Back to the old grind…

Actually, I really shouldn’t have titled this entry the way I did. I love my job and the work that I’m doing, and I love Boston. But still… my ski trip was awesome.

I did not break a leg, and I actually did pretty well for myself. “Not breaking a leg” may not seem like a big deal, but let me tell you that I had not been skiing for literally 10 years, so I was a bit concerned about how I would do on the slopes of Killington. However, I did quite well for myself. I did two runs each on the easiest two of the green (beginner) trails, and then (as per some advice I got from an instructor I met) hit a blue trail that was actually supposed to be easier than the rest of the greens. I was totally fine on that, so I did a mix of greens and blues on Saturday (mostly greens) and then a mix of blues and greens on Sunday (mostly blues, with greens only thrown in when I needed to use them to get to a blue). In total, I covered all but four of the 78 intermediate slopes!! I was proud.

Speaking of the instructor who advised me… I did not take lessons. It probably would have been smart to take a lesson or two to improve my technique, but I didn’t want to take one at the beginning, because I knew it would take me a while to warm up and I didn’t want to spend money on a lesson just to relearn what I already knew. And at the end, I was having too much fun skiing to take a lesson.

I was concerned that I would be the worst of the 30 people I was there with (it was a group of my coworkers). Everyone had signed up for this ski trip voluntarily, so I figured they would all be avid skiers. And I was very nervous. What if everyone else was cruising down the double black diamonds and I was stuck on the bunny slope with the tow rope? I was really afraid I’d be stuck by myself for the whole weekend.

As it turns out, I was definitely not the worst one – there was one guy who had never skied in his life, and several who stayed on the greens most of the time. However, I did end up skiing the whole weekend by myself. Because it was totally fun! Now, at the risk of sounding anti-social, let me explain. I planned to do my first few runs by myself, because that way I could get back into it without slowing other people down. Then at lunch, when we all met up anyway, I figured I’d see what skill level I was and join those people. But in truth? Skiing by myself was fantastic! You don’t talk to anyone else while you’re actually skiing anyway, and if you ski with others there’s all this pressure to stay at the same pace. The only time you talk to your friends is on the ski lifts and at lunch. I still did lunch with everyone, but I had a great time meeting random people on the lifts. Plus, I got to go into the “singles line” which meant… no line at all. The instructor was someone who happened to share a seat with me on that second run, and it was great to meet her as well as all the countless others with whom I spoke. It’s unfortunate that I didn’t meet some hot guy to sweep me off my feet (wouldn’t that be a great story to tell at our wedding?), but I enjoyed myself meeting lots of other people anyway.

Embarassing moment of the weekend: falling when I was getting off the chair lift. Most people fall getting on, but I managed to lose my balance while getting off the chair, fall to the ground, and lie there with my head down as a couple chairs went over me until they could shut the thing off. Ouch. And this was actually on my second day, when I considered myself to be pretty good.

So now I’m back in Boston, working hard as usual. (I am writing this from my hotel room before embarking upon the work I brought home for the night. Yippee). And for those of you who think that consultants live glamorously and go out to fancy restaurants, here is my dinner:

Let me tell you, it was hard to find something that didn’t require a microwave or refrigerator (this grocery store didn’t have pre-made salads). Admittedly, my choices are because I pigged out at lunch and hit up the grocery store for something healthy and low-cal as compensation. Plus I ate like crap this weekend (I hope 9 hours of skiing made up for it, but I pretty much drank 1/4 handle of alcohol and also ate 1/2 pizza, so I’m not so sure). But still! Instant soup and raw veggies (I know the bag says steam, but I am eating them raw) is not quite what most people think when they hear I’m a consultant on a travel project. I did get room service to send up a linen napkin and silver spoon though 😉

Anyway, sorry for the long post – just wanted to make up for all the time I was away since I know you missed me so much! Also, I am trying to catch up on my blog reading, but I still have 174 posts to go. You guys sure write a lot! My apologies if I haven’t gotten to yours yet – it definitely doesn’t reflect on you, as I catch up in random order.