Aaron's Status
February 4, 2025
2:56 pm
I got an OP-1, my body is still a mess, but at least the weather isn’t excruciatingly terrible.
My shady back-alley deal went off without a hitch, really. Not only was the weather much nicer than anticipated, but so was traffic. I ended up giving the kid the whole $700, only partly because I couldn’t be bothered to try to find $50 in bills somewhere, but also because traffic was really not so terrible, and he didn’t even mention in the listing that he had the official case.
You gotta know, the OP-1 never came with the case. The case was another $50 or $60, I believe. I watched a sort of orientation video about it and the guy said “and you should buy the case, I know it’s expensive, but…”
I’ve only just begun with this thing, and sure enough it is showing me exactly how terrible I am at music. Always have been. It’s confusing why I would spend $700 on a synthesizer given that I suck at it, but I think it’ll be a fun way to practice and get better.
I’ve made a couple of little beats and messed around with a lot of the synths and it’s very satisfying, and quirky, and fun.
All of last week was a struggle in terms of my back problems. I climbed two Saturdays ago and then couldn’t climb again until last Sunday, and even then it was a little bit touch and go.
Ultimately, though, I don’t think that climbing made it worse, so I’m taking it as it comes. I feel like the real “pinching” stuff (an acute flare-up, I would call it) is over. Now I’m left with more generalized soreness and achyness. I took a couple of Advil and let’s see how it goes.
My biggest hope for myself is that my belay buddy will belay me on the 5.10 lead climb and that I can actually get it this time. It is hard, but would be my first 5.10 on lead, and it’s definitely a tricky one at that. I think I have all the moves figured out, though, so I do have high confidence that I can do it.
Other than that, maybe I can take another stab at my nemesis blue 5.11, which I am so desperately close on, but requires a lot of crimp strength on the final hold that I haven’t been able to summon yet.
I actually went for a walk around the neighborhood today as the temperature peaked around 40. It was, uh, fine. The wind was pretty uncomfortable, but when it was still it felt very nice. The days are gradually getting longer, the snow isn’t sticking, and while my friends out in Colorado are celebrating feet of “pow pow,” I am holding my breath for spring.
Finally, I got four sample coffees from Muddy Water Coffee Roasters, another local operation, and I’m looking forward to cupping those perhaps this weekend. One of them is a Costa Rica, so it’ll be interesting to compare that to the Fazenda from Costa Rica.