Tuesday, January 5, 2010

Twenty Ten: In It To Win It

It's official: 2009 has been 86ed...and none to soon. As you know, it wasn't exactly my most, err, graceful year, so I was READY to unwrap a shiny, new decade. After returning from the motherland, I unpacked my Christmas presents (including an "I Survived Swine '09" long-sleeved shirt from my sister), repacked some long underwear, and declared myself ready for a week in Tahoe. A few hours later, my friend BC (of 80s party fame), his cute snowboarder friend and I took off for the mountains with 3 Mission burritos in tow.

A note on cute snowboarder friend (Ms. Jenny Ziemba, pictured above): Celebrity Alert! Among other snowboardery-type accomplishments, she competed in the X Games. Fo' reals. See last paragraph here. Not related but also awesome: she taught me how to pick the right bikini to ensure a favorable position in the Hawaiian surf line-up. In exchange, I taught her about this reflective Mac mineral powder that adds an "ultra-deluxe polish to the face." And our winning idea later that night? Wear said powder on ass to score an ultra-deluxe line-up position. Move over computer support nerds, there's some new Mac geniuses on the scene.

After a few days at Tahoe house #1, we moved on to Tahoe house #2 where we met up with our New Year's crew. Upon arrival, I was pleased to find that our place not only had a large outdoor hot tub, but it also sported a living room with one of those overstuffed chair-and-a-half things that I can't seem to get enough of. Side note: Every time I've ever sat in one of them, I've found myself curiously content and almost instantly asleep. They're like the Valiums of the furniture world...without the unsafe interaction with alcohol. Win!

Over the next few days, we learned to snowboard at the Northstar Burton Academy. While this admittedly sounds prestigious and may conjure images of us taking exams on the physics of snow and balance, a more accurate depiction would be us wiping out on the baby hill, envying the moves of the 3 year olds who were whizzing by us. Upon graduation, however, we were thrilled to receive high marks from our instructor, "Adam A", which I'm considering adding to my resume under the Education section. ("Toe-side turns, December 2009, Cum Laude")*

After a full-on murder mystery dinner hosted by the one and only Senor Croan accompanied by some good 'ole fashioned New Year's debauchery + various hot tubbing victories, we 86ed 2009, welcoming the onset of twenty ten. Then, with This American Life stories playing on the radio and plenty of Advil to counteract snowboarding injury awareness, we made our way back to SF.

Following the lead of the soon-to-be Mrs. Croan, I'll be tackling the new year with a renewed sense of hope and vigor, having declared that I, too, am "In It to Win It." Hells yeah!


*yep, still an athlete, damnit!