The last happy milestone?

Well, I passed all of my tests (some by more of a margin than others), learned to ski and enjoy it, turned 25, and caught a cold in the last week -- yay for me!

Aspen was fun, although definitely expensive (what I sacrifice for my class!), and it was a very good learning experience, in more ways than one. Not only did I learn to ski, but I learned very valuable leadership lessons and learned some things about myself as a leader. I've identified that I need to trust my colleagues more and empower other leaders and students I work with, and share my responsibilities with others. I also need to listen to people who disagree with me, otherwise I'll end up like President Bush, and no one wants to see that happen!

The skiing part was very, very fun, although that feeling had to build up over most of the weekend. We arrived late Friday night, and Saturday I took a lesson with JH, which ended up being just the two of us and an older instructor, Ed. Ed was awesome in terms of teaching us technique and guiding us along and encouraging us. He was a little odd when it came to conversation, though. At lunch, he asked what we would rather have on our resume: that we did the president in the Oval Office or that we killed his daughter. Huh? JH made a speedy exit to the bathroom and I answered by saying, "That is quite a choice..." and laughing nervously. Sunday, my legs did not want to get back into ski boots -- they were screaming in pain as soon as I strapped them in -- so I managed to ski home (what a great concept!) and climb into the hot tub. After about an hour and some calf massages (by me, not a masseuse), we got up the guts to give the slopes a try again, and we skiied all the green slopes we had done the day before with Ed. It was fun enough, but at that point I still didn't see how skiing was worth it, since it's at least $100/day. However, Monday I was convinced to take another, harder lesson with CH (I had started at a level 2 on Saturday, told to take a level 4 the next time I had a lesson, but was instead jumping up to a 5), and we skiied with a pair of British physicians and another crazy instructor named Willy. Willy was a great skiier, but an awful instructor: he could only explain things one way, and if you didn't understand, he just kept repeating his ski lingo over and over. And then he would say, "OK, follow me and do what I do," then speed away down the slope and we had no idea what he was doing. He even skiied ahead through a fork in the trail at one point so I didn't know which way to go! He was very enthusiastic, though, I have to give him that, and he pushed us hard. By the end of the lesson we had gone down a pretty hard blue run, and then CH and I met up with our dean and another person on the trip to take one last run. I was feeling very confident, so we went waaaaaay up to the top of the mountain and skiied down a blue run. However, by then I was very tired and I let myself get back into my head again, so when I reached the first real pitch I was completely overwhelmed -- it was definitely the steepest thing I had ever seen. But with everyone at the bottom looking up, I had no choice but to go. It took a while and I sat/fell out of exhaustion/fear a few times, but when I made it down I was so proud! And Dr. G., our dean, skiied down the next couple of pitches with me, and that honestly makes all the difference -- if I'm with someone, I don't allow myself to listen to my fear. So, the end of the story is, I can ski! And I enjoy it! Too bad I now live in Kentucky...

Yesterday I got home from CO in the afternoon, and I accompanied ESC to the White Castle in New Albany, where he was going to report on their Valentine's Day dinner reservations (if you check the link, disregard the html formatting bug, wherein the hede and deck are so-labeled). I had a sweet tea while he interviewed an elderly couple and a young couple with two kids. I've heard about the White Castle V-day reservations before, and understand that it comes off as a bit tacky, but I honestly think it's a really cute and sweet idea. And, like most good ideas, it serves more purpose than one might initially think. The elderly couple have been going to White Castle every day of their 43 years of marriage. The young family was taking advantage of being able to celebrate together, as a family (the kids were really young, too young to trust in a normal tableclothed-restaurant). There was a group of 4 couples who split up into a men's table and a women's table -- most likely a rare opportunity to get together with good friends. The only ones who seemed a little embarrassed were a table of two teenage couples out on a double-date; when they realized ESC was a newspaper reporter, I could tell they became mortified at the possibility of being interviewed, but he noticed it also and steered clear. Overall, I think it's an adorable idea and I certainly wouldn't have minded it myself -- if I liked White Castle. Instead, ESC made dinner -- tandoori chicken with basmati rice, impressive!! -- and we had a nice relaxing evening. I'm not sure if dinner was my birthday present or Valentine's present, but for the other one, we're going to see the Barber of Seville next Friday. It will be our first opera together -- how cultural!

Anyway, the turning over of my new studying leaf began tonight, and it will continue from here on out. I am reasonably prepared for tomorrow's classes, have a handle on things for Friday, and have a plan for the weekend to make up for what I missed Monday and Tuesday. Plus, I've found a swimming regimen online that I've modified for personal use, and I plan to swim at least twice a week from here on out. I've calculated that I'm about 15 pounds overweight and there are about 15 weeks until ESC's sister's wedding, so that's a good goal to aim for. For right now, though, I need to stick to part 3 of my new leaf and go to bed at a reasonable hour.