After a brief stop at the hot sauce festival (some yummy hot sauces in very hot temperatures!), I took the bus down to the south gym. I had a really awesome session, mainly working on the cave problem. At first I was getting stuck early in the route at an awkward position that I seemingly couldn’t move out of, and no matter how many times I tried I couldn’t figure out how to get past it. After a brief break though I had a few more ideas, and toe-hooking a small sidepull-ish hold was enough to do the trick. I still ended up having to cut my feet which is always inevitably followed by some crazy swinging, but the hold I was moving to was big enough that it didn’t matter.

After finally getting past that part, I was able to work the problem up until the last few moves. Alas, by that part in the route my arms and fingers were already so tired (plus I had been climbing for awhile already) that I just didn’t have enough in me to finish the route. Plus, the last few moves were more powerful moves (rather than more technical like the beginning), which of course makes it harder to finish for people like me that are short with poor endurance. :)

Towards the end of my session they started taking down all the cave problems. They gave me a chance to get on the problem one last time, but I passed. I wasn’t going to finish the problem that day, since at that point I had moved on and was pretty much done climbing altogether. I’m sure if I worked on it for a couple more days I would’ve finished it, but really, I was already proud of myself - I consider it an accomplishment enough for me that I was able to work that far through the problem on my own.

Plus, my arms and shoulders are SO tired today, way more tired than they’ve been in awhile. It was a good last session!

So what’s in store next? Chill bought some new holds, so we’ll be setting and training at Marisa’s wall this week until we leave for Virginia! The holds are awesome, but they are also hard crimpers, pinchers, and mini-slopers. Fingertips, get ready!

Yesterday I also went running outside on the trail for the first time in awhile (a week or so) and it was hard. I went in the morning to avoid the brutal heat, though it was still pretty hot at 8AM. I went 6+ miles at a slow pace, and I’m just glad I managed to finish the loop without completely passing out. :) I can’t wait until it gets cooler when running outside won’t be as difficult anymore; maybe then I’ll be able to ramp up the mileage again.

Today I did not climb and did a track workout at Clark Field - ran the 3/4 or so miles to the track, ran another mile or so, lunges + plyos, then 30-second intervals with 30 seconds of rest (8x), 3/4 miles warm down, stretch, ran back home. I also did some pull-ups just for kicks. I did 10 and decided that was enough, even though I felt like I could do more. It was the first time I had done pull-ups since the ARG membership climbing spree and I am definitely stronger. Yay for results!

I’m a relatively new climber, so don’t laugh when I celebrate sends of grades that any decent climber could probably onsite with their eyes closed. :) Before the membership I was probably a solid V1-V2 climber, i.e. I could send V1s easily and most V2s and project some V3s. Now I’m one grade up, V2s are simple and V3s are sendable and V4s I can project and send. You don’t know how excited I was a couple of weeks ago when I sent my first V4. Since then I’ve sent a few more V4s and am projecting some really cool problems, and I’m really, really excited!

Of course climbing outdoors has always been harder for me, with the increased scare factor and holds that are either too polished or too sharp, so we’ll see how things go when we go back outside after the membership is over. Until then, the gym training continues!

It was fun though. Friday night we drove up early to catch the Boston Red Sox - Texas Rangers game with a bunch of friends, which was really fun (minus the fact that it was brutally hot and humid). Nine home runs + extra innings, it was an offensive spectacle and extremely amusing, especially considering we got to witness six people getting kicked out and my fantasy player hit one of those home runs… in fact, everyone who had a fantasy player had a home run. :)

Now that the weekend is over, time to get back into the routine! Cardio at the gym during lunch, climbing after work.

So yesterday was my first “real” two-a-day. During lunch I went to the gym and did 30 minutes of semi-light cardio on the arc trainer and my usual core workout (100 slow sit-ups on the exercise ball + back and oblique lifts). In the evening I ran 2.5 miles to the track and met up with a few of my ultimate teammates for a track workout. After our usual warm-up and plyos we did a ladder:

That was followed by squats, jumps, and core. It was a great workout and a great day. So I think I’ll try to do more of these, though probably not as crazy.

Today is a climbing day, which is always a great day. I’ll be hitting up the gym either during the day or after work for 45-60 min of cardio before going to the climbing gym and climbing for 3 hours. :) I guess that will count as another two-a-day!

One thing that has changed is that I’m now eating breakfast! If you know me then this is a pretty big deal. I’d gone over 28 years of my life without eating anything before noon, and while my eating habits had drastically improved since college (and I mean *drastically*), I knew I still had improvements to make, and adding the small morning meal was my first step. It has definitely helped my eating habits overall, though with my addiction to sweets and late-night snacks, I think I will always be a work in progress. :)

Lastly, the last part of this post’s title talks about a change in direction. What this means is that I am getting the urge to write more posts again, and that the subject matter will probably be more exercise related. Thus, this blog may very well turn into a workout blog. Slash running blog. Slash climbing blog. We’ll see what happens. :)

• Sitting 11 rows up from the field. We were so very close.
• Alex Smith replaces Shaun in the second half, when the 49ers almost came back from a 21-0 deficit. Made for quite an exciting finish, but not sure if this is a good or bad thing?
• Three army people parachuting into the stadium from the sky, one holding an American flag and another holding a football. This was pretty awesome.
• The Bushes were at the game. HW and W were witnesses of the game-opening coin toss. When we found out they were there, first thing we thought? “Um, I’m not sure how safe I feel being in the same stadium as these guys…”
• Seeing Shaun after the game. First thing he said? “Since I’ve been playing this sport, that was only the second game I’ve started and didn’t finish.” FYI, the first time was when he was at Maryland and got injured. Yep, this time it’s a bit different…
• Houston’s lightrail = awesome. When is Austin’s going to become available???

After the game we had dinner with Chill’s mom. This is when the real fun begins. About 15 minutes after finishing dinner, I started feeling a sharp, acute pain on my left side. At first I thought it was a cramp or something, so no big deal. But then I started feeling nausea and the pain was getting worse. My natural instinct is to lay down and curl into a ball to make things feel better, but nothing made it feel better, and every movement felt like it was making it worse. While the vomiting and nausea made us think it could be food poisoning, no one else was getting sick, and the pain in my side was very sharp and constant and did not subside at all, only worsened. We decided to head to an emergency clinic, and after lots of drugs and tests, voila - it was a kidney stone! 18 hours later, I am feeling almost back to normal, but looking back at it all feels very surreal.

• FYI, kidney stones = severe, severe pain. I hope I (and you) never have to go through that again. The doc asked me what it felt like on a pain scale of 1 to 10. My answer was 9. I may probably be a wuss, but considering other pains I’ve felt in my life (which is not very much, I’m guessing), this was pretty bad. I mean, I couldn’t even concentrate nearly enough to watch the NFL and MLB games on TV, I was feeling so horrible. Plus, read this Wikipedia article: “…described as one of the strongest pain sensations felt by humans (including the pain of labor pains in a female)”. So there!
• For the first time in my life, I had the most pleasant experience of getting an IV. They pumped over 1.5 liters of fluid into me. Plus drugs, lots of drugs. Morphine? Been there, done that.
• Getting a CAT scan made me feel like I was in a Sci-Fi movie. Look at how fast the thing is spinning around! OK, I was probably a bit effected by the first round of pain and nausea medications I got into my IV… but it was still cool. And it was distractive enough that I actually felt the best during the scan than any other period in the place.
• I slept for 12 hours after all the hoopla, I still feel drowsy/tired… those meds really did the trick, eh?
• Chill being the most supportive = best ever.

One of the nurses gave me a CD with my CAT scan stuff on it. Guess that means pictures are soon to come. :)

FRIDAY

My bike was fixed (from being hit by a car four days prior) just in the nick of time so that I could ride my bike to Zilker on Friday. It was a pretty sweet ride since I just took the Lance Armstrong bikeway from downtown straight to Austin High and the Mopac pedestrian bridge, which led right to the Town Lake entrance. I actually think it took longer trying to lock my bike into one of the racks than it took to actually bike there.

I got there around 2:45pm and saw the last half of the Averett Brothers, who sounded awesome. After that I sat and listened to The Walkmen’s set, then got in semi-close for Phoenix. I had no idea who Phoenix was, did not know their music at all, but chose them over Coheed & Cambria because I knew I did not like C&C. Phoenix was just awesome, and turns out I did know a couple of their songs… probably from commercials or radio randomness.

I then camped out for Thievery Corporation because I knew (from ACL 2006) they put on a most wonderful show, and it was. I then ran over to catch Them Crooked Vultures, listening to a little bit of Andrew Bird on the way. I initially thought I was going to see Kings of Leon to end the day, but then flopped over to the Yeah Yeah Yeahs. And they were sooooo good.

Biking home was pretty uneventful as well, minus having to dodge the pedestrians walking on the bike path who didn’t know what “ON YOUR LEFT” meant.

SATURDAY

They were calling for rain and storms both Saturday and Sunday, so I decided to ride/walk in with my friend Kristen. Saturday was her day and I really didn’t have any preferences at all, so I followed her lead. While it didn’t rain on our walk in, it started to rain shortly after we got there. It was a cold steady rain that, despite having a semi-effective hoodie jacket, made me feel thankful that I brought my umbrella. We listened to a bit of Grizzly Bear, then some of Citizen Cope, then Bon Iver. We headed out towards Mos Def a bit early but then got sidetracked at the football tent where the end of the LSU-Georgia game was playing out. When we got there, the score was 7-6 with GA in the lead and basically two minutes left. Who knew that the teams would score three more touchdowns to make an insanely exciting end to the game?

Mos Def ended up starting 30 minutes late, which was super lame. We left after basically one song to camp out for the Decemberists, the anticipated show of the day. The played their latest album front to end non-stop, and they were amazing. I’d never seen them live as a band (I’ve seen Colin Meloy solo), what a great show. After that was the choice between Ghostland and Dave. While I’m not the biggest Dave fan, I’d never seen them before and he IS fro my hometown (and I’ve seen GLO four times)… but I got so excited when I saw the laser lights being tested out through the clouds and rain that I ended up going to see Ghostland. I did catch a song or two out of Dave when leaving though, so I guess I can officially now say I’ve seen him.

I was so cold and wet and muddy after getting home that I rinsed my shoes off under hot water in the condo’s first-floor bathroom before taking a nice, long, hot bath that felt so very awesome.

SUNDAY

The last leg, and I admit I had to do some extra self-motivating to get myself up and moving. I had a plan though - I HAD to see Passion Pit since I barely missed out on them when they played at Emo’s a few months ago and Charlottesville-based Sons of Bill were also playing (although basically at the same time as PP - stupid schedule).

Of course, walking into Zilker I noticed that it was a little muddy. The first few steps were okay - dirty, but nothing out of ordinary - but then reality set in, as the “grass” disappeared and the mud became thicker, then eventually turning into a wet, thick, sludge that covered your feet completely and smelled pretty not-awesome. I was walking on the way to the Toadies, but soon decided that it was okay to listen to them from far away. From that point on, I decided that I was going to minimize travel distance the rest of the day.

I went over to the BMI stage, where Sons of Bill were going to play, a bit early because it was the only stage where you could actually see grass. I was amused by the crowd that formed there - some probably because of the grass - but mostly it seemed like a lot of the crowd was from Charlottesville. It was almost like a little reunion in the middle of the festival. Pretty sweet. In any case, I got to hear SOB play three songs (they sounded so good, so happy for them!).

I headed over to Passion Pit as fast as I could through the sludge and stayed for their entire set. What an awesome group, I love their stuff! I then went over to The Dead Weather for a few songs before heading back to the Dell stage to wait for Girl Talk. GT was BADASS. I thought I had no energy left, but I ended up dancing through the entire thing.

No Pearl Jam for me, I headed out after the awesomeness of GT and couldn’t wait to hose my feet down. The mud was definitely the hot topic of ACL Sunday. It was pretty ridiculous.

So one major thing that has developed over the past few months: I am now addicted to rock climbing. I’ve been climbing for almost 4 months now, and I am obsessed. I go to the climbing gym 2-3 times a week and have taken a few trips outdoors as well. I don’t know why I’ve become so nutso about it. It’s just tons of fun and very rewarding. I can pretty much onsight V0s and V1s in the gym and am working on V2s and V3s. And I’m finally working out my upper body! I could barely do one pull-up before starting all this nonsense, and now I can do three easily. My arms are getting toned, I’m feeling stronger… and I haven’t lifted a single weight! So awesome.

I have already looked up (multiple times) where the climbing gyms are in Santa Cruz. I probably won’t have time to climb while over there, but just in case…

If you haven’t seen the movie and/or read the book and don’t want to be spoiled… then don’t keep reading.

So where to begin? Yes, the movie left out a lot. But usually this is fine, as the previous movies were good, standalone movies that were still entertaining and had a good plot line, even for those who had never read the books. The HBP was lacking in a solid story line to follow… it’s as if nothing really happens in the movie. The book centers around the mysterious Half-Blood Prince (Harry grows in awe of the HBP, even to a point of idolizing, but who is he, is he Harry’s father?), the facts behind Voldemort’s troubled past (memories dedicated to learning about his grandfather, his mother and uncle, how he became obsessed with dark magic, revenge, collecting “trophies”, and ultimately immortality, how his past has influenced his current personality and outlook), and the Horcruxes and realizing what Harry must do to end the magical war (and ultimately end the series). By the end of the book, you know (basically) what all the Horcruxes are, and you learn about all the reasons why Voldemort has become who he has become. You learn that Snape is the Half-Blood Prince, which is a more significant realization in the book because of all the mystery that was built up to it. And of course, Dumbledore’s death, the person that has been there for Harry throughout the series and has taught Harry so much, has led him along through all the learnings of the Horcruxes and Voldemort’s past… the book pretty much finalizes his death (no, he is NOT secretly alive and coming back), and Harry realizes that he is alone in his endeavor to finish Voldemort, that he cannot rely on Dumbledore anymore. In the last few pages of the book, Harry grows up a LOT.

Then there’s the whole Snape-killed-Dumbledore bit, where by the end of the book we really do hate Snape, we really think he’s evil and horrible and has tricked Dumbledore. Yes, there are a few subtle hints as to his true allegiance, and I remember thinking there was more to it than meets the eye, but you were surprised when it happened. It was shocking to think of Harry Potter without Dumbledore. Snape being the Half-Blood Prince, whom Harry idolized but also hates because he is Snape, and loathes even more after the killing. Learning that Snape was the one who overheard the prophecy when it was made and was the one who ran to Voldemort to tell him of the prophecy - he was the one that delivered the message that ultimately caused the deaths of Harry’s parents. Snape’s character is so important in the outcome of the series, and the HBP book set it up that way.

The film took out most of the memories about Voldemort’s past and story, didn’t spend much time on Horcruxes, and barely touched on the Half-Blood Prince - all the things that made the HBP story interesting and significant. It was almost as if you couldn’t understand why the title of the whole story was called the HBP. And Snape’s bare-mention of him being the Half-Blood Prince at the end of the film, almost too casually, even made it worse. It was almost like it was just thrown in there because it was important, but the viewers didn’t actually know why it was so important. Of course, Snape’s character was not developed at all, and it’ll be interesting to see how the last two movies will go about Snape’s character, especially how important he becomes. I was also appalled that so much time was spent on the whole romance bit, even more appalled that the Burrow attack scene was ADDED (did NOT happen in the book)… why did they do that, when they could’ve used that time to include more memories, or explain the Horcruxes, or anything else? The HBP is a complex book with a ton of character development and so much backstory and story, most of which was eliminated in the film. Perhaps they were concerned of the “lack of action” that the movie would have - adding an action scene to make it “more interesting” and focusing more on teenage romance which appeals to younger audiences - but I feel like that was a cop-out. Perhaps the decisions were made to make a better movie, but in fact they made it worse. I don’t know, I feel like if I hadn’t read the books I would be completely lost in the film, with all its randomness and piecemealing of facts.

The film did do a good job with Malfoy’s character, and I thought the opening action sequence with the bridge in London and the cave/lake scene were very good. Especially the cave/lake scene - it was almost an exact duplicate of how I imagined the scene to be in my head when I read the book. But all in all, it was a disappointment.