Sunday, March 14, 2010

Alive

We went to Breckenridge last weekend for one last snowboarding trip. For the record, I was against it from the start. We had already gone to Vermont back in January, and I had just gotten back from Taiwan. But what breadwinner wants, breadwinner gets (ie: the new, white Vespa sitting in our driveway that I told her to buy the first time around when we were first looking for scooters cuz I knew she wanted it and didn't want her buying another scooter a month later but she swore she wouldn't want a Vespa so we ended up buying a scooter neither one of us really liked only to have her buy another scooter two months later anyways).

We were meeting up with Victor, Tammy, Kira and her mom, so it was like a family trip. Stopped off in Miami, rented a car and met up with Joyce for a couple hours. Didn't get to see her art show but got to eat lunch with her and catch up for a lil bit, which was nice. Spent almost 2 hours at the Sprint store trying to get a new cell phone. When we landed in Denver, we drove straight to Hooters. Knocked down 12 wings in about 5 minutes cuz their flight landed right as our wings were being served.

Started boarding around 11. Went down a couple blues. No problem. Sandy was even managing pretty well. Then we started going down a couple blue/blacks. Top part was moguls, which was a bit tricky for me. Since we were going with pros, I figured this was my chance to get better. Gonna get these moguls down. From what I've been told, cuz I don't remember, I was going down toe-side, edge caught, flew backwards, landed on my head and got a concussion. Apparently I had no idea where I was. The conversation went something like this:

Me: What happened?
Them: You had a bad fall.
Them: Do you know where we are?
Me: No.
Them: Where do you think we are?
Me: There's snow...are we in Europe? Vermont?
Them: Do you know where you live?
Me: Chicago.
Them: No, you live in Bermuda.
Me: Bermuda? What are we doing in Bermuda?!
Them: Sandy works there. Do you know what she does?
Me: She's an actuary.
Them: What do you do there?
Me: I dunno. I work?
Them: Where do you work?
Me: I have no idea.
Them: No, you don't work.
Me: WTF?! What do you mean I don't work?
Them: You don't have a job. You stay home.
Me: WHAT?! What the hell do I do at home all day?!
Them: Good question. We're in Colorado. Do you know how you got here?
Me: From Bermuda? Boat?
Them: You think you came from Bermuda to Colorado on a boat?
Me: I guess so.
Them: You don't remember getting on a plane from Bermuda and seeing your cousin in Miami?
Me: No.
Them: Do you remember going to Taiwan?
Me: No. What the hell? Did we smoke?!

I guess this went on for quite a while. They got the later part on video. Sadly, they didn't get my reaction to the fact that I didn't have a job. That would have been classic. Needless to say, I was done for the day. I remember boarding down to the lodge and just feeling completely empty. Never had a concussion in my life. Not from playing football or basketball or anything else. And this was with a helmet on! I can only imagine what woulda happened had I not had a helmet, like when I first started boarding after college. That's why I quit...cuz of all the hard hits to the back of my head.

When we got back home, Sandy and I got really sick. I had the worst pounding headache, like my worst hangover magnified by ten. I was in bed the entire night, curled up in the fetal position. This lasted from 3pm until 7am the next morning. The whole time, I was thinking I was gonna pull a Natasha Richardson. The headaches were so bad that I was even praying for it. Victor said it was altitude sickness. Supposedly the cure is lots of sleep and water, neither of which we had. We got to Breckenridge around 3AM, which was 6AM Bermuda time. We'd been up since 6AM the day before. Didn't sleep til like 5 and woke up at 8. I didn't drink any water cuz I don't like having to pee with all my gear on.

Sandy felt OK enuff to still board the next day. My head would still hurt if I sneezed, bent over or got up too fast. Good thing is she was somehow able to get my entire lift ticket refunded, both days. Score.

Even back in Bermuda, I was feeling off. We ended up playing tennis on Wednesday for two hours. Felt sick the next day. Was in bed practically all day. Played tennis again today. We'll see how I feel tomorrow. Pretty scary when you think about it. Your brain ain't nothin to mess with. To completely lose your memory like that is crazy. It's like the cords in there disconnect from your brain or something. It's like being unplugged from the matrix. It's not even like I was going fast or doing anything crazy. I was going pretty slow and trying to be careful. Can't be good for you. May be time to retire while I'm on top.

2 comments:

  1. See when those QB's get "mild concussions" and they play the next week.... maybe its good to sit em for your fantasy team. Oh yea. you feeling ok? Haha Damn thats pretty hard KO man. You're like the dude from Memento? WHAT I DONT HAVE A JOB?

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  2. dude - sandy told us about your concussion. sounds like it was a trippy experience. I had a mild concussion once playing football in highschool. I don't remember how I got back inside that day. Glad to see you didn't pull a natasha richardson.

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