Grand Canyon

Here's a very very overdue post about hiking. In December 2011, I hiked to the bottom of the Grand Canyon and back. All by myself. I do not consider it an extraordinary hiking accomplishment, except for the scary oh so scary trek in the middle of the night.

Because you see, the trek is advertised as hard to difficult and on all the panels and all the brochures you are advised NOT to attempt trekking to the bottom of the canyon and back in the same day. I figured I could do this as it was winter (and not the peak of summer, as the brochures seemed to suggest), and also I could turn back anytime I wanted and thought I was not going to make my cut-off time (<- these sound like famous last words, right?!)

Then, because I was supposed to catch a bus at 12, I woke up at 4 am and started. Turns out, 4 am is THE MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT, a time during which

A) it might snow
B) it might be dark
C) it might be freezing
D) all of the above.


And so I froze, and it was pitch dark and it was scary and it snowed for about half my trek. And I had an amazingly scary feeling of being all alone in the quiet and the darkness and the cold.

And then I got to the bottom of it. And the sunrise came.

And I walked a bit further and saw this! The Colorado river!

And the sun got warmer, but it still could not warm up the old bones:

After this, I had to turn around and walk back. Turns out, you walk 3km down to the bottom of it, and then 3 km straight back up. The trek itself is pretty tame, but some people chose to take the mules!

This was the slippery slippery snow (there's eternity on the left of the path) - I was so glad I had my walking poles!

One last look before ending it:

And a nice, freezing sunset on the drive back to Phoenix. Here's to getting out of the house more!

One picture Tuesday

One of the advantages (heh) of living during communist times was that we didn't get to taste Coca-Cola until maybe very late 80s, by which time we were already 7-ish year old. Another advantage would be that we didn't know how things and brands were called until we had been using them for a while (see for example how we romanians say "Nike").

A particular brand is 7UP. I was absolutely convinced that it is actually ZUP because of how the logo looked. I was convinced that it is called ZUP for many many years, until I saw and heard the commercial.

The smell of paper

I love my Kindle. I really do. It is the bestest for many reasons. 1. It is the old kindle, so it has these really really nice buttons on the sides. This allows me to easily change pages. None of that annoying swipe to change the current page for me! 2. It carries many many MANY books, which is great. In particular for the book I am reading now (Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell), this is very good, as the book itself is 798 pages. PAGES! The only problem I have with the Kindle is that, after about two years of using it, I find myself really missing paper books. Not only do I miss paper books (which obviously results in me buying tons and tons of paper books at one go), but I find that I never re-read books that I have read on the kindle. This is because I can't see them on the bookshelf and therefore am not reminded by the fun times I had while reading them.

Sandra and I are nursing...

... A baby.

Our baby is very demanding. He does not allow us to sleep, which makes us dizzy for the entire day.

Our baby is very fussy about his food and does not allow us to enjoy ours.

Our baby only wants to eat chicken soup - either the jewish or the chinese variety, he is not fussy about that. However, he only wants to eat chicken soup and nothing else.

Our baby gives us left-side headaches and makes us feel very dizzy. This is how we know it's our baby.

Our baby did not allow me to run yesterday.

Our baby did not allow Sandra to climb yesterday.

Our baby is brought in this relationship by either Sandra or myself, we are yet not clear about that. We do, however, blame each other. There are no such things as "accidents" nowadays.

Guess what our baby is.

I'll see you in September

I hate it when long weeks seem soo long when you start them, and then midway you realize that they are only 7 days long. The time to say goodbye is coming soon, or has already come in some cases. Said hello to Jensen yesterday and said goodbye again one hour and a half later. Turned around quickly and left in a hurry because I was getting teary ->> Oh my, I am still bad at leaving people: you would think that after all this training I would finally get good at something. Or maybe I am the eternal trainee, who knows?

Will say goodbye again to friends tonight, and then again on Saturday & Sunday. The image of san crying last time and of me crying all the way to adelaide (without having any tissue with me!) is not helping right now and it didn't help last night either. This obviously needs to be reframed into a "until next time" thing because I really don't think I can take it.

I just wish we could all live together in the same place forever. But then again, i wish we would all live forever, and for africa to be food-full and peaceful, and for all of us to shit rainbows off our (skinny!) asses. And one obviously can't have them all.

The concert

The singer is fat and much older than I remember her, from what is probably sixteen years ago. Two sikh men in the audience have serious bellies, serious faces and even more serious turbans. One of them has a jet black santa-like beard, and the other one has a snow white santa-like beard as well. They stand up and they sing the lyrics and dance, raising their arms up in the air.

For a Singaporean audience, this concert is most happening. We all know the lyrics to at least 80% of the songs. Botak Jones, a somewhat famous western food joint, is sponsoring the concert, and you wonder if they will be sponsoring Beiber fifteen years from now, if he will still be able to sing by then - God help us if he is!

When the guitars start the first beats of Zombie, everybody is standing and you can feel the static in the air.

By the end of the concert, the image of the skinny girl from sixteen years ago is completely replaced by the woman with flabby arms and deflated tattoos. And it really doesn't matter, because boy oh boy can she sing!

Good to be back

... In Singapore. And see everybody, and especially see San and Dodo. We had a hectic day yesterday, when me, dodo and san went shopping. I must say that I had forgotten just how crowded and busy singapore is. I guess living in the countryside Adelaide really makes one forget. I had also forgotten just how consumerist and branded singapore is. Nearly everyone is wearing superiorly branded clothes, shoes, watches, phones, etc. Old people use iPads and iPhones while they get their feet massaged in the airport. Kids on the very very crowded MRT start crying, and their parents immediately hand them an iPad to cool down that angsty spirit.

I had also forgotten how it is to walk walk around all day. In adelaide I am mostly confined to my office and my car, and the climbing gym and running track. But boy oh boy, is walking around while shopping an endurance sport! Today was spent seeing Jud, Ely bear, Planet, Reg, Northern Lights and Uncle Pan and the fat pig while we flew kites and stunt kites at marina barrage. The atmosphere was just like the old days during training and i really really enjoyed it. And also pigged out on the durian cake that the dodo bird bought (MOST YUM!) We all look like we are part of team singapore kite flying! I guess while during the most depressing days in Adelaide I was complaining about how much I missed them, it's really being here with them that makes me realize indeed how much that was.


... And yes, I bought lots of clothes and lots of branded stuff too :)

Yay. Getting away.

Turns out that teaching 2.5 courses and having 150 students whose needs and problems are only your concern, is a VERY FUCKING tiring job. Turns out (who would have thought) that I may get grumpy when I'm stressed. And I may loose my patience. So far, it has not happened at all with any of the students (yay!) but yesterday it was a first for me. Firstly, I had a young master student that is also a young mother come into my office with her little baby and talk about her code. Needless to say, the baby was not quiet :) And then, a student's mother called me, to tell me about her boy.

I find that I can easily manage the third year students, but I have such a hard time understanding and learning how to talk with year ones. Oh well. Good thing the year ones are only the 0.5 from the 2.5 .

Yesteerday I saw through time

Some colleagues, on finding that I CAN indeed eat very very spicy food, gave ma chili habanero plant. The plant took its time to flower and produce chilies. In fact, it only produced one (ONE) chili in three months.

The chili is pictured on the left. I totally underestimated it, and, thinking that it would be not spicy as with everything people have given me, I took a VERY big bite.

And then I saw through time. I was that spicy. Or the bite was that big. Regardless. I saw through time.

And I'm back!

After giving birth to the grant last week and training up for the trail marathon, I am back. The Blue Mountains, six foot track trail marathon. You ask me, how was it?!

Well, I'll tell you. It was ...

CANCELLED.

Because of the fucking Sydney floods. Apparently, a couple of the river crossings we were going to cross got fucked up and then they were too deep for us to cross. Could have drowned. Dammit!

I feel like one of those wired duracell rabbits that are so ready to go but have nowhere, NOWHERE to run. DAMMIT!!

The blue mountains are truly evading me this year!

Last week I gave birth

... To a grant proposal. This semester I am teaching and coordinating 2.5 courses. That is, I am the coordinator for two courses - three if you count the Singapore one - and teaching half of another one. This is suddenly so loaded because, as you know, a colleague has leukemia and another one has a retina problem. And there you have it, we all have to chip in and do stuff. Which we, or at least I, do. But boy is it tiring!

Mondays are especially tiring because I have two two-hour lectures back to back and a one hour tutorial. This literally saps me of any possible energy and positive vibe. It's taken it's toll on the second lecture because I'm obviously at my least entertaining ten.

As usual, this can be easily solved by coffee :)

One picture Tuesday

The advantages of living at the other end of the universe are that you can pick your garden while everybody else is freezing.

How not to die during bouldering

It's very simple: get a good spotter and ensure s/he is spotting you when you climb. It's as simple as that, really.

Yesterday I was trying this route in the grampians. It has to be probably the hardest v4 in the world. I think it's the kind of problem that San would absolutely love: you start with your right hand on a sloper and your left on a jug, on a roof. Your left foot is hooking and toe-ing at the same time, on two knobs. Your right leg is stepping. You let go of your left hand, come to the side of the roof on the right, on two crimps, to a big overhang move.

Anyway. Yesterday I tried it 20 times an left it. Came back at the end of te day, with my fingers sore and dead tired. On the last attempt though, i managed to get to the end topout. And then I slipped.

It was a microsecond fall. Luckily, my spotter was spot on and saved me from banging my head on a log. However, he did this by literally pushing my head forward. Which made me really bite my tongue. I almost chopped a side off, and it's now hanging by a thread. But I could have died without him.

So yeah. Get a spotter. Make him or her actually spot you, not talk to other people or whatever. It will save your life.

One picture Tuesday

I may have a chili addiction problem. Nowadays I'm so tired and stressed that I need a double shot of chillies to get me happy!

Melbourne

I have been traveling with my mom for this past weekend, in Melbourne. As usual when we travel together, we pig out and walk around like madwomen. A bit of shopping, a bit of eating (ha!) but most importantly, about 15 km per day.

Good thing that Melbourne has some free tourist buses that go around the city. They make for good afternoon naps, I tell ya!

One of the reasons I like Melbourne is that they have ornamental chillies all around!

I really don't like this February

First of all, I turned 30. Who would have thought?

Second of all, my old dog died. He was 16. He was an old gentleman indeed. My first ever dog, he taught me how much of a puppy I really am. I guess I am still processing this. I get random bouts of crying when I think of him and of how he died alone in my mother in law's house.

My mom is visiting me right now and she left him with my mother in law. I am really looking forward to a new month.

I killed my phone.

With my sweat. That's how I killed it. Because this is how you kill phones.

This Saturday I went for a longer run, about 20+km. This run involved running up a very steep hill 727m. Twice. So I went up, down, up, and down again.

It was raining, and half-way through marian returned with my rain jacket. Which I dutifully wore (thanks babe!) but I put my iPhone 4S (goddamit!) in its pocket.

Turns out, especially if you run uphill for a long time, your body heats up a lot, especially since the jacket does not allow for breathing. And so, water condenses in it. Especially in the pockets. And then, the iPhone 4S, is not waterproof, unlike his cousin, the iPhone 1.

Lo and behold, the jacket that killed my phone!

Fuck it, I'm 30.

Another year gone, another year closer to death. And with this I guess I could close this blog and go to sleep, for like 20 years or so. And wake up around 50, because apparently this is when you feel that 30 is. Young.

I've been terrified of dying since I was 3. And ever since it was possible, I have been living my life as if I were to die the next second. I will admit that this is kinda intense, but I had never thought that it might be a problem. Or that it might be (too) tiring - am finding that sometimes, it might just be, too tiring. I have been close to death once. I felt it. It was crisp, clear, silent, and very close, and it did not bother me much at the time (only afterwards it was ohmygodohmygodohmygod).

I am coming closer to death now, as i'm growing older (damnit!) and leukemia (a.k.a the bitch) is once again threatening people around me. I guess the main problem with this kind of possibility of death is that it is much more overwhelming than the one you walk into because you just enjoy doing stupid things. And you can't just kick it in the balls and tell it to "LEAVE MY FRIENDS ALONE!"

So yeah. 30. And rambling (still). Might still have 30 good years in me, so this is not the end of the universe, although it sure feels like it.

One picture Tuesday

My colleague has leukemia. Damn it. And as a result I have five, FIVE, zits on my face.

And Sydney has vending machines with flip-flops. Spot the two trivia.

Oh no oh no oh no oh no

Just found out that one of the nicest guys from work may have either acute leukemia OR a very serious and exotic viral infection. He has a 7 year old girl and two 3-year old twins that are just adorable. Will find out on Monday, and it's horrible to wait that long. At this stage, I am hoping and begging for an acute, serious, exotic viral infection. Oh please oh please oh please.

He called me this morning, right after I had sent an email asking them all to come celebrate my birthday. I wrote my usual phrase, "Turns out, we all get old(er) and eventually, die. " AARGH.

He first asked about how was my australia day. And then told me his news. Oh no oh no oh no oh no.

I guess one of the things in becoming an adult (?!) is that you face the prospect of death and disease more frequently than you would love to (never). I just hope to wake up Monday and see it was an infection. Oh please oh please oh please.