Now that I have gotten that old post out of the way, let me update you. I am still rather undecided on how I feel about the snow, however, I know I don't mind it enough to prevent me from doing another winter season. I actually have learned I'm comfortable enough with it that I may continue doing winter/summer and only have a few weeks off rather than an entire winter. It's one of those moderation things. I like the downtime, I love visiting home. But too much is too much. I like to watch the snow falling, I hate driving in it. I like that snow brings me work, but walking through the snow is a pain, especially when it builds up and you're stepping through to your knees or when it ices over and you're walking like a penguin to avoid falling on your butt. But it's pretty. It brings me work. And as I said before, it's not as negative as I thought. It doesn't trap me. It won't kill me. So I guess it's not so bad. And maybe one of these winters I will let Chris teach me to snow board. Maybe not. We'll see. It hasn't been forced on me as I feared it would be, so I'm all good. The job is a job. I won't complain too much because I could go on forever. Basically, if I come back to Mt. Hood I will not be reapplying at Meadows. Furthermore, I will never hire a bunch of high school girls when I get my own place, nor will I be shy to discipline and fire when needed. Not overdo it, but not doing it at all is just silly! I've met some cool people though. Some you wouldn't expect up here. Met one girl who is a lift operator who doesn't ski or snowboard. That was quite interesting to me. And she's super sweet. Made me some earrings. They're black. I haven't gotten any new piercings or tattoos. I have a few piercings on my list before I get any new ink... Chris is dying for new ink. He only has this outline of a tattoo that his artist passed out while doing. Apparently when he went to the bathroom just before starting the tattoo he did drugs. Passed out cold on poor Chris. And that's why I'm careful about where I go and who I let do work on me. Also - that was a long time ago, things have changed in the tattoo world. Breathe, Mom. Now for what's on my brain lately. Summer. I have applied in Yellowstone of course. And I hope I make it. I always miss Yellowstone, and I have some amazing friends over there. One just got promoted. This summer he'll be assistant location manager. I'm super excited for him. He'd be a great manager, especially of such a broad spectrum thing like location. Problem solver, make sure it's all smooth. If I went back I doubt I'd be working in his location though. Meanwhile, I also applied for the Grand Tetons, Crater Lake, Glacier Nat'l Park, and this little bitty gold mining town in Alaska called Chicken. I REALLY hope I get that one. Sorry Yellowstone, I love you but this would be SO cool! Look up pictures. Google it. Chicken, Alaska. It's like three shops on this old fashioned looking 'main street' kind of thing. Chris and I applied to work in the diner. Needed one cook and one supervisor. And it said specifically it's looking for couples preferably. It was hilarious though because the apply here was email us with all pertinent information including a resume if you have one. No application. Just 'hey hows it goin'. Ah hah. I don't have a passport so if we got it we'd have to fly to Fairbanks and they would provide us with transportation from there. No car for a summer, but Fairbanks is a five hour drive away from Chicken anyway. Where would I go?! Beside, a season car-less would probably be good for me. Beyond those places, I'm planning on a few more. There's this amazingly cute island in Michigan - Macinac, I think. Technology-less. I've been wanting to learn to ride a bike. They have horse drawn carriages and bikes on the island, that's it. And apparently a lot of seasonal work. Since it's not a park or a vendor or anything I would have to apply specifically to the restaurants and diners there, most of whom supply housing from what the informational site told me. I want to apply to a couple more places too. Oh, and very exciting. We found a website that has seasonal jobs WORLD WIDE. So once I get my passport, maybe I'll do a summer in New Zealand, doing what I do here. Cool, right? My background is currently a beautiful picture of wherever it is Chris really wants to winter next year. We've both got lists. Almost like a bucket list. I want to work Telluride once. I think the place on my screen is somewhere in Canada. I love this time of year, and it comes twice for me! Change of seasons is so exciting. Applying to new places, looking at all these incredible places I could be. Waiting to see who gets back to me, where I get accepted. And then CHOOSING where to go! I imagine it is for me kind of like how Christmas would be to some. It's so much fun. My favorite kind of anticipation. As tacky as it sounds, it's even better now. Finding someone as restless as me, who HAS TO get up and go every six months. Who wants to be somewhere incredible, to be able to say "yeah, I didn't just visit I LIVED there" I really experienced it. It makes things so much better and easier. All the bad kind of anxiety from going somewhere totally new totally on my own is gone. Now it's an adventure like it should be - shared. Every experience is better when shared. It reminds me of a choir concert with the flow of energy. The choir is energized, and focused and amped up from the conductor. The choir feeds the energy to the audience who returns the energy mixed tenfold with their own, and the choir takes that returned energy and gives it to the conductor who amps it up and channels it and sends it back and so the cycle goes. Shared experiences are like that. Experiences are experiences. They can be cool.... but if you have someone to share it with... You become the choir, the the other person becomes the audience, and the experience is the conductor. Makes sense, right? I'm super stoked about the change of seasons. It doesn't help that I'm kind of rather done with this season. Ready to move on. Getting restless. Surprising, right? Okay, I think I'm done. My mind is wandering... I think I got out what I wanted to get out. Thanks for listening. OH, and as a last note - if you've got a great idea for the blog name change, let me know. Thanks!!