Royal Arches

I am now a true climber. I have done a huge climb.

On Saturday my regular climbing friend and I did Royal Arches in Yosemite Valley.  It is 15 pitches.  1,600 feet. We started at 9:00 am and got down to the bottom at 9:00 pm. Below is a view from the field near the campground.  The climb is left of center and you rap down to the right of that black vertical streak (which is usually water).

To the left here is a view of the pendulum traverse from below. The person on the right up there has to hold on to a fixed line with one arm, run across the rock, and grab a rock on the other side and then let go of the rope.  Sounds easy?  Ha. Well, I tried 4 times and couldn't do it on lead. If I could have continued to try, I would have gotten it, I think. But the thing with doing a long climb is you gotta keep moving. So my friend came up, did it, and then belayed me. I still had to do it, which I did. Not prettily at all. I got my fingers on the shelf, but not the good part. So I'm splat against the rock holding on with 2 fingers, my right arm holding the rope, my legs out to the right and my body against the rock. I managed to push with my toes to get to the good hold and then let go. Crazy!  

I ran out of water at hour 8, right before we started rappelling. Luckily I had a bag of candy, which I took some of at almost every rap, and that kept me going. I was shocked when my friend said no to me asking for water. "how long have you been climbing?  you should have rationed it"  I've never ever done such a long climb or run out of water!  But whatever. I sucked it up (so to speak) and didn't ask again.

Below is a photo of two women we had to rescue twice. They were simul-rappelling and missed the bolts, and thus screwed, since when you simul-rap you have to be balanced on the rope, so it's really hard to go anywhere.
'

Above is sunset from high up
There was an almost full moon and it was so gorgeous to see it rising and illuminating the rocks.

Rap station.

 The view into the valley from a rap station










We went to the hoity toity hotel afterwards to have a drink and food (it was the only place open). Dumped our stuff on the floor. Dirty. Smelly.  But what wonderful water!  And food!!

Upper beat

So all these posts I wanted to write after that much pathetic post.  Upper beat.

One thing I did was take advantage of unemployment and go sailing on a Thursday with a friend in the SF Bay. I really wanted to try it to get another perspective of the area. I have flown over it. And yes, been on a ferry. But not in a sailboat. My friend G is a sailor, and his friend R could rent the boat.

 It was a gorgeous gorgeous day. NO clouds/fog, which is so rare. It started off with NO wind and it was hot. Then G and I sat at a table with an umbrella to wait for the other two and literally BOOM there was heavy wind. Almost knocked over the table. So, although you maybe can't tell from the photo below, very choppy.

Trouble was, R is a racer, and didn't really take into account that that was my first real time sailing. Let's just say I was hanging on for dear life most of the time, trying to appreciate it, and trying not to let them know how much I was looking forward to it being over. We went back into the Sausilito Bay and normally it's calm so they kept the sail up and I let my guard down, and so did G. So when the next big gust came, the side of the boat was in the water, and G almost was too. I had a look on my face so G called me over to sit by him. And another gust and he almost went on top of me. I just looked at him with a petrified please take the sail down. They did but it was really difficult because it was so windy.

So, I won't be going on a 26 ft. boat in the Bay any time soon/ever again. Luckily it was warm, because normally it's 40-50 degrees or so. Yeah. No.


Other news is that the cats are not getting along. Billy is getting the most visible scars, as you can see below. But I think that he dominates over the other cat, which is good. But the other one will not stop testing the boundary, so it will likely always be a problem. So, we'll keep them mostly separated.

And finally, I have had a couple of good interviews, which is great. After my last round, I won't get excited until I have the offer in hand. One I like much more than the other, but the one I'm not so excited about is ahead in the process and at a good organization... so I may not really have a choice even if I had a choice which would be a miracle. In any event, wish me luck.

Thanks!

Misfit

I thought I was a team player, but reading the definition, I'm almost the antithesis.

I take initiative when I know it's safe.

I'm an independent thinker if I know someone will approve.

Sigh. Filling out a pre-interview screening questionnaire.  Problem solving. Independent thinking. Show examples. Doesn't help that I have no memory!

I'm a misfit and fit for misfits.

I just barely pass as normal, it feels sometimes. Radio station work is good for me, as we are all misfits. M is with his friends right now - 6 of them - that I would love to be my friends but I'm not because I'm a misfit.

Just gotta accept it.

un-appropro

So, was thinking the other day, actually this morning, about some very inappropriate air names I could make up. One particularly bad one was Crystal Nacht.  Can you think of any good/bad ones?

I did a show last week and really enjoyed it. One more to go and then FREE!

Today is week two of no work at all. Started getting a bit anxious today. But tried to let it go. The day just disappeared. All I know is I made a batch of applesauce (a woman had given me a box of apples from her tree) and lunch and went to the store and bought myself a treat (pistacio 'ice cream bar'). And worked out this morning.

I'm hoping I get a temp job. Please.

I haven't investigated yet whether I can get unemployment benefits. I'm kinda scared to, even if I can get them, since I read what poor SillyRabbit has to go through...  I'm giving myself a couple weeks before I do anything 'drastic'.

Won tickets to a show for last night. Noone could go, so I went by myself. A small venue, and got there way too early, which was in the end ok. I saw people come in, saw bands setting up, etc. Happened to manage to sit in the merchandise table in the corner in the back, and so met the label guy and yakked about music. I really need to learn from that experience and don't pretend I'm something I"m not and know more than I do. Duh. I really didn't like either band I saw, but hey, it was sort of free. I made the mistake of asking the guy if he wanted a drink, when what I really wanted to ask him was if he wanted me to get him some water since I was getting some for  myself. Duh. At least he only wanted a ginger ale. And he gave me a free CD.

On Saturday night I went with my roommate to a poetry reading (LitCrawl in SF).Someone I know is a poet and he was on stage. First time seeing him - amazing what a different personality!! That's kinda like my brother, who did some acting and he was a completely different person on stage (duh).

So, lotsa duh moments. And there's more hours in the week for even more.

Do you believe in dog?

I don't know why the guy raised his dog up above the crowd. He was facing the wrong direction! But maybe it was for others to worship him. (Robin Hood was there!)

Hardly Strictly Bluegrass this year. Gorgeous weather = TONS of people. I could only take it one day. Today I didn't do much at all. Partly because on the way home yesterday I stopped at a friends and one drink turned into three and dinner, which was actually great. I should not have driven home, but I did and didn't die, though I did have a slight hangover which I had to get rid of this morning.  It helped to sit for 20 minutes in the sauna and sweat the toxins out. I guess.  It felt good at least.

Part of the dog subject comes from my friend and her son talking about how they were raised atheists.  Which just seems like an odd statement. You are raised to believe in nothing?  Though of course that's not really it. I think its the unwillingness to buy into the descriptions that exist in the world. Some I think are that way - like the friend's son who writes later that it's something but it's in everyone, which, yes I agree.  And a little bit everywhere, like in this sunset.

Controls on hold

I need to start writing down in a calendar when I feel certain ways, so I can keep track.

I will confess that I did a very horribly stupid thing this morning. Thing is, I felt disconnected from it. And so it sends up red flags. Part of the disease, but doesn't make it right.  In any event, I was in a threesome and didn't tell them I had herpes.

Ha.

No, I was driving to work, and there was construction that was being cleared so it was all backed up. I was doing the right thing, I thought, by merging behind this truck. Thing is, the woman in the Prius didn't think so. She wouldn't let me in. Even came very close to hitting my car, as I was trying to push it in front of her. So, when I got over to the left of the two lanes and it turned out she had to merge in front of me, I didn't let her in - but she was pushing pushing it. The car in front of me end up letting her in, and traffic cleared soon after so she zoomed off.

Oh my, this is embarrassing.

So, I zoomed after her.  Up to 100 miles per hour so I could get in front of her and put on my brakes.  How horribly dangerous is that? So she zoomed off to the right of a pickup and he decided he wanted to zoom off, which then kicked up a bunch of big rocks from his tires. One of which hit my windshield and made a divot. Which I thought was well deserved - my instant karma. But it didn't stop me from continuing to harass her until I exited. I won't go into further details.

And then when I touched the divot to see how bad it was, I cut my finger. And again, I felt good because a little more instant karma. I was hoping I wouldn't get really what I deserved, which was my headache from Monday that lasted for three days and finally went away.

And then when I got home today, I felt disconnected again, and yelled quite forcefully at the other cat when he tried to get out the door.

Thing is, I had my psychiatrist check up today. But they decided today to have someone sit in to view, and I was uncomfortable. And it seems I can put on a good show these days. Pft. What difference does it make if I fool my psychiatrist, when it only hurts me in the end?

Arg.  Danger danger danger.