’t done anything special lately I have just been working a lot, last Friday and Saturday I worked all day open to close. I’m trying to make up for the money I lost when I had to take a month off work for my acl surgery so I asked for extra shifts. I find Independence to be pretty boring most the time especially since most the people I know are away at college, and for the time being I do miss being in college where I was never really bored. I went up to Northwest last week to visit friends, I ended up explaining several times why I wasn’t in school and I was amazed at how many people seemed to idle me and want to want to drop out like me or take a year off once they heard what my plans are for traveling and working the next few years. I’m not sure how great of an example I am for others though if I am making them want to drop out of college. Also I visited the crap house that my friends Jon, Cliff, and Josh are living in this year. It’s on the very edge of Maryville 20 minutes from campus, there are holes in some of the walls, the kitchen window has been replaced with cardboard, theirs graffiti on the living room wood floor, the roof leaks, and there is a hole in the upstairs bathroom floor big enough to fall through but they are paying super cheap rent and party houses like theirs will soon be get trashed anyways. Honestly I would probably be living with them this year in their crappy house had I stayed at Northwest.

I am already putting a lot of thought into what I want to do next summer and I decided I want to be an outdoors guide of some sort. I’m trying to decide between being a white water rafting guide, Zip line guide, mountain bike guide, kayaking guide, SUP board guide, backpacking guide, climbing course facilitator, or working at a marina in a national park somewhere. Beside deciding what kick ass summer job I want I also have to decide where I want to do it and my choices so far are Yellowstone national park, Colorado, Utah, Yosemite National Park, West Virginia, Maine, Minnesota, Michigan, Montana, California, Oregon, Washington, Alaska, Hawaii, and Costa Rica. Honestly I have so many awesome job choices in so many awesome places that I have no idea how I am going to choose, but I have spent a lot of time on http://www.coolworks.com/ which is where I found my Ski Resort job.

Fact: Whenever I finally live in my own house I am going to spend a lot of time on the roof

You Gotta Stay Fresh

Live A Little

-Derek Neely

Its Hot in Here!

Last Sunday-Thursday I was in Colorado with my dad for my spring break, I wish I was still there. Monday I Snowboarded at Loveland Basin from open to close as a warm up for Tuesday. Tuesday I Snowboarded at Keystone, first when you get there you have to ride a Gondola up to the top of the mountain which took 5 minutes (I felt like I was going to the top of Mt. Everest). Then you get off the Gondola and go down the backside of the mountain which takes forever because keystone is huge it makes Loveland look like Snow Creek. I boarded at Keystone from open to close and probably didn’t even ride half the trails, it was awesome. Wednesday I went Breckenridge from open to close crossing it off my bucket list. I thought Keystone was awesome but Breckenridge is amazing, while I was there I rode the Imperial Express chair lift like 20 times. It’s the highest chair lift in north america ending at 12,840 feet, riding it was also on my Bucket list. When you get off the Imperial Express lift you can hike/climb 50 yards to the summit of Peak 8, I did this 5 times and had to sit a rest at the top like an old man every time. Then to get down you have to board loose snow on a super steep Double Black Diamond slope, it was pretty Zesty.I have started working at the marina and I have to say I love my job. I get free soft drinks, slushy’s, discounted food, and I work on with and around boats all day, that’s awesome.

Also I was told today on my first day back from break that the Air Conditioning will probably not be turned on in my hall until next semester when I wont be here, fml. There is no where in Dieterich hall to escape the heat, its hot every where, and even some of the academic buildings don’t have a/c, which pisses me off because I pay a lot of money (6,748 dollars exactly) to live on campus in Dieterich, and even more to attend classes so the least NW could do is keep all their students from dying of heat stroke.I only have a month left though then I am done, and I cannot express how ready I am to get outa here!

Peace, Love, and Sweaty’ness

Live A Little

-Derek

Pee in a cup.

The past couple weeks have been a blur. I’ve slept a little and studied a lot. I practically live in the Union. The other night at 3:00am I was the last person in there and it got super creepy so I left… and then I found 5 dollars.

Semi-notable things that happened in the past week: I found out who my sorority mom(s) were. I couldn’t for the life of me figure out from the clues who it was so when I found out I had two I was super excited (I was the only one who got 2, suck it). After that we had “family dinner” at steak and shake and I didn’t have to pay! I also went snowboarding on Saturday with Lei, Derek and Cody. On the second to last time I went down I wiped out and hurt my neck (which is still sore). I also found out that my research paper for social psych that was supposed to be due Thursday got postponed until after break, which was a total life saver!

Today I peed in a cup. Which gave me flashbacks from when I was a child and had to do that at checkups and Dr. Powell’s office (I thought that you should know who my pediatrician was). After that I took the paper to the Dock and then picked up my other papers. I swear the two people working probably though I was a total spaz, which quite possibly may be true, because the wind blew and held the door open and blew some candy off the shelf, so I quickly picked up the candy and ran to shut the door. I guess you had to be there to understand.

I also had the Joy of running the mile today, which was not cool because I’ve been lifting weight not running!!! We had to get it under 8 minutes, but I got 6 minutes 58 seconds which is pretty slow. We also did four 200’s and four laps of the bleachers. Basically Howard sucks.

I was looking at tall girl problems on pinterest and they pretty much explain my life. #1. No, I do not play basketball. #59. Boob-to-face hugs. #38. When you go into the bathroom stall and realize you can see over the stalls.

My plans for spring break are to go to Columbia with Guano to hang with Lei, crafts and bum around. Pit is going to Colorado, but he won’t take me with him so thats unfortunate.

Since the last post was a Beiber post I have to leave you with my playlist for the week:

1. Naive – The Kooks (you may recognize from 17 again, or maybe not, thats embarrassing)

2. The Ghost Inside – Broken Bells

3. Called Out in the Dark – Snow Patrol

4. Don’t Stop – Foster the People

Keep it Classy. That is all.

-Kendyl

P.S: BTW Foster the People and the Kooks are going to be at Buzz Beachball. I’m so going.

P.P.S: I love P.S.-ing

Also, what the heck is up with people posting pictures of brooms standing up on there own!? I just don’t understand.

Nutella Makes You Puke RAINBOWS

Challenge Accepted

Kendyl, Morgan, Tristan, Cody, 20 other people I taught this year, MY BAD. lol

Nutella makes you puke rainbows! It’s That Good!

Last week was pretty boring. Some time last week Northwest sent out an email saying that due to budget cuts the aquatic center would be closed within 2 weeks, and it would eventually be abandoned or renovated for a different use. Our rec center already sucks but without the aquatic center it’s just downright crappy. Also last week Northwest sent out another email to all students saying that due to budget cuts several majors will cut after this year and many of the professors who teach classes for the majors that get cut will be let go. Well that emailed in particular pretty much pissed off the entire student body here (a lot more than the aquatic center one). Because basically if you are not a senior and your major got cut then your options are to transfer or change majors, it doesn’t matter how much coursework you had already completed for it. A lot of the ones that got cut were specialty education and art majors which are the only reason some students came here. So a lot of people are in a bad mood and I feel like this school is one angry person away from a giant protest. My major is safe and I am leaving anyways, but I think a protest could be fun.

Red Bull Schlittentag is this Sunday and Me, Cody, and Tristan are going to dominate. Our sled (Our Whip) is done just needs to be painted. We used power tools for a good 5 hours and nobody was hurt (minor miracle).

I am so happy classes at Northwest end the last week of April. I’m ready to move out of my prison cell of a dorm room and to start working this summer, and to get tan (mostly I just want a tan). Also spring break is only a few weeks away and I have been eagerly awaiting it since January

Peace, Love, and Happyness

Live A Little

-Derek

Treat Yo’ Self

Sometimes you just have to “Treat yo’ self”

So I decided to treat myself to a snowboard. You may be thinking “What the hell Kendyl, you live in Missouri,” and I am completely aware. The thing is I’ve only snowboarded once, but I loved it. I sucked, but falling on my butt 100 times was actually really fun (I’m sure staying up is more fun, but I haven’t gotten to that skill level yet.) I also fully plan to win a snowboarding competition one day and maybe be the female equivalent of Shaun White and Morgan will be the female equivalent of a really good skier because I don’t know any famous skiers names(ok so maybe that’s a little out of reach.)

Friday we treated ourselves to a mini road trip, Guano, Lei, Derek, and I drove up to Northwest to visit the Dirty D. Which trust me, the name is very accurate, the whole place smells like ass. Also there was a guy working the front desk who I swear could have been Shaun White’s brother.

I have found out that I love being in the car, although sometimes it might suck, most of the time it is pretty great. The car rides are half the fun of everything.

Sunday night Guano and I (<< look at that grammar :)) stayed up until 4:00am studying for our anatomy quiz in the union. On our way back to the dorm we got to walk through the wonderful snow! Also on Monday it was a snow day miracle and my 7:45am and 12:30pm classes were canceled so the only class I had was Responsible Self at 1:30. Then instead of practice at 3:00 the whole team watched an inspirational soccer movie called “Rise and Shine: The Jay DeMerit Story” which was actually pretty good, and better than doing ball skills on the basketball court. Then after my chapter meeting Guano, Lei, and I made a super sexy snowman which we named “Mittens Romney” and did some seductive poses with him 😉 << winky face. And now I’m at the perch treating myself to a caramel macchiato… and a Dr. Pepper.

I also forgot one of the best things that happened was we learned the real meaning of Zesty from Urban Dictionary. Zesty- adjective used to describe someone that has done something gay. The example they gave was “You got on a pink shirt!? You ol’ zesty ass nigga!”

Here are some of my current favorite songs. I’m showing this to you because some people that only listen to rap, Katy Perry, and Justin Beiber need a little help finding good music, but I tried not to single anyone out there.

1. Somebody That I Used to Know- Gotye

2. Tongue Tied- Grouplove

3. Little Talks- Of Monsters and Men

Sometime this week I plan on making my bucket list that way I can cross things of when I accomplish them!

Keep it Classy wherever you might be.

-Kendyl

P.S. I was going to write about things that were trending on yahoo, but I have no interest in most of those things, so here is a purple squirrel that was trending a week ago.

Purple Squirrel

Bucket List #82

Saturday was the Session Massacre Slope Style competition at Snow Creek ^, at the end of last winter I decided I was going to compete in it. But when I broke my hand and had surgery on it my doctor told me not to Snowboard until it was healed (I have no idea why I listened to him), so I missed a month  of our very short 3 month Missouri ski season at Snowcreek, and I knew I had almost no shot at qualifying for the podium round and absolutely no chance at placing on the podium so I didn’t enter it :(… Next year though (If im still living in Mo) I am going to place in the top 5, and Kendyl is going to take first in the very uncompetitive girls Slopestyle competition.

I am becoming more and more tired of living in Maryville every day. If classes here were free (Classes are only free in every students wildest (INSANE(CRAZY(NEVER GONA HAPPEN DREAMS)))) I would just drop out, I am that tired of constantly being bored to death. But classes here are not free (although here they cost far less the national average for 4 year university’s, such as the ones every one else attends :)), they cost a few thousand dollars so I feel obligated to finish out the year.

My grades right now are good, in fact they are the best they have ever been in my entire 19 years and 4 days long life. But I’m not sure I can do this academic thing for another three years, or at the least I just do not want to go to college for another 3 years or even 3 months for that matter. My thought process for planning out what I will be doing this time next year is very much affected by money in that college cost a lot of money and a job will get me a lot of money, and if I do both one year of college still cost way more money then I will ever make in one year of work. So im leaning on work (Work > College).

One of the things on my long bucket list is #82 Work and Live at a Colorado Ski Resort for an entire Ski Season. Next fall I think I will take a break from college for a year and go to Colorado to cross off #82. Then for the next 3 years after that I am going to finish getting my degree.

Also I signed up for the Mr. Dieterich competition in a few weeks which is open to all male Dieterich hall students. You win if you are judged well enough in a few different categories: Q @ A about yourself, doing a talent, and the fashion portion in which you wear something you deem to be dressy (I’m going with flannel and jeans) and second a swimwear show (Lifeguard uniform duh), this thing is mine to win.

Also this Song ^ plays in the rec center all the time and it’s probably permanently stuck in my head. Kanye West-Monster

This ^ is called slacklining the other day there was a group of people doing this between trees on campus and I knew some of them so I walked over and gave it a try. All you do is try to stand and balance on the slackline without falling off, its pretty fun, although I feel like its a hippy activity. Mabye I am crazy but I think it would be super fun to slackline across a big canyon like the guys in the video.

Peace, Love, and Zesty’ness

Live A Little

-Derek

Warm in February? Child Please!

It snowed in Maryville over the weekend, and it is supposed to snow here again tonight. Boo Yeah!

Nothing special has happened during the last week, except for the stupidly warm weather. Snow Creek closed friday night due to a rain storm and warm weather (What the Hell its february), and since my cheap season pass only includes friday and saturday nights I was bummed I couldn’t go snowboard. Also Kansas lost to Missouri saturday night in a game I chose to watch over going snowboarding, so I was even more bummed.

The last few days and all of my classes I have been daydreaming about sled ideas for Red Bull Schlittentag which is a custom sledding competition that is coming to Snow Creek Feb 26th. Below is a video of Red Bull Schlittentag at  a different ski resort.

My team Will win this ^, So far im leaning on a pool party theme in wich the sled will be a plastic kiddy pool mounted on cheap snow boards, and it will be filled with water. This is my Sled I designed during Sociology today its pretty Zesty

 

That is all for now,

Peace, Love, and Zesty’ness

Live A Little

-Derek

Before you burn me at the stake…

Sorry bros. I know yesterday was my blogging day. But I was just so super busy this whole week that it slipped my mind.
First of all it was/is recruitment week. Second we left for Colorado last night. Thirdly, I had symphony rehearsal. And lastly, if you read my post, it was Chinese New Year so I went home for some din din.

I actually missed a lot of recruitment week this week because of all of the mention reasons. But the days that I did go to were a lot of fun. But the sorority I would like to join didn’t invite me to their events because I missed out on the meet people days.  My choices are the ADPi or DZ. The girls in the first one are nice, but just a little bit socially awkward. And the DZ girls are super nice also, but their nicknames are D-Z sleezies OR Easy D-Zs.

Also I cut my hair super short if you didn’t see that on FB.

Anyway, I’m blogging from COLORADO! It’s currently snowing and super windy. We’re at the ski resort. Here’s the view:

        

Derek and Cody decided to go ski/snowboard. Me, Kendyl and Lei are chillin in the restaurant/lounge area. Lei and I are too poor and well underprepared to be out on the slopes. And all of us just feel like crap from what seems to be the longest road trip ever. Like we have headaches, aches, and are just plain tired. Kendyl has been up for pretty much a day and a couple of hours. She took mini naps that didn’t last more than 30 mins I’d say. I slept probably a couple hours, but uncomfortably.

We’ll be here until Monday. And we’ll be seeing SHAUN WHITE! I’m not as big of a fan as Derek or Kendyl are. But I’m not going to lie, I’m SUPER excited to see him.

I’m sure you’ll hear more about our trip soon! 🙂 Wish you all were here with us!
Megan

PS. Sorry if nothing makes sense in this post or there’s a lot of grammatical errors– I’m super tired.