all the live long day

so, in the above foto, some police officers are looking for something under a chairlift. earlier in the day we had hopped a ride with one of said police officers from the bottom of a fantastically beautiful (and out of bounds) ski run, where we loved up the nearly three feet of heavenly powder and howled with joy the entire way down. we were facing a long walk back to the nearest chairlift (a long walk uphill, mind you) and the police showed up in their camioneta and somehow our way was talked into the back of the pickup (talked by a chilean, not so much by the gringos) and we got a ride and were able to ski a whole lot more phenomenal snow (and of course we were NOT going to ski out of bounds again). so anyway, the police, they are looking for something. we had seen a few of them, not so many as in the foto, looking for something earlier in the day. i think we deduced that it was one of their guns. they had been on the chairlift and it had fallen off. this made sense. we quickly forgot. have i mentioned the once-in-a-lifetime (or three days in a row, but who's counting really, seriously) snow that was on the mountain? but later, from the comfort of hora feliz and the many fanchops (beer with orange soda in it - don't knock it till you've tried it) we noticed they had found many policemen friends and were still looking. we were still guessing it was for a gun. why else would they still be out there? but imagine what that would be like. it was a fairly long lift and the snow was, ahem, DEEP. a gun could be anywhere. guess that's why they were working so hard.

oh, did i say working so hard?

like today. it was a long damn day and there are more to come this week. typically, i would come home, be miserable, go to bed miserable, and wake up dreading it, wishing i had some incapacitating reason not to go back. this happens four times a year. but, tonight. i'm not even kidding when i say i am content. i took my shower, vegged out, checked some email, and now thought i'd post this here. i don't even mind having to get up and do it again. when it comes down to it, all i have to do is some hard work paired with hanging out with eight people i haven't gotten to see much of in the last six months, eat free (to me!) food, and keep working. it isn't worth being so stressed about it. really, not. besides, stress gives you cancer. ha! i just scared a whole lot of you! who knows, but i'm happy to have less stress. perspective. less stress, more toughness. i can't wait to run a friggin race.

so, while i would rather be in chile looking for a gun in the snow (because it would mean a. i am in chile and b. i am going to ski tomorrow) i will take the second option and deal with samples. it will be sunny and warm. no winter hats. no real reason to complain.

all this AND the sunset was spectacular this evening, and if i hadn't worked such a long day i never would have seen it on my way home. little gifts dot the way. fantastic.

goodnight.