May 2016
These past few months, I’ve focused more on climbing and longer form prose rather than on photography or smart-ass commentary.
The number of comments and likes I’ve received on my Facebook albums since then has decreased in direct proportion to this development.
It’s cool. I was reaching the bottom of my smart-ass commentary bag anyway, which was unfortunately forcing me to dip into the pun-ishment sack and nobody wants me to dip into that.
Sorry.
NOT SORRY!!! Haha suck on that, suckers!!!
…Sorry.
In all seriousness, it’s been an interesting transition. At one point last year, a friend asked me if I would ever want to do anything longer than my half-page-minis I posted on my Facebook photos, and at the time, my answer was a resounding, “What-- Jesus, no, that sounds like an awful idea! How could I ever force anyone to digest more than a few paragraphs of this bullshit at one time?”
But these past few essays have hit the 5-7 page mark.
I don’t know if it’ll get any longer than that, or if it'll go back to minis. Or if I’ll lose interest/inspiration entirely and finally quit.
But I have been doing this for 5 years now, so why quit today?
As I write this now, I realize why it changed—
Previously, my order of operations was: Edit photos -> Create album on Facebook -> Upload photos -> Write Captions.
Today it’s : Edit photos -> Look at photos -> Get lost in thought -> Write -> Oh shit, I was supposed to upload this album -> Upload album -> Retroactively match photos to words -> I hope that worked out oh god what a mess -> There are some weird transitions maybe I should… ahhh fuck it.
The benefit is that I am more focused on the writing, but the downside is that there’s less whimsicality in my writing, and the writing doesn't necessarily correlate super well with each picture.
I’ll have to experiment with this to see how things change.
We went climbing at the Grotto. (No, the picture of the adorable shark and pineapple was not taken there... that picture is simply there because it's adorable.)
I didn’t realize it at the time when we first decided to go, but I’d actually been to the Grotto once before—in fact, it’d been one of the very first crags I’d visited in America, a little less than 2 years prior.
At that time, I’d placed trad gear exactly once and had never touched a crack in my life.
In my arrogance, I wanted to immediately jump into leading the 5.8 crack. Never mind the fact that I had never crack climbed before, never mind the fact that I didn't understand how my gear worked.
I didn’t make it more than 5 feet off the ground.
This weekend, as I drove through the horrendous pot-hole-death-trap road in the Little Prius That Did (I don't think the Prius was designed to offroad...), I felt a distinct sense of déjà vu.
But you know... it wasn't the horrendous approach that made me remember. And it wasn't the impressive basalt columns.
It was that damn 5.8 crack.
It wasn't until I was halfway up on my "warm up" route that I realized it, but when I did, I knew for sure, without a doubt, that it was the same climb as 2 years ago.
Never have I felt so much satisfaction from climbing a 5.8 in my entire life. And then moving on to the other finger and hand cracks, using more difficult techniques and skills— ah it was so satisfying, being able to see progress!
That 5.8 completely shut me down 2 years ago. At the time, it was impossible for me to comprehend. I just didn't understand anything.
This year, I was able to warm up on it without a second thought.
There’s still so much to learn, but I know I’ve progressed. Hopefully in two more years, my current projects will seem just as easy.
Sometimes I wonder if climbing doesn’t just make my life worse—
I worry that my insatiable desire to become a better climber is just a fool’s errand. I worry that it badly affects my personality, making me socially disconnected and selfish. I worry that it’s derailed my career potential because the two things I value most are vacation time and working hours over prestige, salary and career progression. I worry that it’s ruined my ability to find a significant other because I can’t sit still long enough to commit to one person and I’m also not willing to compromise on my ambitions.
Those other points are probably still true, but hey— at least I know that it’s not a complete fool’s errand. I have real proof of my climbing progression now! Whew. I’ll settle for 1 out of 4!
I didn’t need friends, money, or love because I have climbing, right?
...I may have a few things I need to figure out in life.
Just kidding! Please don’t worry about me. I take a lot of literary liberties with this, and my life is not nearly in half as many shambles as it seems.
I’d even say it’s not quite a shamble.
It’s really more of a shame or a sham.
Hmmm...
Well that didn’t turn out as planned.
...
Anyway, here are some good people having a good time. Climbing TV is almost as good as climbing!
I love these days though. I really do. Living and working in the city, sometimes I feel lost. But climbing like this, everything feels right.
At the end of this year, if I do well for myself, I’d like to buy myself a more professional camera and have more than just one lens. It’s a slippery slope of spending money, but I do want to get better at it.
hat a zoo of a weekend! The rangers at the Tuttletown campgrounds were super nice. We got free firewood, free Tecnu (for the rampant poison oak) and just overall really great service from them. One of the most pleasant camping support I’ve ever received from park rangers!
There were actually two more tents than shown—and also three of us sleeping outside!
The pants I found in the parking lot of Owen’s River Gorge last fall busted through this weekend.
They busted through completely.
Cat included for scale and aww’s.
Not Relevant: I totally watched a lizard take a ground fall once.
Mr. Lizard was being really arrogant and showing off his ability to climb an overhanging rock. But imagine my surprise when I watched him suddenly fall! I guess those sticky toes couldn’t handle an overhang that steep!
---
This corgi. So. Great. I absolutely love him!
Mostly because he once ate a rubber band which he later pooped out and immediate;y ate again.
Hahahahahaha.