weekend

This weekend was awesome.

We drove up in a godawful rental SUV from some rando second tier rental agency from midtown Manhattan to the Poconos, stopping off at Hibernia Cafe somewhere in the middle of Jersey to eat delicious burgers and waffle fries (for everyone else) and the most questionable looking pot roast with gravy in the entire world (me.) I tried to save my meal with blueberry pie, which is the baddest ass dessert this side of giant cheesecake, but it ended up being a goo pie with crazy viscous almost fibrous purple goo containing 1-4 blueberries. In any case, I ended up driving the whole way to the lodge, which blew because it was Friday night and the car vibrated like, well, a vibrating object, but also ruled because I got to DJ for a bit, resulting in a forced Kanye Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy Experience.

The Lodge itself, known as Cherry Lane Lodge, was as charming as can be. Door left unlocked, wooden beams and roof, gas fireplace (only boo), quaint aesthetic and stone walls.
We populated it with Manhattanites, PBR, Budweiser (purchased by D.S. from a bar), Bourbon and Gas Station Snacks. And we drank beer, I fell asleep mid conversation in a recliner, and our night was over.

Saturday, we went to Camelback Ski Resort. Generally, it was on par with the types of "mountains" I grew up with in Michigan (Pine Knob, Alpine Mountain?), with 3-5 green circles, 3-5 blue squares and 5 black diamonds or so. Having not skiied since 2007 with D.A. at Killington, I was super-excited while also wondering if this was a skill that disappeared over time. Turns out it only takes 1-3 runs and it all comes screaming back. Took everyone a little bit of time to get their snow legs back, as all 6 of us were at 6 different levels of experience, but eventually we split into parties and sub parties, different permutations, different mixes and different slopes. I had myself a giant chili dog and sam adams in the lodge for a break and continued on my merry way skiing.



Notable Moments:

1) While barrelling down a Blue Square run at full speed (as I was skiing with R., D's friend), I noticed a crazy looking jump on the far side of the slope. Angling for it at high speed, I hit a mound of powder at very high speed, lost my footing, exploded in a puff of snow, felt a popping sensation in my chest as I made contact with the ground, saw my ski fly into the air and slid backwards down the hill towards the jump, defeated. Massive Fail. I wasn't sure whether I had grievously injured myself or if I was fine. (The latter.)

2) Apparently I stopped and looked wistfully at the double black diamond ("Cliffhanger") several times while waiting for R. to strap on his snowboard. After the third time, he told me that I should just go ahead and do it. So we did. Inexplicably, full speed, heavy carving, we carved our way down the icy wall in the dark fully exhilirated and fully pumped that we made the leap. It was. freaking. awesome.
Granted, a double black diamond at a small Poconos resort is nothing. That being said, having not skiied more than 5 or 6 times since 1995 means that I am fucking pumped to be able to cruise a double black, anywhere. I will also say, that it appears that these new parabolic skis are extremely effective on ice to a degree I have simply never experienced. It's as if you can ski on ice and never fully lose your edge. It's amazing.

I miss skiing. I want to ski more. It is good.

Later that night, we began a full on drinking lodge party. R. made two giant trays of baked ziti, K. made a delicious gigantic pile of chicken parm and we drank beer and schnapps cocoa throughout the evening, playing various games, including the everpresent Naked Game and a new game M. introduced call Mafia.

In case you ever forget how to play this game and want to play here it is: And don't forget, this was pretty much the best game ever.

1) There is a narrator, a mafia guy and an angel. And maybe an inspector.
2) Narrator tells everyone to close their eyes. Narrates awakening of mafia. Mafia silently kills someone. Mafia back to sleep. Angel wakes up, and saves someone. Back to sleep. Narrator wakes everyone, and reveals who is dead (if any)
3) Everyone else goes to work trying to figure out who Mafioso is and votes off who they think is the mafioso. If they don't get it, do it again. Awesome. Seriously. So psychological I never would have guessed how complex this game is.

Okay. Otherwise, work is okay because I only have a single deal rather than 3-6. I am applying for an entry level job at WNYC to work as ut production assistant on Radiolab. Let's see how that goes. A little old for this, but so tired of being a lawyer who loathes everything about what he does. I'm running out of time to start over.