Monday, April 02, 2007

Skiing: My Arch Nemesis

It's April second (shoutout to Redhead, whose birthday was yesterday!) and although I am trying to convince myself otherwise, the ski season is almost over.

No, really, it is. Almost. And I can feel it. I can see it on the faces of the lift operators, and the ticket sellers, on the mountain as trees and rocks poke through the snow, and in the stores, as they sell last year's demo skis for a tenth of a price of their November 2006 MRSP.

Ah, skiing.

Skiing takes me away from my troubles, both literally, as it's a road trip every weekend, and figuratively, as I can't concentrate on anything while skiing except, well, skiing. Sitting at my desk or at home, my mind races; on the slopes, my mind is transparently clear. Instead of the brain gerbils clattering around on their exercise wheel, all I can hear is the swish of my skis on the snow and the occasional hiss-thump, going over a mogul.

At the same time, though, skiing means my dog languishes at home, the dog hair piles up, my mail goes unopened, my bills go unpaid, magazine subscriptions are wasted, and library books (and Blockbuster DVDs) rack up huge late fees. I never thought I would say this, but I am looking forward to the end of ski season.

This season, by the numbers


Days I have skiied: Roughly 20.
Weekend days I have had available for skiing: 38.

I am damn tired.

Dollars, roughly, I have spent on lift tickets: 825.
Dollars, roughly, I have spent on gas: 600. (Assuming an average gallon price of 3 dollars, including all the times I bought gas in Canada, and a Helter MPG of 16.)
Dollars, roughly, I have spent on food: $450. (Assuming 30 dollars per day for snacks, lunch, breakfast, liquor, and restaurants, probably lowballed.)
Total number of dollars I spent skiing, this season: $1873.

Number of shoes this equals, at an average shoe price of 30 dollars a pair: 90.

NINETY PAIRS OF BRAND-NEW SHOES.

Number of lattes this equals, assuming five dollars a latte: 360.

HOWEVER. Number of hours of therapy this equals, assuming 200 dollars an hour: only nine!

A bargain!

My God.

Dewey, who has not yet agreed to be my adopted big sister, just wrote this post about how behind she was in her financial arena, shall we say.

You could take this post, substitute, "my life" for every mention of "money", and you'd have MY post for today.

I moved into my apartment two months ago. Since then, I have been out of town twice, had house guests, and obviously, gone skiing every weekend I wasn't either out of town or entertaining my Little. Yesterday, for the very first time, I moved the TV stand from where the CABLE GUY had put it when he was hooking up my cable. The LT and I have been watching movies on it like that for a month and a half, and it never occurred to me that it might work better in a different spot. Tonight, I might, for the very first time, sweep my apartment. This week, I might, for the very first time, actually combine my huge iPod library onto one computer, so that I might update my iPod for the first time ever, the end, amen. I have skied all season--for the past six damn months--with the same tunes, because I haven't been able to carve out time for myself to even update my own iPod. Meanwhile, my boyfriend and all his friends are listening to brand new tunes that I provided them.

Excuse me. Was that bitter?

Ah, well. Today is a brand new day. It's sunny, I have joined a gym, I have made an appointment with a personal trainer, and most importantly, I have COMBED the Martha Stewart Living archives. I will spring clean if it kills me.

*Drinks more coffee.*

8 comments:

Celia said...

I'd go for the lattes or the shoes, myself. :)
It would also buy a lot of cookbooks!

alex said...

Sheesh. How much is a season pass?

Anonymous said...

Must be something in the air. Not only did I finally file that tax return, submit the school receipts, drop off the stuff to the car-sharing club to get my money back AND put in the taxi reciepts for work... I ALSO sold off some crap in my bookcase, meaning I have MO' money, AND I can fit everything in the current one instead of spending more money (that I don't have) on a new one. AND The Boy and I picked a date to move in together.

Things are looking up in my financial world. Now I feel confident that I can take on a little sister.

Anonymous said...

You mustn't forget, dear, that we have one BIG TRIP left. Tall Kiwi gets back from his trip today, and we head out for possibly the cheapest ski trip ever. Also the warmest...I wonder how good the snow is down Cali way?

As far as the opportunity cost of skiing, think of all the personal trainer time you would need to equal the workout you got while skiing. Think of all those moments of nirvana missed while looking at Rainier from Crystal that you'd lose. Think of all the money you'd have spent on the weekends INSTEAD of skiing: shoes are $30/20 minutes (or an hour in your case), but skiing is $50/day, + gas (and not food, since you'd have paid for that anyway, and more than likely gone out instead of packing it in my backpack).

It's SO worth it!

Aarwenn said...

Cookbooks, hell--it would buy me several hours with a chef!

Hi, alex--a season pass to any one mountain is around 800 bucks, maybe a little cheaper at some places, but a lot more expensive at other places. (Like, Whistler, for example. I think it tops $1000 there.) So we paid for about a season, and we got to ski at a bunch of different mountains. We did this because we planned ahead and got deals! Yay!

(Yes, it could have been A LOT more expensive!)

Hi honey, never infer that I don't think it's worth it! Especially with you! (Uh, and your flask.) :)

Aarwenn said...

Julie: YAY!

tinks said...

Well guys/gals - I have to say that I'd opt for the shoes, followed in a very low position by the coffee options. But you do have to bear in mind that the few times I've been skiing have been quite traumatic. From a sprained ankle after a dramatic triple somersault, to hanging over the edge of a steep drop waiting for my ex to rescue me, then ending up head first in a snow drift...

Skiing just doesn't do it for me.

Aarwenn said...

Hi tinks,

Um. Maybe you should take up a safer sport.

Like, say, sitting in one place and watching the apprentice? :)

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