Nuevo ano, nueva pagina

i'll say (with no mean tone of urgency) that it's time for some new year's resolutions. Dragged daddy to the climbgym with me yesterday for one of the worst sessions i've come through in one piece in a long time. i felt fine, and after a solid week off my hands felt pretty dang good. But i felt really sluggish and heavy. Fell off of crap i was sticking dead tired last week. i was getting frustrated (and tired of missing v2s) so i started working a couple of v4+ just to see what happened. Interestingly, i made some good headway on 'em. That was reassuring, and i know i can send if i get back in with my head on straight. Resolution #1: No beer before workouts. ;)

Today Nate came over and helped me work on flooring, so i didn't dip. Strangely, having had no liquor and no tobacco i feel fabulous. Also, by God's grace, i managed not to rage much today. Never have been one for holidays or new year's resolutions and such, but it really does feel nice that it's a new year, and it seems like a fine time to set some goals. i'm mighty tired of poisoning m'self (...and the congregation said'a...??). It's a bit nauseating to look back on this last year and realize how little i've accomplished. i've been paralyzed by my demotivators. i could use some prayer for that too, lads. i gotta quit dipping.

Here's the goal: i wanna lose 15 more lbs. and get down below 180. If i can do that, i won't be gunning for v5-- i'll be gunning for v10. It's not impossible, but i've got to get my eating under control, and i've got to start training like a fiend and training smart. And i've got to get out from in front of this damned computer. Li'l help here? Anybody ready to get strong? Sounds like G's in, and has a leg up on me. i didn't get on the bike last night, but i wish i had. i'm proud of you bro.

...Are we human, or are we dancers?

Dunno. Some gay drivel i heard on the tranny at the gym.

Today was the first day in rather a long time i felt at all like a human.* Last night i breached the mind-warping looney bin of pre-xmas Wal-Mart 'cuz i was so desperate for glucosamine. This was unwise, and i left in a blank stare wondering if the universe could really tolerate such a dense profusion of entropy in such a small area; but i prevailed.

Seriously: electrons are not particularly intelligent or predictable, but they do what they're supposed to do. That is, they stay the hell as far away from each other as they can manage. Wal-Martians, on the other hand, although approximately on average of the same intellectual bent as electrons, are mutually convinced that they, individually, are the only ones in the damned store. While electrons are arguably not convinced of anything whatever, they do strangely, by their God-given aversion to other electrons, thereby acknowledge the presence of the others.

i found myself, with my glucosamine, deodorant, and contact solution in the oxymoronically labeled "fast lane/self-checkout" line. There probably exist stores where self-checkout kiosks are a fine idea, but if i'd noticed that caveat on the sign when i got in the line i'd have nipped off and found me a nice half-mile long line with a cashier. i was second in line to check out. Second.

You get numb to hearing about the brain-dead exploits of the Wal-Mart crowd, i realize. Normally, though, they're just irritating-- maybe in the same way you or someone dear to you becomes wretched and irritating upon entering Wal-Mart. But this woman had three children and long about 200 items in a self-checkout line. That'd be plenty irritating, but she apparently thought it'd be socially acceptable to let her 11 year-old girl scan everything. Hijinks ensued. The lady behind me (and very likely several of the ladies in the 2 miles behind me) started cursing and gnashing her teeth. Fifteen minutes later, after learning which bit of each package she'd need to scan in order to make the robotic voice stop accusing her of theft, and having fetched a cashier from an otherwise smooth-flowing line to help her scan a picture frame with no tag on, she mercifully paid to end our misery. Only, lo and behold, the eleven y/o had reserved several items in the cart she wanted to pay for with her own money. Finally, she turned around and apologized to me that she'd never have expected it might take so long to check a mere 200 items (or however she phrased it in Ghetto). Then the yotch traipsed off, left her effin' cart parked right in front of me (like that's where, as far as she knew, Wal-Mart tends to store their carts), as well as her sparkling daughter, who was still trying to figure out from which complicated hole her change was gonna emerge when i took my receipt and bolted.

It was worth it though. i went to the climbgym today, and felt like i was gunning above 50% for the first time in months. Still not close to full-bore, and my ring-finger tendon and biceps still bark at me, but they let me climb. Retro-flashed a v4 endurance problem, almost got my project 4, and then tagged the penultimate hold on another 4. Nothing earth shaking, but it was awful encouraging to know i can still climb. Now to address those new year's resolutions...




*Or rather, like myself in a previous, better state. Couldn't rightly say i've ever felt like a human. Never been close enough to one of 'em to say if we've anything in common.

Fell on. Black days.

Imagine something bovine, swinging from a couple of those stretchy sticky rubber whips you used to wet down and irritate friends and teachers with as a lad, and that's about the correct picture of me in today's training session. we're staying at Steph's parent's house whilst replacing the flooring in ours, and for large chunks of the day there's nothing to do but eat while i'm watching the kids. The tendonitis has abated nearly not at all, although i've taken at least four days off. Plus, today's the first day of trying to quit dipping, so i feel like butter scraped over too much bread. (i just came up with that analogy, just now.) So instead of laying flooring, i'm drinking beer and trying not to think of how nice a dip sounds, nor of how much i'd like to strangle someone till they stop twitching. Maybe i need a hobby...

CFS

Sat. and mon. i went in to the climbgym. Been gone for the last three weeks straight, so i had to reacclamitize. Sat. i sent a v3 that'd eluded me at the comp, but not much else to speak of. i feel like i have chronic fatigue syndrome or something-- like i really need to sleep for about 20 hrs. straight to get caught up. Plus i have screaming tendonitis in most of my upper body, especially m' hands. On the other hand, i came pretty close yesterday to tagging my first v5. i was kinda going through the motions and not feeling very good when i hooked up with a coupla' other blokes throwing at this v5. i watched 'em for a good long while and started thinking it looked doable. Couldn't establish quick enough on the crux pinch 'cuz my hands are so torn down, but it felt possible if i can just heal. i'm kinda' excited about being home again. Even though i'm looking down the barrel of probably getting another monitor tech job (or something equally low paying) i'm excited about getting to heal up and start working out seriously again. No matter what i end up doing, i'm certain my attitude will be better now because i know how shitty it can get. And that's a blessing (albeit a weird one). Also, i might actually get to go back to school without Steph having to work if i can snag a 12 hr. shift job. i'm very motivated to get into PT school. i don't want to be a tech forever.

Sweet n Low

As always (and i have an astonishing number of time chords that'd fall under the heading "always"), it's a bittersweet bolus to choke down being unemployed. On the one hand, there's one helluva weekend with which to get stuff done. On the other, there're many slitted, derisive eyes insinuating at every turn that there's probably some better way i could be spending my time than whatever i'd be doing. At any rate, it's come down to a true battle of priorities for us. Being gone for 9 out of every 14 days (and spending 24 hrs. a day around oilfield trash) is having a clearly deleterious effect on my li'l family. On the other hand, i can't come up with anything that pays even in the same ballpark as rigwork that gets me home every night. i know there's something out there, but i don't know what it is. Bit nerve-wracking. i'd take a big pay cut to get to be close to home, but i can only realistically take so much before we can't pay our bills. Prayers please.

Tard

It's been a while since last I wrote, and i'm gonna see if I can post from my phone. Every tendon in my body hurts, and i'm looking for a new job. Getting 5 days out of every 14 to see my family is unacceptable-- i'm not man enough for it I suppose. Plus i'm kinda' sick of having global tendonitis that never has time to heal. Anyhow, i'd appreciate your prayers. Cheers mates.

Pull and Grass

Yesterday was this year's annual Yank 'n' Yard climbing comp at ye olde rockgym. That was good clean fun, that was. i didn't climb anywhere near capacity, cuz m' hands were tired when i went in the door, but i did get second place in my age category (31-36 y/o). Guess i was pretty happy about that. And i won an Access Fund t-shirt, and a "Women of Climbing" 2009 calendar (which has so far failed to make Steph as happy as it made me.) i'll be curious to see what some of the grades on those routes end up being, but i felt like i was climbing a lot of v2. i might be surprised, but nothing i got felt much harder than that.

Well, i hope you guys are still in one piece, and you had a good weekend of it. Happy bachelorism, and i'm sorry i missed the party, B. Hopefully i'll get up there with you guys one of these times. Peace out.

...a mind to rhyme and two hyped feet...

Yeah baby! Daddy's like some kind of rabbit's foot or something for me. Snagged two v4s yesterday. That one i sprayed about last week i went up to and yanked first try. Got a bunch of other stuff, and then settled into working another 4. Ended up not getting it before i ran outta time, but i linked through all the moves. Just couldn't hang on long enough to put it all together. Then Mama and Daddy showed up, and i sneakily took him back to the gym with me on an "errand run." He jumped on it and sent with the yoga-gorilla beta, but i didn't have that kind of game. Finally got it old school cuss-at-it-till-it-falls style.

It's amazing how much the rig work takes out of my arms. It's different muscles than i typically use for climbing, but it makes for some weird failures. i get two weeks off of using my crimpers, so i've gotten strong as hell on crimps, but the huge "easy" buckets and pinches i find myself totally juiced on. i have ongoing tendonitis from my shoulders to my palms.

Funny note: last thurs. was the filthiest day of my life so far. i swam for eight hours or so in drilling mud. we were tripping joints out of the hole, and every time we'd break a connection mud would spew out all over the place. i had the luxurious job of holding a piece of plastic over the connection when this happened. The other guys had on rain gear, but i had no warning. i was so covered in mud, i'd stop between connections and slick the crap off of me. we're talking every orifice on my body was crammed. There've been some times when confronted by public toilets that i've layed down some prophylactic toily paper to save me from Hep-C, but this was the first time i've ever felt compelled to put the paper on the seat to protect it from my ass.

On a brighter note...

The fam and i, along with the bro-in-law et familia, went to Las Conchas on sat. we got there a bit late ('cuz one of the dogs kept puking in the back of their car every 15 mins.), but we got some climbing in. Annie got that 5.6 we started out on. Just before we left, i insisted on doing that 10d/11a just to the right of that route. It was so cold i couldn't feel my hands, but i got the route with a couple of hangs. would'a got it onsight, 'cept for the cold i think. It definitely isn't 11a. i'd guess it's a bit closer to 10b/c. Still a nice feeling that i go fairly hard on real rock. After floundering like a fish on that 9 with you guys, i wasn't sure. The day before that, i went in to the gym. Couldn't even start that v5 i've been wanting. The first move is reeeeal shouldery, and my week on the rig pretty much decommissioned my left shoulder for a bit. But i did send a nice handful of v3s, a long string of 2s, and i nearly second-tried a v4, but i ran outta gas for the final throw. The one seriously joyous facet of rigwork is that i came home an easy 5 lbs. lighter than when i left. i just live on high-cal breakfasts, turkey sandwiches, and granola bars. Gotta be burning 3,000 cals/day, and i'm eating around 1,800. Skoal, it turns out, is low in saturated fat. If i can just hold my decrepit body together, i might come out of this a better climber. Solanjy var.

Plumb beat the hell out of

Just got home yesterday evening. Worked eight 12 hour shifts in a row. Nothing in me works the way it's supposed to. i managed to fall in the cellar of the well twice (once from a ladder), and i ended up cutting off a chunk of my own ear with scissors.* If i leave my arms in one position for more than a couple of minutes they'll both go to sleep. And two days later i still can't fully close my hands. 96 hours of good, clean fun, that. The upshot is that, well, it's over. But i think it won't take me long to be running my own rig. Turns out ain't nobody on these things what've been there more than a year or two. i've been told i'm grossing a bit over 70K as a swab, but drillers edge the 6 figure mark. i think you should both come work with me, and we can take over a rig. It's long hours, but you get 6 months off per year. Not too bad if you don't mind working your ass clean off and collapsing at the end of the day. i don't think i'll be hurting this bad once i get used to the work, and a week off every other week is some extra fine road-tripping time. And seeing's you likey the strongman schmidt, G, you'd get to spoon with 1,000lb. chunks of steel on a more frequent basis than you ever have before. Whaddaya say?

*I'd appreciate it if you don't mention any of that to your coworkers, g.

Perfectly gravid

Didn't get m' wee v5 today. On the other hand, i did get all the moves and linked through the crux. She'll fall if i can get back in with 90% or better in the tank. It's very pumpy, you see. Wed. i thought i'd overdone it on my right bicep. Wasn't sure, but there was a funny twinge. Today there was no doubt. There was an innervated piano wire running down me arm preventing the lock-off i really needed to do. At any rate, assuming i ever get back to the climbgym, i'm pretty sure it'll come down.

i start in Springtown on mon. Bought me some steel toes today. Steph's last day at work was today. i guess i'm ready to just get on with it. i think we're gonna leave tomorrow (i.e. sat.) to head that way. Pray for us, eh.

Muy Thai

There's a funny myth in professional medical circles that food takes at least 12-24 hrs. to be processed and passed through one's digestive tract fully. i can't, in all honesty, speak for the remaining constituents of last night's green curry, but i can say with authority that Thai chiles have the preturnatural ability to bypass most intestinal decomposition like Teflon, and can move faster downward therein than the same chile would move under the mere influence of gravity, were you to, say, pick it up and drop it on the floor. In fact, i have vivid memories of such chiles threatening to exit my colon before i'd managed to put 'em in my mouth (quite in defiance--one's intuition is apt to assert-- of several important physical laws.) Let me be the first to posit the nexus of cosmological physics and culinary art: The Thai Chile Wormhole. Just remember that you heard it here first, folks.

Even More Entertaining...

With no power to stop it from happening, i was drawn back to the climbgym yesterday. i taped my ring finger, then i taped that to my pinkie, such that it was practically splinted. i warmed up thoroughly on ye olde hangboard on two-finger pockets. i did some routes. Finally jumped on a v3 i'd done at the comp (turns out much to my delight that i snagged a little handful of 3s in the comp), but i needed my crimper. i detaped, but it hurt a lot to put the crank down on the ring finger. So i figured out how to crimp with two fingers, and i sent. Then the guy i was working with and i went to the route i hurt myself on (as misery loveth company and i wanted him to hurt himself too.) He couldn't get it all linked up before he had to go, but we were fiddling with sequences and he says, "Hey, isn't that hold over there on? That's green tape." And i stare at this foothold in disbelief and loathing. i says that i bet that stupid foot would make the whole thing go static. So i jump on the damn thing, drop a knee on that hold, and reach up calm-like and snag the finish. If i'd just seen that stupid lump of plastic i wouldn't'a nearly popped a tendon.

Sigh

But i am thankful to God that the damage doesn't seem to be anywhere nearly as bad as i thought it was going to be. By the end of the work session i was working a new 3 and yarding on a three-finger closed crimp, and it wasn't bugging me much at all. i still have to baby it a li'l, but i really thought i wasn't gonna be able to even bend it for a month.

i did your green taped problem in the corner straight across from the boulder. (i think it was the first one you guys did.) It's a v1, but Don and i independently agreed that it was about as hard as v1 gets. It's a little thin and crimpy for v1. i was very impressed. That was a cool problem, and v1 doesn't usually have cool moves on. Then i went and looked at the results for the comp. i'm guessing you didn't turn yer paper in, G, but Bryant was on there and decisively clinched 27th place out of 27 males, with 25 points racked up. Heh heh... Yeah, there were some 7 y.o. girls that beat you, bra. ('Course, there were some 7 y.o. girls that beat me, but who's keeping score here anyway?)

For your entertainment

On fri., after a morning of bi/tri GVT, i thought about climbing all the way home. So instead of going straight home, i went to the climbing gym to send my proj. Warmed up with a stiff v2 onsight, shook out, and jumped on the route (it's the one from the comp that involved the big throw up to the bucket). Got up to the penultimate hold, threw for the final jug, which is a 3-finger suitcase handle kindof a thing, and didn't get my fingers in right. Instead, i hit the edge of the hold in a three-finger, half-pad crimp. But i was determined to stay on, and before i dropped i managed to nearly rip the tendons in my right ring finger off the bone. i found that a bit too confusing to be real, so i assessed the damage, jumped back on the route, and sent. Anyhow, i won't be climbing for probably a month or two all 'cuz i didn't take the time to warm up correctly.

Did get an hour and a half in on the bike yesterday, and'm hoping to get in a 50 min. run today. S'posed to swim to today, but the pool's closed down cuz someone pooped in it.

Degloved

Woooo-whee! i needs me some sleep. i do wish i'd ha' thought to bring m' camera to Las Conchas. That rocked, and i'm in favor of doing it again before we're old and grey. my hands are still sore, and i could use maybe 24 hrs. of continuous sleep to feel 90% again, but that was fun. Hope you'uns got home safe. God bless.

Intervals

Yesterday i got m' first session of bike intervals in. Not really intervals like i'm used to 'em. Did an hour long ride, with 6 x 20sec. max effort pushes in the highest gear possible with 2 mins. rest between. The 20 secs. felt really short, but i could hardly walk afterward. It was like weight lifting with the bike. Very cool. i feel faster now.

Momentum

Today was pretty good. Got two v4s back to back. i think that'll be m' last day of climbing till yous guys get here. So make sure you get here, eh. Aeon and Katja were with me. Katja thought i was pretty cool, but Aeon wanted chicken nuggets. Ah well... can't please 'em all.
Plan is to taper off the climbing and heavy drinking till fri. i'm historically bad at staying on both of those wagons. we'll see.

Weaken'd

As predicted, it's been a thin weekend on the workout front. Did get an hour in on the bike on thurs. Good ride. i can tell i'm getting a li'l more fit, cuz it just doesn't hurt so bad to push it. And the ol' trans-ischial ligaments don't scream so loudly or so soon. Yesterday i spent an inordinate chunk of the day applying for a job with p ason in Canadian, Tx. i did this because the permian basin recruiter wrote me. However, they also have an opening in Rifle, Co, which i plan to apply for today. While i have some apprehensions about moving to Teenylonelyflat, Tx instead of finishing school and becoming a PT, i have no such apprehensions about moving to Rifle for just any reason whatsoever. i think i could move to Rifle and be happy driving a school bus. But Canadian wouldn't be too bad, i think. There's a river there (as i understand it), and there're some rocks over the border in Oklahoma. According to daddy, "It's kinda' pretty," and it'd put us a bit closer to them and you texans. And it'd probably pay twice what we're making now. Anyhow, we could use prayers for some direction here. i guess i'm to a point that i don't care much what we do; i just wanna get on with it.

The power of sleep

Yesterday i put down my best numbers day of climbing so far. Snagged a new v4 and two more 3s. (It's a rare goal to get two v3s in one session, so to stack a 4 on top of it is some nice thick icing.) It is very motivating to know i can have a really good day, and especially the third day of climbing this week. It'd been so long since i'd actually gotten anything, i was resigning myself to just being over the hill. This next week i'm gonna taper and stick to easy stuff early in the week-- maybe do some routes and get some blood flowing if i can find a partner to rope up with. Then just rest and cardio... see if i can cut a li'l fat before fri.

Yesterday my new video Swim Power came in. i expect by next week that i should look and swim like Phelps (except my ears are sexier.) Hopefully there'll be something in there about how to make yer hands and feet larger. Mum and Da' are coming up today for the weekend, so have no hope of getting much working out done 'til Mon., but i do usually get to sleep in a bit when they're here, and that's priceless. Slainte.

Correction

Today i did nothing whatever. i didn't precisely intend to do nothing, only it ended that way. i'm certain it ended that way because i'm presently imbibing an Old Chub (the only good beer in a can, b.t.w.), and that's a pretty sure sign that the Fat Lady's sung for the evening. But it doesn't matter. i'm so knocked-down tired from stress and climbing and triathlon that my old sinews are perfectly effulging for the Old Chub and Nothing More. Climbed on mon. and yesterday (tuesday). Didn't get anything worth sleeping well over, but i put a dent in some hard problems-- stuff i was sure last week'd be over my head. Either tomorrow or mon. i'm pretty sure i'll latch the finish on a 4 that i couldn't properly do the first move on last week. Then i almost snagged another stiff 4, but i was too tired to link it when i worked out the crux. At least i feel like i'm getting a li'l stronger. If i can just hold on to the motivation to keep on losing weight whilst getting stronger... Had m' first day of Pre-Cal and Chem II yesterday. Good clean fun, that is. i just wish i knew i was gonna be around for the entire semester. This not knowing is cracking my psyche. Sorry 'bout cussing in my last post: it just felt somehow better than punching a hole through the wall that i'd just have to fix later. Anyhow, i'm amped that you guys are still planning on coming down. i look really forward to seeing yous. i'm gonna try to climb tomorrow, but next week's gonna be a taper with lots of blubber-burning, just in case you wanna do the comp. The weather's getting perfect for some outdoors rock though, and i have some very nice beer recommendations... Peace.