Kissing more of my childhood goodbye

[Morrigoon]

So, as regular readers of my LJ already know, I had kinda a sad experience at Sport Chalet last night.

I stopped by there to ask about renting skis because Alex kept insisting that my skis were too old and were unsafe. Which seemed silly to me. They're perfectly good skis, albeit straight skis, not parabolics, whoop-dee-doo. The bindings, while old, are still of a decent design that allows the boot to pop out both ends and all that, so they're not functionally obsolete or anything.

But whatever, just in case, it probably was a good idea to rent skis and just get the bindings set to my boots. So I decide fine, I'll do it. Major step, because that's basically admitting it's about time to replace my skis (BTW: I've had these skis since.... well, for over 10 years. 10-15, not sure how long, but they're perfectly good skis). So I was already hurting admitting to myself that there might be some argument for replacing the skis of my teens and twenties.

Well, so we go back up there later with my boots, to get the bindings set to them, and as the guy's doing the final testing of putting the boot in and popping it out of the bindings, all of a sudden, a chunk of something goes flying. Well, that's not good! So they retrieve the chunk... dammit. It's lavender plastic. Which means it came off the bottom of the boot. Oh, look at that, the bottoms of the boots are all cracked to hell. And oh look, there's another chunk missing! Yay.

So then the manager of the store says that liability and safety wise, they can't rent out skis set to that boot. Because the boot's not safe and it's now a liability for them.

So now, not only do I need new skis, but I had to concede that my boots need replacing too Another chunk of my childhood gone. I think I've had those boots since I was 16. They're realy cool too, they're the "step in" kind, where they latch on the back with only a single latch instead of a million latches on the front like, oh, EVERYTHING sold today. So I can't even replace them with the same kind of boot!

So yeah, I kinda need all new everything. And it totally bums me out because I was really attached to my stuff. My ski stuff sticks around a while and I get really attached - memories of past trips and all that. Lemme put it this way, there's this lavender and white knit cap (some call it a beanie, in my family we call it a tuuk). And I knew I'd had that since I was like 8. But a couple months ago I was looking through a photo album and found a picture of me at about age *4* wearing that very same hat, in SANTA'S VILLAGE.

So umm... my winter stuff sticks around a while.

And I'm totally bummed because in the next year or so I'm going to end up replacing it.

I'm toying with the idea of putting new bindings on the Rossies though. Why toss out the ski?

[lindyhop]

Just remember that you're losing "stuff" not the memories that go with the stuff. Treasure photos that remind you of those memories. And those memories will come back at other times when you least expect it.

Ah, Santa's Village... There was a piece in the L.A. Times today about Santa's Village and I remembered that's the first theme park where I took my son. Disneyland was second. Memories...

[NickO'Time]

The ski bindings you have are probably on an "Indeminified" list by now. Obviously meaning, the skis you have cannot have new bindings installed or replaced.
The Ski-Tune, sporting good shops have a list of what they can and CAN'T work on and without being liable. In fact most will tell you when they bring them in.(If they are experienced)
Most of the new skis have "factory-ready" mounting, no drilling. I am sure you already know most of this.

I know people who love skiing so much they have made it a permenant museum piece on their walls. Maybe a decoration added to immerse it a bit. Just a suggestion.