Nature vs Nurture

Everyone hopes their kids to be the next big thing, but fail to draw the line as to where to stop pushing.  In earlier discussion, there was great debate on Amy Chua's tiger mother parental teaching.  Sure, most Asians excel in academics, arts and sports because their parents push them to be the best in everything and in most cases they do surpass their peers.  But when should a parent stop trying to push greatness out of their child?  Sometimes, although as a parent it is not something that we would want to admit, your child is just a complete failure and cannot become great or even decent due to their low learning curve and lack of motor skills.  With the popularity of snowboarding, every parent wants their kid to be the next Shaun White and are pushing their kids to start early and to hit it hard without regard to the child's safety.  It's great that parents are starting their kids young but only if the child wants to because you cannot force someone to like something that they do not have a passion for.  We have parents taking their kids out as young as 16 months, but if the child enjoys it then kudos to the child and parent for finding something in common to do together.  However, there are the parents that ruin the fun for the child by pushing them and yelling at them for not being good enough like the mother who yelled at her young daughter who was scared to go down the steep mogul trail.  The mother didn't care for her safety but angrily told her to just go down.  There's a difference between pushing someone with no talent to be great versus pushing someone with talent, while it's another thing to be talented but not have the passion to follow through.  Eitherway, you cannot force your passion onto someone else because your child will not enjoy it anymore, if they did at all.  Roman, like many of other kids that I know, his parents sent him to school as early as 2 year old at a cost of 2k a month plus karate, dance, and singing classes because he enjoys it.  If the child enjoys it then encourage and support your child even if they suck horribly because not everyone can be great whether they are born with it or trained.

4 year old Bailey is quite talented

Mammoth 2011

One word, EPIC!  Although the overnight snowfall wasn't as much as our first time at Mammoth but it was still an awesome weekend.  The drive up was pretty crazy because the visibility was at a dreadful low due to the snowfall, but we made it to our destination.  The drive up was pretty hectic due to a fire that broke out in Big Pine so we were held back for 4 hours so that pretty much ruined our initial plan of heading up to Mammoth a big early.  The silly part was the local law enforcements were wasting their time escorting everyone through the town even though the fire was far off in the distance.  Later that night our friends unfortunately had their car stuck in the snow near our lodge while they were heading up so that took 2 hours to pull their car out.  Each night we had about 2 ft of fresh snow so it was not bad at all although we did become stuck while running pow runs but at least we had a way out which was to roll over into the groom trails.  We were practicing buttering so we accidentally missed our usually trail and ended up to the next quarter of the mountain.  We took the chance and tried the park, but had to eat it a couple of times because of the kids that fell ahead of us were too dumb to move out of the way upon a fall.  Although running them over or landing on them would definitely teach them a lesson.  I had to end my day a hour early because my butt caught the edge of my little brother's board while getting off the lift.  I was able to board for awhile until the bruise started to develop and the numbness went away then the pain came.  The next day, no one went to the slopes so we ended up making our own personal slope next to our lodge because it had a decent hill with lots of pow.  We ended up boarding there until it was time to head home.

Yummy butter~


So happy to have a handful of crack!


What's funny?  His face!

Smith Scope Pro Goggles & Oakley Fasten Pants

Out with the old and in with the new!  My little bro updated his goggles to the Smith Scope Pro goggle and personally I felt they could of put in more effort on the design of it because it looks just like any other regular goggle.  My peeve is that with its simplistic look, it is hard to tell by a glance which is the cheap pair of Smith versus the quality pair of Smith.  I spotted an awesome deal from steepforcheap.com for a pair of Oakley Fasten pants and Seattle was kind enough to buy it for me!  What a loyal dog huh?  The pants had a pretty high breathability and waterproofing rating so that's always a plus.  Plus it is well padded and insulated so it is certainly worth the buck. Oakley does make some pretty stylish pants that isn't too much like Nomis. My peeve is the length of the pants is a bit long but then again it is for women and I wear youth sizes so go figure.    This also reminds me, I have not posted the Big Bear trip!

Smith Scope Pro


Oakley Fasten

Rixon Board Mounts

So I finally got around to putting my board mounts up on the wall.  I purchased a dozen mounts awhile ago but never got around to installing them.  The mounts are one of the cheapest priced mounts on the market because mounts like HangTime and others would cost you about $20  or more a mount.  We have too many boards to spend that amount of money on each mount so anything under $20 a mount is ideal.  The deal offered by Rixon is buy 3 mounts and get one free so that's another incentive to buy.  I ordered white mounts but they ended up sending me black mounts but to rectify their error, they offered me a 40% refund which isn't bad at all.  However, white would of been better, just saying. 

My wall of boards.


Little bro's wall.


Oldest bro's wall.


Older bro's wall although his board did fall down because the anchor didn't hold so the board fell 3 feet straight down on its tail right on tile but no damage so had to use a better anchor to put it up.

The Wait Ends Now

Today marks the blah blah anniversary of Veterans but who really cares about that because today is the official opening day of Mammoth and Mt High!  But speaking of Veterans Day, military are able to go boarding for free today!  The wait is finally over!  Even though I will not be boarding any time soon but it still makes me feel better knowing that there is snow and that I can go boarding if I wanted to.  We have longed for this day for a long time because we all really want to try out our new gears.  We want to know if these new gears will work to our preference or not.  So, I can't wait for Mammoth!

Just the beginning...


Bicycle kick hiyahhh~

Burton and Oakley

I am totally stoked because snow season is just 2 months away!  I really can't wait mainly because we have so many new gears that we want to try out.  I spotted another sale so I bought a 2010 Burton Custom Smalls binding, a pair of Oakley goggles, and 2 snowboard luggage bags for whenever we decide to travel.  I also bought a mini video camera device for dirt cheap with a decent 25 FPS but I mainly liked it for its ability to record upon noise which makes it a good security device.  I plan to strap it on and take it boarding as well of course.  Let it snow!

2010 Burton Custom Smalls


Oakley XS O Frame

My Mom Kicked Me Out

Relatives from Australia came over to visit before they head to SF then Hawaii so my mom kicked her kids and the dogs out of the house for no apparently reason because they didn't even sleep in my room and they were actually excited to see my dogs.  My mom acts as if my relatives from Australia are more rich and glamorous than royalty and affluent people, which I guess they can be considering how easy it is to be rich in Australia.  Apparently you can have a family of 4 and make 80 grand a year and still be on welfare but their welfare is no joke either because they get 4 to 6 grand a month for welfare.  It pays to be poor!  So obviously most of my relatives in Australia are retired at such an early age and their kids are mostly lawyers or pharmacists.  They may be rich as hell but they suck at giving presents, not even a shirt!  Another wave of Australian relatives are coming on Friday so once again my mom is probably going to kick us out again.  I do admit their Vietnamese accent is pretty weird. 

Free BOA replacements for life!


Double ply Session jacket for older brother


My last purchase of the season: Burton gloves and socks

Cultivate My Garden Bish

I really don't see why people are into gardening, it's so boring.  The only purpose to gardening is if you're growing something like a fruit tree or weed because the plant that you are growing at least has a purpose such as a fruit to eat or a chance to give a high.  If it's just a plant that does nothing but sits there and grow or maybe bloom and stinks up the place then there's no point in growing it besides producing oxygen but it's certainly not a cash crop unless you can sell oxygen.  My parents' house plants are blooming its flowers and my god, it stinks!  But not only does it stink but it also drops its seeds or flower petals or whatever it is.  I don't see the point in there indoor plants because they bear no fruit unlike all their plants outside which either bears fruit or you can eat them plant.  If you can't get in my belly then you better get stepping.

More buttering

May Birthday

As I have already mentioned, May is just full of birthdays.  Yesterday was actually my brat of a little brother's birthday but we haven't celebrated anything because he's probably busy with his silly frat crap.  I got him the Sierra Stunt for his birthday.  For my older brother's birthday which is in 4 days, I got him the Flow Rift Coiler Two Zone boa boots because his old boots broke so he bought a new one but that ended up breaking too.  Hopefully he wouldn't need any new boots for awhile considering boa gives a lifetime warranty replacement.  Since I didn't get my oldest brother anything for his birthday in March, I got him the Rome Smith boa boots but too bad the only color they had left of that model was white. I do love boa and will never go back to lace although I never did lace to begin with except for my first time boarding.  I also bought a new pair of bindings for my new board which does match with my board.  Now to make one more purchase and I'm done shopping for this season.

Rome Smith boa comes with boa kit and j bars


Flow Rift Coiler Two Zone features velcro strap


2009 Burton Stiletto Smalls Youth


Mysterious~

Sierra Stunt

I purchased the Sierra Stunt 148 2 days ago and it arrived today!  I know I should stop going on a shopping binge just because there are outrageous sales going on but I just can't help it and besides the Stunt is for my little brother for his birthday anyways.  I showed him some butter videos so he was like I wanna butter too~  The Sierra Stunt is a reverse camber board with a softer flex than the Sierra Reverse Crew, which makes the Stunt the board to use for buttering and jibs.  It is based on the Burton Hero which retails the Stunt for $500 but the Cinco de Mayo sale was offering it for $99 so I couldn't say no.  Although the downside of the Stunt is that I think the design is so damn ugly.  Will this be my last purchase for boarding gears this season?  Hell no!  Although I should stop but I just have to purchase a few more things then I'm done!

Since when did gorillas eat ice cream?


Get nekkid!

Burton V-Rocker

Today my Burton Feelgood V-Rocker Youth 125 arrived today along with my older brother's Sierra Reverse Crew 151 and a free Sierra shirt which I gave to my little sister.  On a flat, the V-Rocker has a little more rock to it hence making it a V-Rocker rather than a normal reverse camber board.  The V-Rocker's flex is definitely softer than the Reverse Crew but not by much, which means you can still butter the slopes using the Reverse Crew.  Today is Cinco de Mayo, so there's a special sale only for today for the Sierra Stunt, Sierra V-Spot and the Palmer P-Line for 99 bucks, which retails for 500 bucks!  I just ordered a Sierra Stunt 147 for my little brother for his upcoming birthday although it is about 3 cm larger than his suggested size for freestyle unless he gains like 20 to 30 pounds so eat up skinny boy! Also, happy birthday mother!

 
My board even comes with a dog for a stomp pad!


Take it off!

1 Year Old Snowboarder

I was even wowed by 2 and 3 year old snowboarders but a 1.3 year old is even more amazing!  Although some cynics might say the kid isn't displaying much skills because all she's doing is going down, but she is for the short amount of distance she's going.  She is carving on her heels, braking and even catching her balance on hard braking although there were times she just couldn't hold it and fell on her diaper butt.  The kid has the potential to be great when she grows up.

1.3 year old snowboarder

Fetish anyone?

Tax Deadline

Although today is the tax deadline, I am pretty lucky because all of my clients try to get theirs done early otherwise I would be totally swamped right now.  So anyways I was looking at Snow Valley's season pass and it is $150 which is hella cheap for a season pass anywhere!  But then again Snow Valley has always been cheap to begin with since the Tuesday special is $11 a lift ticket.  I haven't gone to Snow Valley but my brother apparently likes it because it's cheap and decent.  Also I heard Mammoth's season ends in July which is pretty crazy to even think that.  I want to try turf snowboarding or even make one to try just to practice buttering during the off season.

Best 3 year old boarder I have seen!

Awesome 9 year old girl

Countdown To Mammoth

Just 10 more days until Mammoth!  The weather is pretty hot right now but according to the weather report, it should be cooling down by next week so hopefully we can get some fresh pow.  I want to work on my ollies and manuals so then I can work on some uber jumps.  Although it's going to be a little hard considering my board is a stiff freeride board rather than a flimsy freestyle board.  Also, I have to get used to my new boots as well.  So one way to find out how it goes all by playing around with it.

Oh hell yeah.

Back From Seattle

It is just good to be back in Cali!  Sure, it didn't rain while I was in Seattle which was actually too bad because that means no fresh snow to board on so that kind of sucked.  Although the snow wasn't too bad but still could of been better because it was pretty compact and the trails were horrible especially at Crystal Mountain mainly because to be able to have a decent length run, you must take multiple lifts.  Stevens Pass was better but at the same time the trails were also pretty short.  I boarded 3 out of the 5 days that I was in Seattle so I'm fine with that!  I did get one day to myself to drive around and explore Seattle or more like the state of Washington.  Car and I took the ferry for the first time so that was kind of interesting although the roads were just horrible in Washington.  The streets were all so disorganized and curved every few yards and there was a lack of sidewalks as well.  Everything just felt like such a small town feeling although Seattle is suppose to be a tech mecca for the young but all I saw were old retirement folks and ghetto kids.  I just think they need to knock everything down and restructure everything because all the twist and turns is just a waste of space.  Anyways, I can't believe how many times I went boarding this season because for the past 2 years my average has been 4 times a season but so far I have gone boarding 5 times already and 2 more times to go! 

You said it!

"Life is a great big canvas, and you should throw all the paint on it you can."
Danny Kaye

Tell Your Kids To Get Back Into Your Womb

Drama, drama, drama!  It just peeves me to know that some families are so dysfunctional and crazy!  My older brother's friend's family just lost their house all because of the mom's dumb boyfriend, who decided to not pay the bills anymore without telling anyone.  So the story is they bought the house 10 years ago in his name only and apparently he's younger than her and has a gambling problem.  About 2 years ago, he secretly pulled out over 200k out of the house and probably used it all up gambling.  About a few months ago, his personality started to change and complained about money and how the kids needs to get jobs.  Finally the bank came with an eviction letter and that's when everyone knew what had happened and dude everyone was pissed because by that time it was too late to do anything about it since the bank already sold the house and it's not like they didn't have the money to pay it all.  You can say it was a cruel way to break up because there goes all the years of paying off the house.  It's the freaking boyfriend's fault that this is all happening but 4 out of 5 of her kids are blaming her because they're all retarded.  My brother's friend is the oldest and he knows what's happening and is trying to hold his family together but they're just all too crazy and wants to beat the crap out of the boyfriend.  The eldest sister who I went to high school with left home after high school with her boyfriend and is recently married.  Her boyfriend being the youngest in his family, his mom bought them a house in San Jose or whatever so he can live near her so that's where they went.  She hardly calls her mom but when she does all she does is brag about how much money they have and yet knowing that her family is going to be on the streets she refuses to help because they're planning on buying a second house which just might be from their own hard work this time.  Talk about being an ungrateful child.  The second oldest daughter is just plain crazy and left home after high school and moved with her boyfriend to Texas until he went to prison and will stay there for a very long time.  She came back and did nothing but blame the mom so the brother got so mad and was about to beat her ass so she left and went back to Texas the next day.  The youngest daughter who went to school with my little brother turned lesbo and left home after high school to be with her girlfriend in Capital Hill in Washington.  She's never coming back and of course blames the mom for what's going on too.  The youngest son who is the only son of the mom's boyfriend which is why he was the only kid that he cared about out of all of them is so spoiled and in his own world that he blames the mom for everything.  This is why I don't want kids because you can give them the world and they can give you complete crap.  Wouldn't it just be easy to just shove them back in your womb like a return if you're not satisfied with them?  Stupid kids.

Anywho, on a less angry note, I can't wait to go boarding again this season!  The storms this year is just so great!  I wished I was a kid when I first boarded because it's so much easier to learn as a kid.  The reason is because your board is so small so it's light and you move slow.  My little nephew and niece can do black diamond with ease.  Plus, since you're so short you are not afraid to fall and hurt yourself but when you're older you are cautious because breaking a bone will mean no work so no play.  My brother's friend just broke his wrist and hurt his tailbone while trying a jump, whereas one of my cousin hurt her tailbone because a skier ran her over haha.  Although I wanted to slap this stupid girl for her dumb comment last time at Mt High.  Her friends were saying how it's a good idea to wear a helmet for safety but she was like who cares so they said she'll care when she goes to the hospital and her response was who cares because it's not like she's going to pay for it so her friends responded with but her parents will.  It's important to think of safety because you never know especially when you're speeding down and someone runs into you.  Anyways, this noob video can make anyone's day but then again any video with anyone getting hurt or making a complete fool of themselves is hilarious.

Move Out of the Way Bitch!

I hate it when people freaking loiter or sit around in front of the lift where you get off from the chair lift because they are in the freaking damn way!  If you fall down then move your ass out of the way or get run over!  It's simple as that.  People need room to board down a little after getting off the chair.  Freaking dumb nubs.  I didn't get any bruises from attempting any jumps on the ramps but I did get some pretty bad bruises from the nubcakes standing in the way in front of the lifts unloading area because of them I fell down on my bindings which freaking hurts.  I have a bad one of my right shin and a really bad one on the back of my right thigh.  It's still not as bad as the other bruise that I got on the back of my thigh from Mammoth but still bad enough.  So with that being said, move out of the damn way!

Remember playing that when you were young?

"Hope sees the invisible, feels the intangible, and achieves the impossible."
Anonymous

Returning to Mt High After 10 Years

The first time I ever went snowboarding was at Mt High and it was pretty much crap.  Finally after so many years, I finally went back and will probably never ever go back there ever again.  The parking was so insane because there's hardly any parking spaces and the snow plow man didn't plow enough snow so you can park on the side of the highway.  So on Saturday, we left at 7 AM and a 30 minute drive to the resort turned out to be 4 hours because it was just that packed especially since they had fresh powder snow!  After we spent the time trying to get up there and digging snow out from under the car and trying to get unstuck from the snow, my brothers decided to just give up and head back...minutes later my friend texted me that they opened new spots to park.  God damn it!  So we tried again on Sunday and this time left at 6 AM and even then the first park's parking lot was already full.  The fresh powder snow was all gone so it was just compact powder which was okay but I wanted to try doing jumps and fresh powder would have been a great cushion.  Although Sunday was less crowded, it was still too crowded for my taste because I am used to less people and way bigger resorts.  I did see some interesting things there though but not enough to ever want to come back for more.  I saw a guy in a trench coat with a matching fedora hat hitting the slopes, a boarder wearing boxing gloves, a midget boarding, the most amount of black people on the slopes ever, random jerks throwing snowballs at random people passing by, and a ghetto trailer trash fight, which was pretty pathetic because they were beating up on much younger kids and hitting from behind the back.  I did catch the fight on film so I will post that some other time.  I did try doing jumps but ate it a few times because it was so crowded that people just get in your damn way.  Mt High people just don't have any courtesy.  Random people hit my board so many times and didn't even give a heads up or a simple sorry.  I will never go boarding alongside Walmart shoppers again, they're just too damn ghetto.

Squirtle!

""How important it is for us to recognize and celebrate our heroes and she-roes!"
Maya Angelou

The Urge To Snowboard

So last weekend my siblings and pose spent the weekend at Big Bear, but unfortunately for us the real snow fall didn't occur until that night we left.  Holy moly and now there is butt loads of fresh snow due to the rain storm!  Now everyone is tempted to go again this weekend!  I'm tempted to go again but my arm is still bruised from getting hit by one of the pose's board.  *Shakes fist*  It's always fun to board in fresh snow because you can go crazy and fly like superman and still come out perfectly fine. 

Yes!

"Change your thoughts and you change your world."
Norman Vincent Peale

Let It Snow

I hope that it will continue to rain only because there will be be a good chance of snow on the nearby snow resorts.  I want to go snowboarding at least one more time before the season ends.  So hopefully there will be snow so let there be snow!  The weather said that it would rain the end of last week but no~  there was no rain at all!  Well, only a little shower but that was it!  Pssh, stupid weatherman.

Get in my belly~