Aaron's Status

6:42 am

Halloween is coming

All major holidays begin earlier and earlier these days, but I think it’s entirely reasonable to roll out the Halloween decorations on October first, so that’s what I’m maybe possibly going to do. Depending on when we get home from climbing. But definitely this week.

We have the “Nightmare Before Christmas” light-up Jack Skellington heads, and of course the inflatable Oogie Boogie that we added last year. This year we ordered another inflatable, a 12-foot-tall classic ghost type of thing. We’re building up quite a little display.

I really like the inflatables because they don’t need much storage space for the 99% of the year when you’re not using them, and when inflated they look so awesome. The scale of these things is what sells it; I think even Oogie Boogie is as tall as I am.

Costumes

The kid hasn’t decided what to be yet, but the wife and I are going to be Drs. Alan Grant and Ellie Sattler from Jurassic Park. I’ve already procured a denim button-up shirt, red bandana, and a straw-style hat.

The element of this outfit that I’m most excited about, though, is the shovel.

Dr. Grant toys and fan art always have him wearing pouches or something on his belt. One on each side. While inspecting stills from the film I observed that the item on his left hip is not just a pouch. It’s literally a folding trowel.

I had no idea that these existed, but they totally do, and they’re not even unique or rare, you can buy one on Amazon right now for like… Six bucks.

I absolutely love that some wardrobe person asked themselves “what would an archaeologist wear on his belt while visiting an amusement park?” and concluded that Dr. Grant obviously might have to suddenly dig a hole.

The real style touch here is that the trowel is in a sort of leather holster with a button clasp, which is not something you can buy on Amazon for six bucks. So, I made one. The end.

Not every day is a send day

With this cold, and sleeping only a hair under 7 hours last night, I did not feel very strong on the wall today. But I was able to make some progress on my V5 boulder project and my 5.11 topline project. I think I’m honestly just a hair away from the 5.11 but couldn’t muster the power to do the last move.

This is just my regular reminder that climbing isn’t about sending. I mean, it is, in the sense that that is sort of the stated goal of the activity, but when you are practicing climbing, the practice and the progress are the point.

As I have said now many times, a successful session for me is a pain-free session. Today’s was maybe 98% pain-free, but I’m trying to keep things in perspective here. All in all, I’m grateful to have the ability to climb at all, and to see progress on my projects!