...on my way to where the air is cleeeeean. Can ya tell me how to get...

Climbed tonight. Ok, ok...rewind. First of all, i passed my first OSCE (whatever that stands for) which is a clinical trial. Tomorrow i take a four hour long test followed by a two hour test. Then i have skills tests in EKG, radiology, derm id, and... i dunno, something else. Then another osce saturday afternoon. Then i'm free to hang out with the fam for several hours before i head south. Prayers. Please. But today was a good day.

So anyhow, i climbed. And it was good stuff. Got that "v5-" this time. And it really didn't feel all that horribly hard. The crimpers were intact for the session, and it makes a world of difference. It really is funny how one day i can't even imagine hanging my chunky butt on some hold, and another day i can hook it like it ain't no thang, chalk up on it, adjust my spectacles, wipe my nose, meditate into a transcendental state, then press it out to full extension. i knew that 5ish thing would go. But happier still, i finally worked out the crux moves (in a long series of crux moves) on this serious v6. It's one of those things: it has until tonight seemed totally impossible. But then i figured out the move, and in real, live, disciplined redpoint style i kept linking it further and further back toward the start. It's really a long climb for me, and every move on it is very powerful. If i can link it, it would be the hardest climb i've yet done by a tidy margin. It's maybe 14 moves--twice as long as most of the 6s i've sent, and every move is balancy and powerful. In fact, i've popped off of every single move on it. That would be a step upward. But i have the really hard bit wired. It's all about getting into the gym on one of these bird-are-chirping-and-the-sun-is-shining kind of super-tendon days. But i don't wanna get to strung up about it. i know i can do it. And there are bigger fish to fry in the next few weeks. But it sure would be swell to tick that one...