Firstly, Long Beach is boring, i don't think I've seen so little people on the streets ever, I'd compare it to the small little japanese towns i pass by. As far as i can tell, Long Beach is a ghost town, perhaps this is just not the season, but then I still don't see it the attraction if it were busier. The ghosty noticable after a short walk down the boulevard, shops are closed, in a state of disrepair or changing hands / new management. there are just empty blocks where you just know a big building was once, and now its just a pile of rubble.

But you know what, the people are nice. well the people within the restaurants that I have visited are nice, but then it's hard to tell because you don't know if it's them being nice for a tip or being nice cos they are nice. Well, i guess it's best to assume the latter.

I gotta say though, LA seems to be a place that is jumpy, on edge, if not then probably racist. I gotta say I'm pretty blind to racism, i think mainly because i'm open to the idea of people being absolute jerks or absolute ignoramuses for no reason. But i think i saw it today at the airport. I'm casually walking out of the airport, hand my passport to the final check guy, when i hear this loud and obviously rude and arrogant voice owned by a man called Shved.

Shved: OI... pause ... OI YOU... pause... OI
me: ...  errr... me?
Shved: yeah.. you.. come here..

so i'm significantly shocked by how rude this man is, there are civil ways of getting a person's attention and there are ways jerk use, this was definitely how a jerk would do it.

Shved: Where you from?
me: australia
Shved: doesn't matter, I want you randomly checked. *scribbles quickly*

a) if it didn't matter, wtf did you ask me. b) he obviously thought i was going to say Philippians or Korea, cos that was the proceeding flight... c) That was the most unrandom random check i've ever seen. Granted i was wearing a suit, carrying a camping backpack, a significantly weird sight. I was giggled to myself thinking "ah ha, American border control are the jerks that I've read about on the Internet". That's until i approach the line, in front of me was a old asian granny, in front of her was an asian businessman, in front of him being checked was what seemed an asian student probably postgrad, right next to this person was a korean family. Everywhere I looked asians, everybody he let through without hesitation, white.

wtf, seriously.

Another weird event occurred when i was walking around Long Beach, I see a cop car on the other side of the road, I pull out my map slowly. It drives off up the road. I think, hey look its a cop car just like the movies. It does a U turn. I think, hey look its a cop car doing a Uey just like the movies. I proceed to open my map. Cop car pulls up short about 10m in front of me and a cop gets out. I'm like wtf, am i gonna get tasered now... just like the movies? By this time I have my map fully open and am visibly fumbling as if looking for where I am.. 2 seconds later the cop does a 180 gets back in the car and it speeds off, does a Uey, and then speeds off again into the distance...

wtf, seriously.

Otherwise, it's fine. Girls at the reception seem nice =)

so another day and the boys get here and well get some hardcore boarding done. I cant wait to be back on the snow again and boarding my heart out. Saw a $1000 full set of gear marked down to $500.. and my brain is thinking.. your gonna be spending like 1/3 that on rentals anyway... why not u know..just buy it?? makes more sense yeah?

 

ahh well i resisted.. gotta concentrate on one sport at a time..can:t spread my attention. So last two days ive been at asahidake mountain. I went for a bit of a trek on the top of the mountain which was pretty damn interesting. Its cold as hell and the wind is blowing but you can still see so you walk a little. But then the wind picks up and your blinded.. there is no horizon. Where was that rock i was just sitting on? was it behidn me to the left? nope.. perhaps to the right? oh. its not there any more... You cant see where the snow extends from your feet into the distance and meets teh sky, it could be 20 metres away, it could be 100 metres.

 

It was a very interesting experience. Kinda like that room in the matrix when they load up the gear.. its just white (and cold and windy). And also there is an added danger that if you manage to get lost, you're dead, no question about it. If i had thought to wear more then one pair of socks i would have stayed out there longer and sat in the loneness 2000km away from it all. Perhaps its a good thing though... i owuld have been foolhardy enough to attempt a scale to the peak given i was warm enough...

 

I retraced my footprints back to the ropeway and descended back into safety. To pass the afternoon away, i dug myself an icehole. =) hehehe. snow is so fun.

One of these 24hr internet cafe joints. They really aren:t a bad deal, i had to walk 50 minutes to get here but thats not that big an issue, I have time. I bought myself 9hrs of entertainment time which will cost me about $22. Not bad for a roof, pc ps2, tv and comfy chair. Ive even changed into shorts and drinking the unlimited mountain dew.

I fully intended to sleep but the sheer enormity of the entertainment in this place is very distracting. I just watched saw 3 which was very disturbing, now ill order some food and do some phd work while i wait for it. Officially my time is over at 8*05 am which is only 6hrs away... tick tick tick

i should get some shut eye, a few hours will do *yawn* i must do this again some time...

Felt pretty good today, besides the fact that my body is sore and my neck is sore, probably suffering from severe whiplash. Couldn't believe how chicken i was on the first day of the slopes and now i feel that i can handle most things except extreme slopes. Even moguls arent as torturous as they seem.

It was my last day, no reason to leave without pushing the boundaries a little, so i did. I've been noticing a few routes that lead out of the skiiable area and figured.. why not? Well there's about a billion reasons why not, but *shrugs*.

Man it was an awesome feeling, i was on a ridge riding across it, weaving in and out, on almost unskiied snow. Felt like i was the only one there, well.. i was was actually at that time. Powdery as hell.. few times got the tip of my board stuck all the way into the snow and had to sit there for a few minutes to jimmy it out. Must have been a funny sight for anyone who noticed me.. a boarder way out of the patrolled area on his arse with his board in the air.

ahh well.. theres more to japan then just boarding, so alas i must leave to find another experience. It's unfortunate that i missed nozawa onsen which was my original destination, but i must head north as i have dallied long enough.

Oh not the whole mountain, but 3/4 of the mountain without falling.. all in one run. Damn that is absolutely horrific on the legs.

So that's why the call it powder. It's like crashing onto a beanbag except it\s not beans but the tiniest particle of snow. It's almost like swimming in the stuff, and at some parts I was.

It's bucketing down right now as I'm sitting here not purchasing food. Visibility is no more then 20 metres about to the next gondola chair. It's a bit full on although still enjoyable. It's like I'm skiing alone on the mountain and all i see is white.  Pretty damn crazy!!

Gotta say the first few hours were pretty hard slogging. I was trying as hard as i could to get my snow legs back, but they weren't cooperating. I think i got the trick down though, gotta make sure your weight is evenly spread across your two feet so you can switch your weight when you need 2. Still didn't stop me from stacking it a million times. though now that i think about it it's probably cos i couldn't see what i was skiing on. BLOODY MOGULS. Took the wrong turn once ended up on a advanced run filled with moguls, absolute torture. Probably the most literal I've ever been to "tearing a new one"

I'm absolutely buggered but still got about 4 hrs left. It's times like this where I'm having so much fun I wish i had someone here to share it with. But perhaps another time.

1 run, top to bottom, no fall. That's my goal 2morrow. Concentrate, think about moves, keep the balance.... concentrate, move, balance =)

Happy New Years!!! major highlight since last post. Saw hatsu-hinode, which is the first sunrise of the new year. I scored an amazing view by going to a hotel and pretending i was a patron there and got the best seat in the house as the Sun came around and lighted up tokyo.  Was breath-taking.

so I:ve arrived at where i want 2 be. It was not pleasant but these things happen. You have bad days but the good things is there:s only one person you can blame for it and that:s yourself. But there is a silver lining everytime.

I got another 3 nights here to soak up as much snow as I can before i move on to, i dont know where.

Cant wait to be on the board and out there messing myself up.