I have great news. Because it is me, this great news is tinged with a hint of anxiety but I will get to that below. I got another article published! This time in NZSkier magazine, which is the premier means of magazine based snow related communication in New Zealand. Of course I'm quite chuffed, but I actually knew it was getting published ages ago, so some of the excitement has worn off a little. In fact, it was published so long ago that I had vaguely convinced myself that it was a sincere, heartfelt tale of my strong connection to Broken River ski field and its loyal community of clubbies and staff. In fact, I was actually thinking it might be a bit embarrassing to have something serious and honest and emotional in the public domain that was associated with me.
But, dear readers, you ought to know me well enough to be assured that I would never write something that might conceivably come back to embarrass me or my friends in a public setting. Who would be so foolish as to put something potentially embarrassing and awkward onto the public record?
Well, me. Obviously.
To my great relief, the finished article is not at all sincere or heartfelt. But to my consternation and dismay, it's snarky and disrespectful, just as you have probably come to expect. In it I describe Broken River's neighbours, Craigieburn, as "the nicest kind of sexist", list a number of ways to avoid paying for things at Broken River, make snide comments about some of the volunteering habits of the local clubbies and document a few legally dubious activities conducted by my friends. All in a nice way, of course.
Now the BR clubbies will forgive me for my indiscretions, because they're nice and they already know I'm a nincompoop. But when I wrote those fateful words about Craigieburn, a field which takes its reputation pretty seriously, I never imagined that I might be spending any time there. But now it looks like I'll be over that way quite a lot, and not only are they likely to look harshly upon me for my association with a rival ski field, I've now publically dissed their founding fathers in the one publication they're actually likely to look at and read. I may be the only person ever to curse that too many people read NZSkier magazine.
By the by, my bit of the magazine is linked below (pictures by Joe Harrison, BR stalwart, rad skier and all around good dude). But seriously, if you can buy this magazine you should. Or look at the ads or something. Keeping small publications like this alive keeps the dreams of dirtbags like me alive.
https://docs.google.com/file/d/0BxqrPZnL2_zhY3ZtdTYyWWRVNDQ/edit?usp=sharing
Also, skiing in a few weeks? Is anyone else excited?
