Monday, February 9, 2009

If at first you don't succeed...toss a fit, make excuses and try, try again.

I think skiing is the scariest thing I've ever tried to do. On a scale of 1 to 10, one being a walk in the park and ten being...bad...I'd give skiing a 12, and that's down from the 15 it would get if it weren't for patient and kind friends. I was thinking about other things I've attempted that were dread-inducing, and skiing makes most of them look fun. Attend college where I don't know anyone? got over that the first day soon as I met some people. The occasional speech, Bill Jolliff literary criticism test, progress report, job review? All manageable. Uncomfortable conversations of various sorts? Soon as you start, they get easier. Rope course training in California? The ledge you have to climb in the Ape Caves? Move to a foreign country where you don't know anyone and can't read anything? All a picnic by comparison.

If it were possible to harness dread as an alternative energy source, it would be a profitable business move to kidnap me and make me go skiing every day.

That said, I hope to go skiing at least once more this year, because confound it! I am going to learn this. And then if I still don't like it, I can quit.

3 comments:

  1. There you go-- and, of course, there's always scuba-diving, sky-diving, spelunking and other nonthreatening sports to dabble in.

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  2. Scuba diving looks fun, spelunking is fun, and skydiving is for fruitcakes and wing-nuts.

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  3. Well, call me a fruitcake! You were doing fantastically, by the way:) And, Richard suggested a place that supposedly has plenty of nice blue runs that we can go practice on.

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