Wrong! ...Conan!... What are the best things?!

That rocked proper, that did. Burned the midnight oil. Then i burned the 1,2, and 3:00 oil working on a stupid paper for math. (Who assigns papers for a math class?)Yessiree Bob: i do believe MS Word has gotta be one of the stupidest engineered pieces of software ever to get flushed down the pipe. It's the tool of Satan. Two hours to do the math and 4 hours to convince my tables not to spontaneously cook into an omelette. Math, it turns out, is more easily done with large quantities of Paulaner Salvator. Who knew? Got up at 6:45 to a screaming Katja and took Annie to school. Then i clumb on pure, manic, euphoric sleep deprivation. Didn't exactly topple any huge numbers, but i did get all the moves worked on a good handful of crazy problems. And by the grace of God i got to work with some cool folks, and good company generally makes a good day. i figure i'm gonna hit the wall and tip off into a seizure here in 15 mins. in math class, but that was a sick workout anyhow. And now i'm satisfied that i'm definitely, definitely too old for all-nighters.

Intravenous, intertwined

Well. The weekend, at least, has been a happier place to be. By the grace of God (and, i think, after a protracted argument with God) i've engaged in a tiny bit of detox; and it's reeeeeeally nice. Had a really hard, full-body workout on fri. and went for about an hour run yesterday. And that was a nice surprise, 'cuz i went out for maybe a 20 or 30 min. run, and just felt so dang good i kept running. Made me remember why i like running. i'm pretty sure i've lost some weight as i didn't have the usual ankle/hip jarring session i usually have when i first go back to running. 'Course, that's because i have only tree-branch-like appendages left where once i had a lower body. But weight is weight, and less is good.

And for the last couple of days we've kept the ethanol consumption to nearly nil. It's amazing to me how used one can get to being toxic and feeling like crap all the time-- how adroit i am at shifting blame for a neverending bad mood onto fairly insignificant, mostly unrelated bits of bad luck; and can finally bring myself to open up a can of Job on God before i'll take a look at how poisoned and selfish and manipulative and self-pitying i've become. i'm sure i'm not done with that, i'm sure, but at least for a little while this weekend i've been shown that there exists a light outside the tunnel.

i think now we're gonna go to the climbgym. Still a hair chilly in the hinterlands to haul the kiddos to the rock, but they had a redpoint comp at the gym yesterday, and there should be a ton of new routes up. And Annie really wants to get to try out her new shoes. i'm gonna really try to stick to my one-hard-session-the-week pledge for a couple of weeks and see if i can heal some tendon enough to start training hard again. But a ton of 5.9s oughtn't count...

beautiful veins & bloodshot eyes

'K: That might'a' been a tad excessive. It's been a good, long while since i've worked out to the point of needing to puke. But in a longish chain of cathartic modes, this is one of the more constructive. Kindof a hodge-podge of a workout, but nice and hard. Went fairly hard on straight leg deads and hanging straight leg raises. Took it easier on bench and sundry pressing motions, but i did do a bunch of 'em. Tried doing some heavyish wide grip pulldowns, and my lats were like Yes please! Gimme some o' that! but my biceps weren't having much of it. Ended up doing some experimentation with theraband toward some bicep and shoulder rehab. Was a good workout. Climbed yesterday after having beer with breakfast, and that didn't go so well. i'm trying to get comfy with the idea of taking some real time off. i've been failing on stuff i know i can send, and that's worse (i think) than not going in at all. i'm hanging on by the fingernails for this damned semester to be over with so i can focus on some structure to my workouts that doesn't revolve around getting from one class to the next. If i can muster the strength of will, i'm gonna try to climb just once a week for the next couple of weeks, and get my chunky butt into the iron gym more often.

The whole world calls me "Hank"

i'm getting a li'l desperate for motivation here. This semester just keeps on not ending. Turns out m' math teacher lost our last exam, so we have the option of either retaking it or having that test struck from the record (which increases the weight of all the other exams.) Thing is, i know i got an A on it which would be some really nice padding. Very irritating. i can't seem to sleep well ever. i have a damaged left pointer finger, a damaged left rotator cuff, and bilateral biceps tendonitis. i need to do something besides just climbing, but i can't dredge up the motivation to get into the gym regularly. So i have gaping muscle imbalances. Got 1 beer left in the fridge, and maybe an ounce of scotch left. (That's probably a very good thing, come to think of it.) One of my stupid cats just woke Katja up, and the dog jumped the wall again and is sitting in our front yard cuz she's too scared of me to come in the door. Wow. i sound like a country song today. i think i could use a trip to Banff. Yeehaw.

Weekend Power Update

Really i just wanna write something, cuz i'm bored of playing flash games and weary of trying to eat kimchi. If you've never partaken of kimchi, try to maintain that status. Kimchi is fermented cabbage, which i suspect would throw up some red flags for many non-Koreans, but i've been curious for many years and i had to give 'er a whirl. Anyhow, i'm presently still alive, so i'll chalk it up as having made me stronger. Lessee... noteworthies: Jacked m' rotator cuff up again, as well as an extensor tendon on the distal phalanx of m' left pointer finger (figure out how to pull that off, and get back to me.) Still have some nagging tendonitis in the biceps. But i'm taking an ethanol supplement each evening, and that boosts morale for minutes/night. Ooo... got Annie an early b-day present: some Madrock Mad Monkeys. Frivolous purchase mayhaps, but there're two more li'l units of justification waiting for hand-me-downs to seal the deal. Steph has lost some weight, and it shewed in her climbing performance. She still hasn't gotten over the head-trip part, but she snagged a 5.8 the other night with no problems, and she couldn't even get started on an 8 a few weeks ago. Oddly weight dependant sport, climbing. Speaking of which, i'm basically counting down days to start the v-diet. And i could use some prayers. i have a math test, chem test, chem lab test, physics test, physics homework and a math project to do this week; and i'm too lazy and smitten by spring to think of any of it. i hope it's going well for you lads.

One step forward...

Got a 5- today that'd tossed me 100,000 times before. Kinof a nice feeling. then i hurt my shoulder again screwing with v2 i'd done before. Very stupid. Don't think i hurt it too bad, but i could'a done without. Nearly flashed a 5.11- on toprope, then did flash another 11, also on toprope. Nice to have some climbing partners. climbed to the burndown, and that's good stuff. i wanna go back and lead both those routes--start getting a solid base of 11s under me, and some serious endurance.

Afterglow

HEEheeheeheeHEEHEEheeeheeee

Snagged a projecto hoy. One of the coolest problems i've ever done, and definitely one of the hardest. Sit/lie down start with a high left foot, right foot flagged, hands matched on a nasty slick sloper. Stab up with the right hand to a half-pad pinch, establish, growl yer left hand up to a half-pad crimp inside. Right foot up to the start hold, twist left into another inside half-pad crimp for right hand, stand and (reeeal carefully) throw left for a decent, but off-axis incut. Catch yer breath, then throw left again with the right hand for another greasy pinch. Walk a foot way up high on the right to gun through left with left hand to another slopey incut. Twist yer torso 180deg. for a bad foot out left, match on the incut, and scream yer right foot way up, knee pre-dropped, to establish on the previous incut. Get that and you can stab for the finish. i kissed the hold when i finally snagged it. Happy me.

Oh, and i got some Monster Milk yesterday. Like it so far. Whaddayou think about it, cuz i know you've tried it?

Projectin'

Went in to the gym last night for a quickie. Did 75 hanging straight leg raises in sets of 20. If you note that 75 is not evenly divisible by 20, it's 'cuz i was dying of lactate poisoning on the last set. Also did straight leg deads. Ergo my core is a smadge jello-y. Didn't have a particularly high pain tolerance, and m' shoulder was tweaking so i did some fairly arbitrary sets of pressing movement with very little weight, and ended up doing curls with theraband just to get some blood flowing to the afflicted areas. Tues. i'm hoping to send the hardest climb i've yet been on. Got two main projects on the barbie, and either one'd qualify as Sickest Yet. we just adopted three kittens, so there flew a little quid, and i've gotta buy plane tix to Josh's wedding, so there's a li'l mo'. But i'm gunna try to have it scraped together for end of April. Should be quite doable. That means June'll be the month for a 5.12 redpoint. 'S'a happy thought, that is. we need to get us a trip together for Hueco. That'd be good times.

Very fat; very weak

Today was unequivocally better than tues. Sent a couple of coolish problems, including a v4 that'd spit me off maybe 50 times. Kind'a thing where you throw to a one or two finger side-pull pocket from a heinous skitchy stance, and hope you stick. Every time it was like Stiiiiiick dammit!!! Nooo! Why?! Like if i could just get one more millimeter of flesh on the hold, i'd send. Finally shanked that sucka' today. That was nice. Only my biceps tendonitis is starting to rear its ugly heed again. i need some days off. But i'm pretty confident the reason it's so bad now is i gained some weight o'er the weekend. i do believe the tendonitis'll go away when the flab goes away. End of april it starts. i'm gunning for end of april for the v-diet. Peace to all my hood.

Ogres have layers

Did two sessions at the climbgym today. Both sucked in sundry ways , but with nearly equal magnitude. i think i put on about 4 or 5 lbs. of lard over the weekend. Texas, as usual, has been bad for me. At any rate, my hands should be stronger because of it, and i'm looking even more fervently toward a month of liquid dieting. It's coming; i can feel it. And with it will come solid 5.12. }->

Weekend needed

Unlike the brothaz, i had a crappy workout today. Turned out to be some good times though. Went in at ca. 10:30, and i was the only one there. So i fell off of everything i laid hand to for a while. (Actually, i repeated that "5+" i polished off a couple o' days ago.) Then i hooked up with coupla' guys and the energy was better. Still didn't send anything, but this one guy was strong, and we worked out the crux moves on a v7. i can actually see it going soon. Then i threw on a thiiiiiin, super tweaky 5 that i've secretly believed is impossible, and i came up with some new beta on it. i might just have it if i can get healed enough. And i've got another real hard 5 i think'll go when i'm fresh. So i was about to leave and this group of chicks came in--one of whom i've climbed with before, and taught her to lead last week. So she put me on this 10+ and i got to the crux and hung twice, and i was like, i totally don't have the juice today, but she gave me the "c'mon, don't be a failure" speech and i sent. That was waaay past having nothing left in the tank. Anyhow, that's the power of having someone questioning yer manhood. But i'm super amped about trying out the power of being 20lbs. lighter. i want 5.12. want. it. Moral: came up with some new projects and new motivation, even if i sucked this time.

Bump

V5+ today. Four tries. And the first two were cuz i had the beta jacked up on the first move. (Very subtle, that first move.) Then this big troupe of Tapout "cage-fighter" dorks came into the cave, and i said Yeah. Gotta get outta here quick. It's gonna get smelly soon. So i sent. They were nice enough, and i got a "C'mon dude!" when i set up for the final throw, but there's just a weird vibe in that crowd that raises my hackles. Anyhow, today was a ver' nice workout. i'm starting to stick things i didn't think i could stick a couple of weeks ago. And it was way more fun than the physics homework i was supposed to be doing.

Then...

went back after class for a second sesh. Steph and the kids were supposed to meet me there, but i finally called when they didn't show and it turned out one of 'em had an accident in the underoos. But i was already there, and didn't want to waste the trip. i'm not sure i sent anything at all (except that "v5" i was so excited about the other day), but i tried lots of hard problems. i was plumb juiced... nothin' left in the tank. i guess it's good to have that kind of workout once in a while, to take it to meltdown; but i think i'd'a rather just gone on to the grocery store. Now for that physics homework...

Leetle Milestone

i onsighted a 5.11- on lead today. i've flashed 11 before on toprope, but i'd never yet led 11. So to onsight one is an encouraging feeling. i think a 5.12 redpoint is not too far away. i'm getting more and more amped about the v diet thang. i really believe that if i were minus 15 or 20 lbs. i could walk up and onsight solid 5.12/v7 right now. i really believe that. And if could onsight at that level, it isn't unthinkable that i could redpoint 5.13/v8ish. That's a pretty dang cool thought to me.