It'll be hard to remember the details since I'm writing this a year and a half after my funemployment ended, but I'll do my best.
Of all the trips that I initially had planned, I didn't go on 1 of them. I wanted to go to Argentina, specifically Mendoza, for their wines and meats. I just didn't get there. I had planned for it in November which was their spring season, but just didn't work out. I was starting to run low on the funds and that was one piece of it. Also, I had been doing so much traveling that I was exhausted. By nature, I am introverted and a bit of a home body and being gone had kind of taken its toll on me. I was content to sit this trip out and stay at home so I did that. The trip to Vancouver was basically my last trip.
After Vancouver, I just got more settled in Denver. Arapahoe Basin opened up so I went snowboarding in October a few times. That was the 1st time after my knee surgery, first ride in 18 months, and I remember being really scared on that run. I just didn't know how my knee would handle it, and it actually was fine. I did a few runs and got more comfortable. On October 31st, I did a triple header. I went snowboarding at A-Bay in the morning, went for a bike ride in the afternoon (it was 70ish that day in Denver), and then I went to a concert that night. A lot in a single day.
November began the slow job search. I didn't want to go back to work, but I kind of had to. Started networking, started putting my resume together, and started applying. The job search process absolutely blows. It just isn't fun. When I wasn't looking for a job, I was just enjoying Denver. I didn't set my alarm, I did stuff around the house every day, went out and explored, and of course, I went snowboarding. Throughout the entire season, I was on the mountain for 32 days. Breck, Keystone, A-Bay, Vail, Beaver Creek, and Winter Park are all ski hills that I visited. When you go 32 days in a single season, you get really better. I can't say I got really good, because that is debatable, so I'll just use the ugly term that I got really better. Groomers were easy, obviously, and I bombed down them. Powder wasn't a problem, and I love powder. Bumps, I actually got better at bumps. Bumps and snowboarders are kind of like swimming and triathletes. Everyone bitches about it so I decided to take it head on. For a snowboarder, I got really better and dealing with bumps. The trick that I learned was to do a jump turn with my back foot. I learned this from watching skiiers and they basically jump with every turn. I learned to basically pick up my back foot at a certain point in the turn and it made it a lot easier because I could get the board around quicker. I found prior to this that the back edge of my board would catch on the snow. That is my solution to it. I also got a lot better at trees, too. I had such a mental block with trees and I finally caved into peer pressure. It's a practice/confidence thing and I just never got over that hump before. Also, don't go into trees alone, like I did. A lot. The snowboarding season ended on April 27th at Winter Park. I remember that day vividly because the forecast was 8" of powder, and it was more like 12"+ in the trees, it was still snowing, and there was no one on the mountain. I was finding fresh lines the entire day and it was absolutely glorious. A powder day with no one on the mountain and no lines is a wonderful, joyous thing.
That is until I hit a rock. I wasn't even in the trees either. I was on the side of a groomed trail noodling around in the powder on the side. I decided to go up into the trees on the side of the trail and then do a drop. It was small, like 2-3 turns and then the drop off. I committed to the drop off and that was when I saw that my line would take me right into a rock. In this situation I said the standard thing ("Oh, shit!") and I don't know whether I tried to go around the rock or if I tried to jump over the rock, but I do know that I hit the rock. I landed in the snow and I was hurting. Didn't hit my head but my right shin hurt, my left knee hurt, and my left ribs hurt. The right shin hurt because it hit the rock. My left knee hurt because my momentum carried my body and somehow twisted my left knee. Later on, I found out I had a pretty bad left MCL sprain. My left ribs hurt because my arms were flailing as I was falling. When my body stopped falling, my left arm came crashing into my ribs and bruised them. I was in that snow for awhile trying to assess what the fuck just happened because it hurt. It hurt bad. I finally got up and got going down the rest of the run. I did 1 more run, like an idiot, hey, it was a powder day, and I couldn't do it any more. Every time I got on the lift, either my knee or my ribs would scream out in pain. I went back to the lodge and had to call a ski patrol to check me out. They took me on a snowmobile to get back to my car. BTW, I need to go on a snowmobile ride because that shit is fun. Ended up going to the doctor later and had a really bad bruise on my right shin with the sprained left MCL and the bruised ribs. My shin, which bore the brunt of the attack from the rock, actually hurt the least. My ribs and left knee hurt for months after it. Accidents happen and I don't regret it because that was an amazing day.
Keystone?
Imperial Express at Breck
Anne and I at Breck.
Peak 6 at Breck
Heading up to Peak 6 at Breck
Back bowls of Vail
Keystone?
At the end of a powder day at Beaver Creek.
Keystone with Breck in the distance
Winter Park, the day of The Rock
Winter Park, the day of The Rock
That winter, my focus was to snowboard as much as possible and that's how I got 32 days in.
When I wasn't snowboarding, I was looking for a job. Honestly, there really isn't anything exciting to talk about for that. I was hardcore job hunting for about 6 months. It definitely wasn't fun. I started keeping track of all the job applications and by the end, I estimate that I applied for 300 jobs before I finally found one. In the first part of 2017, that was about it. Just trying to find a job. It was extremely difficult for many reasons. One of them was I was in a new city and didn't have much of a network. I was also trying to make a slight career shift by going from traditional project management to a scrum master. Lastly, I didn't have any external facing experience and that hindered me. I did take the Manager Tools Interview Series which is well worth the money and proved to be very valuable. But it was a struggle and it was a ton of stress. I felt like crap. I know I'm a good employee, but I just couldn't convince anyone to give me a chance. Finally, in June of 2017, my funemployment was over and I got a job.
I was out of work for 13 months. It was probably about 3-5 months longer than I would have liked, but I am glad I did it. It was so great to just take some time off when I had the health and money to do some fun shit. There were some downsides though. Basically traveling by myself for several weeks several times was very tiring. I'm introverted by nature and while I did try to strike up conversations at times, I was still by myself most of the time. That got really boring after awhile. I did share on social media, but it still wasn't the same as having a travel buddy. I did movie from one city to another city which allowed a lot of time to spend on my house in Denver, but a lot of time means a lot of money typically. But I did get this house in really good shape in a short amount of time. Paint, furniture, garage work, and just little things around the house all got done instead of being drug out years.
And this ends the chronicles of my year off. If you have a chance to do so, I would recommend it. It can be scary and responsibilities take over, and there will be rough parts, but it has been good.
Live for the powder days.
