snow + bike = heavenly

i rode my bike to takeout tonight. middle of the street, no cars, snow pouring down, thin ride-able layer of snow on the ground, and the glorious sound of snow under my tires.

i absolutely love bicycling in the snow.

is getting injured even interesting anymore?

hey homies!

it's been a while, and what could be more fitting as a return post than another iteration of "preston gets hurt snowboarding!", eh, eh? (the third iteration, though the first two aren't documented on this here blog)

yesterday, i faceplanted on a flat rail at mountain creek.

a little bit of background history: a few seasons ago, i decided to try out a flat rail, and then i hit my hip on it. ow. from then on, i vowed never to go on rails again.

back to the present: yesterday was the first time this season that i went to south at mt creek, with all of its new terrain park shenanigans. it was pretty cool.

my first run down south, i rode down the right side of the trail, scoping out the jumps and features and landings and whatnot. the problem is, the trail is wider than just one line of features, so i didn't get to scope out the interior of the trail.

my second run down south, in the middle of the trail(!), i see a medium lip that i want to jump off of. key point: you can't see any of the landings on the other side of the jumps.

i go off the jump, get some air, nothing crazy.

i'm in the air.

WHY HELLO THAR FLAT RAIL rightinthemiddleofmylanding!

i was struck with terror by the sight of that flat rail. and more terror as i instantly realized i was going to land square on it, though i guess that's better than not landing square.

in my head flash a few thoughts.

"crapcrapcrapcrapcrap"

"oh, it'd be convenient if i landed on it and rode off of it nicely like i knew it was there all along"

NOPE.

i land on the rail. i estimate i ride half of the rail. bam! i hit my face on the rail lolol.

i knew i hit my head because, just like when i hit my head in the past, i lost that one second of memory prior to the collision, the memory of me actually falling down.

i'm on my tummy on the ground, and quickly ride out of the landing towards the fork of the trail in front of some trees. oh yeah, textbook bailout procedure.

i'm laying on the snow and i wave arnold over (at this point i'm glad i went first, before arnold and jon[tsui]), and jon stops by shortly after.

i ask arnold, "assess the damage." the left side of my face hurts in general, there's some bleeding, my left contact fell into my goggles, but MY EYE IS FINE!

my goggles are fine, too. here's the crazy part. since the day was kind of overcast, i was considering not wearing my goggles (putting them on my helmet) so i could have extra visibility on the snow. whewwww, i'm sososososo glad i wore them, because my goggles took the brunt of the impact and saved me from a broken nose or cheekbone or something worse. my goggles have saved me twice now, this incident and last time's.

at this point, i put the contact into my mouth to keep it from drying out, and i snowboard down the trail with only one contact. by the time i get to the bottom of the mountain, i've already accidentally eaten my contact. oopsies.

at EMS, i get the scrapes on my face wiped with alcohol, and ice is given to me for the swelling of my left cheek and the area surrounding my left eye. somehow, whenever i get injured, i always hit my face, and always the left side.

all in all, i'm fine. it doesn't really hurt, it just looks worse than it is. it'll be better in a few days! and going to camelback tomorrow will make me feel better :]

today's lesson: always scope out jumps to make sure there isn't a rail hiding behind waiting to be nomnom-ed by your face.

also:

A person with hands crossed over their head while on or near a feature means:

d) It's time to get X-treme!

poomf goes the pigeon

some time ago, i was driving on i-287, going a cruising 75mph.

as i was driving along, i saw a pigeon standing on the ground right ahead of me in my lane, with my car fast approaching it. keep in mind that i saw it for all of one second before i .. well, hit it with my right tire. poomf.

a wave of guilt and sadness hit me immediately, as abrupt as the pigeon's death.

yes, i felt sad. and guilty. and that feeling stayed with me for a little bit.

but, it got me thinking. i feel bad about accidentally killing this pigeon. why? because this pigeon was alive. and now its life is no longer in existence. but how many other animals have i killed and not even given a thought to?

is all animal life created equal?

puppies. penguins. jellyfish. spiders. giraffes. ants. hamsters. goldfish.

i'm sure that as you read over that list, you and i both naturally see the lives of certain animals as more valuable than others. is this right?

is it okay to treat spiders as the spawn of the devil while we love on bunnies because they're so adorable?

do people (who care at all about animal life) eat chicken instead of beef because cow lives are more valuable than chicken lives?

does the animal being bigger mean its life is worth more than the smaller animal?

also, i believe that while animals are alive and feel pain and have emotions, only humans have souls.

what do you guys think?

thought 4

is it bad to feel sentimental about things?

thought 3

when did the music we listen to become our identity?

thought 2

i caught a fly in mid-air today with my bare hand.

i love random, cool, almost-useful skills.

thought 1

to think that our kids won't ever get to laugh about their parents' chinglish talking, fobby accents, or ridiculous asian mentalities.

summer is nice

this is the definition of relaxation.

a few things learned so far..

hardly anyone replies to emails, but offering cookies to people who reply generates more responses! really!

water polo is probably the worst sport in the world for me to play.

volleyball by day, laser tag by night = fun overload

(my music player all of a sudden started working! yay!)

the birth of lawlkward

6/7/10
Tiffany Chen: and yes t prettyman is awesome
Preston Chang: yes yes :}
Tiffany Chen: weird face
Preston Chang: what do you think of it?
Tiffany Chen: about the face?
Tiffany Chen: idk how you'd smile liek that haha
Preston Chang: hahah
Preston Chang: yeah
Preston Chang: maybe that's why i like it
Preston Chang: :>
Tiffany Chen: AWKARD
Preston Chang: ^ LOL now THAT'S awkward
Tiffany Chen: AKWARD
Tiffany Chen: AWWKARD
Tiffany Chen: AKWWARD
Preston Chang: HAHA
Tiffany Chen: AKARD
Tiffany Chen: WAWKARD
Preston Chang: way awkward
Preston Chang: wawkward
Tiffany Chen: wawkward
Tiffany Chen: lawl
Preston Chang: lawlkward
Preston Chang: hahahh
Preston Chang: that is genius
Tiffany Chen: HAHAHAHAHAH
Tiffany Chen: I LIKE IT
Preston Chang: PERFECT
Tiffany Chen: HAHAHAHA
Preston Chang: an actual useful new word
Preston Chang: for funny awkward situations
Preston Chang: not JUST awkward
Preston Chang: but FUNNY
Preston Chang: LAWLKWARD
Tiffany Chen: HAHAHAHAHHA
Tiffany Chen: I REALLY LIKE IT
Tiffany Chen: genius

indie

q: why did i always find it hard to give fall out boy a try?
q: why did i always refuse to watch naruto?
a: because everyone was into it!

at the time, i didn't know why exactly i was particularly disinterested and resistive to these things. i just felt like i didn't wanna.

that was a few years ago. in hindsight, it's so obvious!

i have an indie complex! :OOOOO

now, i've actually only very recently heard about this definition of indie, and the "indie complex" itself, specifically, at memorial day retreat.

to me, indie was simply a description of bands and their music, based off of how well-known it was. i didn't know about the indie groups and magazines and their beliefs etc etc, and i still don't.

story: i started listening to owl city and developing a real taste and affection for their music around last spring. i went to see owl city in september of last year, just around the time "fireflies" started populating the radio stations, before they got big. it was AWESOME. i totally dug(?) their ocean eyes album, as well, which i got shortly after that.

but once they started getting more popular, i starting finding it "weird" (personally) to mention owl city as one of my favorite artists. moreover, it even felt weird to listen to owl city on my own time.

money question: why?

random thoughts:
it doesn't seem special anymore, that i like it.
if i say i like it, i'm just another one of the mainstream population.
does that mean i don't want other people to like the music i like? certainly not! quite the contrary, actually, i love sharing music i like with other people!

and here is where.. i don't know anymore. (this is far from a conclusive entry.)

i'm really interested in the psychology behind this whole indie thing.

i'm also interested in if this is a common thing for people to feel.

do any of you share similar feelings? is this something that people easily recognize about themselves?

-why don't some people use question marks when they talk online? is it a personal decision? is it out of laziness?
-i always wear boxers under swim trunks.
-swim trunks = board shorts?
-i think my music player is broken. oh well. fix it some other time.
-mcd's fries > bk fries. 7-4. win. take that, dan! :P