I need to reevaluate my life... - Snowboarding Forum

Smokehaus · 02-03-2012, 01:39 AM

I searched and could not find this and felt like it need to be shared.

Quote:

Keys To Reality
by Ken Achenbach

It’s kind of funny how you can go from walking around with nothing but lint in you pocket and being totally stoked, to walking around with a pocket full of keys and being totally bummed.

It starts out simply and seductively. I’ll just get this car so I can snowboard more. Wrong. Anything that let’s you snowboard more is a scam. It won’t let you snowboard more because you ride every day and a car can’t add days to the week.

“I’ll just get this little night job so I can buy gas,” you hear yourself saying. There’s another key. Then your job starts making you miss sleep, so you can’t snowboard as hard or as long as you used to. And you need stuff to wear to work. You need a place to change and store your stuff. Now you have an address, that’s another key. Soon you have to get a day job because you’re not making enough money at night. The keys start adding up.

Now that you have a job, girls know you’re not a total loss and you end up with a girlfriend. She wants you to hang with her once in a while instead of going boarding all the time. First, she gives you the key to her heart, and then the key to her apartment. That’s two more. You can’t give her the key to your heart because snowboarding put a combination lock on it and only your snowboard knows the number.

Now you have a bunch of keys in your pocket. They’re high-maintenance items. You have to take care of them. They’re weighing you down. Snowboarding is slowly slipping away, and you don’t even notice.

One day, cruising to your full-time office job that you had to get a few years back to make payments on all your keys, you drive past a guy on the corner with his thumb out and a snowboard under his arm. While speeding by you start thinking about the guy you just passed. He looked like you used to—snowboard and nothing else. As you pull into the parking lot at work, you can’t get the hitchhiker out of your head. Your mind keeps wandering back. Pulling all the keys out of you pocket and jingling them, you think about what you really want from life.

Running back to your car, you reverse out of the parking lot and squeal a Rockford in the middle of the four-lane highway. You’ve got to get away from your keys. You begin throwing them out the window as you blow down the highway. First to go is the key to the door at work. Then you backhand your girlfriend’s apartment key out the passenger window. Flick, there goes the key to the storage unit, then the key to her car. Flick, flick, flick. You feel better each time a key flies out the window and goes bouncing down the pavement at 100 mph. You don’t even slow down for the tollbooth, paying instead with the tossed key to your office and the executive washroom.

You only have two keys left. You unlock your house, run in, grab your snowboard, and dash out of the house. You leave the key to your house sitting in the lock to the front door. Whoever finds the house open can take it, and all your stuff. You don’t need it anymore. You jump back into the car and start burning rubber through all four gears back to the highway where you saw the hitcher.
He’s still there. You slam on the brakes. When he opens the car door, you look into his eyes. It’s you. It’s the life you left behind when you sold out.

jello24 · 02-03-2012, 02:39 AM

Sold out? That's pretty strong way to insult reality for some of the people who take snowboarding as a hobby, not as a career path.

My day job as this essay alludes to is what enabled me to start snowboarding. Without the income this job currently provides, snowboarding is nothing but a pipe dream that I only dreamt of as a poor high school kid. Snowboarding was a goal, a reward for working hard to get yourself through school and getting a stable job.

Also, since when was having a girlfriend a bad thing. Last time I checked having a girl that can ride along with you is one way the world tells you that you've made it.

jdang307 · 02-03-2012, 02:55 AM

Id rather be the guy working and making a living and snowboarding for pleasure than the bum who has to hitchhike to get around, bum some ramen to eat, and couch surf.

That's just me. I'd love to not ever have to work and snowboard every day. But that isn't reality nor realistic.

Working stiff + snowboard for fun, vs being a bum.

Seriously, if I lived that life I'd surf. At least you can do that year round.

Qball · 02-03-2012, 03:13 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jdang307

Id rather be the guy working and making a living and snowboarding for pleasure than the bum who has to hitchhike to get around, bum some ramen to eat, and couch surf.

That's just me. I'd love to not ever have to work and snowboard every day. But that isn't reality nor realistic.

Working stiff + snowboard for fun, vs being a bum.

Seriously, if I lived that life I'd surf. At least you can do that year round.

Weird because I live that reality and so do many people I know. I'm at work right now and rode today, riding tomorrow too, and the next two days. But you keep believing that and ill keep living this unrealistic life where I'm stoked to strap into my board everyday

honeycomb · 02-03-2012, 03:16 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Qball

Weird because I live that reality and so do many people I know. I'm at work right now

So how are you living that life? You have a job...f'ing sellout.

The important thing for me is being able to have enough free time and money to do whatever I want when I'm not at work.

Qball · 02-03-2012, 03:26 AM

My point is you don't have to be a jobless bum to ride everyday.

jdang307 · 02-03-2012, 03:33 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Qball

Weird because I live that reality and so do many people I know. I'm at work right now and rode today, riding tomorrow too, and the next two days. But you keep believing that and ill keep living this unrealistic life where I'm stoked to strap into my board everyday

that is fine. Never said anything about that. work and ride everyday, more power to you.

Are you hitchhiking just to get to the mountain? that's what that story says. The guy who chooses boarding over working. And If you do the opposite, you're a sell out.

That's what I'm talking about. Not what you are doing. Two completely different things. If you're not a bum, but get to ride everyday, fuck who am I to say anything?

But the story is implying it's better to be a bum and ride, then to work and ride occasionally, and if you don't agree, you're a sellout.

So no, you're not living that reality. That reality as I put it, is to NOT work and ride everyday, forever. You're working, and riding. that's good. That's responsible. That's awesome.

But that's not what the story is getting at.

honeycomb · 02-03-2012, 03:34 AM

Good point, I'm at work now too

I could ride every day if I wanted, and probably would if there was a real mountain nearby.

jdang307 · 02-03-2012, 03:37 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by honeycomb

Good point, I'm at work now too

I could ride every day if I wanted, and probably would if there was a real mountain nearby.

Sellout. Put up a bench and slide down everyday.

I mean, you can do it for a while, but reality is, you need money. If I could make money from home and ride everyday shoot I'd be there in a second. But those opportunities are few and far between. The rest of us, must work. Why is that selling out? And again, if I could live that life, I'd surf at least I can put on a wetsuit when it gets cold and do it 365. Oh and it's free too

honeycomb · 02-03-2012, 03:40 AM

I might do that in my backyard, got a nice drop in for it too since my house is on a hill...but I have a backyard, and live in a house...damnit, I'm a f'ing sellout too

02-03-2012, 02:39 AM	#2 (permalink)
jello24 Senior Member Join Date: Apr 2010 Location: The OK part of Surrey, BC Posts: 110	Sold out? That's pretty strong way to insult reality for some of the people who take snowboarding as a hobby, not as a career path. My day job as this essay alludes to is what enabled me to start snowboarding. Without the income this job currently provides, snowboarding is nothing but a pipe dream that I only dreamt of as a poor high school kid. Snowboarding was a goal, a reward for working hard to get yourself through school and getting a stable job. Also, since when was having a girlfriend a bad thing. Last time I checked having a girl that can ride along with you is one way the world tells you that you've made it. Last edited by jello24; 02-03-2012 at 02:42 AM.

Thread Tools
Show Printable Version Email this Page
Display Modes
Linear Mode Switch to Hybrid Mode Switch to Threaded Mode

02-03-2012, 02:55 AM	#3 (permalink)
jdang307 Veteran Member Join Date: Feb 2011 Posts: 2,075	Id rather be the guy working and making a living and snowboarding for pleasure than the bum who has to hitchhike to get around, bum some ramen to eat, and couch surf. That's just me. I'd love to not ever have to work and snowboard every day. But that isn't reality nor realistic. Working stiff + snowboard for fun, vs being a bum. Seriously, if I lived that life I'd surf. At least you can do that year round.

02-03-2012, 03:26 AM	#6 (permalink)
Qball Veteran Member Join Date: Jun 2010 Location: Mt. Hood, Oregon Posts: 1,274	My point is you don't have to be a jobless bum to ride everyday.

02-03-2012, 03:34 AM	#8 (permalink)
honeycomb It ain`t easy being steezy Join Date: Feb 2011 Location: ohio Posts: 197	Good point, I'm at work now too I could ride every day if I wanted, and probably would if there was a real mountain nearby.

02-03-2012, 03:40 AM	#10 (permalink)
honeycomb It ain`t easy being steezy Join Date: Feb 2011 Location: ohio Posts: 197	I might do that in my backyard, got a nice drop in for it too since my house is on a hill...but I have a backyard, and live in a house...damnit, I'm a f'ing sellout too