An Exercise In Futility

Well, i passed the lead test tonight. First i belayed, which went fine, so then it was my turn to climb. Apparently you’ll always fall on your first lead (like, wear out and have to let go); they didn’t tell me this and i was sure I’d lead the 5.10 successfully. But of course, i back clipped the first clip and wasted all sorts of time and energy fixing it. The next 4 clips went progressivly more smoothly and i was stoked. But suddenly the fire went out and i struggled for the 6th and final clip (save for the anchor which would have been next).. my right hand just began to fade, and ever so gradually lose purchase… and the next hold required a reach with my right.. there was no way to salvage it. But i passed, so that is what counts! Maybe there’ll be some good sunny outside days to climb before fall sets in? The folks i climb with went for a beer afterwards, and as usual i didn’t go.

The balance owing on our latest electric bill is slightly less than our last one; this sounds good, but it is actually way better than you think: BC Hydro has changed their meter reading routes, so while our last bill was for 57 days of usage, the current bill is for 90 days of usage! And to top it off, usage rates have increased slightly too! The consumption figure for Apr20 to Jun15 was 2762kWh, and from Jun16 to Sep13 we used 2553 kWh. On average that is 48.5kWh per day vs 28.4kWh per day!

Geexbox distro hangs when booting. Fortunately I had low expectations so this didn’t really surprise me. Of course, it doesn’t hang when booting with the debug kernel (no surprise there either). It also doesn’t recognise the sound card. I think i have tried 5 distros and none can see this card (or they think they see it but the driver doesn load or something?). I suspect that the card is no good. Fortunately it was free (thx C btw!). Never complain about free hardware

It is 4:30am and i am wide awake. I first woke up at 2, but managaed to get back to sleep for maybe an hour. At 3 I was lying in bed being extremely hot and bored so decided to get up. Now i am sort of working, bleh. Maybe i will go for a run or something then go back to bed.

So last week, i climbed a 5.12 (not labelled, was told that’s how hard it was). I had been bouldering V3/V4 so i figured i’d be there soon. On tuesday i almost flashed a 5.12- but the dyno at the end was too far to jump (turns out there was a hold i did not see, which would have made the difference). Tonight i climbed the 5.12- once and the 5.12 twice. Whee! With the few i have talked to who have also climbed them, we all agree that the 12- is more difficult than the 12. Who rates these things? The ratings would make more sense if they were swapped around. In any case, I have passed that 5.12 hurdle; and just in time for the lead course on the 27th!!