The experiences and exploits of a college grad trying to make it in the "real world:" leaving school and friends in New England, moving south, and living with her boyfriend. Watch as I pretend to be an adult.
Way back when I used to climb regularly, (all of two and a half years ago)I used to go to a little local rockgym in the next town over. One of the employees who's usual shift tended to sync up with our climbing schedule had a major thing for Radiohead. The rockgym was nestled in the corner of a larger fitness facility, and the various sections of the building each had their own sound systems. Most of the time as you walked past the weight room or rows of stationary bikes and treadmills, you'd hear canned pop music or the occasional heavy metal- something fast, or loud, or both. As you got closer to the climbing area, all of that would fade out and a good six times out of ten your ears would catch Yorke's gentle voice coming over the speakers. And you know- it was damn good music to climb to. You see, you need a different kind of headspace to climb. Or at least I do. Generally when I work out, I feel almost like I'm fighting my body. I have my most productive workouts when I'm worked up or verging on angry. Exercise becomes almost cathartic, nearly an act of flagellation. At best, I zone out and thing of anything but what I'm doing. Climbing is different. If you approach climbing that way, you'll fail. Climbing is about working with your body, not against it. The best climbers don't muscle their way up the rock, driving themselves onward in huge dynamic moves. They flow. They make it look effortless. Watching a really good climbing is, in a lot of ways, like watching dance, certain kinds of martial arts, or, without sounding like too much of a hippie, yoga. You get good a climbing by listening to your body in a way most people probably haven't. You have to pay attention to minute changes in balance, stress, and stretch. In a sport where you measure hand- and foot- holds in millimeters, the room for error is pretty minimal. So to get good, you think about what's in front of you, and not much else. Radiohead is good inducing that kind of contemplative mindframe. I finally downloaded some Radiohead onto my new laptop, and I'm sitting here at work listening to The Bends, missing the smell of sweat and chalk and the atmosphere of quiet determination. NC State has a rock wall. I will dust off my harness and shoes and start climbing again. Soon.
After 22 posted at 8:49 AM
