Brady the builder
I worked commercial construction today. Hah, it was fun. I 'm in Breckenridge for a few days and the girl I'm staying with had to work 12 hours today. Naturally I couldn't be alone for that long so I called up a temp agency and found work for the day. I showed up fashionably late (10 AM to a workday that started at 6:30) just as the rest of the crew was finishing the hard work. I helped with the easy stuf for about two hours, then we took lunch. Then I moved some stuff, then we went home. Thank you very much that'll be $75. I think I should do this a few more times. Not because it was a great experience, but because it would make my taxes crazy at year end. Currently I will claim income from 4 emloyers, I think I should shoot for double digits.
Salt lake city is a wierd town. I heard the locals refer to it as "the city that never wakes up" and that seems to fit pretty well. Last call is at 1AM every night, and the people just don't get rowdy like the good drunk rednecks that add some spice to the midwest bar scene. I would like to go back during the school year and hangout at the university bars on a weekend, that might change things. If you aren't into drinking and maybe find the outdoor life more exhilarating, SLC has a lot to offer. Every day that I rode I had no problem finding a new 5+ mile climb with a decent grade. Weather was great (unlike Breckenridge). Great hiking and mountain biking trails are plentiful, and the Wasatch mountain range provides more accesible rock faces than any other I have seen to date.
My last day in SLC I took advantage of that last characteristic. I went and did a multi-pitch trad-climbing route with my friend who works near SLC. In english, we climbing up a rock face that was a couple hundred feet tall. We had a 60 meter rope, but the climb was long enough that we had to anchor ourselves to the cliff and start over with the rope twice (for a total of 3 pitches, ground, first anchor, second anchor). At the top we used one rope to double rapel douwn the side.
My immeidate conclusion: cycling makes you think about life. While you're on the bike, a combination of endorphins and lots of time allow you to iron out your mess of a life, develop goals, strategies, and plan for the future. Climbing makes you think about death, and in turn, leading a fuller life. After the first pitch, you a high enough a fall would certainley be fatal. Now you're tied in to somethin at all times, but that something is often a trapezoidal nut wedged into a crack (hope it holds), tied to a glorified ribon (hope it holds), tied to your waist. The other scenario is you are on the face being held on only by a rope about 1/2 inch in diameter at the mercy of your climbing buddies competence (they don't belay properly, you will fall a long way).
I didn't come down from the mountain with a new set of zen master quotes, but I did learn, I am not afraid of death, and to date, I am happy with how full my life has been. I'd say that's a pretty major thing for anyone to say. So far, I have 22 regret free years, I want to see how long I can keep it going...
That was an unintentional segue: I've been wondering for awhile now, what is being an adult/growing up anyway. Whatever it is, I'm not there, and I'm not sure I want to be. This concept of adulthood, which I feel is to often erroneously used as a synonym for maturity, seems to only be occupied with some sort of negative ingredient. People often imply to me that adulthood comes with one or more of the following:
-intense regrets
-a bitterness toward others/the human race
-a closed minded attitude
-dissatisfaction with your present life
-giving up on the belief that you can do something about that dissatisfaction
-losing all beliefs that you can accomplish your goals
-an inherent realization that work suck and there's nothing you can do about it
-being a kid was fun, but eventually you realize the rest of your life will be a travail
there are others, but my mind is starting to confine itself to certain genres of characteristics of adulthood. It often appears to me that adulthood is just the feeling of loss of internal power and ability. I'm still a kid, but if adulthood has to be something like that, I'm challenging myself to not grow up for awhile. It should aslo be said that I feel a few of the so called adults who read this blog are very much not grown up, according to the definition provide above. Maybe it's the people who suck at life that just like to the most about it.
Speaking of definitions, did you know that "poop" has 4 definition according to webster. Yes this is toilet humor, but I found it intriguing that I didn't know it yet. Poop can be: 1. fecal matter 2. a factual report 3. the front of a ship (the part below the poop deck) 4. waves that crash over the poop (onto the poop deck).
Now after this post I feel like I should go drink a gallon of ridalyn and try and focus.
Be back in CoMO soon.
Salt lake city is a wierd town. I heard the locals refer to it as "the city that never wakes up" and that seems to fit pretty well. Last call is at 1AM every night, and the people just don't get rowdy like the good drunk rednecks that add some spice to the midwest bar scene. I would like to go back during the school year and hangout at the university bars on a weekend, that might change things. If you aren't into drinking and maybe find the outdoor life more exhilarating, SLC has a lot to offer. Every day that I rode I had no problem finding a new 5+ mile climb with a decent grade. Weather was great (unlike Breckenridge). Great hiking and mountain biking trails are plentiful, and the Wasatch mountain range provides more accesible rock faces than any other I have seen to date.
My last day in SLC I took advantage of that last characteristic. I went and did a multi-pitch trad-climbing route with my friend who works near SLC. In english, we climbing up a rock face that was a couple hundred feet tall. We had a 60 meter rope, but the climb was long enough that we had to anchor ourselves to the cliff and start over with the rope twice (for a total of 3 pitches, ground, first anchor, second anchor). At the top we used one rope to double rapel douwn the side.
My immeidate conclusion: cycling makes you think about life. While you're on the bike, a combination of endorphins and lots of time allow you to iron out your mess of a life, develop goals, strategies, and plan for the future. Climbing makes you think about death, and in turn, leading a fuller life. After the first pitch, you a high enough a fall would certainley be fatal. Now you're tied in to somethin at all times, but that something is often a trapezoidal nut wedged into a crack (hope it holds), tied to a glorified ribon (hope it holds), tied to your waist. The other scenario is you are on the face being held on only by a rope about 1/2 inch in diameter at the mercy of your climbing buddies competence (they don't belay properly, you will fall a long way).
I didn't come down from the mountain with a new set of zen master quotes, but I did learn, I am not afraid of death, and to date, I am happy with how full my life has been. I'd say that's a pretty major thing for anyone to say. So far, I have 22 regret free years, I want to see how long I can keep it going...
That was an unintentional segue: I've been wondering for awhile now, what is being an adult/growing up anyway. Whatever it is, I'm not there, and I'm not sure I want to be. This concept of adulthood, which I feel is to often erroneously used as a synonym for maturity, seems to only be occupied with some sort of negative ingredient. People often imply to me that adulthood comes with one or more of the following:
-intense regrets
-a bitterness toward others/the human race
-a closed minded attitude
-dissatisfaction with your present life
-giving up on the belief that you can do something about that dissatisfaction
-losing all beliefs that you can accomplish your goals
-an inherent realization that work suck and there's nothing you can do about it
-being a kid was fun, but eventually you realize the rest of your life will be a travail
there are others, but my mind is starting to confine itself to certain genres of characteristics of adulthood. It often appears to me that adulthood is just the feeling of loss of internal power and ability. I'm still a kid, but if adulthood has to be something like that, I'm challenging myself to not grow up for awhile. It should aslo be said that I feel a few of the so called adults who read this blog are very much not grown up, according to the definition provide above. Maybe it's the people who suck at life that just like to the most about it.
Speaking of definitions, did you know that "poop" has 4 definition according to webster. Yes this is toilet humor, but I found it intriguing that I didn't know it yet. Poop can be: 1. fecal matter 2. a factual report 3. the front of a ship (the part below the poop deck) 4. waves that crash over the poop (onto the poop deck).
Now after this post I feel like I should go drink a gallon of ridalyn and try and focus.
Be back in CoMO soon.
posted by Brady Beckham at 8:31 PM
1 Comments:
Do not dilly-dally! Enjoy all your shannagans, hericies, sexcapades & intrepiditys promply while you are a froliking guttersnipe, for if you exhibit this injudicious charisma into your decrepit years, all your brazen indiscretions could deem you fit for interrogation by the meddlesome headpeepers, or people will just confuse you for a old boozehound.
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