Snowboarding: the Drug, the Addiction

There’s this certain feeling that you get when strapping in – anticipation, excitement, joy, sometimes even fear.  The clicking noise your bindings make when you strap on your shred weapon.  The clear crisp winter air and cool spray of powder on cold cheeks creates ecstasy.  The view of fresh white lines and blurred trees through your tinted goggles is a hallucinogen.  There’s a calm euphoria that you get while floating through the air and hearing nothing but the wind and your heartbeat.  Snowboarding is a drug, with a heavy risk for passionate addiction.

Marijuana, also known as freestyle riding.  Freestyle snowboarding is one of the most common types of snowboarding out there.  It’s highly popular among today’s youth.  It’s a place to go, to get away.  Tons of kids today just want to get high, unwind, and puff white clouds as they stomp their landings.  Get into it and you’ll find yourself being attracted to colorful outfits, and an unusual hunger for bigger jumps.  You can find park riders all across the world lighting it up in the pipe.  Having a bad day?  Drop in, rip off the lip, tweak that grab and hold it in. Then you land, and roll away in a white haze feeling better about your day.

Next we have cocaine, or snowboard racing.  There’s nothing that sounds better to a racer than freshly cut lines in the white, hard pack, as far as the eye can see.  The racer is all about the speed, baby.  It hits you quick, right out lf the gate almost, but continues to pick up as you progress down the racecourse.  The objective of the racer is to get as much speed as possible. However, too much speed isn’t a good thing.  You can really lose control quickly.  The way you blow through the gates is addicting, but too much speed could end with a trip to the hospital.

Then we have Heroin, a.k.a. Powder Riding. To these riders, it becomes a way of life.  They live for the feeling, or more so the rush they get when embarking into the deep white powder.  It courses through your veins, you sway from side to side, you flow.  But just like the others, it has its risks.  When you ride powder, you put yourself at risk. You can never trust it.  If you loose your edge, then get ready to fall.  Even if you survive the first fall, there’s a good chance shit is going to come crashing down around you, literally.  Avalanches are a powder rider’s worst nightmare.  So be careful how much pow you want to shred; it has its consequences.

The feeling that you get when you snowboard is unlike anything, anywhere.  It’s quite hard to describe the feeling you get snowboarding as anything other than a high.  The more I think about it, the more I find the feeling of snowboarding to be drug-esque.  It makes you feel good inside; nothing else matters.  However, snowboarding being the drug it is, users run the risk of addiction and injury.  Nonetheless, you become deeply involved in it, it becomes you.  It’s more than a sport it’s a way of life.  

Shitty

            Like most college students, I enjoy a couple of beers here and there but not in excess.  When people drink a few too many past that certain point, it turns from a joyous experience to what me and my friends like to call “Shitty”.  There are many other terms for shitty. You might know them as belligerent, highly intoxicated, or just plain out drunk as a skunk.  Have you ever heard someone say, “I’m going to go get drunk and make bad decisions?”  Well, if you cross that limit, it certainly seems to happen that way.  You lose your judgment and make awful decisions.  For example, when you wake up in the morning with a construction worker jack hammering your brains to a pulp and your insides feel like you’re rotting from the inside out, or you smell like your grandfathers bottle of “cough medicine.”  You wake up with this feeling of, “Oh, dear god, what happened to me last night last night?”  Welcome to “shitty”. 

            Every morning, I wake up and walk down to Ben and Nate’s room to acquire some company for my morning cigarette.  One morning, I walked in and found no Nate, just Ben.  So, Ben and I decided to go to Jake and Jack’s room to see if they wanted to join in on a good morning smoke.  However, they weren’t there either, so Ben and I figured that it’s just us that morning and made our way outside.  On our way down the stairs, we noticed that it sounded quite rowdy outside and being maybe eleven o’clock figured we’d check it out.  I took two steps outside the door before I realized what was going on.  There was a small semi-circle of people gathered around the side of the building.  In the center of that circle were two guys with clippers and Jack.  Jack looked the way a solider in a war movie looks when he is shot up against a wall.  He’s hunched over with his head hung very low, his arms and legs are sprawled in awkward directions, and he was almost lifeless.  Jack was experiencing “shitty.”  The two guys had hair clippers and were going to town on Jack’s new Mohawk; Jack had shaggy long hair.  I sat and watched in awe as Jack just sat there letting them cut his hair.  When they finished, Jack brought what seemed to be his 80-pound head up.  It teetered from side to side no matter which way his foggy up eyes looked. 

            I knew that Jack’s situation wasn’t the best, but I have seen him pretty messed up and it seemed that he might be able to pull this one off without getting caught, too.  So, I went on with my day since I had to train for my radio show later that afternoon.  Things were going really well around the studio; my co-host and I had turned on all of the equipment and checked the readings.  Everything was ready to go and so were we.  Things were really exciting around studio, being the first show, and we were getting a considerable amount of request calls.  The phone rang and the big red flashing lights went off in the studio.  I answered the phone,

“Hello, Radio X request line. What can I do for you?”

            Ben was on the other line with our entire group of friends on as well. He told me I had to play a song for Jack.

“O.K. Well, what does he want, man?”

“Oh, dude he doesn’t care…” giggled Ben.

“Well, alright, I’ll play some Manchester Orchestra for him.”

“Collin, you need to dedicate it to .278 though.”

At this point, I subconsciously realized what had happened but it never set off the ol’ light bulb upstairs.

“.287 what the hell is that all about, dude?” I asked even though I already knew. 

“It’s what Jack just blew on his breathalyzer!!!”

“It’s 3:45 in the afternoon… Shitty.”

Do you now see how much fun getting “shitty” is?  It’s totally cool to go over to your buddies, watch some surf videos and drink a few P.B.R.’s.  But to drink yourself to the point where you wake up drunk enough the next morning and think it’s a good idea to drink a few 40 ounces, and then proceed onto shots of Southern Comfort is going too far.  It might certainly seem like a good idea at the time.  I’m sure you’ll be having a great time until you wake up the next morning… or, when you blow a .278 at 3:45 in the afternoon. 

 

 

Butt out

I have been smoking now for about 2 years, and it wasn’t until I moved to Marquette that I noticed what smokers are doing to planet.  Smokers have a habit that is worse than smoking itself!  We leave our butts all over the place.  It’s absolutely disgusting.  Smoking is not a bother to me; it is the people who don’t take care of their butts.  We need to stop ruining Mother Nature and throw our butts away! Taking care of your cigarette butts is an important issue, with a simple solution; throw away your butts.

            I was off on an afternoon hike up Sugar Loaf with the usual crew, Nate, Amanda, Sasso, and A.J.  We had been relaxing, you know just taking in the view, when I was disrupted.  Now, it wasn’t a huge noise, or even something that stood out blaightently, it was a pile of cigarette butts.  I was in awe that people are too lazy to pocket their butts in such a beautiful place.  It really ruined my afternoon. 

            That afternoon began a whole new way of thinking for me.  I stopped pitching my butts everywhere.  I came to realize that Mother Nature doesn’t deserve this treatment, especially when it’s such an easy thing to stop.  How much effort does it really take to put out you cigarette and place the but in your pocket, or a bag?  Let me tell you, none.  Or how about the dorms? Okay so they aren’t very pretty, in fact, they look like projects.  But that doesn’t mean we should take where we live for granted.  The school has installed butt boxes and smokers poles near almost every entrance around school.  However, people are too goddamned lazy to use them! You don’t even have to put the butt in your pocket; there is a box for them right there.  It would take more effort to use your fingers, and flick a butt on the ground, than drop it in a hole.  Yet, there are thousands upon thousands of butts near the boxes and poles.

            It makes me absolutely sick to be apart of something I really enjoy.  It’s an important issue, with a simple solution; throw away your butts. We need to start taking care of Mother Nature and throw our butts away!  Yes being a smoker we are looked down upon.  That doesn’t give you a right to not care.  It’s our world too, lets keep it clean.   If we do that than maybe we can clean up our name too. Taking care of your cigarette butts is an important issue, with a simple solution; throw away your butts.

            

Bright Eyes old vs new

 

For most people, the music of Bright Eyes is very dark and deeply depressing; it’s not for everyone.  However, if that kind of music is right for you, then give Bright Eyes a listen.  Through the years, Bright Eyes frontman, Conor Oberst, has written many haunting songs, but that seems to be changing with the coming of their newer albums. The new stuff is gradually getting happier.  You can tell they’re still written by Conor, but they seem to lack that old, raw feel.  The new Bright Eyes is beautiful, but the old Bright Eyes owns many more hearts.

The end of paralysis,

I was a statuette,

now I’m drunk as hell on a piano bench,

and when I press the keys it all gets reversed,

the sound of loneliness makes me happier. (Bright Eyes “Poison Oak”)

That set of lyrics from the song “Poison Oak,” can be used to describe the love for the band.  The nostalgic feeling of the music will often cheer up a lonely soul.  Most of the melodies are simple, truly lonesome, and emotional.  When I first started to listen to Bright Eyes, one of the big selling points was Conor’s voice.  When he sings, his voice sounds very shaky; it seems like he is unsure with himself. His voice conveys a certain feeling of shyness.  Rolling Stone Magazine gave Conor the title “Rock’s boy genius,” and I feel it’s a true statement.  There are many comparisons between Conor Oberst and Bob Dylan.  Bright Eyes has some truly poetic lyrics, which is one of my favorite parts about them.  The lyrics are very deep and from the soul.  They are depressing, sometimes suicidal.  I take comfort in them; it makes me feel okay to be me.

So I’d prefer to be remembered as a smiling face,

Not this fucking wreck that’s taken its place,

 So please forgive what I have done,

 No you can’t stay mad at the setting sun,

 Cause we all get tired, I mean eventually,

 There is nothing left to do but sleep. (Bright Eyes “No lies, Just Love”)

 

 This is the old Bright Eyes – the one and only.         However, the new Bright Eyes is good, too…it’s just not up to par.  The melodies seem to be sweeter and more joyous; they are nowhere near as dark as they used to be.  The new style takes away from the comforting feeling I get when listening to his music.  Along with the melodies, the lyrics have changed somewhat as well.  They are still deep, but they tend to focus less on broken hearts and depression, and more on politics, religion, and life in general.  They are, however, still very poetic and convey beautiful emotion.  The music is just not the same as it used to be.  In “Four Winds,” the lyrics tend to speak more of religion and our social and political issues.

The Bible’s blind,

the Torah’s deaf, the Qur’an’s mute,

 If you burned them all together you’d get close to the truth still,

They’re pouring over Sanskrit on the Ivy League moons,

 While shadows lengthen in the sun,

Cast all the school and meditation built to soften the times,

And hold us at the center while the spiral unwinds,

 It’s knocking over fences crossing property lines,

Four Winds, cry until it comes. (Bright Eyes “Four Winds”).

Conor is a poet, there’s no debating that.  It’s just the fact that the old songs were more appealing to me.  Even though the melodies and lyrics have changed, his voice has remained the same its still edgy and raw. Over all, the new Bright Eyes is nothing to complain about, but it still doesn’t hold a candle to the days of old.

         I certainly miss the haunting lyrics, and the solemn melodies of old, but I think we’ll learn to get along with the new way of things.  The only way I think I could wrap up this paper is to leave you with my favorite quote of all time. 

And we’ll just keep working on the problem we know we’ll never solve of Love’s uneven remainder, our lives are fractions of a whole.

But if the world could remain within a frame like a painting on a wall,

 Then I think we would see the beauty then.

We would stand staring in awe,

at our still lives posed like a bowl of oranges,

like a story told by the fault lines and the soil. (Bright Eyes “Bowl of Oranges”) The new Bright Eyes is beautiful, but the old Bright Eyes owns many more hearts.  

Markus and Andrea

 

SUTTONS BAY  — Andrea Byarski had a warm smile, an endearing personality and an overwhelming love for her dog, a black and white pit bull named Buddha.

“She always called him her baby,” said her mother, Lauri Byarkski. “He was like a baby to her.”

A long, ragged ditch and shattered tree limbs sit just south of a curve on Leelanau County Road 643 in Centerville Township. Authorities continue to investigate a Sunday night traffic crash that killed Byarski, 20, and her boyfriend, Markus Tarlton, 21.

Police believe Tarlton, who was driving a Subaru Impreza, may have lost control of his vehicle shortly before midnight Sunday. The car left the road, went airborne, rolled and slammed into a tree. Both Tarlton and Byarski were pronounced dead at the scene.

Investigators believe speed was a factor in the crash, Leelanau County Undersheriff Scott Wooters said, but they’re not sure how fast the vehicle was going.

“It’s one of the things they’ll try to figure out as they continue their investigation,” Wooters said.

Investigators also are working to determine what else may have played a role, including wet roads and leaf debris, he said.

Kathy Erway and her husband, who live a few hundred yards from the crash site, came out to look over the scene Monday afternoon. They’ve seen a few crashes in the area before, Kathy Erway said, and the death of two young adults is particularly tragic.

“Whatever it is, it’s a sad story for two families,” she said as she overlooked car parts and a smashed road sign at the base of a tree.

Byarski and Tarlton were graduates of Suttons Bay schools. Byarski, who originally was from Bad Axe, worked at the Roman Wheel restaurant in Suttons Bay, her mother said.

 

BY ART BUKOWSKI
abukowski@record-eagle.com

So, this week I didn’t show up for class except once; this is why.  I knew these two for a good majority of my life, Andrea since third grade, and Markus since 9th.  They were really close to me.  We all hung out with the same group of friends for the most part, summer parties at the Allchin house, school through the winter, and so on.  So when I heard the news on Monday, I was instantly a wreck.  Markus loved cars.  He and Elliot Allchin would spend hours upon hours on their cars.  Elliot drove an older BMW m5 and Mark drove a new Impreza wagon.  They both were all loaded up with aftermarket parts.  One of my favorite memories of Mark was at Noah’s 18th birthday.  It was Noah, Mark, Jabe, and me.  We were going off-roading in Noah’s car.  At one point we were doing 75 through a grass field and I looked back and Jabe was screaming at the top of his lungs to slow down, next to him was Markus.  Mark looked the way kids do on Christmas morning.  He was grabbing the headrest on Noah’s seat and screaming, GO FASTER, GO FASTER! I love this memory sooooo much.  It was the first thing I thought of when I heard they crashed the car. According to 9 and 10 news, they were driving between 90-100 mph and lost control.  They rolled and became airborne, then hit a group of trees at 12 feet high. This is the first time anyone this close besides family has died. It’s really hard to deal with; it feels like a bad dream.  I just want to wake up from this nightmare.  This weekend home has definitely helped bring some sort of closure to it.  However, I’ll never forget them.  R.I.P. Mark and Andrea.

Here’s where you can read up on this and see the news video and pictures of the car. Check it out; it’ll scare the hell out of you and you’ll never want to drive fast again.

car-http://www.9and10news.com/images/view.asp?f=/managed/11-03-08-leelanau-ax-pkg-6.jpg

web page-http://www.9and10news.com/category/story/?id=144629

Election!

This election was really exciting; it was a shot for America to turn itself around.  Well, we made the right decision this time! It was a critical time in our country’s history; being free of the Bush regime, we needed to pick a leader who would bring us change, real change.
 On a personal level, this election truly affected me.  During the
Bush years that I grew up in, I began to loose faith and interest in
my country.  I made a decision that if America continued on the path
we were on, then I could no longer stay on the bandwagon.  This
election, however, gave me hope.  If Barack Obama brings about the
change he promised, then I’m down with this county again.
Honestly, it’s quite hard to predict how this country will change
socially and culturally, but I feel it could be good change.  Hopefully,
we can finally get over the racial issue and start to look at people
as individuals.

My Dorm?

Well okay, here goes this one.  I don’t want to sound like a Debbie Downer, but seriously, fuck the dorms.  I hate them; no wait, is super-ultra-mega-loath a word?  Well if it is, then that’s how I feel about the dorms.  Who’s bright idea was it to combine me and some other kid I hate in a 12 by 12 hell hole, surrounded by a trillion other stupid people? Whoever it was, they are a tool.  It reminds me of high school, a fake sense of freedom that I’m supposed to be happy about.  The food is shit and I have to stand 30 feet from my “home” when I want to smoke a goddamn cigarette; I hate the dorms.  There’s nothing that makes me want to play in traffic more than the dorms.

My Ideal Mate

So I’m not sure I could exactly describe my ideal mate; that’s a really tough thing to do.  However, I could lay out some characteristics that I would look for in a mate.  Number one, she would have to be simple and creative.  I’m a pretty simple creature. I’m easy to figure out, but I like creativity.  She’d need to be a cutie; I am a human, so I’m attracted to physical appearance. I like girls with style. You know, the ones that look like Lilly Allen, hipsterish girls.  She needs to have a good sense of humor. I’m a total dork and I need someone who can laugh and be a goof too.  She would definitely need to be a lover, someone who would stick with me through my ups and downs, someone to make me smile.  Her music interests are important; music plays a big role in my life.  As do board sports, so it’d be cool if she were into that. It doesn’t matter if she’s an artist, but she would have to respect art and such. 

“But these are days we dream about when the sunlight paints us gold
and this apartment could not be prettier as we danced up there alone.
This tv is old, the color is fucked, do you see the 
difference in the shades?
But the green is still close to green, my love
and I believe we are the same.”

-Bright Eyes

Travis Barker Survives Plane Crash

On Saturday the 20^th, Travis Barker and five other people took off in a plane headed for Van Nuys, California.  A few hundred feet after take off, the plane crashed.  It killed four out of the six people in the plane.  This really isn’t a very controversial topic, but I found it interesting. I’m sure that everyone in the class has listened to Blink 182 at some point in their life, even if it was just once.   They had some good punk songs back when they first started.  It’s not very often that a red carpet celebrity dies in a plane crash, but it even more rare for one to walk away.

source:http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/09/20/national/main4462404.shtml

Third Coast?

This week, the North Wind did an article about the Casualties/Snow Skate and Surf Club.  The two groups sponsored a free surf day where people from the club could come and check out what the fall shores of Marquette has to offer.  Unfortunately, there weren’t any waves that day, but it gave beginners a chance to feel out paddling and sitting on a surfboard. You would be surprised how nice the waves can actually get here on the Great Lakes.  There are tons of places to catch some beginner friendly waves around town; the sandy beaches and shores of M-28 are great.  The waves are steep and small and won’t thrash you around too hard.  There are great beginner breaks at shoulder level all the way to shore.  The guys at Casualties will really help you out as well.  You can check out the wave report on their website as well.  So give it a try!

Casualties: http://www.myspace.com/casualtiesonline