So it’s Sunday morning and I’m cooking up some eggs for breakfast.  I’m not thinking about much other than I’m pretty happy with how the peppers and onions are browning for the omelette I’m making and I’m really excited to add some amazing Sriracha sauce to take this delicious breakfast creation to the next level.

I pop my toast out of the toaster and begin to butter it (technically it’s Smart Balance; I use it instead of butter because it sounds smart and balanced) and out of nowhere, for no reason I’m picturing myself hopping off a cornice, then then floating through some glades, then hopping on a chairlift, hitting a post-ski hot tub and then picking up some gear at a ski shop…. all the random components of a lovely day on the slopes.  But why?  What the hell in my mildly overcooked omelette would make me conjure up such vivid images of skiing?

Then I realized, “hey, my house kind of smells like a ski shop.  No wait…. it smells exactly like a ski shop!”  Was someone selling demo packages to out-of-towners and sharpening edges in my basement unbeknownst to me?  Nay fellow dreamers.  It took a sec to figure it out, but what had actually happened is that I had moved the omelette pan off the grill and accidentally replaced it with the lid to my tub of Smart Ballance butter-like spread.  I can’t imagine what type of absurd paperback fantasy may have been conjured if it were a tub of I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter, but I choose not to go down that mental labyrinth.

Instead, it was just a normal piece of plastic melting on a hot stove.  BUT IT SMELLED AMAZING! It smelled just like the hot wax used when you tune your skis, or if you go into any shop where they’re tuning a bunch of skis and boards.  It smelled so good.  Better than any perfume, flower, hot apple pie, or rare vial of Sex Panther by Odion.  That smell of a ski tune transported me four months into the future when ski season is just getting going.  I can’t fully describe it, but let’s just say it was cathartic.

Now, I’m not telling you to go throw a tub of butter onto your stove.  But I’m not telling you not to do it either (that’s only a double negative even though it seems like more)!  I just might try it again (maybe there were some toxins in the plastic that played a part  as well).  However, if you tune your own skis or board and are starting to get psyched for ski season?  Tune them now!  It will transport you there in a good way.  And if you get your tune at a shop?  Do it now!  You’ll have your skis or board good to go and won’t end up waiting on your first day (although, it probably won’t really matter as you’ll go up for opening day and ski the same strip of ice that we all do…  maybe an edge sharpening will be helpful).

I guess the point of the story is, sometimes the anticipation is almost as good as the real thing.  Find your muse now, be it a tune, some new gear, or some burning plastic with toxic fumes.  Either way, the more psyched you are now, the more you’ll appreciate when you finally get tomake first tracks again this season.