wierd fishy

Yesterday was one of those weird days where I felt like I must have spilled my lunch down the front of my shirt because everyone was looking at me like I was crazy.

First it was the Kiwi driver. He asked if anyone had already booked their accommodation in Queenstown (because he was going to call ahead and arrange it) and I said that I had. So he asks, in front of the whole group of 2-minute noodle eating backpackers, “oh yeah, where are you staying?”
I sort of pause and glanced down and said, “the crown plaza. It’s right next to the… “
And he nods and says, “oh, I know.”
“It’s the end of my trip, so…” I said, as if I needed to explain myself.
He laughed, called me a “Flashpacker.” And then asked if he could come stay the night with me. “If you’re going to book that nice of a room… you might as well…”

And then the French guy at the rental shop, after letting me come behind the counter and check out all the boards finally asked, “Where are you from?”
And I said, “California,” like I always do, (never the US and never America because those words usually won't lead you to anything positive.)
And then he asked, “where do you ride?”
And I said “Tahoe.”
And he nodded, knowingly. “I haven’t been there,” he said. “It’s just because it never happens that a girl walks in here and says she wants the best board… and all this…” He had grabbed the toe straps off another set of bindings and was switching them onto the bindings that he was mounting on the Burton Dominant board that I was renting, adjusting them to be goofy, front foot out 13 degrees and back foot at minus 6.
We chatted a bit about conditions and about if TC was going to open the other half of the mountain. About how we both will ride pretty much anything and everything except the half pipe. I told him I was going to Cardrona tomorrow and he said that the best day of his season so far had been there, but he was going to Treble Cone. And I checked today and TC is still half closed. lame.

I really like this board I rented.

It's really soft and flexible but it still has good edges and doesn't feel sketchy. Although the nose did sort of slip out from under me today when I was doing a little nose press. I guess I'm just not used to it yet. But it feels sooooo much better than the other board I rented in Wanaka. And my switch is like fully dialed in now. I feel like I can almost ride as good switch as I can regular. OMG.. so stoked for next season! Can't wait to ride in Tahoe, which hands down, blows NZ away, imho.
And the guy in the shop is right.. most girls really suck at snowboarding. A lot of them look like they would be really good, they have all the gear and look hella styleee, but then they suck. Or the ones that are good, the best ones I've seen, can only like, hit a couple little boxes and rails. Why is that? I heard a couple of girls the other day talking about riding switch and working on 180's at lunch but I never actually see any girls on the mountain doing those things. Except me, lol.