Can someone explain this to me? Or is it a form of humour that I just don’t get?

Upcoming Hurricanes

Its from xkcd comics, which is possibly one of my favourite online comics.
A proper blog post will be coming soon, I promise. So much has happened, but I need to get on with my dissertation!

I have not been a big fan of GriGris since a rather traumatic episode with one in the Gorge de Tarn in April. I was belaying AC up a 6C+ route and it went a bit wrong. No one was hurt, and stuff but it could have ended badly. AC was climbing, and had to make a rather committing move with the change of falling quite far, and I was belaying him with a fairly fat rope in the GriGri. It had been sticking before, and I wasn’t confident. Essentially, I gave him lots of slack so that he could clip in and then he thought he was about to fall off, so I took it all in. Then, when he found a big jug to clip from, he tried to clip, only to have the GriGri stick. Suffice to say, AC was not happy, I was very upset and didn’t feel happy, confident or capable of using a grigri again.

ZB showed me how to use a grigri a bit after and I felt a bit better, but still not particularly happy. I’m still not that happy even now, although I will use it. The new rope that we have is much slicker and I find it doesn’t stick that much unlike the outside rope, so we’ll have to see what happens the next time that we go outside.

Anyway, I came across this video on the 8a.nu website. It’s good for picking up technique, and its nice to see that I’m using the recommended belaying technique. I guess it will just take time for me to get used to it.

Wednesday climbing is a regular occurrence for me and AC. We go every week, usually to catch up with RG, and the Wednesday group. Well, this week was no different. GM was there so AC mainly climbed with him while I worked on my swirly problem that I still could NOT do! It was so irritating. DM suggested a couple of alternate methods which seemed to work. AC had shown me the lanky way, and I certainly didn’t have the reach! So, that problem is nearly finished. Hopefully I’ll be able to link it up on Friday before doing routes, but if not, it’ll be a Monday goal.

On other climbing related news, I flashed a green problem on the bleaustone wall which I’d not been able to do last week. That made me ever so pleased, although I’m not sure if I’ll be able to do it again now.

I’m currently in the library and may see NA later on today for a chat. I can’t spend too long in the library without going a bit mad.

In sprocket related news, I had yet another phone call from a lady down the road (across the main/busy road) saying that she had sprocket (who was a regular apparently) and he seemed distressed. I, not realizing quite where she lived, told her to boot him out and that I would go should for him. About twenty minutes later when he still hadn’t turned up, I got a bit worried. So I went looking for him, only to find him underneath a car on the corner of this busy rabbit run shouting his head off. So I grabbed him up and took him home. He didn’t go out any more that day. It is worrying to think that his new route goes across such a busy road. Hopefully he has had a couple of near misses so wont’ do it again!

this weekend has been really busy again. It was the cliffhanger festival at millhouses park both Saturday and Sunday, and my friends were up from brighton as well.

I worked Saturday in the Foundry and it was pretty much dead from 10 – 4(ish) and then it became ridiculously busy. People were coming from left, right and centre to buy climbing shoes and generally purchase climbing related merchandise. It was great. For the shop. For me, who had far too much coffee that day, it was a bit too much. Apparently it was very cold that day out in the park, so I’m not too fussed that I wasn’t working.

That evening, we had to start taking the bedroom apart because RN and AC are going to gut the attic and re-insulate it starting next weekend (or the weekend after). That means AC and I have to take the bed apart, get it down the stairs (without scraping the paint – but seeing as we’re gutting the place, I’m not sure that matters) and reassemble everything! It was rubbish. Anyway, it didn’t happen because AG, RM and AO came and picked me up to go and have a drink with them at the Three Stags Head near Foolow. It’s a great little pub, but J & P were on holiday – and there were people drinking LAGER in the pub, and playing on a DS!!!! I was shocked. The beer was good, the company great, and I’m totally jealous of AO for the travelling exploits that she was telling me about.

AC came and picked me up, braving the dogs who seemed to only want to sniff his crotch, and talking to my friends. My friends aren’t scary, but the pub where they frequent up this neck of the woods is, according to AC.

The next day, we woke up and putzed about taking the bed down/up and moving crap out of the attic. Then went to meet AO, AG, and RM in Curbar for some bouldering. I attempted this 6b and could NOT do it, need more strength, and some time in a grow bag. We then went to Cliffhanger once all fingers had lost skin to watch DM and some other people climb. It was a lovely, hot, sunny day and thoroughly enjoyable.

here’s AO climbing with the help of AC:

AC spotting with great attentiveness

Hopefully this week we’ll get out on the bikes as well. But not sure how the week is panning out yet. We’ll see….

once again i’m managing to make up things to procrastinate doing. like this. and other things as well. i’ve been on every forum that i’m a member on, read lots of blogs, played with the cats, cleaned the kitchen, updated endnote and generally done everything but write!

i had a horrible dream last night. i dreamt that i recieved my results for the last essays that i wrote and they were low. like 24% in international environmental law. so suffice to say, i’m not in the best mood to write things today.

we went for curry last night with RG, NA and some other people. it was a lovely meal. everyone got along, and people took the piss out of me and AC for talking as if sprocket was our child. in some ways he is, but luckily we don’t have to send him to university.

anyway, i suppose i should be editing my thing to send it to DF rather than writing on here.

(c) Rebecca Belmore/Vancouver Art Gallery

now i don’t usually go around online looking for things like this, but i was checking up on canada’s news page today and found this photo. the article is on art/body language and other things like that, but i think this is fantastic. the article can be found here.

i dread to think how much that hurt!

on other news, i’ve managed to write a bit more of my literature review today which is a relief. although i don’t think that its particularly wonderful. i’ve found more blogs to divert myself with, and have drank numerous cups of tea.

we’re going for a curry with NA, RG and another of NA’s friends tonight. tis all a bit celebratory as RG and AC have job related celebrations. AC got his promotion, and RG got his job in er. it was natasa’s birthday yesterday and i don’t have anything to celebrate! oh well. i’m sure something will come along. probably the hand in of my dissertation.

i’m starting to get the hang of endnote though.

EndNote – Bibliographies Made Easy

Ha! so so so not easy that i’m totally confused. i don’t get how to footnote anything or do anything useful after spending a whole day fannying about! anyway, it means that i really have to lock down and do loads of work tomorrow.

all i can say is that they are really efficient at getting the bloody thing to me. i only ordered it yesterday.

the problems at the foundry have changed. i’m very excited and once the knee has heeled i’ll get back on them.

oh god today is such a nightmare. i’m just going to bullet point it:

• completely reinstalled windows and office xp as computer going south
• lost all my citations for my dissertation
• computer stopped working for much of today
• totally can’t face working and feel shite about it.
• have meeting with supervisor on friday and haven’t done much for it at all. actually that is a lie. i’ve worked my ass off, but don’t feel like i’ve got anywhere and then lost all my citations so while i have the informaiton, thank god i haven’t got the complete references anymore. and before you think that i was being sloppy, i had backed it up! but evidently not in the way that zotero expects me to.
• gave up and bought endnote for £88.00

this really really really sucks.

Well, we went to Langsett to do the Langsett Resevoir loop. It was much more enjoyable than I thought it was going to be. I was so frustrated though, AC steamed ahead the whole time and I felt so crap and unfit and totally rubbish compared to him. It was uphill for much of the way which is good for fitness and I felt that I was going to be sick. I was so angry as well that I couldn’t breathe properly, and I’m not sure who I was angry at more. either me, for not being that good and not that fit so slowly falling away from AC’s lead, or at AC for not waiting or slowing down to cycle with me. I think that I’m resigning myself to being the one who won’t get that much of a rest as I’ll be catching up the whole time. It’s really, really, really frustrating.

Anyway after all that, we got to the top of the climb, and it was time for the downhill descent. I’m still scared of going down hill fast so I took my time. I should probably mention that the wonderful sunny evening had rapidly turned into threatening rain clouds. So I thought that I should probably go a bit quicker than I was. Unfortunately I wiped out and totally ripped the skin off my knees

And had a good cry. Can you see the plasma oozing through the scabs. Anyway I finished the ride, but god I was angry at AC. I’m really not sure why.
I’ll think about it and then write some more.