R2V6: Heel Hook Beta on Leggo My Ego?

I'm going back to Leggo My Ego V6 today. I'm going to try keeping my left foot lower, and if that doesn't work I'll try the left heel hook beta. All I have to do is get to the throw. I know I can do the throw. I just have to figure out a less strenuous, higher percentage way of getting there. 

I'm hoping my left achilles will cooperate. It was aggravated during my second climbing sesh the other day. I put my shoe on and it felt terrible. I should've just not climbed, but it seemed so strange that my left achilles could be hurting I just kept going. Yes, my priority is my achilles, but I also really want to climb today. I made some good progress on Leggo the last time, and I've been thinking about it a lot. I think I got too wrapped up in the short person beta. The guys I saw do the bottom were both several inches shorter than me. That high left foot could be bad for me. Plus, I have to figure out how to be as NOT scrunched as possible. I don't do well scrunched. That's why the bottom of Leggo is way easier for shorter people, while the top is way harder. 

I might stay in the Blue Elk Lodge tonight in Leavenworth. It would set me back $300 after taxes. But it's OK. My monthly budget for getting off the boat is $400. Then again, if I drive south on December 1st, to Bend, Bishop and beyond to J-Tree and Red Rocks, I'll be spending a lot more on lodging. There's no way I'm camping in Bishop again. Last time it was fucking freezing. Maybe if I got a new sleeping bag, though... 

I'm thinking about staying in Bishop for a week in December. As long as it's not too cold the first night, maybe I could even extend by camping the first night. That way I'd be in Bishop eight days. Climbing every other day, that's four days of climbing! I can't do what I did in Squamish, which was climb two days, take one day off. My body starts to degrade. But you need a bit of time in Bishop, if you're going to actually project anything...

The goal for that week would be to send a V4 there. Maybe a V5?

Ketron Classic, Anti-Hero, Serengeti, Molly, Solarium...any other suggestions for for good (easy) 4's and 5's in Bishop? Preferably in the Happies or the Sads, since my car can barely make it to the Buttermilks. 

Am I caffeinated right now? I had two cups of cacao with a superfood powder that has maca, ashwagandha and reishi. 

I'm theobrominated.

It Doesn't Flow (but I'll be back)

 I went to Index yesterday to work on Leggo My Ego V6. It was my first session dedicated purely to this boulder. After warming up on the two arete V2's and doing some scalp pull-ups, knee push-ups, stretching and eccentric pull-up lowerings, I commenced trying some of the moves on Leggo. I started with the top part, aka pulling onto the crimp rail, getting the right foot up, moving the right thumb to the thumb catch, and getting poised for the jump. 

This, after a couple attempts, felt pretty good. 

Next, I started working on the lower part. Or rather the middle part. The guy climbing next to me was the headsetter at the Wenatchee climbing gym, so he was able to help me work on the beta a bit. He sent the boulder in a few trees, and I tried to copy his beta, which wasn't really working for me. He was a few inches shorter than me, a better climber, and possibly just more used to scrunched up positions. 

;alsdkjf;ldaskjslk

asdlfkjads;lfjds;lfkdjas

dsjflkdajs;flkdjsf;kldasjd

sfdas;lkfjdas;lkfjdsl;kfjds

Ugh I'm so sick of not being able to write. 

Why do I even try. 

It doesn't flow. 

AJSKDJFKASDJFKDSJKDSJFKDSJFKDSJKDSJKDSJFKDSFJDKSFJDSKDJSKFDSJFKDSJK

28 words short but whatever

 Gonna do 1,500 words at Upper Walls this morning, where I'm currently posted up looking out at a completely EMPTY gym. There's not a single soul here. Don't know if I've ever seen this. It's an ideal work environment. Beautiful boulders to stare at, and no human distractions. 

Perfect for a writer hellbent on 1,500 words of literary perfection. 

Could I open a climbing gym? In Port Angeles? In Sequim? No, not enough people. 

Still no people. 

The music is loud. 

The girl at the front desk is stoked there's no one here. Nothing for her to do, or at least less for her to do, and no one to fall and break their ankle and require a LOT for her to do. 

My hands are fucking freezing. 

So, we're climbing outside tomorrow. I want to of course try to make some progress on Stinkin' Slopers, but I'd also maybe like to try Water V6? Some moves on Obesity V6? I say V6 of course for Obsesity cuz it's guidebook V7 but I take the average grade from the guidebook, Mountain Project and Sendage, and it's a V6 on the latter two. It seems HARD, since it's so overhung, but i guess the holds are pretty good and maybe the feet are pretty good, too? 

Definitely didn't need that shot of mezcal yesterday. 

Current candidates for my first V6:

Ryan's Problem

Obesity

Leggo My Ego

Metroid Prime

Water

So far the one I've put the most work into BY FAR is Leggo, though that's not to say much work since every time I've tried the bottom it's shut me down so hard that I've given up quickly. But I've made progress on the middle which is important. I could now probably do it from being matched on the rail, i.e. I've gotten to the thumb catch and set up for the huck but haven't done the huck, which means I just need to puzzle out the bottom. The bottom isn't fun, but I suspect it actually kind of is once you get it dialed. It's not fun for me because I can't do it. 

Current candidates for more V5s:

Schist Cave Right 

Pentaphobia

Stinkin' Slopers

Alfalfa or Spanky

Miller Light

Gates of Fire

The White Arete

Pretty Woman

V4's I'd like to do to build out my pyramid more: 

Sunshine Daydream

Serenity Now

The Slot Problem (I have fantasies of flashing this one)

Twisted Tree

Silver Slippers

Jesus Christ just did a little world war three action in the bathroom downstairs at Upper Walls. Luckily no one waiting to go in after me. Some people have shown up at the climbing gym. There's a guy trying the blue that starts with a toehook but he doesn't seem to see the hold you toehook. He's failing. The girl he's with just climbed a purple. I want a crusher to show up so I can learn something from them. I wish that insanely sexy girl with the Washington tattoo on her shoulder would show up, or Theresa. Theresa is a crusher. At least bro who was trying toehook blue is kind of a crusher. He's trying another blue, now. The music is kinda bomb. I'm getting into a bit of a rhythm, and who cares that most of this 1,500 words so far has been spent discussing these 1,500 words or my direct surroundings. 

Where are the crushers?

Today is like day eight or nine of abstinence. I feel superhuman in some ways. No caffeine, and abstinence. But I'm not sure how long I can keep it up. I want to do at least two weeks but I'd rather just go until the abstinence can be ended in a natural way. It's such a motivating factor. I feel more motivated in all aspects of life, less apathetic, and certainly it changes things in the afternoons when I have nothing else going on. Get out and do something! Go meet people!

Last night H and N and I were at Hilltop in Queen Anne eating burgers and drinking cider and having a vitriolic argument over buying a house in Mexico. N wanted to do thinks completely by the book, H wanted to do the opposite, and I mostly just sat there and listened to them. The burger was delicious, as usual. I had a Greek salad to accompany it. Then we headed out into the freezing night air to walk to Bar Miriam, where the plan was to have one more drink. The place was kind of poppin', and so we had to stand at a narrow table in the middle of the room. I felt pretty great though, despite the exposure. There looked to be no single girls there. Our server was cute, though, and ended up talking to us quite a bit. She had a tattoo of a ferry on her forearm, which I liked because having grown up on an island I enjoy ferries. They were a big part of my life growing up. They're still a bit part of my life. I hope they're a big part of my life forever. 

The vibes were good and I don't know how it happened but I ordered shots for everyone, including the server, without consulting anyone. N only drank half of his. The server downed her completely in one gulp. H sipped his. At this point I was feeling slightly loopy but also happy and after paying we went outside and outside I let myself be pressured into going BACK in and asking the server for her number. It was awkward. She looked like she didn't really want to, but J thinks that might just be me projecting. Either way, she gave me her number, but lord knows I haven't text her yet. I don't plan to text her anytime soon. I don't know what I plan to do with the number. I guess text her and ask her if she wants to get drinks? Ask her if she boulders and if so would she like to go climbing sometime? I have nothing to lose, really. I supposedly have a date this weekend with a girl from Hinge, though the specifics aren't nailed own on that yet. I kind of wish I hadn't ended things with Carly. I kind of wish I hadn't ended things with Jamie. Kind of. 

ANYWAY, enough about my personal life, that's none of your business, frankly, though now it's exactly your business. 

Mostly I just told that story because it's a good way to take up words. 

I'm watching Shawn Raboutou flash Spectre V13 and it's making my palms sweat. 

Oh shit I'm up to 1,100 words now. Our journey is almost at an end. 

Our journey together.

As lovers. 

If someone doesn't start trying pinks or whites soon I'm gonna throw a tantrum. But I don't wanna go down to Main cuz it smells like a gym sock down there. But I also might run into someone I know there, which would be cool. But I also might run into -----, which would not be as cool. I wish I could just climb today, but I can't do that cuz I'm climbing outside tomorrow. J and H can take turns carrying the other pad up. That way we'll have two big pads up there, which is so much better than one pad. We'll start at the Warm-up Slab and maybe J will be psyched to try Rocksteadeasy V3, and maybe I'll resend it. Then we'll go up to The Button V3, since I think J will be super psyched on both that and Steppin' Razor, and I think H could be pretty psyched as well. Then we'll do a quick interlude at Water V6, and then head to Stink' Slopers for a bit so I can get my paws on it. 

Ya? 

Bien. 

Me alegro.

Callate. 

Quien diablos es esta mamacita en la blusa violeta. Diablos tiene la piel porcelana. 

Still no crushers. 

Hands are still cold. 

K well I'm gonna do some yoga. I only need another 120 words and that can easily be accomplished with one run-on sentence that I'll embark on right here, much like a long ship voyage, talking about everything I've talked about so far, summarizing it, and what I could say if I were forced to summarize it would be that I'm stoked on climbing right now and stoked on projecting V6's and V5's so I can meet my goal of climbing one more V5 and one V6 this fall. Though actually I think I'll end the run-in sentence right there because to continue it would've been a bit unnatural. We'll do a run-on thought, though. Today's a new day. It's 11:05am on 11/11. Which means I need to make a wish in six minutes. What will I wish for?

Also (aka Stinkin' Slopers V5)

 Big shout out to Jessa, the latest diehard fan of WW@BS.COM. I hadn't REALLY planned on sharing this blog with too many people, but Jessa is someone I trust with my work, aka musings, aka drivel.

So big shout out. 

Also shout out to CORINCE if you're out there, though you're probably not. Derd.

Shout out to Kevin Smith.

Shout out to Sam Kidder.

Shout out to Dan Stewart. 

Shout.

Out. 

It's been over a month since I've had caffeine now. 

YESTESRDAY I WENT TO GOLD BAR TO TRY STINKIN' SLOPERS V5 and one the hand I felt super weak and discouraged because I still couldn't do the start move and on the other hand I now feel like I could possibly send this bloc in the next couple sessions. 

I think the "weakness" comes from not climbing at all while I was in Mexico (which was a good thing), not eating quite as good now as I did maybe a couple months ago, and lastly from climbing a little too much right now. For me the hardest thing in climbing right now is NOT CLIMBING TOO MUCH. When I had just started my job and was taking an evening interpreting course it was super easy to not climb too much. But now that I'm essentially not working again it's hard to not just climb EVERY FUCKING DAY. 

So yeah yesterday I drove out to GOLD BAR, got there about 1pm, did the three-mile hike up, warmed up a  bit on Tetris Right and Tetris Left (two V1's), and then went up to look at and try some moves on Stinkin' Slopers, a low V5 sloper traverse. This was my first REAL session on the boulder, since I think all I really did last time was try the start move and MAYBE one or two of the middle moves. 

I started by doing the top out from the rail AFTER the slopers, which is basically V0 but has several moves. So, sick. Because once you've done the top out you can basically hack that section of the boulder off and start imagining that the boulder ends at the beginning of that topout. 

THEN I tried the first move, got close but pretty shut down, tried some of the middle moves, kept warming up the fingers, tried some of the sloper moves, went back to the start move, etc etc, just kind of cycling through, getting warmer and warmer and not overdoing it too much on one move. This is what works for me when projecting, both to keep the psych HIGH and also to not develop overuse injuries, since there's nothing worse for an overuse injury than trying one move over and over and over and over again. 

THEN I focused on one move I really wanted to do: moving from right hand on the nose sloper and left hand on the bad sloper to right hand on the high RIGHT sloper, followed by left heel hand match, etc. After a couple tries I was able to go up and right with my right hand, and also felt like I could do the heel hand match but stopped. Another very popular option is to do the left heel hand match FIRST and then go to the high sloper with the left hand, and I'll definitely have to try that next time. I also did the first couple moves after the start more successfully, and by the time I got home and watched some videos I realized there's probably only really TWO MOVES that I can't do right now. In one of the videos I saw a girl cheating and getting a kneebar in before evening pulling off, aka NOT a sit start, but that made me realize I could probably get a kneebar or at least a knee scum in JUST AFTER pulling off, which would make the first move way easier. Which would then mean I'd only really have one move I can't do, but that I'm sure I can puzzle out.

Long story short: I went from feeling like that boulder was WAY TOO HARD for me yesterday to now feeling like it could go in the next few sessions.

And honestly, I'd be sort of surprised if it didn't.

Also the weather is brilliant for the next week. 

Also I'm drinking mint tea with chia seeds. 

Also. 

Look at this Forecast

Well hello friends! This is your host, Mark Wetzler, coming to you live from the Ballard Locks in beautiful Seattle. It rained pretty much all night last night, but now it's abated. And check out the forecast for the next week:

Let's frickin' go, right! Let's go? Let's go?

All sun. Not just in Seattle but in Gold Bar, Leavenworth, Bend....

Probably in Bishop, too.

Surely in Red Rocks.

So. Updates. Got some yogurt fermenting right now. It's been in there for going on 25 hours. I've already sampled it, and it looks pretty solid. Those last few hours though are where the magic really starts to happen. Like hours 24-36. 

Holy shit it's actually almost sunny in Seattle right now. I need to get off my boat. 

Let's go......................................

Current plan for this week: Climb outside tomorrow in Gold Bar. Then go to Leavenworth on Wednesday???? Problem with that though is it's supposed to be gorgeous in GB, and I always feel a bit weird driving to Leavy when GB is perf. 

I'm kinda feeling a beetroot latte right now. 

I'm gonna watch till the 65th minute then I'm gonna shower and get out of here.

I'm feeling fairly mentally healthy despite many glasses of wine last night. Or actually not THAT many? Maybe three? We drank wine and watched the new season of White Lotus and then we danced our asses off. There was a moment where I think all of us felt completely uninhibited and were just dancing like madmen in an orgiastic way. I was sweating. It was wonderful. And then after arriving home I tasted my new batch of yogurt. 

God this forecast. 

This fucking forecast. 

What boulders should I try?

Chaac V5

Five Star Arete V6

Stinkin' Slopers V5

Metroid Prime V6

And many, many more. 

I Know the Answer

 Hmmm, apparently no one is reading this blog, as the last two posts currently have zero views. That's great, because what I want to practice is writing without thinking about it. Writing the kind of way I do when I journal. Though when I journal I write longhand, and that takes forever, so usually my sentences are shorter. But when I type I tend to drone on. 

You know when you hook up with someone and you can't stop thinking about that person but you're not even sure if you should be thinking about that person? That's how I feel now. It's very confusing. Halloween was a wonderful, wonderful day. We surfed the ranch. We hung out at the palapa. I gave Eli tons of shit. La Jesi was there, la Julia, Sergio. Our whole crew. If I'm not mistaken I had breakfast and then when Hunter and Nate went out for a second surf I had a Corona. I had two Heinekins last night and then two IPAs at the football game and I kind of feel a bit tired today and I really shouldn't drink beer, especially IPAs. Light beers are OK. But they don't make me feel great. Wine makes me feel good. Cider makes me feel good. 

My legal interpreting test is in an hour and fifteen minutes. In an hour and fifteen minutes I'll be sitting in a room in Shoreline Community College, possibly observed by one person, possibly observed by several people, doing one of the hardest things it's possible to do in the interpreting world: simultaneous interpretation. And I will do my best, of course, but that probably won't be great since I've barely studied. Fiscal = prosecutor. Procesar = to prosecute. La fiscalia = the prosecution. El demandante = the plaintiff. El acusado = the defendent. 

etc etc

Ugh I hate when I can't stop thinking about someone. 

And yet. And yet. 

What a frickin day for hockey today. All my teams play. The Kraken, the Canucks and the Oilers. 

At least it's sunny today. And I should be able to climb outside at least twice next week. Once in Gold Bar, and then maybe another time in Gold Bar or another time in Leavenworth. Maybe get a hotel out in Wenatchee. Check my oil. Derd. Take some turmeric, some mushroom supplements. Try Alfalfa or Spanky again? No. Yes? Try Schist Cave Right? No. Yes? Try The Hourglass V6? 

When you're stewing on something does it help to write about it or just to try to bury it and stop thinking about it? 

I haven't even brought up my job. On Monday I'll go into the office and I'll say, "Nora, I think I'm done with phone work." And she'll be like, "OK." And I'll be like, "So, should I just coast for a bit and see if something else comes up, or should we cut the cord?" And she'll be like, "....."

And I'll be like. 

And she'll be like. 

But it's fucking sunny today.

It's fucking SUNNY. 

Is it better to meet someone and share an amazing time with that person and then suffer the heartwrench after? Or is it better to not have even met that person at all.

I know the answer.

The Half Life of Valery K

 Consider today's blog post the shakedown to the real shakedown. The real shakedown is going to be taking a week-long bouldering trip and writing a short booklet about it, kind of like a non-fiction novella. And that will be shakedown for the REAL trip, which will be a multi-month bouldering trip through the American Southwest. Or maybe it will be a multi-month trip to Europe: Spain, Portugal, France, Switzerland, Italy, Slovenia. Or maybe it will be another trip to Latin America. The point is it will be the shakedown for a multi-month trip that I write a book about, much like I did about Eastern Europe in 2014. 

Now, how to start today's shakedown to the shakedown?

I guess I could start with the current state of my climbing, since the real shakedown will be a climbing trip. 

So far I've climbed:

Lots of V3's

Six V4's 

Two V5's

Zero V6's 

Zero V7's

Zero V8-V17's

As you can see, the hardest boulder problem I've climbed is V5. Until recently, V4's were generally a fight to the death for me. But then something clicked. I started training front levers. I started getting my gut in order. I started WORKING, which meant I couldn't climb as much, which meant I recovered better. And something clicked with my climbing, and I started getting better. 

But NOW, TODAY, things are a bit different. I was just in Mexico for two weeks. I smoked a ton of rollies while I was there. I didn't pull down on ANYTHING while I was there, unless you count pulling down on the water in front of me to paddle my surfboard. Which was the point, of course. Not pulling. I wanted to take a two-week break from climbing, and that's exactly what I did. 

But now I'm back, and I'm weak. 

The first session back in the gym was of course the day after I got back. I warmed up on a bunch of yellows, reds and greens, then did a crimpy but easy purple on the slab/vertical wall, and then started trying some harder stuff. I tried an orange that shut me down. I tried a blue that shut me down. I tried ANOTHER blue that shut me down. Finally, I flashed an orange that was kind of fun and decided to call it a day. My body was whispering, "Please stop now. Don't hurt me." And usually when it's just whispering I say, "OK. Just a little bit more" and it says, "OK, I'm going to start breaking down" and then I keep climbing and SORT OF hurt myself, but mostly just kind of strain things, but that didn't happen the other day. I actually stopped. And so today, a couple days later, not having smoked cigs and having eaten decently, I feel pretty good. Well, no, not pretty good. But I feel better than Wednesday. 

I'm supposed to fast till two today. But I really want some cacao. Should I get some cacao. Should I go to Trader Joe's? 

This Seattle water tastes like pool water. Damnit. 

So that's the plan: Start doing shakedown posts here, then do a week-long shakedown trip, then do a three-four month trip where I write about bouldering and life every day. Everyday. Every day. 

My last outside sesh was with Jessa in which I sent Gimme Back My Id V5. This problem, let it be known, is pronounced Gimme Back My "Ihd," as in "rhymes with 'it' but with a 'd' sound," not ID as in identification, as it's commonly MISPRONOUNCED. I mean, the whole boulder has a psychology/Sigmund Freud theme right? Leggo My EGO (not "eggo") V6, Sigmund Freud V4, and finally Gimme Back My Id V5. 

Jessa climbed both the V2's and started trying the V5 and was stoked. I warmed up on the V2's, doing them a few times, and then started trying the moves on the V5 and was also stoked. And then after feeling quite warm I started giving it redpoint burns. 

Oh! Oh! 

But let me not forget that BEFORE I started giving it redpoint burns, I stuck the big move to the lip, which I hadn't done before and which gave me tons of confidence that it would go that day. Because at that point I had done ALL the moves. Not some of the moves. All the moves. 

In a few words I'm going to lie down and read The Half Life of Valery K, but for now I have to get to 750 words so I can be halfway done, since the goal for this shakedown post is 1500 words.

Anyway. 

Back to the Gimme Back My Id sesh. 

I started giving it redpoint burns after sticking the dyno, and sent it on like the third or fourth try. The send go felt quite easy. This boulder gave me less problems than a lot of the V4's I've sent, though to be fair it does share the first move of a V4 that I had put a lot of work into (Sigmund Freud). But it's interesting because Harlow Huber (Leavenworth YouTuber extraordinaire) thinks this is HARDER than Leggo My Ego, which is a V6. He thinks Leggo should be a V5. And Leggo completely shuts me down every time I try it, so I guess that's just testament to different people being good at different stuff. For me, working Gimme Back My Id was an absolute dream. The progress was so linear. It's not often you have that linear progress. Usually there's a stopper move. But with U2 (my first V3), and maybe a few others like Sigmund Freud V4, Zelda Rails V4, The Giant's Nose V4 (Squamish), the progress was quite linear, which is more than quite satisfying. But I've never worked a problem where the progress was as linear as it was with Gimme. Each day making new links, getting a little bit closer. And then suddenly you can do all the moves. And then suddenly you're sending. 

OK I shall take a break now, friends, and be back in a bit to finish off this blog post. This shakedown post. 

 OK, I'm back. I read The Half Life of Valery K for a bit (I'm loving it), and then I went to the bathroom and got my big puffy jacket on the way. Yesterday was an experiment in fashion. Jessa and I went to H&M where I spent like $160, but only the last $70 I had to pay for out of pocket because the rest I had a gift card for. I'm not a huge H&M fan anymore, but I had a gift card. Sue me. They make some cool stuff, it just doesn't last. And it was made by four year olds in Bangladesh. And it's the worst quality ever, like it's already falling apart as you take it out of the store. And it's made by four year olds in Bangladesh. 

But I got a sick jacket. 

I'm not wearing deodorant. I'm trying to figure out when I'm climbing today, and who with. Might be with Adi, might be with Jessa, might be alone. I'd LOVE if it were with Anna, but I don't have her number anymore. And she didn't seem all that stoked to climb with me in the first place. And she has boyfriend who she talks about constantly. Or I guess I should say TALKED about, since our relationship is firmly past tense. She works for Google. I don't work for Google. God I desperately want cacao right now. 

Does this mean I desperately want caffeine?

I'm wondering if the 1,500 word thing is a little much. I mean, just having a word minimum in general. Do word minimums work? Is everything I've written up to this point drivel? Probably. Definitely. But that's ok. No one will read this. Maybe a couple people will read this, but not a lot of people will read this. They'll read this and think, Wow, Mark's still trying to write, and he'd really not getting better. It's been 20 years and he literally hasn't improved as a writer. And that's completely fine. I've never written for fame. I've always written because I've loved it, because I need to. I know it's weird to say you NEED to write, but I kind of do. I'm certainly not doing it for the money. Though I've always thought it would be kind of cool to only live off writing. I would starve to death in like a week. 

The Half Life of Valery K. 

Gimme Back My Id.

A gym sesh today either alone or with Jessa.

A Rebbl cacao maca drink. 

Some sardines? 

Some cider later? 

An interpreter test tomorrow that I'm probably going to fail.

Shoreline.

The City of Shoreline. 

My nephew's soccer game. 

The fucking rain and clouds and fucking gloom and the fact that it's fucking dark at fucking 5:30pm and only one of my fucking headlights works. 

Rachel. 

Mexico. 

The fucking gloom. 

Fruit plates. 

Saladita.

The water so clear beneath me.

Us sitting on the porch. 

Touching arms, touching thighs. 

The hot hot heat and paddling in the water and being NEXT to someone and then being back in Seattle and it's fucking gloomy and the fucking gloom and the fucking gloom and the fucking gloom.

And my fucking job that's bullshit. 

And the fact that I'm taking this fucking interpreter test. 

The Half Life of Valery K.

Chile or Europe or Chile

 I woke up this morning with an urge to write, so here we are, hopefully both of us, waking up together, about to see the world. 

It's been almost a month without caffeine. 

I think. 

Yes, because I started on a wedding that was October 8th, and now it's November 3rd and I still haven't had caffeine save a few dalliances with cacao, like yesterday when I ordered a hot chocolate at Irwin's and it came with milk and I was pretty bummed. 

Back in Seattle. 

The trip to Mexico was great. It got better as it went along, and ended with a grand finale full of fireworks and fanfare. My surf muscles went from nonexistent at the start of the trip to me now being able to feel some meat on my lats when I reach my hand around my back. My Spanish went from "Haven't spoke in a shit long time, terrible accent, overall rusty," to, "I feel pretty good. I can actually sort of pronounce r's now and no one's even thinking about switching to English on me." I was a bit surprised I stayed off caffeine, even during the trip. The MO has always been: wake up, drink mate or coffee, surf, chill, drink more mate in the afternoon, surf, chill, etc. But the MO on THIS trip harkened back to my days in Costa Rica at Guiones with Barry: wake up, drink a bit of water, go surf. 

And now I'm on the boat drinking water. 

Warm water. 

I went climbing yesterday! First time climbing in over two weeks. I'm a little disconcerted by this thumb thing. Ever since my time spent on Gimme Back My Id V5 my thumb tendons have felt a bit off. My right thumb I straight up injured, but actually it's my left thumb that's giving me more problems now. Either way it was good to climb yesterday, and I was really proud of myself for taking it easy. I tried two slabby blues, sent neither, tried one vertical orange that was confusing and fun that I didn't send, and then finished by flashing a juggy slightly overhanging orange. 

I could tell my body was asking me nicely to stop, so I did. And today I'm glad for it. Monday Tuesday and Wednesday of next week are supposed to be clear in Gold Bar, which means it's a good chance to get out and work on some stuff. I'm thinking Serenity Now V4+, Ryan's Problem V6 (a bit soft and also shares the same start as Serenity Now), or maybe a trip up to the Clear Cut Boulders, though I'm not sure what I'd work on up there.  Maybe Chaac V5? Maybe Water V6? Maybe Obesity V7?

Let's see, what else. Oh, I downloaded Hinge, so that should be interesting. In fact I was just distracted by it, so that's why I stopped typing. What else. It's cold as balls here in Seattle now. Though somehow with the heater on in my boat last night it was TOO hot by morning. So that was nice. 

Lastly, I don't know whether or not I'm going to quit my job. And I'm probably gonna fail the interpreter test on Saturday. And I need a new book to read. And I just started season 2 of White Lotus. And I wanna go visit my parents one of these days. And I'm dogsitting on Bainbridge for a few days during thanksgiving. And I need to start trying front levers again. And making yogurt. And get my gut right. And apply for jobs at UW. And plan a trip to Chile. Or Europe. Or Chile.