legacycentral bbs

. . . in a grip!

so, some of you may remember I was doing the corporate dealio with WWG, a purveyor of industrial supplies.
It was my big break in August of '05, and it turned out to be such a great gig that I worked hard to get my hombres in there, too.
We enjoyed superior pay (for warehouse/pick/pack guys) as well as a great woking environment, on top of better-than-most benes.

. . . that good ride ended not-so-well, all three of us got canned in the same month. (in another post, I might get into those details -- not this post's purpose.)

So after being treated well and then getting shafted, I took up snowboarding.

if some of you don't know, I live near Tacoma, Wa. The nearest good ski spot is Crystal Mountain. If you've heard, they're having an epic snow season! There has been so much powder, its just incredible!
I don't think I'll see another year as finest as my first here. (but I'll be the judge of that )
So one of my boys heads right up here, since he knows somebody, and gets hired on as a lift-operator. Within a week, I'm the only one left in town. I knew I could have a job up there if I wanted, but dormlife didn't appeal to me (liftops can stay up there in a dorm, if the drive sucks. only 125/mo and they take it out of your check.) and I wasn't hot about the idea, neither was my parental unit.

But see, when you're unemployed, bored, and boarding sounds so much more fun than job hunting -- I went back up.

I'm making this post from my dorm where I stay with my boys again.

To begin with, its HALF of what I'm accustomed to being compensated. ($8.50/hr )
But to wake up to snow every morning, in a place that's totally new to me -- Now THAT is something I can dig. Operating these lifts are easy, my job is not difficult at all. I get to ride my board about every couple hours when I swing to another station, and I'm getting better on it. In fact, I'm actually ENJOYING myself!

Dormlife isn't bad -- I haven't minded having to clean the kitchen before doing anything food-related. We've got some foodstuffs in the room, so its not always necessary to cook to eat. I get to smoke all the weed I want. Oh! And my car is not only the only turbo in the lot, mine's also the nicest looking! The mountain gave me Columbia Ti riding gear (jacket and pants) and my season pass costs $5. I get the best two days of the week off --Mondays and Tuesdays, so I can ride all day for free, in the best conditions without a whole grip of people getting in my way.

I guess this is also considered my first living-away-from-home experience. There's no mommies. There's no daddies. Theres's no bedtime. No rules, no drama, just chillaxin'.
This must be how fratboys live. Speaking of -- there are some pretty cute snowbhunnies up here, too. Good tail to chase, party environment. . .

So far I've learnt how to wax my board ( I knew nothing about skiing/boarding before last week.) I can adjust/replace my bindings (03 burton freestyles) and I can even kinda ride toeside!

I guess the point of most of this is that I'm working, and I feel like I'm on vacation. I'm learning, I'm having a great experience and a change of scenery has been the best thing that's happened to me.

F'cking awesome news dude! Glad to hear that life's working out for you. I've always wondered what life would be like as a beer drinking, pot smoking, paid ski bum working on the mt and I give props to any man that can pull it off - you the man and I tip my glass to you.

Enjoy the good life and I expect some pics of this place at some point as well as stories of wild nights filled with ski bunnies.

And does this mean fellow BBS'ers get to ski free?

dude I went to stevens the day after we were kickin it at art's and it SHIT snow up there the night before it was definitely the best day of the season for me. I ended up hiking cowboy ridge up there, untracked 3' dry powder with minimal trees for about 800' then some pretty decent snow the rest of the way.
glad to hear youre having fun up there, getting free sick ass gear and chronic, enjoy it while it lasts! also just keep on riding with the people who are way better than you and you'll progress a lot faster, helped me a lot. how is it being out in the cold all day, do you get pretty cold or not too bad?
I'd love to work for a ski resort some day hopefully driving the cat.

thanks for the positive response! . . .?

it actually rained here today --wasn't that great. we're closed tomorrow just cuz of that. needless to say we're getting down tonite!

they did away with night boarding about 3 to 4 weeks ago, so we close down at 4 everyday.

oh, the cats/groomer thingies are pretty dope, they get phatty roostertails when they get going. *giggle*

anyway, that's all for now!

Congrats on the fun job. I'd advise you learn to sharpen edges now that you know how to wax. It'll keep you off the trees.

reed,
my buddy made some red snow when he smashed his face into it after hitting a tree --it was pretty gnarly. he mighta broke his nose, not sure though. good thing he's not jewish!
this warm front is killing me. . I need more snow! please guys, pray for snow!

lee,

your previous post keeps ringing in my head and I guess I have a response on that tip;
I'm slowly starting to see that if I was the good kid and did everything my mom wanted to me to --from the good grades to the staying out of trouble and not smoking weed, being responsible with money, not driving fast and getting tickets and court dates --well, I'd be dead. that's no fun at all, and its not the life I want. this isn't to knock you or the path you chose, its just a reminder that deviations from the norm aren't necessarily a bad thing --our cultural expectations and guidelines are anything but.
But if I were in college and getting a degree and making 'all the right moves' with the assurance that I'm 'america's best' and theres a successful future and money ahead of me, well, I think I'd feel a tad bit cheated, controlled. I got a lot more hardtimes than most, but I'm willing to kick it, cuz if I were somewhere else in fate, I wouldn't have made it this far. I'd be off the island a lot quicker than the rest of you.

serendipity is NOT what the republicans would lead you to believe.

tris91ricer wrote:reed,
this warm front is killing me. . I need more snow! please guys, pray for snow!

lee,

your previous post keeps ringing in my head and I guess I have a response on that tip;
I'm slowly starting to see that if I was the good kid and did everything my mom wanted to me to --from the good grades to the staying out of trouble and not smoking weed, being responsible with money, not driving fast and getting tickets and court dates --well, I'd be dead. that's no fun at all, and its not the life I want. this isn't to knock you or the path you chose, its just a reminder that deviations from the norm aren't necessarily a bad thing --our cultural expectations and guidelines are anything but.
But if I were in college and getting a degree and making 'all the right moves' with the assurance that I'm 'america's best' and theres a successful future and money ahead of me, well, I think I'd feel a tad bit cheated, controlled. I got a lot more hardtimes than most, but I'm willing to kick it, cuz if I were somewhere else in fate, I wouldn't have made it this far. I'd be off the island a lot quicker than the rest of you.

serendipity is NOT what the republicans would lead you to believe.

Pray for snow? No way dude...

As far as going to school and all that, I think you're maybe reading too much into it. Going to college is acquiring a skill to build a career on, nothing more. But I do understand what you're saying. I would only counter your argument to say that when you find something you like doing, it doesn't hurt to expand upon your knowledge. That said, it's expensive.

I definitely agree with Tleg.
don't use your parent's expectations and hopes for you as a reason to not go to school; to prove them wrong or whatever. your life isnt hard, youre not an untouchable in india dismantling container ships or working in a mine in africa somewhere. the act of going to college isnt going to control and define you like not being able to get a job you want because you didnt have the proper schooling will. not getting said schooling doesnt make you a rebel, just like graduating college does not make you some mindless preppy. it says that you have dedication to yourself. I mean really, do what you want but there are so many people with these intensely negative ideas about college and what its going to do to them if they go ingrained in their imagination. bottom line, do what works and makes you happy. for me that is to experience as many things as I can and learn as much as I can, college is a part of that.
I dunno, I guess I am just dead already, another cog in the machine lol.

oh yeah trees, I monster truck over the little ones whenever I can and bounce off the big ones. my helmet has a lot of sap on it and for a while had a twig stuck in the vent, looked hilarious unfortunately it fell out. last season(both before and resulting in the helmet) I had to get 20 staples in my scalp and a mild concussion from a hidden 1.5" thick branch I broke off with my head.

Um... just so it's not unclear, my compliments were said with a 'warm' heart with no implications other than Tristan's the man.


Every man has to choose his own path and as long as he's willing to actually walk it then he's got my respect for atleast that.

That said, I'm a college grad with and using my engineering degree. That said, S.O.B. do I sometimes miss my old days of raising steel and working construction and I still daydream about being a ski bum.

I dont think theres anything wrong with being a ski bum for a while. I wouldnt want to do it forever though. That may be because at some point I want a family and you simply have to have a "real" job to afford a family.

The problem with not having a college degree is that getting hired at a job, if you can even find a decent one that doesnt require a college degree, is going to be SUPER difficult.

I HATE school and I just got my BA. I still have 2 more years to get my teaching license, but its so worth it in the end. 8-3 mon-fri, full benefits, tenure, TWO MONTHS VACATION and all holidays!!! On top of that, in my area, teachers start at about $45,000 and max out over $100,000.

Low hour jobs with high pay just dont exist for non college grads...
(for the most part anyway)

If you dont really care about money, then hell yeah - ski bum for life!!!

Danny

There's nothing wrong with taking time off from the rat race. My whole goal is to do just that as soon as I am financially able. Last summer I took a trip to California for a while, it was nice.

Right now, I'm getting prepared to get my masters and then I'll go as far as I can with it because of the work-life balance issue and because you only live once, might as well see how far you can get. Life doesn't reward those who don't take risks.

That's gangster, Tristan! Once you start boarding, you DO run the risk of getting hooked. . . glad to see you're in the same boat as I am!