Tuolumne Day 1

As I sit here waiting to talk to my health insurance to see if I can extend my COBRA and listen to the verbal pollution from the neighbor, I'll start my description finally. Pardon the hold music/video. It's better than what Blue Cross has, let me tell you. [after a short break] But the lady was nice and wished me a happy birthday. awww...

OK, day 1, Thursday. I drove up. The end.
Kidding.

I started down the road to Tuolumne Meadows after driving for hours and was overwhelmed by the greenness and lushness of the area. Although I was hesitant to stop because I was NOT stuck behind an RV, I did. The first picture I took was this:


Not sure what else to say except show the photos.
I believe you can see half dome in the distance:

This, little did I know, was my ultimate destination:

A sign for those with low vision:

The actual meadow, which is right across from the campground:

I was meeting up with people I did not know at all. My friend J in Seattle had climbed with two of the guys, and they had invited her, but when she couldn't go, referred me to them, extolling my virtues and saying how strong/safe/good I was and that I could be a rope gun. [A rope gun is someone who can lead well and thus bring also weaker climbers up routes.] Really funny guys via email (calling themselves the Masters of Mediocrity), and turned out to be so in person also. I found their campsite, and met and hung out with them/ate dinner. Two Brits, one of whom lives in CA (R) and the other who was visiting for 2 weeks (G), and two Americans - brothers, one of whom works with the CA Brit (N) and the other is (J).

G was considered to be the rope gun. They had been climbing in Lake Tahoe, and G or R mentioned that G tried to get on the Line but backed off. Remember that I did that first pitch last summer? I just looked and him and said "Why???" Everyone laughed at that, and after the fact I could see why it would sound funny (I didn't say, oh that's too bad, or what was the problem, or whatever). But I was just confused since he was considered to be the rope gun and that climb is definitely doable for what I thought he could climb. Ah well, they didn't hold it against me...

And then we slept.

Please listen to this music while I place you on hold

I must place you on hold - please watch this video until I return

Off!

I'm off to Tuolumne Meadows to go climbing. Alas without M. This and my end of month trip to Maine are my allotted "I'm not working so enjoy it" times. I'm excited but nervous. New people, high altitude (but taking Ginko Balboa to see if it wards off sickness), first time outdoors this year, new location... Back Monday or Tuesday. Hope to have some great photos and stories, but not epics.

Met with a woman yesterday re: their company and things look promising for the future. In the meantime I will likely volunteer time there to help out and really get my foot in the door. Balancing with temp work so I can make some money...

Best to you all!

GPA

One job I applied to yesterday asked for my GPA's for graduate and undergraduate. Gives me the impression it might be for someone with fewer years of experience than me, ya think? Amazingly enough, I accessed them right away. Never knew I was that organized. Or lucky.

Thing is, my GPA's seem to indicate that I am average. I am anything but.

Tuesku

the fog is lifting
little tendrils still remain
but the sun shines through

It's Monday already??

Time flies when you're unemployed and have a new-ish relationship and the sun is always out so you feel you have to get outside and enjoy it and there's still boxes to be unpacked and you don't want to spend too much time at the computer.

I'm feeling sad actually that I don't/haven't spent much time here. Or there (yours). I have to find a way to better incorporate it into my life. I think part of it is finding a way to be interesting. I mentioned that before, but haven't implemented it yet.

I did two bike rides this weekend - one of which was nice but by the end my foot hurt so much I was not enjoying it. And I was even going downhill! So, I gotta fix it soon, because I love biking. I've had several suggestions from people on facebook, but I'll likely go to an expert at a bike shop to figure it out.

Tried to go see Inception but it is still very popular and it was sold out. So, M and I walked around and found a bookstore that wasn't Borders! So we went in and browsed and bought some books - haven't done that in so long. There was a history of comics in the US which I almost bought, but didn't. I did buy a new-ish one from Richard Bach, and have started that. I looovved his other introspective/relationship ones and learned many lessons from them. I think this one might be more on the side of 'fun'.

But we got back and No Country for Old Men was on regular TV, which neither one of us had seen. Wow. I can't decide if it was good or bad that it was interrupted by commercials. There were certainly times that I needed a break - it was so intense. But such a good movie.

We also watched Hedwig and the Angry Inch, this time on DVD. Wow and wow. Double wow's because it's a great movie and it has a great great soundtrack/songs. Really amazing.

Finally, I got to meet yet another person I met through blogging but never met in person. Way cool! I laugh when I write this, but it was a little less awkward (sorry Squirrel! - you know I'm very glad we met multiple times in person and when are you coming to visit??) because I wasn't asked about a detail that I had left un-finished in my blog. We just hung out. M didn't want to go, which was too bad, but such is life.

OK, gotta go read some.