Rocking out

Last weekend I went climbing outside for my first time in the UK. Given that I had only climbed a couple of times out at Long Beach back home about 4 years ago, it might as well have been my first outdoor climb ever. It was terrifying, frustrating and exhilarating all at the same time. Inside I am a pretty fearless climber. I'll jump for anything, I don't care if I fall, I don't mind if I pop off and nothing really phases me. Outside it would seem is a whole different kettle of carabiners and I tend to cling to the cliff in a very accurate imitation of a limpet and don't trust my hands or feet one tenth as much as I do indoors. I have no idea why this is exactly- maybe it seems more 'real' outside, I don't know. All I know is that at the end of Day1 I was pretty disgruntled as I didn't feel I'd climbed well and was definitely vexed by finding myself scared, a feeling I am not at all used to. I have to say thought that my climbing buddy Graeme was a champion beyond belief and never lost patience with me and just found me something nice to climb on Day2, knowing that getting me up something was the main thing and he was infinitely encouraging and managed to do it all in a totally non-patronising way which is no small feat.

Apart from not feeling that I was on top climbing form, it was the best weekend I've had in a long time. We were climbing at Stanage and the views were stunning and it was great to be outside walking around and doing things which I haven't done it farfarfar too long, given that I've been cooped up in the big smoke for so long. I could yabber on about it forever but instead I'll let the pictures do the talking:

Me at the top of one of my first climbs.


This is the view from the top of one of the climbs. Heather moors. Mmmm, pretty....






Me belaying.


Me and Phil at the end of Day1.


Me looking sceptically upwards as the boys set up the rigging for our top rope.


This is the overhang I didn't make it up. I got to where Phil is in this pic and then had to let go. It was possibly one of the most terrifying moments of the weekend as it meant I pendulumed outwards. As I psyched myself to de-limpet from the rock, I realised that my life was quite literally hanging in the balance. The only things stopping me from swinging out into nothingness and down a rocky hill was the rope which was tied into my harness, which was running up and through a carabiner which was connected to another rope which was tied around a rock. Which is sweet fuck all really when you're that high up getting ready to let go of the rock.


And that's it for now. I'll try to upload the vid of Phil letting go so you can see the swing I had to do. Eeek.

achoo

I think that after weeks of avoiding the various colds going around the office, my body is finally succumbing to some weird mutation of the lot. I woke up this morning with a scratchy throat, have felt dizzy when walking, have a wonky personal thermostat and am in a foul mood (not a symptom, just a result of the afore-mentioned). But we go to press in a few days and there's no time to wallow at home so I just need to hang on a bit longer. And there is a weekend in the middle.

But still- people coming into contact with me at the moment should be aware that I'm prone to wallowing in self-pity and operating on a short fuse. Totally not my bad.

killer monkeys?!?!?!

I have to thank Carl for this link. I seriously didn't believe it at first and thought he'd found a spoof site. (He does read The Onion after all...) But no. It turns out that Delhi had a severe monkey problem. Thanks to my sick and twisted sense of humour, I was laughing in disbelief. Especially at this:

One approach has been to train bands of larger, more ferocious langur monkeys to go after the smaller groups of Rhesus macaques.

Nice one. Bring in more ferocious monkeys. Good thinking Batman. Not. DOES NOBODY READ SCI-FI ANYMORE?! Or have common sense I guess but disaster scenarios of this caliber tend to come up more in sci-fi than real life.

ka pai

I always wanted to do animation but discovered very early on that I did not have the patience for it. You should all check out one of my friend's early ventures into doing it for himself. It's basic, yes, but stop to think about the time that has gone in to this. I think it's way cool and has not been done with all your usual fancy-pantsy 3D programs. I am particularly fond of the creature's funky little rocking gait. Props.

heaven

Yesterday I had what can only be described as a small slice of tv heaven. At least my idea of tv heaven- probably tv hell for some but for me it getting to watch two of my favourite childhood films- Ladyhawke, followed by The Princess Bride. The only way to make this better would have been to add on The Neverending Story but that might have meant a bit too much sofa time. Even for me...

The Princess Bride
This is my favourite movie of all time. I can quote most of it to an annoying degree. I could yabber on and on about it but I'm short on time so I'll let the links do the talking. There is of course the obligatory wikipedia link but I quite liked this guy's review although parts of it made me laugh:

I was surprised to learn from the documentary on this DVD that The Princess Bride was a low-budget film, because it doesn’t really look like one.

Umm.... pardon? I rather think it does. And I say this with all the love I possibly can. It's not a cheap and nasty, badly filmed, green-screen-arama movie but there are quite clearly a lot of built sets and not location shots and I'm assuming it's easier to build it than take all the crew out to a location... Anyway, to me, it smacks of low budget, but in a good way.

This has to be one of the most iconic scenes from TPB. There are many more of course and I could embed YouTube movies till the cows come home but I shall restrain myself and stop here:

classic

I feel rude not giving Ladyhawke any space on this entry- maybe the next one. Right now I gotta dash.

it's official.

Ok so I know this is a bit geeky but look at my rope! I have my own climbing rope, I am now officially one of the cool people! Isn't it beautiful? Look at those colours! I am such a proud mum. It doesn't have a name yet but tends to be called 'ropey' or 'baby'. I know, I know, there is little hope for me but, at least for me, getting a rope is a Very Big Deal.

not funny

stomp

I'm in a foul mood today. I guess I woke up on the wrong side of the bed or something similar but I am dead tired, have no motivation and all I want to do is go home and sleep. So I trying to decide- work through lunch and try to go home early because I think I'm getting sick or go to the gym and try to sweat it out. Now I know Plan B would be the best course of action but seeing as going to the gym yesterday was the least enjoyable activity in a long time, I'm thinking my bed sounds good.

But enough of my misery- if I need to cheer myself up, all I really need to do is think of going to see STOMP last night. I've been wanting to see this ever since I got here and now, nearly 2 1/2 years later, I finally made it. It was totally worth it and was up with the most amazing performances I've ever seen. It's totally my kind of thing- dance, percussion, a bit of humour. I would go and see it again in the blink of an eye. If anyone every gets the chance, leap at it. It's amazing.

comic genius

With some birthdays coming up at the moment, I've come across some brilliant cards I had to share. I'm a huge fan of the Edward Monkton cards.

OCD or just common fashion sense?

Last night was the second and final installment of my lead climbing course and I am shattered. I was quite literally peeling off the wall last night. It's a good feeling as you know you're working as hard as you possibly can but at the same time, I still get frustrated with myself because I think I should be able to do more. And now that we've done this course, we need to buy a rope so that we can actually practice. Also, with a view to climbing outside, I'm looking into a helmet. A helmet is one of those items of climbing gear that I think some people don't wear when they're outside because it isn't 'cool'. But for me, just starting out, I think I'd rather be safe than sorry. Plus the company that made my harness does matching helmets and how is a girl meant to be able to pass that by? I'm practically salivating at the thought and won't even look at any others. I want the one that matches, it's that simple. It may not be the prettiest of colours but it matches my harness so, as far as I'm concerned, that's it. Graeme and I were looking at ropes in the shop last night and he was just shaking his head as I immediately discarded certain ropes because they would clash with my kit. Admittedly, my weird brown and bright green (not to mention the mustard and black shoes) are hard to match but I have to try. Of course if I'd had my way initially I'd have blue or purple shoes and harness but it was not to be...

I've also been looking at climbing t-shirts and this one made me laugh out loud. What does it say about me that this is the one that makes me laugh? I'm sure Graeme would appreciate it.