Aaron's Status

5:25 pm

Climbing

The Child (7) has resumed Sunday climbing lessons at our gym, which means we all go together so that Mom and Dad can climb while kiddo is under supervision. This was my third climbing session since my lower back injury.

I have been very cautious overall, and took four days off from basically everything (save for one casual bike ride) since the last climbing session, and I think that helped buffer my back as well as give my grip a chance to recover.

I was able to send the V4 that I worked on last week, which still took a few tries, and felt like a big win for me. I also flashed another V4, which honestly could probably be a spicy V3.

In the last 25 minutes, wife and I belayed some topline routes and we both flashed a 5.11- (our gym does this confusing plus/minus thing that has no real definition), and I flashed a 5.10, so all in all it was a very good session for me.

My back is feeling a little sore after the climb, but I think after some rest, I’ll be right as rain. Hoping that the soreness eventually stops happening as I continue to stretch and strengthen.

Summer carnival

The Child’s elementary school does a “carnival” once a year, which is supposed to be in the summer, but it was rained out this year so they bumped it to today. Miraculously, after literally an entire day of rain yesterday, it turned out to be a beautiful day.

The wife is like “we’ll probably stay an hour,” so after 2.5 hours we were both pretty tapped out. The Child rode every ride, a few of them two or three times, and it was the kind of chaos factory that only an elementary school carnival can be.

At least I can confirm that my boy is not the only kid who screams like a banshee for literally no discernible reason. Everyone had fun, I chatted with one (1) other dad, and that is about my max for an afternoon so that’s great.

Brutalism Tour 2024

Next Saturday I blocked out an afternoon to photograph with another friend, and we were going to go to a nearby town to catch some general New England architecture, but instead I’m going to drag her on my Brutalism Tour 2024 and I admit I’m pretty psyched about it.

Hopefully it doesn’t suddenly rain.