Progress

6a! Look what I did!

I'm full of too much food and cannot sleep. Pork belly to be precise. It's just laying there. I'm trying to tire myself to sleep by reading various bits and pieces and reading back my last blog post on nearly losing my earring, I appear to sound a little batshit crazy! Wow. I'm OK, just not then!

Anyway, my big news so far is that I managed to finally complete a grade 6a route in climbing! Go me! For those not in the know, it is the easiest of the harder sport climbing grades and since I was introduced to it, this was always my aim grade. And I managed to do it yesterday at White Spider. I'm still a little bit pleased with myself.

It's not winning an Oscar, getting a gold medal at the Olympics or winning the Tour de France. But it's my Oscar, gold medal and yellow jersey achieved. It was neither pretty, all that hard or completed in one as I had to rest while hoofing it up there but I still did it.  

The last few weeks of climbing with Mat are really paying off. I am getting stronger, getting leaner and getting better. I still have a very long way to go to call myself 'good' but I am enjoying it and that's all that matters.

I took up climbing as it seemed a fun form of exercise. And a lot of people I know and love are into so it must be good.  I signed up to take lessons on belaying, knot-work and good technique. I think I did get good and then I had to stop because inconveniently I was diagnosed with cancer way back then. The steroids made me huge and slowed me down. Climbing just became really hard so I stopped for a while but I persevered. From not even managing to finish 5 climbs, I have progressed to 10 progressing to 11 to hopefully 12 each time I go. I can do this and I enjoy it. I'm not going to let this bastard disease stop me. F%&$ you cancer! 

Progress indeed.

photo by shewithacapitalV

Hope

These are my 'Hope' earrings. They're a 40th birthday gift from my TSC friends and mean a lot to me. I was able to choose them myself so they are very appreciated. I love how they are 'bold, stylish and sleek' although in my language what Links are trying to say is that 'they are a bit nice but not too bling'. 

As they are silver, they cost some money but not so much that they are a ridiculous amount. I am not likely to get mugged for them. However, should anything happen to them I could possibly expire and definitely cry. Lots. It is stupidly sentimental but I love the fact that they are called 'Hope', the positiveness of this. The sense of a good outcome. I thought I lost one of them earlier and the bewilderment and sense of loss I felt was unbearable. It felt like I had literally lost hope. I did find it in the end so panic over but in the meantime it got me thinking about our own attachment to stuff. 

To things, objects, paraphernalia, items, junk, clutter or whatever else you want to call it that we hold on to for various reasons. It can get overwhelming, even 'become' an illness and this organisation is set up to help those with this type of condition.

I have watched the TV programs about the 'crazy' man or 'mad' woman living in a house so packed full of stuff that you have to crawl on your hands and knees to get through the door and not really understand why. How am I different with my own things?

This has got the makings of a good PhD for someone somewhere and certainly something that I find interesting. I believe though that it begins with empathy and compassion. You just don't know what that 'stuff' could mean to someone and why.

“You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view... Until you climb inside of his skin and walk around in it.”

Harper Lee, To Kill a Mockingbird

photos from 'Links' website

Up

New year, new start.

There I was blogging merrily away in Egypt and trust the Nile, its immense beauty and the dahabiya we were sailing on to decide to have no web access and my blogging routine disrupted... In fairness, it was also my lack of blogging commitment that put a stop to the writing.  And life in general as the rest of our Egypt holiday was incredible and I've done loads of cool stuff as yet un-blogged since.  In addition, I'm still tweeting away in all its 140-character glory.

I don't do new year resolutions but more as a commitment to myself and by way of keeping in touch (sorry folks - you know who you are) I'm hoping to blog at least once a week as of today. Trust.

So, rather appropriately the first post of 2013 is about 'Up' - the Pixar film that everyone was raving about a couple of years or so back but I just didn't get around to seeing until today, New Year's Day 2013. What a day to watch it and what a wonderful film this is. I really can't believe it has taken me so long to see it.  In watching it through a veil of tears, snot and introspection it's reaffirmed to me that life really is about right now even though you may still be grieving for the life and future you thought you were going to have.   That it's also important to follow what makes you happy and that no matter what you have materially, those that care for you will always be the most important. (Oh my days, I think I'm off again *sobs*).

It is also really quite funny regardless of the weepy stuff I've written above. Really! It's got talking dogs in it, a boy scout and a grumpy old man - what more can a film need?!

2013 - let's make this a memorable one! 

Happy New Year!