Boxes

I finally figured out what it is I despise about cities. They're boxes. You live in a box, you work in a box, you take a box-shaped metro to work. The streets are laid out in boxes. Our civilization revolves around boxes. Boxes, boxes, boxes!! Boxes aren't natural. I'm much more a fan of triangles--trees, mountains, tents. I also prefer circles and curves--the side cut on my skis, the sun, the stars. Snowflakes are hexagons--overlapping triangles. You can't make a snowflake out of squares, and you can't sketch a mountain with squares. It explains why I hate being in my room so much--everything comes together at right angles--I've had to cover the walls of my room with ski posters--mountains--to make it inhabitable. At least in Switzerland when I look out the window, most of the buildings have triangle roofs--unique to areas with snow.
So with that, I need to stop pushing these little squares on my square keyboard and square computer, and go do my math homework, where I can play with curves.

Far Away For Far Too Long

I sort of stopped writing for what, eight months? My bad. Life got busy, and I didn't have time to write. Then life got boring, and I didn't have anything to write about. And then to be completely honest, I sort of forgot that I was supposed to be writing. So I'm back. Maybe. Kinda Sorta. Hopefully I'll stick with it this time.
So. Switzerland. In the snow. We had almost a meter last weekend. I was in Zermatt, where the winds were so high the lifts were closed one day, and by the time they'd opened all the happy snow had blown away. More skiing this weekend. Leysin is opening, so I'll be up on first chair with Kuba on Saturday and we'll enjoy not doing what we're supposed to for a few hours. "What we're supposed to" being homework and studying. Exams are coming up. They start in a week. And between now and then I have two math tests, an English test, and a History Internal Assessment. Yeah that thing. *DIE, HISTORY, DIE*
In the meantime, I'll continue procrastinating.

The Tragic Demise of the Red Ramen Bowl

Funny story:
I was just about to get in the shower when Sam started screeching that there was a bee in the room. Has nobody ever taught the girl how to get rid of a bee before?? So, I put my clothes back on and grabbed my trusty, big, sturdy red bowl, and trapped the bee up next to the window. Sam slid a couple of sheets of paper between the bowl and the window, and we scooped the bee up and tossed it out the window. Sam shrieked again, and I sort of dropped my bowl out the window. And then it fell... two floors... and crashed on the windowsill on the 1sst floor, where it shattered, and all the little bits floated down to the ground floor patio.
Laughter. Hysterical laughter. almost for minutes on end.

Still snowing

When I first came to Switzerland, everyone told me I'd be sick of snow by March. They told me all I'd want for spring break was a beach, a big city, and no more hiking from class to class. Its almost spring break and they were wrong. They were SOOO wrong. I'm going to Sweden for break, and I'm honestly disappointed I'm not spending two weeks at Verbier or even back home skiing. I've already had 36 days on the hill this year (hopefully 39 or 40 by the time break rolls around), and I've learned an entirely new and amazing sport (telemarking). I can't believe its already March. Its getting to be that time of year where I have to think about putting my ski boots away, hit up end-of-season sales, and resign myself to six or seven months without skiing. It happens every year. I just don't want it to. I always wonder if I'll end up with the life of a migratory ski instructor--New Zealand in the summer, Switzerland or Colorado in the winter. I think it'd be fun, but I'd rather get a sponsorship for big-mountain skiing, find someone to pay me to go heli skiing in Alaska, someone to pay me to love my life. I know society wants me to live up to my intellectual potential, but the more I live my life, the more I want to live it. The prospect of another twelve years of school to earn a PhD and squeeze all the juice out of my brain just seems...depressing. I know I've got potential, and I know people will tell me that if I abandon my intellect even for a few years to pursue adrenaline I'll regret it later. The thing is, I don't know if I will. Maybe I'm just being impulsive, maybe its just spring homework fever, but I'm sort of getting annoyed with this whole concept of school. I'd rather just go ski, volunteer somewhere cool, spend my time pushing my limits and getting really in touch with who I am, what I'm made of, and what makes me tick. I don't want to live life in a textbook. There's room for both, but it's hard to balance it. I don't see any reason to live without action, to die with regrets. If I die never having gone bungee jumping or skydiving, if I die without ever going heli-skiing, if I die without skiing on every continent, if I die without volunteering to the point I feel satisfied with my life, I'll die regretting how I lived my life.
So, its still snowing. I'm still in love with the snow. For every flake that falls outside my window, I am more enthralled by it. For every flake that sticks to the ground, I get happier, because I know that there will be fresh snow to play in. I want to live in snow all year round. I don't like it when its hot. I don't like flatness. I don't like large numbers of people. I like mountains, small towns, cowbells, snow, and deep powder on a crowdless mountain.

Past pains and pleasures

I suddenly really want a six foot aluminum pole with a hideous yellow silk. (Hannah may be the only one who truly comprehends this statement)

Swiss fortune cookies and extended

Swiss fortune cookies are funny. They have trilingual fortunes. It's pretty crazy, I must say. Not as crazy as my extended essay, I must say, which is going to be the most exciting and interesting and fun paper I've ever written.
Go check out todays XKCD. My nerd friend pointed out that it doesn't entirely work. If you understand why not, leave a comment!

Only with a nerd

Only with a nerd do you go to dinner early on a friday night, go back to the dorm, chill in said nerd-friends room and work on your homework (EE-whee!) while rocking out to movie soundtracks. Thats how friday nights should be.
I started research for my Extended Essay. This thing is going to rock. You know you picked the right topic when you are procrastinating doing your homework and find yourself reading articles on your topic just for kicks... its fabulous. I'm actually having so much fun doing my extended essay research that I don't really feel like blogging.
Wish upon a variable star in a globular cluster somewhere way out in the outer reaches of the universe!
-Sarah