Dude, there was actually snow.

Symposium was at Bachelor this year, which was good because I got to go for once. It was still kind of spendy, but at least I got to hang out with everyone, take some good clinics (OK, one great one and one OK one), ski with Indie Rocker and partake in fresh, cold beverages at the Deschutes Brewery. I met a ton of PSIA people and had a nice time, to be honest.

We got down there pretty late on Friday, but at least we didn’t have to go through Hood River, so I was already in a better mood than when we started. If we’d done that, I might have been forced to kill someone and I was already feeling pretty dramatic. Well, not really. Fortunately, Diesel decided to drive, which left the rest of us able to goof off, play with the stereo, cuddle, drink, and goof off some more. Gotta love big cars. However, I don’t have to love a truck that I have to hoof myself four feet off the ground to get into. Dude, seriously? The lift is a bit much. Something to be said for, oh, running boards.

Once we got to Bend, we managed to meet up with the crew at the local martini bar. It was loads of fun and not too alcoholic. It was good to see everyone. Apparently we missed DB and that crew, which is kind of OK, actually, considering that they were apparently hell-bent on tearing up the town, which we weren’t, so much.

Saturday was spent in Skiing 301, which mostly consisted of us wandering around the mountain and sort of getting feedback. Which wasn’t bad, but it certainly wasn’t what we needed and Marshall was fuming. I believe that my words the next day were something like, “our clinician’s style didn’t really mesh well with our learning style.” Or some such BS that basically meant that he was winging the damned thing and our feedback left a little (or a lot. Nobody from there reads this!) to be desired. Either way, we then ended up spending the better part of an hour and a half eating lunch. Not on purpose. First, we waited to be seated. Then, we waited to order. Then, we waited to be served. It was ridiculous. If I hadn’t been hanging out with Marshall, State, and Indie Rocker, I would have been much, much crankier. After watching the weather do weird things the entire lunch, we headed back out to ski some more. What was really nice was that it cleared up and we got to ski a bunch of stuff that ordinarily has races and that sort of thing all over it. Poor Indie Rocker got a little tired because he was tele-ing all day, and let’s face it—that ain’t easy!

We headed back to the homestead for showers and Irish Car Bombs before we motivated out to Deschutes to watch the second Final Four game and have some dinner. We managed to assemble this giant crew and it ended up being tons of fun. After dinner, we headed over to the Inn to crank up the fun machine. Oh, did we ever. When we got there, the dance was a little pathetic. I walked over to the DJ and asked if he had anything made after 1990. After he realized that we would all dance if newer stuff got played, he quit it with the oldies crap. At one point, he put on “Beat It” and our new friend MJ quickly started ripping up the dance floor by doing the entire original dance from the movie. Amazing. He even knew “Thriller,” and performed that one later. Awesome.

After that, some people went out, but our car went home out of sheer exhaustion. The next morning we awoke and managed to pack the entire car and clean the house before heading out. We got there a smidge late, but made our clinic anyway. I was in park and pipe with Marshall, WMD, MJ and some other people we didn’t know. It was awesome. We had such a blast, got so much great feedback and progressed so far. It was incredible. Our clinician was right on the ball the whole time and managed to get us from the itty bitty baby park to launching whatever we could find and not killing ourselves. I even launched the pipe. I am so getting twin tips next season! I’m also buying a helmet and goggles this week. So stoked. After the clinic, we met back up with everyone, devoured a quick lunch and headed back out to enjoy the gorgeous snow and hit more jumps.

The ride home was uneventful, which is my favorite kind. We were way mellow and tired! Indie Rocker and I went to dinner, which was nice, and he said the cutest thing. I joked, “Aren’t we supposed to be sick of each other by now?” and he said, “Why would we be?” Nice. I was in bed by 9:30 and I’m still exhausted. Oh well.

Quote of the Day: “I just want to see you/when you’re caught in the rain/I just want to see you laugh not cry/I just want to be there when the morning light explodes/on your face it radiates/I can’t explain/I love you ‘til the end.” Love You ‘Til the End, The Pogues.