According to the calendar, spring officially started today. And winter officially started December 21, summer June 21, and fall September 23. But though the seasons always change, they don’t necessarily for all of us at the same time. For example, summer, for me, didn’t end when fall came on September 23. It ended over three weeks earlier, on September 1. I was in Yellowstone, and four days away from leaving a life I loved. September 1, I woke up and could smell the difference. The air was colder, crisper, and echoed the dull pain that had begun to set in from my coming departure. Summer was over.

I can also tell you that spring didn’t begin today. Sure, today’s the official date, and sure, the weather hit the upper 60s over a week ago, but if you ask me, spring started on Sunday. I woke up Sunday and drove with my windows down, the sun beaming in my face, and the most excellently programmed spring soundtrack blaring on the car radio. After a day of lounging in the sun with friends and napping in a cool breeze, I drove home at sunset, and again, a perfect soundtrack radiated from my car. My windows were down, my hair was flying.

When I wrote my first post here on New Year’s Day, I had no idea what 2007 would bring me. I did know one thing though - I knew that no matter what, whatever came my way would be amazing. And so far, it has been. My life these past few months hasn’t even remotely resembled what I thought I might see, but life is always proving itself to me. Tonight, I grilled with friends and stuffed my face with the most excellent feast, lots of laughs, and the realization that through the all ups and downs, spring, like 2007, has come bearing a plethora of possibilities.

As a Monday thru Friday nine-to-fiver, I rarely bring myself to work on the weekends much anymore. But sometimes, you just really want to work, and that was the case for me last weekend. The World Superpipe Championships were in town and starred a select elite of snowboarding and skiing freestyle gurus. I wasn’t going to miss it.

I was waiting to post the photos here (all 800 million of them) until Anna and I had our audio slideshow completed. I finished it yesterday, but I have no longer have any intention of posting it here. I will save your ears the pain.

I’m not sure if it’s just our shoddy equipment, or if the background noise was just too loud there no matter what equipment you use, but the audio Anna recorded sounds like a 911 call. More specifically, like a 911 call played on television news… you know, where they pair it with subtitles because you can’t understand a single thing. We’ve had issues with the sound on previous slideshows too. Any background noise just kills it. Dead. We’re using a tiny little digital recorder that could easily be mistaken for a pack of gum. It’s not the most high-tech piece of equipment. I’d like to throw it against the ground, stomp on it a few times, and then maybe run it over with my car… just for good measure.

Anyhoo…

In lieu of the ear-murdering slideshow, here’s a much smaller selection of photos, sans audio, for your viewing (and aural) pleasure. This one won’t give you a headache… hopefully.

My bike, like me, is a Minnesota native. As a coworker called it - “a flat-land bike.” I’ve always known it’s had its issues with hills, but I’ve managed alright - from Minnesota to Jackson Hole to the Salt Lake Valley… everywhere I rode was relatively flat (and I could handle a hill every now and again). My bike treated me well on the way home yesterday, but I didn’t realize I was actually going downhill most of the way. The grade is so mild, you don’t really notice, especially not in a car. I just thought it was flat, and I was riding with the wind yesterday. However, before leaving this morning, my roommate informed me to allow a few extra minutes, because it’s an uphill trek back to town. I didn’t believe her… but 15 minutes later, I sure did. The increase in elevation is so slight, it would be no problem on any other bike, but on my flat-land bike, it was a nightmare… a slow, horrible, gut-wrenching, on-the-verge-of-puking, hour-long nightmare. Did I mention I can’t change my gears? I wanted to kill myself.

A biking co-worker of mine, who has rode Hwy. 224 many times, couldn’t believe I made it the whole way on that bike. I really can’t believe I did either. I was ready to kill myself after only a mile. It’s an incredible bike, capable of infinite distances, but it’s a flat-land bike… and it just can’t go uphill (especially not for 8 miles, no matter how slight the grade). I will never, I repeat NEVER in my entire life, ride my bike south on 224 in its current state again. Up here in the mountains, my flat-land bike is in serious need of reconstructive surgery. I’m taking her to the bike doctor later and we’re giving her an extreme makeover. She needs it. I need it.

Seven shoots piled up on my plate today, and yet, as busy as I was, my two favorite photos both came from things I stumbled upon on my way to/from said shoots. Just proves that when you’re really, really ridiculously busy, it’s still worth it to stop and take some extra photos… even if they may never see the light of newsprint.

I did it. I did a handstand.

Why is this such an accomplishment you may ask? I’ll tell you why. Doing a handstand is one of the things on my to-do list of life. And I can now check it off.

A few months ago, my friend Carolyn told me about her list. I decided I wanted one, but I couldn’t come up with anything other than the first two things. After weeks of thought, the list currently contains 40 things, and will grow and shrink as time goes on.

Today, it just shrunk. Consider #6 officially checked off.

1. climb the Grand… with my mom
2. successfully cook a batch of rice
3. learn to drive a stick
4. become a pool shark
5. do it in a tent during a thunderstorm
6. do a yoga handstand - 3/7/07
7. win a game of poker
8. grow my own food
9. go kite skiing
10. learn to roll my Rs
11. partake in a polar bear plunge
12. learn to change my oil - 4/7/07
13. clean out my storage locker - 3/30/07
14. see a bear
15. lucid dream
16. stop picking/biting my nails
17. bike more, drive less
18. comfortably ski a black diamond this year
19. master HTML
20. randomly start talking to a Chinese person in Chinese
21. run across the entirety of a frozen lake
22. start playing tennis again
23. be a tourist in my own town - 4/7/07
24. have multiple orgasms (too much information? I don’t care)
25. go to South America with my Daily friends
26. sunbathe nude in the middle of nowhere
27. surf
28. meet John Cusack
29. return my fading six-pack to “killer” status
30. go camping in Zion
31. and Glacier
32. and Banff
33. go cliff jumping again - 7/7/07
34. and roof lounging
35. go on a road trip with no predetermined destination
36. photo albumize my parents’ and grandparents’ old photos
37. get my birds back
38. give blood
39. send a secret to PostSecret
40. write my name in cement - 7/19/07

The intersection at Kimball Junction can be a nightmare. You can often spot drivers pulling into a turn lane hundreds of yards before the turn lane even begins. Today I was at Kimball Junction, about to pull into the left turn lane, when an SUV comes barreling down the suicide lane behind me. I was half way into the lane (that to be honest, was still a few feet up) when the SUV, rather than braking, drives around me (into the oncoming lane) at highway speeds. The driver was so impatient with the traffic (when really, there wasn’t much traffic), that she could not wait her turn to turn. In doing so, she nearly caused an accident. What was her rush? After making the left turn, she pulled into the Wal-Mart parking lot. Were diapers about to go off sale? Was a trip to Wal-Mart really worth nearly totaling a vehicle? Patience, lady. Learn it. The light will always turn green.

Every time I find myself in a rush, I usually find that it was for no reason. Every time I think I’m going to be so late I might as well kill myself, I find that I’d have been better off being even later. I’ve learned to chill out and stop rushing off to places. It’s not worth the stress… or the possibility of a speeding ticket.

What is harder though, is chilling out while you’re anxiously awaiting something you really, really want to be doing.

I wish Amanda would call me right now and tell me all about her French excursion. I wish I could be hanging out with him right now. And I wish I could fast forward a few weeks and be visiting Minnesota right now. I really, really want these things right now, but I can’t have them just this second. I will have them soon enough though… so what’s the rush?

Patience. Learn it, live it, love it. Patience is what gets things done. Because of my inability to do the things I want to right now, I’m going to extra yoga classes, doing my taxes, taking wonderful naps, organizing old photos, cooking awesome meals, cleaning my place, talking to old friends. I’m getting shit done. And I’m having a great time doing it. Get this: As much as I want those other things really, really badly right now, I’m actually kind of glad I’m not getting them. Whoa.