No adrenaline junkie

A lot of people get their kicks out of the adrenaline rush, whether from speed, danger, pushing the envelope, etc. That's why cars have lots of horsepower, go bungee jumping, or strap on pieces of plastic to their feet to go down a snow-filled slope really fast. Check out Clement catching some air (picture courtesy of JT):



One thing I learned this past weekend at our annual ski trip is that I am not one of those people. I accelerate slowly in my car. I won't be jumping off any buildings any time soon. And, I don't typically have a whole lot of fun barrelling down a mountain at insane speeds, with the slipstream buffeting my face. I actually enjoy myself more when I improve my overall control and technique at moderate speeds.

While this meant that I pretty much spent the entire day way behind the rest of my group (George, Shally, JT, Clement, and Dan), I was still able to get better at my turns on all the blue runs (my first-ever ski trip with no greens), and even attempted to navigate my first black diamonds ever (result: crashing and burning on the mogul-filled section, and sloooooowly making my way down the flat, steep slope on the second). Thankfully, no one got seriously hurt... although my coworker, a beginner snowboarder, did amuse us greatly by telling a story of how he opted to plaster himself against a tree rather than go careening off the path. Ouch.

One of the benefits of taking things more slowly is that you get to appreciate little views along the way, like George's shot of Lake Tahoe on a perfectly sunny, cool day (yet still with decent snow):



Even though I wasn't originally planning to ski, I'm glad that I hit the slopes. Didn't tear anything, got to spend time with cool people, exercised some, and thoroughly enjoyed the outdoors. Great trip all-around.