Lonely and Tired

Board Stupid

The weekend was as amazing as the hangovers were epic. There wasn't a whole lot of snow, although there was some, but snow wasn't necessarily the point of the post-pie weekend. Getting away with friends and cold weather camaraderie was more what it was about.

There was enough snow that weekend that we headed up to the Village to get me and Brian sorted out with some gear so Adam could get Brian started on the slopes. When the guy in the boardshop recognised Adam he lost the power of coherent speech and could only flail his arms helplessly. So much so that just as he was managing to regain control of both his speech and his limbs the manager had approached us to check that everything was okay. Then she'd recognised Brian and although she'd tried to keep calm you could almost see her heart pounding out of her chest like a cartoon character.

When Adam shared a picture of him and Brian in the board shop on Instagram stating that he was 'helping his buddy Synyster Gates get kitted out for the season' and where they were at I thought the manager was going to pass out. As it was she wound up giving us a savage discount on our gear, so savage that my hesitation to buy gear and store it at Chris and Angie's place evaporated. It did leave me with a bit of a sick moral dilemma. I quite often got discounts, free shit or even payment based on things I posted or mentioned in my blog. I did however try to be open and transparent about the fact that it happened. As the manager and sales guy were wrapping everything up and ringing it through I tried to explain my concerns to Adam and Brian.

Brian's solution was simple, he refused to let me pay for my own stuff. Adam gave him an approving look and then explained that as the store was a stockist of his own licensed brand of boards and gear, and that was what we were getting, everyone was getting their back scratched.

"Plus I'll get some killer shots of Gates face planting and my brand name will be front and centre in the shot. You can buy publicity like that," and before Brian or I could extract our cards from our wallets Adam tossed his credit card to the manager.

Adam didn't exactly manage to get a shot of Brian face planting but he did manage to get a few shots of Brian in his gear. He'd even managed to get one of me and Brian looking like the ultimate social media cliché. We were standing side by side holding our boards, faces in half profile as we talked and looked out over the mountain. I didn't even know he'd taken it until much later that night as we all sat around the fire eating the most delicious potato, cheese and bacon dish that John, who was chef, had whipped up.

Angie pulled her phone out and was cooing over how adorable she thought we looked. I don't know how adorable I looked but winter Brian in his skull beanie looked adorable enough to eat.

"Look at you two? That picture just screams couple goals. Or better yet, stupid unattainable fairytales."

Chris cleared his throat, "No, no. Don't mind me over here. Carry on as you were," he waved a dismissive hand in Angie's direction.

"Aww Chris, you know I love you but do you think that you could get Brian to maybe teach you to play the guitar?" Ange teased blowing Chris a kiss.

"Well if you want to Chris, I'm happy to help out. I love sharing my passion for music," Brian said seriously.

Neil laughed, "Trust those of us who've known Chris since high school. He already gave being a guitar hero a red hot go. His mother threw his guitar on the Fourth of July bonfire one year he sounded so bad."

Chris looked sheepish, "Do you have any idea how fucking hard it was not to cry in front of my friends?"

"Fuck!" I exclaimed horrified, that was harsh by any standards. I couldn't imagine my mother being so unsupportive of something Ryan and I had wanted to do. "That's awful Chris."