Waking up this morning, I felt disoriented and paralyzed, with every part of my body painful and numb. Wait. Let’s rewind to last Friday. It was our very first lab ski trip, and never having skied in my life before, I was, needless to say, less than thrilled. Nevertheless, succumbing to peer pressure, I found myself atop the ski slopes at Waterville Valley Friday morning, with little clue as to what I was getting myself into. My lab mates had convinced me to skip the beginner’s lesson, explaining how skiing was simple and really just required practice. What I eventually found out was that I indeed didn’t need any skiing lessons. I needed stopping lessons. Heading down the slopes turned out to be effortless and even somewhat enjoyable. The hard part was trying to stop. I basically ended up riding the lift up, only to barrel down the fall line and crash at the bottom each time. I would’ve liked to stay longer, but I had to return to Boston early for my birthday dinner. This year, the group was much larger than I had expected, with 16 people sitting around two large tables at East Ocean City, where we feasted on delicious seafood Canto-style. It also happened to be the Neuro recruitment weekend, so we got to slip in several rounds of pool at Boston Billiards before the night was over. We spent my actual birthday shopping at Natick Mall, where we both scored some bargain clothing. Of course, what’s a trip to Natick without a visit to Minado? The sushi buffet left us uncomfortably full though, and pretty much wiped us out for the rest of the weekend. After all the shoveling, skiing, and feasting, it’ll definitely take some time before I’d go looking for more food and fun.