Jason's Daily Notes

So the little idea that Stephanie suggested actually came to fruition: We went snowboarding!

Saturday - Hitting the Slopes
Alvaro and I got enough sleep after arriving back around 2am. The girls (Stephanie and Sandra) arrived at 8am as they promised. But I had just gotten up and was in the shower. We ended up leaving around 9am, with a stop at my mom's to get my beanie and all my winter stuff. And a stop at Jack in the Box for some breakfast for me. (A sausage croissant was all I ate the whole day until dinner - we were all so hungry!)
We arrived at Mountain High around 11am; luckily I got a parking space in the closed-off lot. We bought our lift tickets and rentals - $85 total. Alvaro was the only one who chose skis. I was the teacher for Sandra and Stephanie, who had the hardest time just standing up on their boards. The snow was packed and not very powdery, but at least the slopes were open! After an hour or two of teaching the girls, I joined Alvaro and Felix on the more advanced slopes. I was slightly intimidated (and I still can't get off a lift without falling), but I actually ended up doing really well. I can control myself on a snowboard! I can't carve turns or twist backwards yet, but I can cruise down even advanced slopes without crashing. I definitely prefer snowboarding to skiing now! Our four-hour passes expired around 4pm, just as the resort was closing for the day; I went up by myself for one last run (and to practice how to spin around). The rest of the gang had met each other and was worried that I wasn't there and told the Red Cross to page me. How silly. But they did have to look at me and check me out for my "headache" because I hit my head. Psh whatever. We ended up being late and I felt embarrassed and violated. And I didn't get the picture of all five of us that I wanted. :(
Felix drove back. It was dark and there was traffic (from Vegas?). We had dinner at Chili's in Covina. Adrian was our server. Presidente margaritas. Brian met up with us. For some reason, there was water falling out of the sky ("rain") when we left. After stopping by Covina for Brian to get his stuff, we then went to downtown for a quick bout of karaoke. 1 hour. It didn't feel like enough. And the music had no backing vocals. Eh. Then back to West LA for a semi-party; Julia and Camilla came, and so did Jan. Alvaro wanted to play beer hockey. The girls took a cab home. Felix went to bed. Jan wanted Oaxacan tacos. No one wanted to get up. It was cold. Finally Brian drove us to the taco truck. A delicious torta for me. Jan left our slumber party and I finally got to bed around 5am.

Sunday
Brian and I both had work Sunday morning at 11am. He at Target, me tutoring in Studio City. It was a sleepy morning as we got up and ready, Felix and Alvaro still asleep. I drove up Laurel Canyon to a big house just north of Mulholland where I tutored Mark in his economics term paper for 2.5 hours. An easy $80. I'll be following up with him on Tuesday and Wednesday.


I returned to the apartment. Jan soon returned and he and Felix and Steffen went out to the Lakers game. Exhausted, Alvaro and I fell asleep for like an hour or two before heading out to watch the Lakers game. First we went to Backstage Bar & Grill in Culver City, which has a great vibe and lots of TVs but hardly any table space off which to eat your food. So we left at halftime and went to the SF Saloon. I liked that they have free-range turkey burgers. And Newcastle on tap. Hanna and Madelyn were too busy studying to join us. I finished watching the Chuck DVD (I'm now on season 3). The Lakers lost to the Pacers, btw.