"Such is the state of life, that none are happy but by the anticipation of change..."

It's winter, but the days are getting longer again and I can feel it. I've just revealed to a friend of mine that what this means for me is, even though I am still rolling around in the snow, and skiing every change I get, and loving it, it is time to start dreaming of summer adventures.

And the way it works is, next summer, when I'm on some adventure and loving it, we'll all flip past June 21 and the days will start getting shorter, and that will trigger my dreaming of skiing and rolling in the snow.

I got a terrific surprise Christmas present from a very sweet friend of mine, a special kit to help me "win the Keskinada", which as some of you may know attracts world-class skiers. Everyone found it quite charming that his vision for me doing this race wasn't just to ski it and survive, but TO WIN, like I was some kind of actual contender, not some goof who raced a bit in highschool (poorly and with extremely limited success despite my own special brand of damn-the-torpedos enthusiasm) and who now skis more or less because it means I can eat more fudge. (OK, yes, I also love it.) ("It" being skiing.) (And fudge.)

Included in the kit were some gift-wrapped-and-ribboned bananas, a box of "Force Action" cereal, and a tiny bottle of 9-year old bourbon. But one of my favourite items in the "Win the Keski" package was a training journal, which he had customized with "a few helpful notes". He "made" the journal from a three-year spiral-bound journal, from which he ripped ALL of 2007, 2008, and 10 months of 2006 (everything after the race weekend of Feb 18-19). Everything in 2006 is blank until Feb 16, which contains the "helpful note" to "PANIC!" Feb 17 encourages me to "carbo load" and "think positive thoughts". It's all quite wonderful.