Great lunch today meeting NikolaiFyodorov and seeing kleinbl00 again. Two people far more intelligent and life experienced than I!
Typing this out from a log on a beach where I’ve decided to take my lunch break. Mountains are out to the west and to the southeast. There’s a shipping container returning to the pacific. Last Thursday I learned there was a period of time where my employment was in jeopardy, roughly November to February, as me and my team were moved from R&D to Quality. A very frank conversation with the VP of my department, and one I benefited from. It did result in anxiety the rest of that day, then a bit of anger, then empowerment that I’m still here, and a great amount of respect for my direct boss for the support he provided during that time period. Now I’m being told by everyone how good of a manager I am, to keep doing what I’m doing, and that I have a lot of options in what I could do next here. Life’s good. Have a climbing trip this weekend. Have a lot of climbs planned. Meeting some great new people and friends from climbing groups on Facebook, of all places. Putting myself first and understanding what I want out of life…and realizing how much of it is about place. kleinbl00 I think I’m moving slightly closer to ending the search for the greenest grass.
well well well i'm still in that whole "today is amazing" and "today is fucking terrible" phase and doing way too much shit all of the time. This weekend is going to be an awesome nightmare. I'm climbing tonight, have a date tomorrow night, going to a concert with a couple of friends Friday night, going down to Mount Rainier National Park to instruct mountaineering skills Saturday (kleinbl00 I still gotta send you those details), going to a concert Saturday night, and going climbing Sunday. Big yikes. Last Thursday was amazing though. Let's talk about that. Went to see my favorite band, Yo La Tengo perform for the 2nd night in a row. The 1st night I went solo, but on Thursday I went with a good friend of mine who I do a lot of mountain climbing with, and his friend who also happens to be his boss. So few things. Got an AWESOME dinner at a cash-only Thai place before-hand. Got along really well with his friend/boss. Keep in mind, my friend is mid-40s, his boss is probably 60. Lifelong research in childhood oncology. Incredibly good/well-known at what he does. Skier, former climber, big into music. We go to the show, drink a few beers throughout the night. YLT is amazing as always. We're the guys in the back of the main floor, against the railing. Cute girl next to me all show. YLT does their shows where they do a 1st set, 20ish minute break, 2nd set, then an encore. This girl was there by herself and I was like I'm going to do something different, let's try talking to her. So do that, it goes well. Between the 2nd set and encore I get her phone number. Now we're going on a date tomorrow night! I know nothing about her and am kind of excited about that? Also at the end of the night, my friends boss invited me to a concert at his house that is this Saturday. They've done 80+ shows and had some big names come through their house, I'm so excited. What's funny about the girl/date situation is literally the day before I was telling kb and one of my other friends that people don't meet at concerts anymore and was very adamant about that, so fuck me. The other exciting part about all this is I really want to reintegrate more music and art and that side of things into my life, as awesome as running and climbing is, I don't want to be 1-dimensional in my interests and hobbies.
i owe kleinbl00 and a few others many beers still doing the thing with the girl - we've definitely scaled things back this week - she went on a "date" with someone else two days ago, and we're going on a date tonight unrelated, ever since taking 2.5 weeks off from climbing I have been absolutely crushing it and broke through a plateau in that realm!
4/10. A week ago I was supposed to climb a mountain via a rock route with somebody whom I hadn't met, but was well aware of as a lifelong climber in the area, and had communicated with via email in the past. Unfortunately the weather turned to rain and we were unable to climb and made different, separate plans. I ended up being able to climb that route the next day, he ended up taking the weekend to do what was supposed to be some easy hiking combined with scrambling and an overnight. Something happened, he fell, and he died. Meanwhile dating is kind of a nightmare. Gone on a few dates now and they're all maaaaybe 6/10. Just not feeling connection either physical attraction or through the conversation like there's anyone I'm wanting to go on a 2nd date with. Been "ghosted" once, which is what it is. But the whole thing kind of sucks. It's much worse than it was in early 2019 when I was last single. Wonder how much the pandemic has to do with that. Or maybe it's just me being a few years older and in a different place in life. Feeling kind of similar to where I was at in 2016 where now that I've moved a couple of times, probably best to find myself a community again and really be a part of that through the running clubs and climbing gyms in Seattle since most of my friends and community are 45-60 minutes away and feel much farther away.
Looking at cameras again and am heavily leaning towards the Sony A6500 for climbing photography. Currently bringing a Canon EOS 5D MK II with me, which I really like the camera and think it takes high enough resolution photos and environmental sealing. But the thing is fairly heavy and bulky for mountaineering purposes. The A6500 has a higher MP sensor (24 vs. 21), is nearly a full pound lighter (400g lighter), has image stabilization (the EOS 5D MK II does not!), and is just a much smaller camera. Downsides are worse low level light capability and a battery which doesn't last as long. I get that lenses and such also add a bunch of weight, but in reality I'm climbing with a 50mm lens and maaaaaybe a 24-70. So.
I saw a “China Joe Not My President” bumper sticker today. How do you define balance in your life? lil et., al., what do you think?
When the neon light at the bar around the corner turned off.
I’m jumping out of my skin this week, Hubski. Been working as our night shift packaging manager for 8ish weeks now with a lot of success, setting factory records, have 4 supervisors and over 100 employees under them all reporting to me. It’s wild, it’s good, but the schedule isn’t sustainable for 5 days a week which I made clear going into this. I wouldn’t mind 3 nights a week and 2 days a week of work, skiing in the morning has been spectacular...but... I’ve been so jittery this week and itching for something different or something hard. February is a tough time of year, I haven’t climbed any mountains lately, no trail races, my fitness plateau has broke, finally, and is so great to see, so now I’m working on bouldering strength. Maybe I’m just ready for spring because Jesus I’m not so much bored so much as wondering what’s next. 29 and managing in a Fortune 500 and climbing stuff like Rainier has me putting a lot of expectations on my 30s and I gotta back down from that.
There are four seasons: 1. Ski Season (we are fully entering here) 2. Glacier climb season 3. Alpine rock season 4. Trail running season (we are partially still here)
I am really looking forward to wearing a pack that is not in the 42lb (last weekend) to 58lb (two weekends ago) weight range. It’ll be probably 30lbs instead! And nobody I know has died in the last week so that’s a plus!
Holy shit what an excellent surprise. Unsurprised by the eclectic and great song selection, as usual!
make a post detailing your experience
Pretty sure we’re going to be hunkering down for most of this year. What a fucking mess. The business I work for has been deemed “essential” so “yay I have a job” but also “boo we all have to work”. Meanwhile the climbing community is tearing itself apart right now - it’s a community that by and large doesn’t do well with “no”.
Caught some sun, ski touring, and rock climbing down in Oregon this past weekend. Didn’t look at my work phone. Didn’t deal with the bullshit. Need more days like those.
I think I’ve had three different versions of the cold or flu since 1/5/2020. Fucking miserable at this point and am quarantining myself from my partner and any friends who are sick because I think we keep passing different versions on the same thing to each other. Passed my seven hours of no breaks ten stations of different topics mountaineering practical exam and crushed the conditioner hike even though I had a chest cold so I’m taking that intermediate course which is fantastic. Got a haircut for the first time in two years. Yo elizabeth I’m going to be in Montreal for work in three weeks (Feb 17th - Feb 21st) you around? Any other Hubskiers up around Montreal?
saturday and sunday dictate the rest of my year. need to get an 80/100 on a mountaineering practical exam and pass a conditioner hike to be accepted into the course I'm hoping to take. stressful, yo. i was nominated for the "most inspirational" and "most grit" awards in my running club so that's fun. 10 year anniversary of the group is next thursday which is nuts to me.
So. Due to a bank error in my favor aka changing our time off policy, I have 8 weeks of PTO this year...trying to figure out where to go considering the heavy physical training schedule I have this year. I signed up for a 50-mile race which shockingly entails a looooot of training and prep. Most importantly - there’s snow on the ground at sea level!
Hey no wait come back applewood :(
Well I suppose it’s Wednesday on the east coast. First transpacific flight, coming up in a few hours. Suffering through flight anxiety, per usual. Lost a toenail earlier this week, finally. That was a fun first.
Last night I decided I would rather spend time with the girl I've started seeing than go on a run, or climbing, or whatever else. I think that's about all I need to say this week.
Spent last week in Utah, and am currently reading Desert Solitaire. Putting together a five year plan which involves a year on the road/in parks but maybe I'm just a bit too influenced by recent events. Edit: left my rental car lights on all night and now the car battery is dead. Awesome start to a work trip.
Good for you, dude. This isn't a competition of who has the more fucked up body.
Hope you come back :(
God damn, Pubski. It's not even Wednesday for those of us on the West Coast. I feel filled with resentment these past couple of days. It could be this nasty cold/flu bullshit that's kept me out of just about everything this past week, or whatever week throat/gland issues are going on and having a lot of anxiety about getting imaging done to check it out, but I'm kind of angry. Resentful. I don't really enjoy music much anymore. Used to a lot. But there are a lot of things I've done and said that have taken the enjoyment away from me. A lot of things others have done and said that have assisted with taking that away from me. Living in a place where the scene is actually really lame and self-indulgent, and not wanting to go to Seattle every other week to catch a show, makes it hard to give a shit. And I miss giving a shit, just a little bit. Just enough to think about it too much. Feeling resentful expands past just this, I think, but that's the only part of it I really feel like sharing. Reclaiming Conversation is also making me freak-the-fuck-out about the way we interact with each other and hoooooooly shit does it make me even more aggravated at the way people try and make plans with each other. I'm getting better with calling people, trying to see them face-to-face. But it's a constant, uphill, sisyphean struggle when nobody else gives a shit about the way they interact with another human being.
I wasn't prepared to whine about my life for another day, dammit, Pubski! Went to a music festival this past weekend in Missoula. It was a special experience, perfect size crowd-wise, everybody was having a good time including the bands. I kept running into interesting people and the musicians themselves since it wasn't some massive "Coachella-esque" festival. And I'm single again, so that's a thing for the better, I think.
Good Things I'm moving at the end of the month. I'm going to Jasper and Banff in 10 days. I signed up for a crazy trail relay race next month. I went to Bellingham for the first time and liked it a lot. Bad Things This foot injury is progressing slower than I would like, though it is progressing. Has me a bit nervous for all the hiking coming up and I'm not running nearly as much as I would like.