Dances with Words

Time :: 8:30am
Temperature :: -4 deg C
Conditions :: Fine again, but the snow is getting icy. They are predicting sleet later, too.

Woah, finished the Da Vinci Code last night – what a twist! In fact, several unexpected and ingenious twists! I liked it. Part thriller, part murder mystery, part code breaker, lots of fun. I have resolved to get a hold of some of the author’s other works next time I’m in a bookshop.

The book is full of is references to how Christianity at its beginning slotted in with other, older religions, and being written by a non-Christian the view of what the early church did is not always positive. I found it intrigueing. I think it’s important to learn from the lessons of the distant past, when Christianity was a minority religion in a pluralistic society – in some ways similar to today’s post-evangelical world. Does it change the truth of the gospel? No way. Does it challenge what I think of the early church? Maybe.

Time :: 9:00am
Temperature :: -5 deg C
Conditions :: It is PERFECT out there, bright and sunny with the snow still pretty fresh.

Why do they put an odd number of Tim Tams in a packet? Not conducive to harmonious relationships.

We can’t go snowboarding today because it’s Saturday, and Elicia’s working all day anyway – and I mean ALL day, from 9am to 9pm. She has a larger-than-normal break in the middle but still, that’s a long day…

I’ve been reading the Da Vinci Code. Woah, good thriller, sort of makes me wonder how much of the historical basis to the book is true. I mean, I know that there’s always two sides to historical stories and I had heard some of the stuff before, but this takes it way further and I’m not sure I find it within the bounds of possibility. I’ll finish it and then give a full, everthoughtful response!

Handy Tips for Living at Mt Hotham #41
Read more.

Time :: 9:00am
Temperature :: -3 deg C
Conditions :: The sun is coming out a bit today, only a light breeze, should be good for snowboarding again.

A letter with URGENT RESPONSE REQUIRED written on the front arrived yesterday, and I immediately thought it must be an overdue bill that we’ve missed or something else terrible. Maybe we didn’t pay our rates on time and they’re going to kick us out, I don’t know how it works I’ve never had an apartment before. Maybe I’ve done something wrong with my BAS and they’re going to ask for lots of money that we don’t have. Maybe it’s the Christian Thought Police responding to that rant about homosexual marriage laws.

It was only an ad for holidaying to Fiji. “You must come to Fiji as our guest!” is the first sentence, urgent orders indeed.

Time :: 4:30pm
Temperature :: -1 deg C
Conditions :: A little bit of wet mist (ie not frozen) which is making things a bit sloppy in places. Otherwise great!

We went out snowboarding today despite me still feeling blogged and sniffly, I just loaded up on Anticol before we went. I’ve been trying all the different brands of cough-lollies because it must be 5 years since the last time I had a cold, and lots of them are new and exciting. Did you know Soothers come with a liquid centre? Very cool. Elicia likes the classic Butter Menthols but they have a recommendation not to eat more than 3 packets in 24 hours, no good for me!

Anyway, the snowboarding was great, we went up the Summit (beginner run) just to get back in the swing of things then tried the Sun Run, which is blue. I actually found the blue run easier today, it had much more powder snow that made me feel a lot better about turning, my bottom still remembers what hard snow is like to fall on…

We were also just talking about kids’ names (not that we’re having any – don’t get too excited) and Leash came up with Wasabi – which rocks! I think it will become one of my all-time favourites, along with Dartanion, Sunshine and Murray. Our kids will be warped.

Time :: 8:30am
Temperature :: -4 deg C
Conditions :: Overcast with occasional snow showers. It will be great for going out tomorrow (Elicia’s day off!) if it fines up a bit.

I’ve been overdosing on Vicks Vapo-drops, and I think I’m already over the worst of the cold. I have a blogged dose dough, made it very hard to eat breakfast; I had to pause between each mouthful and take a couple of deep breaths. So now I’m slightly hyperventilated as well as Vicks-ed up.

We went to a friend’s for tea last night, it was a bit of a dinner party, about 10 people there and Ally (the friend and host) cooked some awesome food. It started with Japanese nibbles like crab nori rolls and smoked salmon on chive pikelets as well as the oblogatory mini dim sims, spring rolls and prawn toast. Then she’d made a Thai Green Curry, Beef with Black Bean and Satay Chicken for the main course followed by a butterscotch fondue with fruit for dessert. Unbelievably delicious, and most of it was homemade from scratch! Apparently Ally used to share house with a Japanese girl when she was studying: one of the most obvious advantages of a multicultural society, in my opinion.

Handy Tips for Living at Mt Hotham #40
Enjoy food, wine and laughing conversation with friends. These things are the essence of life.

Time :: 8:00am
Temperature :: -4 deg C
Conditions :: fresh snow over the last couple of days, the sun has risen clear this morning but there’s clouds to the West that might mean bad weather later this morning.

I woke with a sore throat this morning, I’m just praying I don’t get as sick as Leash did. Besides being too busy at work, it would mean another 3-4 days without snowboarding, I think I’m forgetting what it’s like! Leasha’s making her patented fruit porridge for breakfast, that’ll sort me out,

Actually I’m not super busy with real work but I’ve got another modelling/texturing test, this time it’s for a company that models race cars for (duh) car racing games. A very cool job, but they use software that I’m not familiar with and told me that I have to show them I can be adept with the software before I can come onboard. So I’ve been trying to do tutes and then build a car from photos I found on the internet, it’s harder than I thought especially when I’m trying to do proper (paying) work as well. I’m really hoping this one works out though, it would be a ripper job and it’s a 12-month-or-so contract which would be perfect.

Handy Tips for Living at Mt Hotham #39
Learn to play cards. If you don’t want to go outside, there’s not much else to do up here.

Time :: 9:15am
Temperature :: -1 deg C
Conditions :: We’ve had a bit more snow the last couple of days, it’s overcast and gloomy out there now.

After a question-via-comment by Ian a couple of days ago, I though I’d give a few points that we’ve discovered about for either side in the ongoing skiing vs snowboarding debate. Keep in mind that I am only a beginner boarder and I have never skied at all…

LEARNING
They say it’s easier to learn snowboarding than skiing, even though I reckon skiing looks easier because you face with your feet forward, much like the rest of life. I think it’s easier to learn to go slow on a snowboard, by keeping the thing horizontal you can slow yourself right down and maintain a fair amount of control.

DIFFICULTY
Again, while there seems to be some debate it is generally accepted that it is easier to take a snowboard down a really steep or tricky run. It also depends on the conditions: if it’s very powdery, snowboards have the advantage of more surface area, meaning more speed and less sinkiness. If it’s getting icy I think skis can give more control.

ADVANCEMENT
It seems like there is more to advance to on a snowboard as far as tricky/outright dangerous stuff goes. You can still do tricks on skis but the ratio is about 20:1 against them in the terrain parks.

SPEED
In a race on a normal run, a downhill skier can go faster.

CRASHING
Personally, this made the difference for me. If you crash on a snowboard, you fall over but your feet stay in the board, handily locked together to prevent them going in opposite directions. When you crash with skis who knows where your legs could end up. And if the skis come off your feet then you have to go and find them and refit them.

OTHER
Snowboarders have it easier carrying their gear – only the one board whereas skiers have two skis and two poles.. But, skiers definitely have it better on the lifts, they can just ski on, ski off and ski straight down. A snowboarder has to take one foot out to get on and off, then play around (sitting in the snow if you don’t have great balance yet) tying it back in again at the top before going anywhere. Skiers can also move along flat ground around the resort easier, by pushing with their poles and doing the cross-country walky-thing.

A couple of panoramic photos I put together from shots I took the other day when the weather was so great.

You really don’t get a feel for the immense distance you can see from these shots, it feels like you are on top of the world looking for thousands of kilometres in every direction, an awe-inspiring experience.

Time :: 11:00am
Temperature :: -1 deg C
Conditions :: Fine and Sunny, but if I’m not mistaken the snow will be getting quite icy by now.

Elicia’s had a fluey cough thing, and it means she’s lost her voice. Makes a pleasant change Actually not, really. Instead of her sweet chatter now we have a deep, phlegmy cough every couple of mintues, night-time included. Not conducive to harmonious sleeping.

I had darts last night, and our team won! First time ever. I lost my singles game, but I made up for it by winning the doubles by hitting two bullseyes in a row. Fluke rather than skill, but I didn’t tell anyone that! Our team won overall 4v3, so still not as convincing as we would have liked, but oh well there’s always next week. At least we didn’t have to drop our dacks this week – last week we were playing against a team that had their own teeshirts, and someone suggested that our team should get our own printed boxer shorts…

Handy Tips for Living at Mt Hotham #38
Get good at charades, in case you have to explain to the doctor that you’re sick when you’ve got no voice.

Time :: 9:15am
Temperature :: -4 deg C
Conditions :: Getting a little firmer due to lack of fresh snow, but still very good and the sunshine is beautiful.

I went out yesterday morning, it was the best conditions I’ve ever been out in. I practised turns a lot, after falling the other day my bum (still a bit sore) is a bit cautious about sticking itself out too far, which was making it difficult for me to swing to the left, which in turn was making me fall over even more. After practising for a while I decided I felt brave and I tried a proper blue run. It was steep, I was okay but too scared to try turning down it, so I just “falling leaf”-ed my way to the bottom. And the chair up was padded, I’ll definitely be doing that one again!

Handy Tips for Living at Mt Hotham #37
Snowboarding: it’s all about weight transferral and physics. Leaning on one side causes that edge to dig in and turns you in that direction. The trick to linking turns is being brave enough to lean forward and backward very quickly and trust that the board is going to turn and thus use centrifugal force and friction to hold you up.