Excitement and Trepidation all at once

OK.  I've been whitewater rafting.  I've scuba dived.  I've hurled my person into a canyon attached to a bungee-like swing.  But I've never skied.

This will be remedied shortly, as I leave for Park City tomorrow.

I haven't really had time to prepare for this particular adventure in any real sense.  (Peggy and her husband made all the arrangements -- I just booked flights that looked like theirs, reserved skis at the same place, and generally followed their instructions.)  Sure, I took a little time out from the whole Awards-producing thing in order to buy ski pants and a ski jacket that fit ...

... and by the way, let me just point out that "Large Petite" is not a contradiction in terms.  Why do clothing manufacturers seem to think that just because my butt got bigger, my legs and arms must be a foot longer?

Where was I?  Oh, yeah, so I took some time out to buy ski pants, ski socks, ski gloves, and a ski jacket, but haven't put a whole lot of effort into figuring out what is to be done with said items.

I've been pointed in the direction of Park City's ski school, where I intend to take a three hour group lesson which should give me enough information to chew on for the rest of the weekend.  I was a little concerned that maybe I needed to sign up for more lessons.  I mean, they've got a six hour semi-private lesson billed as the "ultimate introduction to the sport of skiing. We assure that your experience will be positive and stress free."  I thought this was looking good, until I read the bit that said, "We are so confident in this lesson that we guarantee you will be riding the First Time Chair lift with comfort by the end of the lesson."

Dear Lord.  It's going to take them six hours to teach me how to ride the freakin' chair lift?

Figuring a little preparation is a good idea, I found this helpful article on how to get on a ski lift.  Which appears to take eleven steps to say, "Wait for the chair to get under you, and sit your butt down on it."  There is, of course, the companion article on how to get off a ski lift.  Friends tell me that the real concern there is step 10, which simply says, "Glide a safe distance away from the chairlift area before pausing to collect yourself."  I can see where this might be a tad problematic.  Especially since, near as I can figure it, I'll be riding the ol' "First Time Chair lift" before such time as someone has taught me how to "glide a safe distance."  And, even if I have some sort of natural capacity for safe-distance gliding, there's no guarantee that the dude who got off the First Time Chair lift right in front of me has similar gliding ability.  So, yeah, I'm envisioning many a pile-up at the top of the First Time Chair lift.  Yeah, the skiing thing is going to be quite the adventure.

On the plus side, assuming I don't break any key parts of my anatomy on Saturday morning, I'm scheduled to do something way way fun Saturday afternoon.  Hint:  It's costing me $200 for just less than a minute and I can't freakin' wait!