Monday, September 13, 2010

What Else?

My family and friends must be getting tired of hearing about my writing life because someone recently asked, "So, what else are you doing? What have you been up to?"

What I'm up to is bouldering and buildering, veganing and watching roller derby (but not all at the same time).

About bouldering:

I discovered this with the help of a friend and freaked over it, a little. Who knew climbing around on walls could be so awesome? And it builds muscle like crazy. The crummy thing is, the nearest gym is an hour away.

So, just for fun sometimes I gotta builder. In other words, climbing around in places I probably shouldn't like a monkey. Mind you, I'm a novice at both of these activities, but this one is particularly appealing to the juvenile delinquent (by which, of course, I mean "free spirit") that lives in the corner of my heart. A good friend is an influence in this regard.

So here I am climbing around on stuff behind the post office. Postal people might not appreciate this activity in the same way I do, so I'm buildering after hours. My son thought it was a hoot and joined right in. Is this a negative thing?


This silliness is abetted by the fact that I just acquired a pair of Vibram Sprints, five-fingered toe shoes that garner weird looks everywhere they go because, frankly, they are odd-looking. But they give you all kinds of grip, and they're comfy. I walked a couple of miles in them today, rode a bike and then set a bad example at the post office after dark. Good times.

Tomorrow: veganing and roller derby. Those need their own posts, methinks.

7 comments:

JohnR said...

I so approve of this message! :)

Kids know where it's at. They're always climbing things--climbing everything! (at least I did, when I was a kid). It's only later that we are taught that there are socially designated climbing spaces, and I think we learn to see the world differently, in more restricted ways.

Total digression, but have you heard of parkour or seen any parkour videos?

Here's one, (you can skip to 2:00) but don't try this at home! There's some overlap with buildering. These would be good skills for post-apocalyptic or dystopic urban characters to have. :)

JohnR said...

Oh, and great action shots, btw! Look at you rock the rock (and post office) :)

Trace Yulie said...

Holy crap! Those parkour guys are madly agile and conditioned. Me, not so much.

Fearlessness is obviously required; I'm still working on the fear of heights with the bouldering.

JohnR said...

It also makes belayed climbing look like a very safe sport!

Trace Yulie said...

It REALLY does.

Trace Yulie said...

I actually think these are awful, blurry shots, but they're all I had. Thanks, though!

Glenn W. said...

I blame the photographers. ;)