We're planning on going up to Tahoe next weekend to snowboard and have us some good times in Reno. It will be my first time up this season.

The snowboarding bandwagon has gone back and forth, to and from Tahoe, without me on board as of late. As of the last 3 years or so. It used to be a significant part of my active life back in college. We'd go all the time. Several days mid-week, all weekend, admidst midterms and finals and papers. It was such a thrill and a lot of fun back then, when not everyone and his older brother and little sister was trying to get into it. We were the minority group on the mountains in those days. You'd see us weaving through the stupid-looking snowplowing skiers with their stupid little poles, or attempting to land the crazy high jumps without helmets...

After I graduated and moved down to the south bay, snowboarding started losing its charm. We were working and would have to wait for the weekends to go up with the masses of other working stiffs. The snow was never as good as it was when we were able to go up whenever. It got old driving all the way up there with just my ex, the only person I knew back then who was better than I was. We started going up with other people, who were all beginners... and that was no fun at all. More and more beginners on the slopes. And trips up were reduced to one-day, sometimes half-day stints on slushy days. Waste of money, waste of time, waste of gas. I got laid off in 2000, and wasn't able to afford the trip up for awhile. Then my snowboard started getting old. It's a heavy piece o' crap now. And now I can't even come down the mountain in style... my snowboarding clothes are five years out of date.

And lately, there've been so many people into the sport, and that's taken a lot of it for me. They've all been up countless times since I stopped going regularly. They've probably caught up and/or surpassed me in the sport. Snowboarding is no longer one of those sports I can boast about. My skills have probably left the building, due to disuse. I'm dreading having that confirmed when I go up in two weeks. Oh well... it was I who lost my passion for it. I just gotta remember to pick up a helmet before I go this time.