<![CDATA[
<body bgcolor="#FFFFCC" link="#FF0000" vlink="#990000">
<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0">
<tr>
<td valign="TOP" align="CENTER" width="178">
<!--Begin Nav Table-->
<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="170">
<tr>
<td align="LEFT" valign="TOP" width="100%">
<a href="../../../../../www_subdomain/adm/imagemap/logo-map.html"><img src="../../../../../img/nav/www_subdomain/logo.gif" alt="Tripod Map" border="0" height="58" width="170" ismap></a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td align="LEFT" valign="TOP" width="100%">
<a href="../../../../../www_subdomain/adm/imagemap/universal-map.html"><img src="../../../../../img/nav/www_subdomain/universal.gif" alt="Member Services Map" width="170" height="45" border="0" ismap></a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td align="LEFT" valign="TOP" width="100%">
<a href="../../../../../www_subdomain/adm/imagemap/zones-map.html"><img src="../../../../../img/nav/www_subdomain/zones.gif" alt="Zone Map" width="170" height="69" border="0" ismap></a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td align="LEFT" valign="TOP" width="100%">
<a href="../../../../../www_subdomain/adm/imagemap/pods-map.html"><img src="../../../../../img/nav/www_subdomain/pods.gif" alt="Pod Map" width="170" height="18" border="0" ismap></a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td align="CENTER" valign="TOP" width="170" bgcolor="#999966">
<form name="pod_list">
<select name="pod_name" onchange="self.top.podRedirect(this.options[this.selectedIndex].value);">
<option value="">What's Your Interest?</option>
<option value="Activism">Activism</option>
<option value="Animation%20Central">Animation & Cartoons</option>
<option value="Crafty">Arts & Crafts</option>
<option value="Beer%20Lovers">Beer</option>
<option value="BookTalk">Books/Reading</option>
<option value="Carburetor%20Junction">Cars</option>
<option value="TechBits">Computers</option>
<option value="Mac%20Computing">Computers (Macintosh)</option>
<option value="PC%20User">Computers (PC)</option>
<option value="Cooking%20Capers">Cooking</option>
<option value="Education">Education</option>
<option value="Mod">Fashion & Style</option>
<option value="Freebies">Freebies</option>
<option value="Gamesta'">Games</option>
<option value="Genealogy">Genealogy</option>
<option value="Holiday">Holidays</option>
<option value="Alternative%20Health">Holistic Medicine</option>
<option value="Funny%20Bone">Humor</option>
<option value="Film%20Buffs">Movies</option>
<option value="Alt.Music">Music (Alternative)</option>
<option value="Musicology">Music (General)</option>
<option value="Critters">Pets</option>
<option value="Photography">Photography</option>
<option value="Christian%20Fellowship">Religion (Christianity)</option>
<option value="Stone%20Circle">Religion (Earth)</option>
<option value="Romantic">Romance</option>
<option value="Natural%20Science">Science (Natural)</option>
<option value="Science%20Fiction">Science Fiction</option>
<option value="Smallbiz">Small Business</option>
<option value="Spirituality">Spirituality</option>
<option value="Extreme%20Sports">Sports (Extreme)</option>
<option value="Sports%20Fans">Sports (General)</option>
<option value="Sweet%20Tooth">Sweet Confections</option>
<option value="TV%20Lounge">Television</option>
<option value="Second-Hand">Thrift</option>
<option value="Travel">Travel</option>
<option value="PageSlave">Web Design</option>
<option value="X-Squared">Women's Issues</option>
<option value="Writers'%20Block">Writing</option>
<option value="Zine">Zines</option>
</select>
</form>
</td>
</tr>
</table>
<!--End Nav Table-->
</td>
<td valign="TOP"><base target="_top">
<form name="navbar">
<table border="0" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="0" align="RIGHT">
<tr>
<td valign="MIDDLE" align="MIDDLE">
<a href="../../../../../www_subdomain/work_money.html" target="_top"></a></td>
<td valign="MIDDLE" align="MIDDLE">
<a href="../../../../../www_subdomain/work_money/index-html/anchor_toc.html" target="_top"></a></td>
<td valign="TOP" align="RIGHT">
<select name="pod_name" onchange="self.top.podRedirect(this.options[this.selectedIndex].value)">
<option value="">Related Pods</option>
<option value="Freebies">Freebies</option>
<option value="MacComputing">Mac Computing</option>
<option value="PC%20User">PC User</option>
<option value="Second-Hand">Second-Hand</option>
<option value="Smallbiz">SmallBiz</option>
<option value="Travel">Travel</option>
</select></td>
</tr>
</table>
</form>
<br clear="ALL">
<p>
<!--AD>
<!--/AD-->
<p>
<p>
<p>
<table cellpadding="5">
<tr><td valign="TOP">
<p>
<p>
<p>
<p>
<center>
<p><img src="../../../../../work/columns/hedgecock/eclectic/img/www_subdomain/eclectic.gif" width="180" height="216" alt="Eclectic Avenues"><p>
by Catherine Hedgecock
</center>
<p>
<b>
<font size="+1">F</font>OLLOW
<font size="+1">T</font>HAT
<font size="+1">B</font>OAT, er,
<font size="+1">T</font>HAT
<font size="+1">D</font>REAM
</font>
</b>
</font>
<br>
<p>
<p>Published September 9, 1996<br><p>
<a href="../../../../../www_subdomain/work/archive/hedgecock.html">Other Columns</a> by Catherine Hedgecock<p>
</td>
<td><font size="+1">
<p>
<p>
<font size="+2">A</font> couple of years ago, I was eating lunch outside my building
on a gorgeous day in May. It was too warm and leafy out there to go
back inside and work. Unfortunately, the cubicle deity was waiting for me,
arms akimbo, feet tapping, to come back and plow my unkempt papers into
neat rows of finished work. I had about 20 minutes to eat and
absorb the rays before re-entry. I realized that the only sane
thing to do was abandon all responsibility and go waterskiing.
<p>
<font size="+2">I</font> didn't, of course. We Americans, like it or not, put work
first. Fun has to wait for the weekends. But not everyone has that
problem. Carrie Michael is one of those people who gets paid to do
what she loves. She's a waterskier at Marine World Africa USA in
Vallejo, California. Michael, 23, left her native Wisconsin to follow
her waterskiing dream. She's one of 18 people in a colorful,
manic show that is performed every day, nine months of the year. The
skiers flip forward and backward off a ramp, whip and spin around
boats, ski barefoot, and perform in graceful pairs with elegant
lifts and turns. The petite Michael is on the second row of a
three-story water ski pyramid that closes the show. The huge
seating section is usually filled with a loud and enthusiastic
crowd.
<p>
</td></tr>
<tr><td valign="TOP">
<font size="+2">Carrie Michael is one of the lucky few who get paid to do what they love.</font>
</td>
<td valign="TOP">
<font size="+2">F</font>or Michael, being a professional waterskier is a dream come
true. She grew up in the nation's capital for lakes and water
skiing. She was part of an amateur team for nine years, performing
in two shows a week during the summer and shredding the wake on a
slalom ski in between. "I'd ski behind a fishing boat if I had to,"
she said. "I really love it." She went to college in Madison and
studied journalism, but the wet gliding, spinning, and cutting of
skiing kept calling her. "When I'm 90, I don't want to look back
and wonder why I didn't try to learn all the tricks," she said.
<p>
<font size="+2">S</font>o she packed her bags and headed to California. Last year she worked only the summer months, between semesters. In December she
graduated, and this year is skiing on the Marine World lagoon from March until November. She has worked to become a better skier, although it's not as easy as you'd think. She skis in
four shows a day on weekends and two shows a day Wednesday through
Friday. Not only that, the show skiers work out in the gym every
morning. "I'm <b>so</b> physically tired at the end of the day," Michael
said. "My shoulders are sore and my knees are clicking."
<p>
</td></tr>
<tr><td valign="TOP">
<font size="+2">"One toe out of place and you're doing hard tumbles."</font>
</td>
<td valign="TOP">
<font size="+2">N</font>evertheless, she'll grab a tow rope and head onto the water during
breaks between shows to learn and practice new tricks. She has
learned to ski barefoot, which takes a lot of chutzpah. One little pinky toe out
of place and you're doing some fast, hard tumbles. Michael picked
it up quickly because she had good teachers at Marine World. And
they didn't give up on her just because she was scared. "I tend to
think of myself as a wuss," she said. "Nobody held that against
me." Along with barefoot skiing, the Marine World crew taught
Michael to drive a jet ski off a ramp. "After that, I wasn't scared
of anything."
<p>
<font size="+2">T</font>hat fearlessness, and the confidence gained from people believing
in her, are qualities Michael will take into the rest of her work
life. She plans to leave Marine World at the end of this season.
Her body will be ready for a rest, and she'll have lived her
professional skiing dream. Next, she'll look for work as a journalist.
<p>
</td></tr>
<tr><td valign="TOP">
<font size="+2">She'll be able to work at a desk with less longing for the water.</font>
</td>
<td valign="TOP">
<font size="+2">E</font>very dream comes to an end, and maybe it's better that way.
After the physical workout of show skiing, a writing job will look
pretty good to Michael. She'll be able to work at a desk -- maybe with
a little less longing for the water, a little more pleasure in
having given it her all. "To a certain extent I'll miss being
outdoors, but to a certain extent I won't. My body hurts every day.
I won't miss that. I figure I'll live it up now so that I won't
miss it when I'm 40."
<p>
</font>
<p>
<hr>
<p>
<p><a href="mailto:cathy@creativesports.com">Catherine Hedgecock</a> is a freelance writer and editor in Berkeley, California. She has written for USA Today, Knight Ridder newspapers, GNN, and other publications. She has won first place investigative reporting awards from California Newspaper Publishers Association, Gannett newspapers, and Best of the West. Ms. Hedgecock is currently writing a mystery novel.
<font size="-1"><p>© 1996 Catherine Hedgecock, All Rights Reserved
</font>
<p>
</font>
<p>
<center>
<p>
</td>
</tr>
</table>
<form method="POST" action="../../../../../www_subdomain/bin/search/pursuit.html">
<table border="0" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="0" align="RIGHT">
<tr>
<td valign="MIDDLE" align="MIDDLE">
<a href="../../../../../www_subdomain/work_money.html" target="_top"></a></td>
<td valign="MIDDLE" align="MIDDLE">
<a href="../../../../../www_subdomain/work_money/index-html/anchor_toc.html" target="_top"></a></td>
<td valign="TOP" align="RIGHT">
<select name="pod_name" onchange="self.top.podRedirect(this.options[this.selectedIndex].value)">
<option value="">Related Pods</option>
<option value="Freebies">Freebies</option>
<option value="MacComputing">Mac Computing</option>
<option value="Second-Hand">Second-Hand</option>
<option value="Smallbiz">SmallBiz</option>
<option value="Travel">Travel</option>
</select></td>
</tr>
</table>
<br clear="ALL"><br>
<table border="0" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="0" align="RIGHT">
<tr>
<td valign="MIDDLE" align="RIGHT">
<nobr><img src="../../../../../img/www_subdomain/lycos_power.gif" border="0" alt="Lycos Powered" height="15" width="91">
<select name="cat">
<option value="tripod_www" selected>Search the Tripod Web Site
<option value="tripod">Search Tripod Member Pages
<option value="lycos">Search the Web</select></nobr></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td valign="MIDDLE" align="RIGHT">
<nobr><input type="text" size="20" name="query"> <input type="submit" value="Search"></nobr></td>
</tr>
</table>
</form>
<br clear="ALL">
</td>
</tr>
</table>
</body>
]]>