Random Hobby #1 - Snowshoeing

So only a couple months ago I realized that I have a good job, I'm single, and I have no dependents (that paternity test proves so!).* I wanted to pick up a hobby that wasn't something that all the other bandwagon jumping-types were doing. I decided on something that I enjoyed when I was younger: Snowshoeing. Random, I know.

The problem is, I went to school in Utah for 4 1/2 years and was literally a 15-minute drive away from copious amounts of great snow during the winter, but didn't have the financial means to get the equipment. Now I am on the east coast where there are no mountains and it rarely snows, but now I'm stackin enough scrilla' so that I can afford the equipment. I'm currently submitting that to dictionary.com as the definition for irony.

Anyway, I had almost resigned myself to the fact that I would not get snow here and that my equipment would end up hanging on the walls of Red Robin or TGIFriday's or some other we-consider-junk-collecting-to-be-interior-design restaurant.

But it snowed all day today. I rushed home from work, pounded some dinner, strapped on my equipment, grabbed my 'shoes, and headed for ---- that's right, the middle school right next to my apartment complex. It's got a huge field that was secluded and undisturbed. I realize that 6 inches or whatever in the backyard of a middle school are really not ideal snowshoeing conditions, but sometimes you just have to make do.

One tall wooden fence, the flimsiest chain-link fence I've ever climbed, and a tree branch in the eye later, I was strapping on my 'shoes and was off. It was a serene 45 minutes of enjoying snow. I wouldn't have traded breaking the law for anything else.

I realize that this adventure would not have been possible without the help of a lot of people. My special thanks to:

TME: For coaching me through the purchasing process.
Shigeko: Bringing my ski bibs to TX and getting me nice ski gloves for Christmas.
JoshM: For generously providing my softshell and outershell, free of charge**
Myself: For buying the snowshoes, the winter boots, and for actually conjuring up motivation to do something this time.
Taxpayers: For providing the middle school.
Whoever lived here 20 years ago: For planting those trees where they were; if they weren't there I would have never gotten over the aforementioned chain-link fence.
Israel Kamakawiwo'ole: For providing the soundtrack for my trekking.
My Glasses: Although you kept fogging up on me, you saved my right eye from that tree branch when I was hopping fences.
The Tall Wooden Fence: For trapping and crushing my left "boy" between yourself and the inside of my upper thigh as I was hopping over you;*** I mean, I hadn't filled my quota of indescribably painful nausea for the YEAR, so it's good to know I'm ahead of the curve. My never-to-exist children and posterity also thank you.


*You may or may not have seen me on Jerry Springer
**Sorry, Goodwill. He was going to give them to you before I snatched them up.
***My apologies to readers for the graphic nature of this anecdote.