Lines, Needle, Rainier
Sunday, June 29, 2008
hot and cold
Well, it's 88 degrees here, today, and I was supposed to be hiking my last training hike today, which I was going to have be pretty intense -and soaking up the delicious weather- before Mt Adams (which is next weekend, hallelujah), and here I have come down with a really nasty virus. I was in denial yesterday, but it's unavoidable today.
It hit me last night in its full-body-ache, phlegmy, inability-to-swallow glory. So I played it cool last night and stayed home with my period-piece George Sand Netflix movie (it was okay). Today I woke up feeling uber-achey and ended up staying in bed all morning, then rolled into the living room to watch the second half of the Euro Cup Final (way to go, Spain).
I'm pretty peeved about this virus. I usually take the bear-through-it approach, not taking much, and not letting it get to me, but I'm not excited for the idea of having compromised lung function on the mountains in the next couple of weeks, so I'm kind of a toxic cloud of vitamins, supplements, and over-the-counter stuff. Bleh. Let's hope it works.
It hit me last night in its full-body-ache, phlegmy, inability-to-swallow glory. So I played it cool last night and stayed home with my period-piece George Sand Netflix movie (it was okay). Today I woke up feeling uber-achey and ended up staying in bed all morning, then rolled into the living room to watch the second half of the Euro Cup Final (way to go, Spain).
I'm pretty peeved about this virus. I usually take the bear-through-it approach, not taking much, and not letting it get to me, but I'm not excited for the idea of having compromised lung function on the mountains in the next couple of weeks, so I'm kind of a toxic cloud of vitamins, supplements, and over-the-counter stuff. Bleh. Let's hope it works.
Friday, June 27, 2008
holy summer, batman
It has arrived!
It's eighty degrees here today, and is supposed to be almost ninety this weekend. This is the Seattle Payoff. The sky is so blue and clear and lovely, I just want to drink it up. Though I certainly am not relishing all this time at my desk, looking at the lovely day from behind sealed windows in an over-air-conditioned office. I can see that the Olympics are conspicuously less snowy (between viaduct columns)... and I like it.
Counting the hours until I head out for dinner and drinks at Agua Verde... yum. Could be a near-perfect evening.
For now, I'm going to escape from my desk into the warm concrete jungle for my lunch break. Maybe Elliot Bay Books. Maybe falafel. The world is my oyster. A warm oyster. Mmm.
It's eighty degrees here today, and is supposed to be almost ninety this weekend. This is the Seattle Payoff. The sky is so blue and clear and lovely, I just want to drink it up. Though I certainly am not relishing all this time at my desk, looking at the lovely day from behind sealed windows in an over-air-conditioned office. I can see that the Olympics are conspicuously less snowy (between viaduct columns)... and I like it.
Counting the hours until I head out for dinner and drinks at Agua Verde... yum. Could be a near-perfect evening.
For now, I'm going to escape from my desk into the warm concrete jungle for my lunch break. Maybe Elliot Bay Books. Maybe falafel. The world is my oyster. A warm oyster. Mmm.
Wednesday, June 25, 2008
Tuesday, June 24, 2008
state of affairs
Well, here I am, a little more than a week away from climbing Mt Adams, and I've found a lot more peace with the situation than I had a week or so ago. I'm really looking forward to it. Though it is crazy that it's only nine days away. And then Rainier is only two and a half weeks away. Yeeeeks! That I'm still a little freaked out about.
Gotta keep training, although I was lazy yesterday, and found the pool full of a class today when I showed up, so ended up being lazy again. Oh well, I've been ignoring my Netflix, and my kitchen, lately, anyway.
Honestly, I don't understand how people truly enjoy working out in gyms. The environment, all stale, sterile, and windowless and full of sweaty people looking at eachother's bodies, it just doesn't do it for me. I will say that it's the only way I can train regularly with Seattle's dismal /unpredictable weather, but when I'm not training for this, you're not going to often find me chained to the stairmaster or treadmill, or better yet, the freeweights. Bleh. It might also be that I just don't identify with people who are really into body image, so the place is inherently a bit intimidating to me, like everybody sees me for the imposter I am. I do like the pool, and the ellipticals. And the saunas and massage rooms, but those aren't quite in the same category. I'm looking forward to trying some new stuff when I'm done ramping up for these climbs. But until then, I have to continue to try and blend in in the cardio room, plugging into my ipod or the cable tv monitors to pass the time.
I'll monitor the mountaineering boots and helmet in the corner from the couch tonight. That's got to be good for something.
Gotta keep training, although I was lazy yesterday, and found the pool full of a class today when I showed up, so ended up being lazy again. Oh well, I've been ignoring my Netflix, and my kitchen, lately, anyway.
Honestly, I don't understand how people truly enjoy working out in gyms. The environment, all stale, sterile, and windowless and full of sweaty people looking at eachother's bodies, it just doesn't do it for me. I will say that it's the only way I can train regularly with Seattle's dismal /unpredictable weather, but when I'm not training for this, you're not going to often find me chained to the stairmaster or treadmill, or better yet, the freeweights. Bleh. It might also be that I just don't identify with people who are really into body image, so the place is inherently a bit intimidating to me, like everybody sees me for the imposter I am. I do like the pool, and the ellipticals. And the saunas and massage rooms, but those aren't quite in the same category. I'm looking forward to trying some new stuff when I'm done ramping up for these climbs. But until then, I have to continue to try and blend in in the cardio room, plugging into my ipod or the cable tv monitors to pass the time.I'll monitor the mountaineering boots and helmet in the corner from the couch tonight. That's got to be good for something.
i love Interpol
just an observation. from NYC, off The Man Machine album-
I had seven faces
Thought I new which one to wear
But I'm sick of spending these lonely nights
Training myself not to care
The subway is a porno
The pavements they are a mess
I know you've supported me for a long time
Somehow I'm not impressed
But
New York cares
(Got to be some more change in my life)
The subway she is a porno
The pavements they are a mess
I know you've supported me for a long time
Somehow I'm not impressed
It's up to me now, turn on the bright lights
I had seven faces
Thought I new which one to wear
But I'm sick of spending these lonely nights
Training myself not to care
The subway is a porno
The pavements they are a mess
I know you've supported me for a long time
Somehow I'm not impressed
But
New York cares
(Got to be some more change in my life)
The subway she is a porno
The pavements they are a mess
I know you've supported me for a long time
Somehow I'm not impressed
It's up to me now, turn on the bright lights
Wednesday, June 18, 2008
lame horse...
...would like to be shot.
With the training, it's like I'm always tired, always hungry, lately. Very compact social life as well. Now I'm just getting by with the thought that I can chill out all I want in less than a month. When I'm off the mountains, I'm going to sleep forever... I'm going to go out drinking regularly, especially on weeknights. I'm going to eat pastries and pie. I'm going to fork over the cash to have my own internet connection at home and blog for hours in my underwear on my bed while eating pastries and drinking cocktails. Then I'm going to find illicit things to do and go into work late the next day.
Then maybe I'll take up yoga.
With the training, it's like I'm always tired, always hungry, lately. Very compact social life as well. Now I'm just getting by with the thought that I can chill out all I want in less than a month. When I'm off the mountains, I'm going to sleep forever... I'm going to go out drinking regularly, especially on weeknights. I'm going to eat pastries and pie. I'm going to fork over the cash to have my own internet connection at home and blog for hours in my underwear on my bed while eating pastries and drinking cocktails. Then I'm going to find illicit things to do and go into work late the next day.
Then maybe I'll take up yoga.
Monday, June 16, 2008
croutons
This Op-Ed article in the NYT yesterday reminds me of home, and my family.
My mom and I stash this plastic doll leg we found in her house (where I grew up) for eachother to find. Under pillows, in luggage, under the fabric dinner napkin- hilarious and creepy every time. Best when you see the foot slyly peeking out. My grandmother and she, and now I, have been exchanging a plastic cauliflower (like the kind that goes along with Playskool kitchens) for thirty years at christmas, elaborately wrapped to deceive its identity until you unwrap it.
But my mom also has lots of random, small containers of old croutons and condiments that she guards when I start trying to streamline her kitchen.
My mom and I stash this plastic doll leg we found in her house (where I grew up) for eachother to find. Under pillows, in luggage, under the fabric dinner napkin- hilarious and creepy every time. Best when you see the foot slyly peeking out. My grandmother and she, and now I, have been exchanging a plastic cauliflower (like the kind that goes along with Playskool kitchens) for thirty years at christmas, elaborately wrapped to deceive its identity until you unwrap it.
But my mom also has lots of random, small containers of old croutons and condiments that she guards when I start trying to streamline her kitchen.
Friday, June 13, 2008
urban mountaineering
Now that I have a significant percentage of my gear to head up the mountains, I'm feeling more technically prepared. On a side note, however, as it creeps closer and closer, I feel more and more anxious, and the incessant training doesn't help me feel more physically prepared, is just bringing me closer to burning out.
Nonetheless, I decided to toss the gear I had, plus some full bottles of water, cookbooks and landscape architecture textbooks, into my backpack and scale some steeper portions of Queen Anne last night after work. It was a great evening for it, calm and sunny with a lovely sunset over the Olympics. I mostly took the stairs that wind between the stately homes in the southwest portion of the hillside, but also hoofed it down and back up again through Kinnear Park. Which was comical, because as the park is a steep hillside full of invasive weeds above the industrial Interbay neighborhood, it's not all that well-taken care of, and is full of homeless people camping there. It wasn't dark yet, so it didn't intimidate me, but because I was wearing a giant backpack, it appeared as though the many men whom I passed along the way, welcoming me with smiles, nods, and even waves, were ready to welcome me into their tribe. I was friendly, but kept moving.
There are quite a few out of the way nooks and crannies that dead-end into hillsides (often with fantastic views) in that area that you might never come across, even as a Queen Anne resident, and it was cool to have a reason to stumble across them. There are quite a few homes that have front porches opening onto pedestrian paths and stairs because the grades are too steep for roads. Kind of Montmartre-sque, in that respect.
I ended up tooling up and down until it got dark (which is quite late, like nine thirty or ten in these parts this time of year), and made my way to my old neighborhood, and chatted with my former neighbors. By the time I started heading home it was well past dark, and I realized that the cats were out of food, so I figured what better way to make use of the backpack on my back, and the need for training, than to pick some up there on Upper Queen Anne and lug it home? After I left Safeway I realized I had little for me to eat at home, either, so I stopped at Metropolitan Market and threw some pasta salad in there for me, too. Which totally cracked me up, but apparently not other people quite as much, because everyone either didn't notice, or appeared to avoid eye contact with me. Which made me even more amused, secretly.
I had a hard time dragging myself out of bed this morning- big surprise.
Nonetheless, I decided to toss the gear I had, plus some full bottles of water, cookbooks and landscape architecture textbooks, into my backpack and scale some steeper portions of Queen Anne last night after work. It was a great evening for it, calm and sunny with a lovely sunset over the Olympics. I mostly took the stairs that wind between the stately homes in the southwest portion of the hillside, but also hoofed it down and back up again through Kinnear Park. Which was comical, because as the park is a steep hillside full of invasive weeds above the industrial Interbay neighborhood, it's not all that well-taken care of, and is full of homeless people camping there. It wasn't dark yet, so it didn't intimidate me, but because I was wearing a giant backpack, it appeared as though the many men whom I passed along the way, welcoming me with smiles, nods, and even waves, were ready to welcome me into their tribe. I was friendly, but kept moving.
There are quite a few out of the way nooks and crannies that dead-end into hillsides (often with fantastic views) in that area that you might never come across, even as a Queen Anne resident, and it was cool to have a reason to stumble across them. There are quite a few homes that have front porches opening onto pedestrian paths and stairs because the grades are too steep for roads. Kind of Montmartre-sque, in that respect.
I ended up tooling up and down until it got dark (which is quite late, like nine thirty or ten in these parts this time of year), and made my way to my old neighborhood, and chatted with my former neighbors. By the time I started heading home it was well past dark, and I realized that the cats were out of food, so I figured what better way to make use of the backpack on my back, and the need for training, than to pick some up there on Upper Queen Anne and lug it home? After I left Safeway I realized I had little for me to eat at home, either, so I stopped at Metropolitan Market and threw some pasta salad in there for me, too. Which totally cracked me up, but apparently not other people quite as much, because everyone either didn't notice, or appeared to avoid eye contact with me. Which made me even more amused, secretly.
I had a hard time dragging myself out of bed this morning- big surprise.
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