heads down bottoms up: back with a crack

heads down bottoms up

This new skin brings about a fresh new beginning, a change, reminding us the importance of looking at things from another perspective so that we may learn to understand and accept all that we see for not what they appear to be, but what they truly are.

Sunday

back with a crack

i could really just simply link this post to gneake's post on his recall of our 2-day experience up in the alpines, but i think if i did, he would crack the shits and give me the greasy which he had no doubt practiced numerous times in front of a mirror, as it is actually one hell of a scary greasy.

so here's my version, (but still feel free to read gneake's):

it's been four years since my last contact with snow, a pure white substance that strangely resembles coffee froth for those of you who have never seen snow before. i've been wanting to re-visit the alps a while back but the laziness in organisation and financial limitations always seem to be an excuse not to get off our backsides. this time, i thought i'd try to organise it, which in hindsight, i quite prefer taking the back seat. leadership, i believe, was once a quality i attained in my past life, but no more is it a part of me. leaders are people who we can turn to for mishaps and someone to blame when things go wrong, but they in return receive no appreciation for the time and effort they had put in to make things work, and no credit for when things go to plan. i pity and admire them, but i can no longer be one of them.

anywho, back to where i was. i returned from my ski trip four years ago on crutches due to the poorly designed chair lifts at the beginner runs of mt hotham, which actually required a great deal of ski to dismount. i vowed to myself that i am going to come back in one piece this time.

the quality of the room at the motor inn far exceeded what i had in mind. a cosy room with an ensuite enclosing two single beds and a double bed, all equip with electric blankets, a miniture kitchenette and cable tv, whose company we all incontestably enjoyed very much. staying below the alpines meant that we had endure an hour bus ride to and from the mountain for the two days we were there.

the first bus trip up to the mountains was no doubt exciting. despite being surrounded with the eerie darkness of the early morning, we were buzzing with delight and anticipation - at least i was. the weather was oddly beautiful from what i had in mind from my previous experience.

being the only person in our small group to have actually skiied before, i was left with the option of venturing out into the snow by myself for over two hours, or to pay an extra $30 for a discovery lesson which i felt i did not need. in fear of being alone in an unknown and new surrounding and the possibility of my skiing skills to have completely deterioated since my last trip, i decided to pay the extra. never had i been such a lucky girl, but the lady behind the counter unknowingly upgraded my ticket to include a discovery lesson with no extra charge, to which i genuinely thanked her for as i shuffled my way out of her sight praying that she would not come running after me - as i had no chance of escaping given the awkward design of those heavy ski boots.

after a basic introduction to skiing, i was keen to hit the real big slopes. confident in gneake's ability after his exceptional performance during the lesson, i urged him to ski down a massive slope with me. i went down first, but not without a flip, tumble and half a somersault which landed myself in an awkward position with both skis detached from my boots. gneake followed suit.

i am quite fearless when adrenaline levels escalate. i don't tend to think too much of consequences. who cares if i fall? who cares if i break a leg? after patiently following gneake down the slopes a few times, on which he had countless falls at tremendously slow speeds, i decided to speed ahead. i was under control for a few good seconds, until i think i hit a bump, and i think i tumbled, and i think i spent microseconds in mid-air, my sunnies few off, and then i hit the ground hard. very hard. the intense pain rushed in immediately despite the fact that my buttock was resting in icy snow which theoretically should provide analgesic effects. my both legs felt numb with intermittent pins and needles. i lay silently in the snow. i did not want to move. shit i thought, i think i've lost both my legs. i was so afraid i wanted to block out the world, until some random yelled out to me to raise my arm. i did as i was told despite the agonizing pain.

and then i heard a familiar voice. i made myself sit up and glanced around. and he made me laugh - fallen down the slope next to a wooden pole, gneake was resting on the snow looking in my direction to see if i was alright. for a moment, it seemed like he was in more trouble than me. i got myself together, gathered my skis and sunnies and plouged my way to gneake, who was still sitting on the snow. it was immensely painful to laugh, but i did anyway.

i had never ever required the assistance of paracetamol for musculoskeletal pain relief, but after struggling to get off a toilet seat, undo my boots and sneeze, i knew i couldn't do without. the drug was bliss. for the two hours of which it provided me with relief, i hit the slopes without a care, until it was time for another two tablets.

i gave up the opportunity to learn snowboarding on our second day because of my buttock pain, and i am still kicking myself for it. i had no other option but to ski in the blizzard, where hailstones were constantly aiming for the bare parts of my face, and fog which restricted our view to a 5m radius. i had never been in such horrid weather before.

it's like a battlefield out on the slopes. you need to watch out for both the inexperienced and experienced skiers. the inexperienced one would ski towards you in your direction and you see them frantically trying to maneuver themselves around you to no avail, and will inevitably become another obstacle on the course amongst the poles and ropes you need to get around. the experienced ones are not much safer to be around. any moment, they would swoop around you, spin and do fancy moves that diverts your attention to them and not the obstacles in front of you. very dangerous.

nonetheless, for those who can endure pain and are in for some thrilling and adrenaline pumping experience, i highly recommend skiing. but luckily, it is only a seasonal sport, as i can't imagine doing it for more than once a year: time for recovery, anatomically and financially.

to fill you in on how hard i landed, i paid a visit to a local doctor the day i came back and had some x-rays done. traumatic sacral hairline fracture. only small, but enough to cause a great deal of discomfort and inconvenience. i need to avoid prolonged standing and sitting, stop running and can't bend over. coincidently, i am about to return to uni and clinics which will require prolonged sitting and standing, i have been eating like crazy which means i need to go for a run sooner rather than later, and strangely, i seem to be dropping things more than usual these days but can't bend over to pick it up. murphy's law. heh.

posted by sciurine @ 2:17 AM

3 Comments:

At 1:10 PM, gneake said…

nice account, and your writing has improved in the way of style and sentence variety.

one thing i don't understand why leadership is, or at least by the sound of it, no longer part of you. it clearly is because you cannot denigrate a skill such as leadership. for everything you've organised it's been smooth sailing and efficient, albeit with a few panic attacks along the way (but we're all human), so I don't see why you should take the back seat forever.
At 8:47 PM, Torquer said…

Do you people (Sciurine and Gneake) lack the ability to press the shift key to obtain a capital letter?

At least it is not as bad as people writing printer reviews for Amazon COMPLETELY IN CAPITALS. I just got a new printer OK?

I remember the last time it snowed: friends and I had a right old chuckle in the white stuff.

Read my account
^This post is on the old blog.

My new blog is at http://mutualinduction.blogspot.com
At 12:28 AM, sciurine said…

thanks gneake, that's really nice of you.

as with all humans, i need time to recuperate from leading. i'm no fantastic leader, and sometimes taking the back seat will probably open my eyes to other things. being at the front line can be tiring, and i'm sure you understand. but unfortunately, it doesn't look like i even have the chance to warm up the back seat before taking off again to try my luck with this clinics business. dw, i won't glue myself to the back seat forever.