Climbing on Saturday. Whacked my head on a roof, hard, but I was wearing my trusty helmet.

Kayaking on Sunday. 3 days later, the tiny amount of River Taff I must have swallowed when accidently and briefly upside-down is making me violently ill in truly disgusting ways for days on end. I think I may have found something that'll help with my fear of lead falls. At least they won't cause this.

/selfpity

And, Saturday was really really nice. Got a bit lost going through Swansea, but when we finally got to the Gower the weather was lovely, the sea was blue, and our chosen wall completely empty, dry and lovely. We climbed some good stuff, a few mates had their first trad leads safely and without incident, had a bit of a boulder above the rockpools, followed by a barbeque dinner of unexpected luxury and unexpectedly stinky cheese ("Any fool can rough it..."). Of this, summers are made.

So, climbing still the favourite sport then.

This icon is you climbing Snoozin' Suzie at Symonds Yat.

Hi Mary. I made you an icon. Remember this?

Icons, icons, icons. Usual deal- snurch anything you want, comment, credit.

As an intro, this sheep was 25 feet up a Severe graded climb at Morlais Quarry.



And George W bush in pumpkin form, carved for Halloween a few years ago.



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Sunday night, 25th birthday night.

I arrived unsuspecting in Newport, only to be presented with a birthday pineapple and ushered into the dim and indy-flavoured interior of Meze Lounge. By way of waving the pineapple, I was rendered magically immune to cover charges. The music rapidly improved with Gunrack, who proved that I really should pay more attention when people tell me repeatedly that bands are good and I should come down from my loft and make the 12 minute train journey to the 'Port to see them. Mmmm, loud.

Next up were the newly-reformed AOS3, who were, let's be honest here, fantastic. Hard, fast ska punk. Sort of like the Porkers, with anarchist politics and no trombone. So good I bought the t-shirt, and it was bright orange (looked good on the washing line this morning: black, black, black, ORANGE, black). I like them. I like them very much, and I wasn't alone there. It's not often a support band gets the whole floor dancing.

And then, Citizen Fish, this time with the brass that was missing at the last TJs gig. Phone in Sick, Habit, and Skin were especially good. Less dancing, more crazy bouncing with fists and elbows thrown in for free. Much fun was had by all.

I ceded birthday celebration rights to the giver of the pineapple at midnight. The night ended with a large, large number of people and two dogs packed into a van heading for Cardiff. One of the best things about the night was that almost everyone I wanted to see was there, with a notable absence who knows who they are and is never more than a dirty text message away.

One of the nicest things about punk gigs is that no matter how messed up everything else may get, there is always this: the music, the mosh, the people who are your friends for an hour, and if you are as lucky as I am, a lot longer than that.

Current Location: Home
Current Music: Citizen Fish - 2000 and one

Alriiiiight. So. If you're here, you probably know me from either real life or my fiction posted elsewhere on LJ. The point behind this journal is to chronicle and hopefully aid my attempts at getting my shit together. Properly, this time. Thing is, I've done a lot of stuff (like getting a PhD in maths) because it seemed like a good idea at the time. I don't regret most of them (although one or two were spectacular mistakes), but in the last year or so its become clear that I haven't really thought  through where I want to be going.

On the list of long-term goals are:

* Get a job I like

* Figure out exactly what it is that I want

Some sub-goals include finishing my Single Pitch Award (climbing qualification), trad lead-climb comfortably at E1, and finding some students who need maths tuition.

The first of those requires putting in some volunteer hours taking kids climbing, which I'm looking forward to and hopefully have sorted out. I really, really hope so. The second involves bringing my outdoor climbing standard up closer to my indoor climbing standard, just by one grade. This means getting over the sheer terror that's been plaguing my outdoor climbing for months, since a big and spectacular lead fall. *takes big breath, tries to ignore the bony lump on my shin*. The third, I'm working on. Should have one on Friday, if things work out.

And then there's politics, and music, and friends. Especially my friends, because I couldn't hope to build any kind of life without them.

Current Location: home
Current Music: Ramones- spiderman theme