Getting Myself Into Trouble (Again)

[jaunthie]

I'm not a difficult person to understand, really. Like most people, I really dislike being told that I cannot do something. Even, as it turns out, when my very own brain (not to mention my gimpy knee) is the one doing the telling.

You see, heights and I Do Not Get Along. I am not the worst acrophobe I know, not by a long shot, but I am unmistakably afraid of heights. I am even more afraid of falling. I am VERY aware of gravity, believe me.

I am also not a particularly physically talented person, athletically speaking. In particular, I am pretty much a wimp when it comes to upper-body strength. And as mentioned above, I have a bad knee. There have been times when I have not been able to bend my knee, and although it's much better now that I've spent a lot of time over the last couple of years working on it, the knee still makes ugly popping noises on occasion, and is easy to irritate.

So what did fisherbear and I give each other for Valentine's Day? Other than a romantic dinner out on the town, etc.?



Why, a two-hour introductary class on indoor rock climbing at the local climbing gym, of course. Which comes with a two-week trial membership.

Why no, you're not wrong in thinking that this is nuts. I quite agree.

Nonetheless, Monday night saw us taking the class together. Just us, as it turned out: we were the only two people signed up. Our instructor was very nice. Learning how to put the harnesses on, tie the knots, put the rope through the belay devices, etc. was all very straightforward and relatively easy. Going up the wall, however...

...well, that was another story. Fisherbear went up all the way in the practice room, no problem. Me? I could get up about ten feet before my brain let me know in no uncertain terms (and in very bad language) that this was completely nuts, and that we were not doing this, no way, no how. Out in the climbing gym proper, I did a little bit better on a sloped wall (the practice room walls were all vertical). Which is to say I made it up maybe 15-20 feet before my brain shut me down (with lots more bad language). Not to mention my arms and shoulders and legs were all swearing at me too by then. So I did not make it up any of the climbing walls, not even on the easiest route they had.

However. Remember when I said that the class came with a two-week free pass to the gym? Yeah. And the class gives you a "provisional" card that says you've been taught to tie on and belay, but you have to come back on another day and prove that you remember what you were taught before they'll give you the certificate/card that says that yes, you know how to do it. So I had to go back.

Fast-forward to this Saturday. A gorgeous sunny spring Saturday, much more like April than Februrary. Glorious weather for being outdoors catching up on yardwork. And yet, somehow, instead of being outside, Saturday afternoon found me on the way BACK to the climbing gym, this time with both fisherbear and monkeybard. Monkeybard is a climber, and a member of the climbing gym, and a Big Climbing Enthusiast. She's been urging me to try this for months, and she is a Very Determined Person.

She is also an incredibly patient person. She stood there at the bottom of the rope, belaying me and talking me up the wall, telling me where all the holds were so I did not have to look down (VERY important), and basically all but physically pushing me up the wall.

And I made it to the top.

Twice.

On official routes, even.

Now granted, these were the easiest two routes in the entire gym. And I failed utterly at the next two I tried. And my brain was screaming VERY BAD LANGUAGE at me prety much the entire time. My hands were shaking uncontrollably from all the adrenaline my lizard brain insisted on pumping into my system. And by the end, my bad knee was thoroughly pissed off with me and threatening to give.

But. I can now say that I have climbed to the top of a thirty-foot climbing wall. Not to mention successfully been belayed down same, WITHOUT getting stuck up on the wall like a cat in a tree. (Not an unlikely occurance, believe me; I've been stuck before.)

Am I going to turn into a climbing fan, or suddenly discover that I am not afraid of heights after all? The second is extremely unlikely, and I'm not at all sure about the first. But I did it.

So take that, fearful brain. Stubborn brain FTW. At least this time.


Also, like most people, I have my little enthusiasms. Or maybe not so little. It's very easy for me to go overboard.

And of course it's ever so much more fun when you can share your enthusiasms with others.



Jake and I had a Very Successful Mutual Gardening Experiment last year. We're excited to do it again this year. And in furtherance of our mutual gardening madness, we decided to coordinate on our seed and plant order from our favorite supplier. After all, why pay shipping twice? And if we're interested in the same things, why not get a bigger packet to split between us than pay more each for smaller individual packets?

All very logical, of course.

So Jake and Roo invited us over for dinner and socializing on Saturday. And it was a lovely dinner and we had a great time. (And many thanks to them for having us!) Part of the goal of our getting-together was so that Jake and I could finalize our order. But what this clever scheme did NOT take into account is the mutual egging-on effect of two garden-mad people looking through a catalog filled with pretty pictures and scrumptious descriptions. Temptation indeed.

Jake and I have agreed that really, the only logical thing to do is for us to win the lottery so we can buy a nice big piece of property, build our individual houses at either end of it, and have all the land in between as our garden. Because that's the only way we're ever going to really have enough space to grow everything that we want.

It would probably work better if we bought a lottery ticket. But you get the idea.

In the meantime, we have a moderately epic order placed. But it's still probably less than we would have ordered separately.

And it's still probably way more seed and plants than we can fit into our current gardens. And we haven't even hit the plant sale season yet.


It's going to be a fun spring.

Comments

Congratulations!

[tangerinpenguin.livejournal.com]

If it helps, keep in mind that given your lead-in there are even more outrageous options in Seattle that I've started seeing on bus ads. Nevertheless, as one acrophobe to another: beating the climbing wall, very cool.

[sunkrux.livejournal.com]

Yay you! *hugs*

[monkeybard]

You did very well climbing those walls! :D