Falls:

Great Falls was incredible. Hopefully I'll have pictures up soon.

edit: or rather, just go check facebook.

Here's one. This was my favorite part. Bouldering is so much fun and is significantly easier to get set up than a top rope. This particular place was awesome because there's a flowing river behind us and rock surrounding us on three sides. Oh, and the ground there is not gravel, but actually small sea shells. Very unique. Jeff and I chalked a super intense, super fun problem there. I named it The Viper (V 2-, any feet).

Recruit:

It was such a beautiful day out, I decided it would be a crime to not stop by the wall. After a strenuous workout, I figured I should finish off with the usual "pull ups till failure". As I was just hanging there, a man walked by and said, "If you can do fifteen pull ups, I'll pay for your semester." And I was thinking, "Man, I bet he thinks that I can't" because... well you know. So I pumped out 15 quick ones and was like, "What now, *****?" Not really.

Andddd he hands me this card. On it, of course, says Maryland ROTC. Psssh, I ain't doing pull ups for no one anymore. Except for girls.

I completely destroyed myself today. But we're going again to the wall tomorrow. And then to climb at Great Falls on Friday. All this in preparation for the competition the following Saturday.

Wallets:

Some guys carry condoms in their wallets. I carry moist wet towelettes.

After eating an orange at lunch today, Esther asked if anyone had a moist wet towelette on them. It just so happened that I've been carrying one in my wallet just for such an occassion. Sadly, the towelette was all dried out even though it was still sealed in the silvery packet they come in. I don't really get it. Where does the moisture wetness go? It's a good thing I don't carry condoms around. I mean...

Facebook:

Confession:
Just a moment ago I walked into the West Lounge of the Union, and as I was sitting down some blonde girl at another table half waved at me. I had no idea who she was, but she looked vaguely familiar. I then proceeded to use facebook to figure out that she went to the same high school and is a friend of a friend of a friend in high school. Facebook is a blessing and a plague.

222:

Post number 222.

How do you wait for Heaven?
And who has that much time?
And how do you keep your feet on the ground
When you know that you were born to fly?
- Sara Evans

(insert illustration)

Win:

Woke up pretty early to do the usual in DC. Got back, read outside and played bocci ball with Ryan and Liz, mowed the lawn, and then I had to drive back home. I realized that I didn't have a pair of black dress shoes here so I drove all the way home, picked up a few things, waited around for a while since there was a bad accident on 495, and then drove back. Somewhat uneventful day.

Tomorrow starts at 4:20 am, with us out the door before 5:10. It's gonna be an early one. Church after the sunrise service, back here for a nap, and then climbing at the ORC wall. Pretty packed.

Let's play a game. I don't care what game it is, I already win. Because....

Booyah. Please excuse my overconfidence.

Labyrinth:

Today's labyrinth wasn't quite my cup of tea. I realized that as far as meditation goes, I am hyper-sensitive to sound and pretty sensitive to visual stimuli. By that I mean that I reflect best in silence since I can easily become distracted when I focus on the pitch, timbre, or rhythmic patterns of other sounds. And this includes not just music. I could be listening to a recording of a vacuum cleaner and still be tempted to try and understand the audile qualities of the sound. So the accented guiding voice wasn't really conducive for me. And the trancey music... I'll just leave that one alone. Silence, it's the way to go.

I also was hoping something more old schoolish. I think it would be neat to spend a couple of days journeying through an underground dungeon maze. I'd take a medium sized piece of cloth and turn it into a travelling satchel, just as they did in the old days.

Also of note, today I had a strange... something in between a dream and a vision. Jayme was dressed up in a pretty hardcore, stealthy geddup and had a high caliber sniper rifle... slightly older with a wood stock. She fires and the shot whizzes by just left of my head. Naturally I duck down, but then I know that I'm pinned and if I try to find better cover or run for help I'd be taken out. And that's all I got. What does it mean? Isn't that strange? I probably should avoid getting on her bad side for a while.

That's enough randomness for now. You know the rest.

Vent:

The past two days have proven to be more stressful than I had hoped. Though when I think back on what I did throughout the past 48 hours, it doesn't seem that bad. Oh well, the point is that they're now over. I was really looking forward to doing something exciting, yet relaxing this evening to vent but nothing seemed to pop up. So instead I cleaned and did laundry. Not exactly what I had in mind, but I am glad that my sheets are finally clean now that the washer is fixed. So tomorrow better be spectacular or else I'm going to be pretty disappointed.

Oh yeah, I also pulled out MD t-shirts to see what might work well. I think I'm actually short on red, much to my surprise. Somehow I'm seeing black overpower all the other colors. So if you have any extra red MD t-shirts just lying around, send 'em my way.

Sonrise:

Come with?
6:30 Sunrise Service, Lincoln Memorial Steps

Gymkana:

Gymkana is sick. And I mean sick in that cool, awesome sort of way. Everybody loves the exhibition that they put on during half-time shows, especially the ring of fire part. But the homeshow definitely took things to a whole new level.

You know how towards the end of the jumping they save the highest and most intricate jumps for last? You then immediately know who are the elite gymnasts, and that they're going to do something spectacular. Steve was that person for almost all of the men's events. I've gotta grab the videos from Andy and put them up on Google video... they're ridiculous! Basically he was just showing off some amazing feats of strength. I bet he was still feeding off of the amazing powers given to him through the Jesus-sash.

At the beginning of the show, right before they started doing the vaulting and the ring of fire, Andy leans over and says, "I've got a feeling that someone's going to be hospitalized." And boy was he right. One girl went over and landed wrong. She wasn't moving... at all. And the worse part- nobody stopped! Two or three more jumpers vaulted over and just landed on this (what we all presumed to be) dead girl... not even the spotters bothered to move her until at least three vaulters had gone over. They carried her off and she was still not moving. Then not a minute later, another girl went over, landed wrong, and laid on the mat not moving. This time they were a little better at clearing her out of the way, but didn't carry off her limp body until a few more jumpers had gone over. Obviously, both were rushed to the hospital. The first girl bit through her lip, and also had a concussion, hence why she was completely knocked out. The second injury was a torn ACL, which also sucks majorly considering the lasting impact of that sort of damage. What a craaaaazy show. Either time, we could have just witnessed one of those girls dying right in front of us... because it certainly seemed like it.

The beginning definitely was a reality check; those acts are actually really, really dangerous. But I guess such are the risks of promoting a drug free life style. I don't see myself doing Gymkana anytime soon, but we were fairly inspired to try and do fun and absurd things on our own. I'll one up them by learning to do a standing back flip... while my shoes are on fire. That's definitely something you can't do while stoned.

Rocked:

Yup, I'm pretty thoroughly rocked. Also, my stomach is sore from all the sugar.

Proud:

I really am geniunely proud of them. No, I nor anyone I know can claim to being a diehard women's basketball fan prior to their successes in the tournament, but I can still be proud. They definitely EARNED everyone's respect. We as a school have ignored them, and instead have always put the limelight on the men's team... even when they're being embarassing. Tonight the Terps showed skill, but really what's taken them all the way to the top is perseverance. And for that, I regard them as heroes.

Season:

It's that time of year again- when the weather is finally permitting of awesome outdoor activities; mainly climbing, but also a good dose of bocce ball and freeze tag. It's time to start getting in shape so that I don't get out run and shown up by anymore 11 year olds.

One of the first things you learn in climbing is to hang with your arms fully extended if you can (called a dead arm hang). If you have no where to put your feet then this applies even more so. A person dead hanging on a hold will last about three times longer than a person with bent arms, pulling their head above their hands. Note, the drawing shows a person in a bent arm hang, but naturally he has no where else to go so it is not considered bad form.

Now that you have that tidbit of information, it's time for you to start climbing. The wall is open every Sunday and Tuesday from 4-8 pm. No skill required... just the simple desire to be more like Jeff Schuch.