How have I changed this year?

How I wish I could spend my time (doctrinesoffaith)

How have I changed this year?  This year so far to be honest has been filled with unfortunate events, I don’t know where my luck went but lately it has been terrible.  That said I have changed in a very big way this year.  This year I learned that no madder the circumstances you are being faced with you can still be happy.  From falling in my biggest race of the year after I had a great season leading up to it, to all three of my best friends being sent away and not being aloud to see them for months and still haven’t seen two of them I have experienced a lot of bad situations this year.  But before that long chain of bad luck I had a great time whether it was skiing in races besides the championships or creating memories with my friends that were sent away all of it was so fun that when it all went to crap it didn’t make it that bad.  Sure at first I was heart broken over all of the bad fortune but the best thing that I learned and something that also changed with me is that I took a bad situation and tried to see the good in it.  Seeing the good in things can make life so much more enjoyable and it keeps your mind from wandering back to the past.  So I feel like I figured myself out more this year and with doing that it made me happier.

I have also became more committed to sports this year and have moved on with my sports careers this year.  I moved into high school lacrosse and started to train with the western region ski racing team which is all of the best ski racers from the west coast that get together and try to get better!  With this I have became more mature and am able to see situations differently due to the extra maturity.  Along with all of this I added I have also had some things subtracted.  I have became increasingly less motivated and lazy.  Whether it comes to homework, gym work, or just plain getting out of bet my motivation is at an all time low.  I have had to tried much more to do the things that are needed which is hard because it is adding much more stress because it takes longer to get done due to my laziness.  I hope that this characteristic will just be a phase and blow over because before long I am just going to pop and lay in bed all day surfing the web!  Thanks for reading!

Flatbush Zombies

Flatbush Zombies (Sevendaysvt)

I recently spent a weekend in Salt Lake City, Utah with a couple of my buddies.  The weekend started with a car ride to The Complex which is a building that they hold concerts in.  The featured band of the night was called Flatbush Zombies but they were accompanied with Skizzy Mars, McJenkins, and The Underachievers.  We showed up right in time and hopped in a line that was a bearable length.  After we got searched and gave them our tickets we were home free.  You could tell that not everyone was there yet because the venue wasn't packed at all.  We went straight into the crowd and started dancing around.

An Hour Later

After about an hour of dancing the venue was completely packed, there was mosh pits, people smoking, and performers jumping into the crowd.  Most of us got separated after a while and we were on our own.  The crowd was insane people were swaying back and forth, pushing each other, punching each other, and someone I knew even got knocked out because he fell in a mosh pit.  His head got trampled and he was taken out and most likely was driven to the hospital.  All of this happened before the main act came on!  Once we were all regrouped near the bathrooms we sat down and drank some water getting ready for the main performer.  You could tell that some people were going a little too hard because there was throw up all over the bathroom and people passed out in about every stall.

The more we waited the more people we knew and before we knew it we had twenty people we knew ready to go in together.  The crowd was getting a little sketch due to all of the mosh pits that were braking out and the amount of people getting hurt.  Not only that but I was shorter than the majority of the crowd so I couldn’t really see where I was in the venue.  Besides that I was still super stoked to go back in and have a good rest of my night!

Fifteen Minutes Later

Before we knew it we were in the middle of the action, the stage was right in front of us and the mosh pit right behind us.  After a couple of songs you could tell that the crowd was getting super rowdy.  The next song the artist told the crowd to form two mosh pits and the light shined where they wanted them to form.  The light was right on my friend and I, people started shoving and pushing and two second later a full out mosh was happening around us.  We both tried to get to the sides so we could still interact with the people in the mosh pit but not get the crap kicked out of us.  We then stayed there for the rest of the night and had a sweet time.  At the end of the night we were tired, stinky, and completely stoked we went!

A Memorable Night

A good representation of what it looked like (Norwoodnews)

In this post I would live to throw it back to when one of my close friends was here.  This friend is now gone for a while but we shared many good memories and unforgettable times.  When we put our minds together it was not a very good thing, I say that because we would come up with the most fun idea that could very well end us up in a heap of trouble with both of our parents.  These ideas usually consisted of sneaking out of our houses meeting up and driving around with our other friends going wherever we felt necessary at that moment.  But aside from the generalized story that I told you I would like to point out one memory that sticks out the most in my mind. 

It was around eight o’clock at night and we had just arrived at Main Street which was where we going to spend the majority of our night.  The plan was to go on a hike with our friends and our girlfriends.  That plan changed very quickly, I say this because right as we stepped out of the car we saw a group of men walking by.  Being the loud mouth that I am I started giving them some grief for the fun of it.  The men just shrugged of our comments and kept walking.  We didn’t think twice about it.  We both turned our backs to each other and continued on our way.  Or so we thought, about thirty seconds later we saw the men sprinting after us.  I told my friend to get my back because the men looked pretty pissed off.  The first guy came sprinting after me and tried to get me in a headlock.  I pushed him off of me and started yelling, “What are you doing? I am only fourteen years old!”  This didn’t stop him he got in my face and I got in his.  He swung while I was turned and hit me in the side of the face.  I barely felt it and started laughing at him that he was going to go to jail because my friend was already on the phone with them.  After that statement was made the men quickly started leaving.  Our group then followed them telling them what was about to happen to them.  They split up which led us to split up and I was now with the dude and a girl I know.  He started leaving so I grabbed him and pinned him against the window and waited till the cops arrived.  The cops questioned us and took the drunk adults away to the slammer.  The girls we were with were terrified and my mom was fuming but it sure was a good story to tell!

Mammoth Speed Camp

MammothMountain.Com Shows the Amazing Views

Although my real ski season has officially ended I recently took a little trip to Mammoth, California to ski with the best kids from the western region and send our selves of a jump to get better in the air for the event called Super-G.  We qualified to this camp by doing well at the Junior Olympics.  Most of us were from different states such as Montana, Alaska, Utah (where I live), and California.

My friend and I (shane) flew into Mammoth not know what to expect.  We have never actually met most of the kids at the camp so we didn’t really know what to think of it.  But once we arrived our friend from Nationals was waiting for us in our three story condo that we had to surprisingly three people.  The first day we got there we mostly just go settled in and hung out in our room with the new racers that we met.

We woke up at around seven thirty and took our time to get over and on the lift by eight thirty.  Although the snow was very thin the quality of it was completely fine and made for great training!  For you that don’t know what I’m training for, I am training for ski racing which is when you ski down a steep, icy pitch, and try to get down the fastest while also skiing around gates.  The days were short only about three hours of skiing, the first day all we did was terrain courses which consisted of snow piles that you pump over and try to remain as balanced as possible, and a phantom jump which simulates approaching a jump but leaves out the actual jumping process.  They made the phantom jump to act as a sort of profession the the bigger jump that we were going to hit in the upcoming days of skiing.  The first day after skiing we got undressed and went into our coaches office to watch some simple video for the day.  This only took about fifteen minutes then we were back chilling in the condos waiting for the hike we had to take three hours later.

Three Hours Later

Our fitness coach for the camp gathered us together at three o’clock and took us on a hike in the mountains to see the beautiful views.  On the way up the mountain we threw footballs around and kicked soccer balls around to pass the time.  Once we reached the summit we did some drills on the ladder and the rock wall that we were next to.  After we worked out for a little bit we played a couple games of sharks and minos and began to start to actually know each other.  We then started our way back down to the hotel where we were most likely going to spend the rest of the night eating and screwing with each other.

Thanks To All

Thanks to all that have been reading my blogs lately!  I really enjoy writing about my life for all of you and if my life interests you feel free to give me a follow and if it doesn’t leave me a comment and tell me what bothers you!  Blogging is a really fun thing to do because it gives you a chance to put your writing out there and there really is not limits to blogging.  Before I started blogging only my teachers could really read my writing so it brings me joy to know that people out there can get ahold of my voice.  I haven’t really been doing it very long but so far I have really enjoyed myself.  At this point I have blogged for three fourths of a school year and don’t intend to stop any time soon.

Thanks

 Please feel free to give me some helpful tips and I would like to know if you guys like it more when I write about skiing or just my normal weekends in Park City, Utah comment which one you prefer.  I realized that I have mostly been writing about my ski racing experiences and am going to try to get back into my normal at home life and what it’s like.  I haven’t really been writing about my experiences in Park City because I am never really in town in the winter but now that my ski season over I will be able to deliver some more of my personal experiences with different people and different content.

Follow and Comment!

Also feel free to ask me any questions about ski racing if you are confused about anything at all!  I am trying to reach a couple goals of mine which is to get more page views, followers, and comments!  I urge you to leave a comment about what you think about my blog because it helps me create better material for all of you.  I would also appreciate it if you like my blog to show it to your other friends that enjoy reading about stuff like mine.

Championship Weekend IIII

My chin after slalom run (original)

The next morning after the GS (previous post) was much like the last.  I woke up around six fifteen put on my long johns, sweats, sweatshirt and got all my gear so I could put it in the vans.  After that I went to the continental breakfast and ate eggs, bacon, and cereal and talked with kids from different regions.  I then jumped in the vans at seven and slept all the way up to the mountain which was about a half an hour away.  Once I got up there I put all my stuff on, clicked into my trainers and went up chair lift with my skis on my shoulder.

The Slalom was on the same hill as the GS but it was on the side where there was a sort of side hill that made the run much harder.  I was pissed off for greatness as ray lewis once said and I was determined to win the Slalom.  I had a lot of pressure on me for that run but I didn’t let it get to me.  I stayed calm but focused the entire day and I knew I was ready.  I took a quick slip down the run because inspection is not really needed for slalom.  I then went up to the top and cheered on my team mates until my run.  I was already stripped, warmed up and ready to go.  I got into the gate, bib number fourteen, and I heard all of my teammates screaming my name and I exploded out of the start.  I went into the first rhythm section of the course I completely nailed it, then came the combination nailed it!  Next rhythm section started and I felt a sharp pain on my chin but I ignored it and kept ripping my run.  I was having a perfect run and I knew that I was going to win it.  Here came the finish, the tempo was increasing and I couldn’t keep up with it.  I missed a gate hiked, and then straddled the next gate.  I was infuriated and didn’t know what to do.  I threw my pole with my glove attached and skied into the trees so I could be alone.  I broke my other pole that I had with me on a tree and put my head between my legs in complete despair.  My entire ski season was for that moment and I messed it up.

I skied out of the trees found my dad and talked to him and he said that I was a second ahead coming through the finish which pissed me off even more.  I skied away and got on the lift with a couple random people.  About half way up the lift the person next to me told me that my chin was bleeding, I looked down at my bib and realized that it was covered in blood.  I felt my chin and felt a big glob of blood on the end of it.  I went down the ski patrol shack and had to get seven stitches across my chin.  That was the end to my Championsh** weekend.

Championship Weekend III

Most likely what I looked like

The next day after the Super-G (previous post) was much like the last.  I woke up around six fifteen put on my long johns, sweats, sweatshirt and got all my gear so I could put it in the vans.  After that I went to the continental breakfast and fueled up before the day and talked with kids from different regions such as California, Montana, and Alaska.  I then jumped in the vans at seven and slept all the way up to the mountain which was about a half an hour away.  Once I got up there I put all my stuff on, clicked into my trainers and went up chair lift with my skis on my shoulder.

The GS (giant slalom smaller than Super-G and bigger than Slalom) was located on a different hill and it was super foggy and depressing at the time we were starting. Ski racing in the fog is very hard to do because of speeds and how quickly you have to react and when you can't see it is hard to react fast.  I was lucky enough to be the third person to run the course but I was also very unlucky for that very same reason.  I inspected the course and got just like the day before into my zone.  If you have been reading my last couple posts you will see that ski racing is a very repetitive and tedious sport to listen to and even do at sometimes.  The men were running before the women so I was starting very soon after my inspection.  Once I lapped around the forerunners were in the gate, forerunners are people that test out the course to make sure that it is running okay before the actual racers get into it.  I stripped down to my speed suit, did my movement prep and clicked into my race skis.  I was determined to win this race and I was also prepared.  GS had been my best even all year and I had won two out of the three GS races throughout the year.

Me at previous race (Left, original)

Racer Ready? Ten Seconds… Five… Four… Three.. Two.. I pulled out of the gate.  I was linking my turns from gate to gate, putting all of my body weight onto my outside ski.  I was having a great run,  I got to the first delay (two gates that you ski through) I took a straight line and gained way to much speed through it.  If I could hold onto that speed I could win the race but the forces overcame me and I was on my ass once again before I knew it.  My ski popped off and I was on the side of the run in instant despondency.  I hit my pole on the ground and it snapped straight in half and I skied off cursing under my breath and just about to breakdown into a temper tantrum.  I was completely fed up and was so pissed off which was a very good thing for the next day.  My anger was going to be my inspiration to win the next day which is Slalom.

To Be Continued…