GNU perspective

Ok. He looks pretty bad ass.

".... camber.... contact points.... magne-traction..." I am only half listening as Boyfriend goes on and on about more technical aspects of snowboards than I have ever encountered in my 24 years on mountains. Don't get me wrong, I love Boyfriend and his impressive ability to memorize every intricate detail of things like his salt water reef tank, dinosaurs, and every inner working part of Veronica his Acura RSX (type S). But our brains simply aren't wired the same. I don't always analyze so much, and when it comes to snowboarding I am simply it it for the adrenaline rush. The feel and the noise of the wind ripping by your face as you fly down the side of a mountain. I am art and he is science, and once in a while we see eye to eye.

"So what do you think?" He asks me. Fail. I don't have an answer. I don't even know that I understood anything he said.

"I think you should wait." I say blankly. I don't understand. I don't get what is so great about this board he keeps talking about, but to be fair I am not really giving him a chance to explain. I don't want to. There is a not so small chance he is right. I want to be right. So I stick to my guns on the fact that he said he'd save first. Because he did say that. And boy am I a stickler for a technicality. I would blame my stuborness on my ignorance. I don't know the damnedest thing about snowboards. I know that they're expensive. And I know that right now Boyfriend doesn't have one. And for that I feel bad.

We had taken my two younger sisters up to Camelback mountain over president's day weekend. One sister was on skis and one was new to boarding. So we had split up, each taking a girl within our own skill level and spend all morning up and down the mountain. We broke for lunch around 1:30, and were having the best time I can remember having with my sisters in a long time. No one was fighting. No one was crying. We laughed and ate, and got geared up to go outside. Only when we got to the gear racks, Boyfriend's board was gone. I was in shock, although I can only imagine what was going through his mind. I knew bad things happened, I knew things got stolen. But it always feels so surreal when it happens to you, or someone close to you. The day only went downhill from there, and after filing a report with the resort, the police station, and trudging all over the grounds in our heavy boots hoping somehow it had simply been misplaced. He was crushed. And I was crushed for him. Of course from this tragedy also brought the silver lining that maybe the K2 Podium in a 161 W was not the board for him. Perhaps the guy who had sold it to him was just trying to get rid of old stock, and if he was going to get a new board, well it was going to be right this time!

And so the research began. Boyfriend excels at researching. And I am completely serious. If there is anything I feel secure in about our future it is that when we make large purchases they will be thoroughly researched, and thought out. But right now it was like not a waking moment could go by with out learning something new, and I couldn't keep up for how many times he would change his mind. I couldn't keep up the pace as he chattered on about different brands like Ride, Burton, and his newfound love for some company called GNU and how they make fantastic boards with amazing technology and are super hard for stores to keep in stock. I'll admit he makes a few good points but I am so annoyed with this newfound urgency that I keep pushing the fact that it's just not the right time to make such a large purchase.

And so we continue to have this argument, over him getting a new board, for a little while until I call it a draw and admit we aren't going to see eye to eye. We talking about work, and the gym, etc.

We continue to have this argument again the next day when he calls and confesses to have bought the board. It's not like he would have kept it from me. And It's not like I'm mad. I just don't understand the obsession he has with this board and getting it RIGHT NOW. I am happy he is happy, I really am. I just don't understand, and it the need to understand something I can't that is holding me back.

We even continue to have this argument on Saturday when we are at the mountain. I am not proud of this side of me, not my any means. I nag and make mean comments about how buying the board wasn't really necessary and things like that. I am disgusted with myself even as I say them. What kind of girlfriend am I right now? I have to admit, it looks pretty amazing. It's a bright white, almost with a purple tint, covered in the most brilliant blue and jet black graphics. It has these weird slightly curved, almost seraded sides and they are so foreign to me I keep referring to them as 'weird'.

Truth? I'm jealous. Truth? I didn't really have a choice of what board I got, and to be quite honest I never thought it mattered. But that was five years ago, and five years ago let's be honest I could stand up but I was pretty terrible. I didn't need to know about Magne-traction (Google it, it's actually pretty fantastic) or riding switch.

As the day goes on I turn my attitude around and I become more accepting. I start to realize that this is a part of Boyfriend's personality that I cannot change. He is a technical person. He is not trying to be better than me, or smarter than me (although naturally he is very much smarter than me) and I even admit to him while we ride the chair lift to the top - I feel stupid when he tells me all these technical things about something I introduced him to in the first place. Maybe If I would stop being so stubborn I would learn a thing or two. I even ask if I can test it out, and although he agrees I never follow through with my request.

The next day after we have slept ridiculously late, whined to each other about how sore we are from being beat up by a mountain of snow, and feed our crying bodies egg sandwiches and coffee, we sit together pouring over websites. I have been bitten by the research bug and thing about getting myself something new by the end of next season. We calculate sizes based on height and weight, look each company's boards and compare which ones have the best technology (and of course the best designs!), read consumer reviews and talk about what would be best for me. As it turns out this kid really did his homework.

I realize how much I love this moment. Sitting and talking about something we both love to do. We may have different approaches to every situation, different ways of solving problems and ideas of how to live our lives sometimes but that shouldn't interfere with things that are supposed to make us both happy. Isn't this why I wanted Boyfriend to ride with me in the first place? To share something? I guess it was only ok as long as I was the one who knew the most. All right point taken. Sometimes it's ok for other people to know more than me. Because look on the bright side, now I don't have to do all the research and (when I am ready) I get to have an expert who is willing to go shopping with me! And who knows, maybe in enough time he will learn a few things from me. Like how to let go and just FEEL yourself flying down the mountain. It's an experience everyone should get once in their lives.

xx Sara