Last Try

Is it Sunday already? I need to climb... or mow the grass... or do absolutely nothing. BUT that is what I have done all week. But I deserve a week off, I did a triathlon last weekend, dont I deserve a week off? Then the proverbial angel on my shoulder says, "NO! You havent climbed in like 2 weeks! Get your ass up". So in order to circumvent my conscience I message B-Town to see if he is climbing. Of course he says yes. Mind you it's a tight game between the Sixers and Wizards, first round of the NBA Playoffs and my feet kicked up on the couch enjoying the absence of my wife and kids.Then my wife returns home from the store and I attempt another way out of going to the gym. I say: "You know I'm thinking about climbing today, but haven't I done enough, don't I deserve a week off"? Crickets... she doesn't even respond, just starts unloading groceries. So now I have no excuse except for my own weak one's. So I get off the couch and tell myself just put on some pants. Then a shirt. Ok lets just start driving in the direction of the gym and if you change your mind you can always just turn around and head home. I hop on the beltway and it starts pissing cats ansd dogs. I'm like YES! Perfect reason to turn around and go home (the devil on my shoulder tells me). But Angel is like: well your already on the beltway, might as well just keep on going. So I say fuck it, might as well. I arrive and there is like 9,000 cars in the parking lot. I walk thru the doors and immediatly to my left I see B-Town intensly watching a guy climb something that immediatly made me want to put some chalk on my hands and jump up there with him. HAHAHA. Not at at all, homeboy was climbing a V10. So on a scale of 1-10, 10 is the hardest. It actually made me want to turn around and go right back to my truck, rub chalk on my hands so when I got home I could tell me wife that I climbed. I just walk by and hope they don't see me enter. They did not. I warmup on some easy routes and get up my confidence to go speak to my buddy. Here is what I say, "this is where the professionals hang out I see"? My buddy is engrossed in his buddy climbing a V whatever. Thankfully his wife luaghs at my comment or I might have had a panic attack. B-Town acknolegdes my existance and goes back to being a spider monkey.His wife kinda tries to talk to me into some routes in the "Pro Zone" to which I politely decline and go find the "Loser Zone". Ok, so now that I am done with that complete tangent I can get to, as they like to say in climbing "The Crux" of this story. I put in some good work in the "Loser Zone". Then I see this group trying this route.... the holds are purple (which means easy) so I automatically assume it's easy. I watch a guy try it, pretty heavy set gentlemen, and think well he can't make that move because he's fat. Excuse my courseness, thats not nice to say but it is my story. They eventually move along. Now its my turn to try this route that I so crassly called this guy fat because he couldnt make a certain move. I get up there and low and behold I cant make the same fucking move! Who's fat now idiot! I try once, twice, three times. Some hippy ass chick is laying next to where I am embarrassing myself and gets up on my route. I'm not happy about it but I do want to see if she can send it. Sorry I'm using a lot of climbing lingo, "send" means reach the top/finish. Long strory short she fucking cheated and used a boulder from another route. So I'm like shit that wasn't helpful. So I try a fourth time, and I actually do worse than my prior attempts. So I tell myself I have one more try. I'm making built in excuses before my last try: "its been 2 hours bro, you havent climbed in 2 weeks, you are tired". I shut devil down, chalked up and stared at my enemy. This is it George, youre going home a loser. Pfft, SENT that shit like a postal worker! Peaces and Creases TBN OUT

Pain and Patience

How long can you do it? How much can a person endure? You try to do the right thing only to be slapped in the face repeatedly. Do you give up or keep beating your head against a stone wall? Maybe it's worth beating your head against a stone wall. Or is it? Where is the breaking point? This opening is completly irrellevant. This post is two fold. Pain and patience, perhaps two words that encompass the same concept. I believe they go hand and hand. Let's start with pain. There are two types of pain: physical pain and emtional pain. When I stub my toe (ouch) that really hurts. You get shot in the arm (ouch) that hurts as well, probably a little more. You fall down a flight of stairs and sustain a couple of injuries (ouch). Then there is the pain where feelings get involved (not a fan of this type of pain). Referring to emotional pain. We have all experienced emotional pain i.e. the loss of a loved one, a break up from a long term relationship, someone called you a nigger. That type of pain. Both hurt, but scraping your knee on the concrete and a parent telling you are worthless and will never contribute to society hurts a little different. Am I right? I could accidently touch a hot stove and burn the shit out of my hand... but your significant other telling you I slept with your sister burns just as painfully if not more. Let me get to the point I'm attempting to make, pain is pain regardless... it fucking hurts. The ultimate question is, does it leave a scar? Physically or emotionally? One is visible and the other is not but do they not hurt the same? Physical scars last forever but do emotional scars? Can emotional scars be healed? Secondly is patience. Some have it and some don't. Why is that? People are born with legs, feet, a head, and a torso. Why are they not born with patience? I realize this is a silly premise but stay with me for a moment. If we can be born with a brain why can we not be born with patience. Seems pretty simple to me. "Iv'e been waiting for three minutes for my latte!" Hmmmm, can't wait 4 minutes? That's an easy example. The patience I am refering to is a little more nuanced in the sense of dealing with a bunch of bullshit and not losing your shit. Like your wife treats you like an asshole and you suck it up. Your kids act a fool in the morning before school and you don't scream at them. That's patience. A kid on the softball team you are coaching can't field a ground ball and you don't yell at them like they murdered your first born (I've seen it happen). So now let me bring this all together; patience and pain or pain and patience are brother and sister. Patience sometimes invovles pain, and pain sometimes involves patience. Here is a good example that I literally just came up with: as a boxer you may have to get punched in the face over and over again but if you are patient they will tire themself out and you win the fight. Or if your significant other is impatient and you are patient, that can become very painful. Bottom line, patience is a choice. Pain is an outcome. Peaces and Creases TBN Out