climbing. food poisoning, a visit from friends from afar. an oasis concert. a few of the things that have been occupying my time.
though the seasons have been yo-yoing between winter and spring here, it finally looks as if the warmth is here to stay (knock on some proverbial wood). and with that, a somewhat regular climbing routine.
it continually amazes me at how serendipitously i meet climbing partners. no matter where i end up, i always manage to find someone who fires me up to climb. my current partner, josh, who's also a good friend and coworker at ecc, is strong, motivated, and cerebral enough to keep me asking questions about my own climbing. though he's pretty green to the sport, his enthusiasm and intelligence has him learning the ropes faster than i ever did. and luckily he has the benefit of a helpful mentor who has made enough mistakes to illustrate the severity of the risks involved in this sport we love.
two weekends ago i came down with a case of what i think was food poisoning during a climbing trip to ganhyun. i spent the whole day in agony with bouts of vomiting. though my stomache turned around by the end of the day, i was feeling out of it for the next few days. which was just in time for my friends from japan to come visit.
i'd bought oasis concert tickets for mike, andy and john, who were all friends of mine visiting from japan, to help celebrate their trip to korea. on the night before the show, we were all having drinks at a local bar. i'd told them i was trying to get some time off while they were here, but said i was doubtful that it was going to happen. as the clock turned over to april 1st, i set it up.
"sooooo!! it looks like i have friday off. we're going to seoul!!!"
"nice!!"
"april fools!"
"oh, you shit"
"well, i don't have friday off. but i do have tomorrow off. and thursday. and we're going to see oasis tomorrow nite."
i haul out the tickets to the boys gaping mouths and widening eyes.
"are these real?!?"
"yep"
i was nearly suffocated by bear hugs at this point.
we headed to seoul the next morning. ate some delicious mexican food and rocked out at an amazing show. oasis proved to be one of the best live performances i've seen.
since the boys headed back to japan, i've been getting back into my old routine. and a lot of climbing.
