I’m afraid rainy beach trip 2009 was a bit rainy. Tom, Mykal, and I were able to spend a little time on the sand – but after about two hours we had to admit that the rain was less than desirable. Instead of ending our adventure, we drove back to the House of Rock for some games and cooking. I successfully made a batch of Vivienne’s corn muffin jalapeno cheese balls using my awesome new aebleskiver pan* and we shared in some really delicious snacks – including home made spiced pickled carrots. Lord almighty – they are delicious.
While snacking, we played a card game called Race for the Galaxy. It was a bit involved and the directions were extensive, but the general play was very clever and it seemed pretty well balanced. I don’t think I’ll buy this game, but it’d be fun to try it a few more times with a larger crowd.
On Saturday Shaun, Viv, and I watched the movie Coraline in 3D. 3D! Oh man! What a treat! Though until this movie, I hadn’t realized that when you view something in 3D the colors suffer dramatically. Coraline is a very colorful movie in 2D. In 3D the color was lackluster. at best
Sunday saw some epic rock climbing. After a successful afternoon where I flashed a 5.11 and made some progress on a 5.12, I decided to throw caution to the wind and try a 5.13a. This particular route has a slippery start, but I got a few moves up. To make it easier to try, rock climbing worker Greg pulled over a pad so we could work on it boulder style (sans rope).
I tried again and again, regularly falling on a weak sloper for the left hand. After about 6 attempts, I felt a sharp stinging feeling in my middle finger. I looked down to find a wide gash at the second knuckle joint and blood all over the place. Greg, far more hardcore than I, pointed out that this sort of injury has happened to him before. When climbing a tough route, you can sometimes get little folds of skin on your fingers. If you squeeze them wrong, the whole thing bursts open.
It’s gross, but hopefully it will heal reasonably quickly. I am excited that I was able to stick even a single move on a 5.13. Awesome!
*aebleskiver pan: a sweet pan that lets you cook little stuffed pastries and stuff. Here’s a picture.
