it´s snowing outside
and this man awaits
the machine to dispense more liquid fuel
to be mated with milk and sugar
for a moment of clarity and simplicity
I chose to be, to be
different long ago so why not
stick with it a notch longer
at my age, waiting doesn´t seem so hard
anymore, it never was, we just don´t
realize all new and prepped for
an ultimate show
that never comes
instead, we fail to see
the falling snow as a marvel
as something we can take
as a present
i chose to be and bring
a little difference to my place
what is my place
the place called home
down there within
those who don´t care never will
i pity you
Freitag, 22. Januar 2016
Mittwoch, 10. Juni 2015
Ceüse...the best sport climbing in the world?
Well...let´s have a short answer...Yes! Overall, the package of scenery, rock quality, route quality and vibe is unbeatable! I spent an amazing week in Ceüse during the first week of my Whitsun Break this year and have fallen in love - actually, I miss about everything about it. The hike in, the spaced bolts, the feeling of being scared and shit pumped, not to mention flute - baguette in the morning, the coffee we had on the porch before hiking in each morning, our landlord´s sheepish spaniel, the shandy in the evening, the drives into Gap...
I´ve been to a few places and I´ve seldom picked a place I didn´t like, actually never have. I love Gorges du Tarn for the pockets, the easy access, the river ambiance and the general holiday feeling it puts me in. I at times can bring myself to like Arco, even though that´s off season Arco only. It was a nice contrast to make my way into down town Arco on the drive back from Ceüse, only to run into loads of Germans, climber soccer moms, Maloja knights and E9 hardmovers who climb 5.10 and brag about it. I cherish the ice cream, cappuccinos and pizza but not the crowds.
I love all the American areas I´ve been to. Bishop´s the Ceüse of bouldering. It feels about as rough and rugged in terms of scenery but amazes on an equal level.
We never return the same from places we´ve been to - if we´ve picked the right ones. Ceüse, la belle, a bientot!
Voila, des photos d´une semaine en bleu!
Samstag, 13. September 2014
Having fun...
Okay, I scored a rad job at a school half a mile from my house! I´ll teach 7th, 8th, 9th and 10th graders! Very happy!
And...climbing´s going well as well. After working my way through the classics at Schleierwasserfall, I just had no really cool 5.12ds and 5.13as to work anymore! At least not this summer - the wettest we´ve had for years! Being unable to avoid it any longer, I kinda had to hop on Have fun on top, an Alex Huber 5.13b which breaks down into a pretty solid V8ish boulder from the first to the third bolt, followed by solid 5.12d climbing to the top! I had a hard time with conditions and the notoriously seepy start pocket but found some pretty good drop knees and slowly pieced the whole thing together. Tuesday this week I managed to stick the crux move to the key hole pocket first go and blew the go not fully warmed up! I pumped out of the next one and kinda gave up but you never know...conditions improved, I hit every hold exactly right on my third go of the day and found myself at the shake out after the fourth bolt! I didn´t blow it this time!
Stay tuned for some pics! Holiday project done! Now it´s time for more - I got a rad job, a rad apartment and am more psyched than ever!
Take care out there,
Peace!
And...climbing´s going well as well. After working my way through the classics at Schleierwasserfall, I just had no really cool 5.12ds and 5.13as to work anymore! At least not this summer - the wettest we´ve had for years! Being unable to avoid it any longer, I kinda had to hop on Have fun on top, an Alex Huber 5.13b which breaks down into a pretty solid V8ish boulder from the first to the third bolt, followed by solid 5.12d climbing to the top! I had a hard time with conditions and the notoriously seepy start pocket but found some pretty good drop knees and slowly pieced the whole thing together. Tuesday this week I managed to stick the crux move to the key hole pocket first go and blew the go not fully warmed up! I pumped out of the next one and kinda gave up but you never know...conditions improved, I hit every hold exactly right on my third go of the day and found myself at the shake out after the fourth bolt! I didn´t blow it this time!
Stay tuned for some pics! Holiday project done! Now it´s time for more - I got a rad job, a rad apartment and am more psyched than ever!
Take care out there,
Peace!
Mittwoch, 27. August 2014
Quite a fun year so far...
Okay, it´s been quite some time since my last post. I was too busy, didn´t feel like it as well and this doesn´t make for good posts, so I´d rather not post anything at all. The past weeks have been sort of like the icing on the cake of a good year so far, which I´ll briefly sum up:
Working as a high school teacher was pretty rad, the kids response was overwhelming and I made some new experiences which beyond doubt have made me a better teacher than I was before.
I was fortunate enough to travel quite a bit, twice to France even, and had a good share of climbing, sun, fun and drama at times.
I was invited by my class from Franken, had a pretty rad barbecue with them and, simply put, have never felt as honored as a teacher than I did the moment they invited me. All my work and all effort made pays off in moments like that. I love my job - and these kids will always be there, they´ll always be the first class I taught for a straight year and they´re the benchmark all other are measured against, even if that may be unfair since some come 24 in a million.
Climbing wise I was able to walk away with a few good and sometimes hard first ascents and some good repeats. Some of the things I did this year most definitely make my personal top five list. The past weeks I´ve been mostly climbing at the Schleierwasserfall which is for sure one of my personal happy places!
I´ve recently been able to score a good job close to my place, which means that I´ll be able to keep my awesome apartment, I´ll be able to afford a US trip - long overdue! - and other things that make life worth living. Money can´t buy you happiness but it buys the gas you need to go places and that´s where the happiness comes in...
I´m currently sitting at home, I´ve had a fun birthday, my little nephew is really cool, the pup freaks out every time he sees me...Life´s good.
Here´s the obligatory photo dump! Out!
Working as a high school teacher was pretty rad, the kids response was overwhelming and I made some new experiences which beyond doubt have made me a better teacher than I was before.
I was fortunate enough to travel quite a bit, twice to France even, and had a good share of climbing, sun, fun and drama at times.
I was invited by my class from Franken, had a pretty rad barbecue with them and, simply put, have never felt as honored as a teacher than I did the moment they invited me. All my work and all effort made pays off in moments like that. I love my job - and these kids will always be there, they´ll always be the first class I taught for a straight year and they´re the benchmark all other are measured against, even if that may be unfair since some come 24 in a million.
Climbing wise I was able to walk away with a few good and sometimes hard first ascents and some good repeats. Some of the things I did this year most definitely make my personal top five list. The past weeks I´ve been mostly climbing at the Schleierwasserfall which is for sure one of my personal happy places!
I´ve recently been able to score a good job close to my place, which means that I´ll be able to keep my awesome apartment, I´ll be able to afford a US trip - long overdue! - and other things that make life worth living. Money can´t buy you happiness but it buys the gas you need to go places and that´s where the happiness comes in...
I´m currently sitting at home, I´ve had a fun birthday, my little nephew is really cool, the pup freaks out every time he sees me...Life´s good.
Here´s the obligatory photo dump! Out!
Sonntag, 23. März 2014
The roads less traveled taken...
I´m sitting on a
bus. I have been for the past five hours and there´s one more to go.The world outside
is a blur of white mixed with occasional lights and the driver´s putting the
pedal to the metal, making the world outside blur even more. Oh, he´s listening to Miley Cyrus non stop. I´m somewhere north of
the polar circle. On my way to a wedding which I have, as a matter of fact, missed.
Plans go wrong in life. It happens all the time. Sometime today, things went
wrong. Put me where I am now and in the position I am in. Let´s call it an
odyssey. Or let´s call it a paradox. I´ve traveled thrice the distance in less
than half the time. A plan devised to mend a plan gone awry went awry around
noon today. Actually it did a lot sooner.
Yesterday, I boarded a plane. Flew to Oslo. Had an okay flight slightly made exciting by the fact that our pilot fucked up the landing. I´ve had my share of landings and that was a hard one. I spent the night at Oslo airport, huddled up on a Starbucks couch, anxiously awaiting 5.30 am. Fueled up on coffee, boarded another flight to Tromso, had more coffee and waited for a change.
It´s 12.35 and I´m walking up to the check in of my last flight. I´ve been on the road for close to 20 hours now and I´m starting to feel tired of it. I take out my ID, smile a confident smile and seconds later get told that I´m not on the passenger list. That I actually was on the passenger list for February the 1st. Which was exactly one month ago. Which of course is a major fuck up. I walk back into the lobby and try to get a rental car. There´s no rental car available, not a single one actually. I resort to making a lot of phone calls, none of which immediately mends the situation. Then I get told there´s a bus going to Alta from Tromso sometime around 4 pm. It´ll take six hours. I´ll miss the wedding and be there 6 hours late. At best. If worst comes to worst, I´ll have a few more airport nights. Whatever!
There is a bus going to Alta. The ticket is 570 crowns and I have about 200! Which is a major problem. I haven´t been paid yet, I´m still awaiting my first full time job paycheck in the new job. I call my bro for help – after all I´ll be missing his wedding – and ask for a quick cash transaction. They´ll try. Which leaves me with the task of finding out where exactly the Alta bus departs and when it does.
It´s 2 pm. I´m walking into the Tromso tourist office.Introducing Ronda. Ronda is my – that is our – tourist info desk personal. Ronda is also helplessly friendly and absolutely inapt at communicating that there´re soon more than 10 people queuing up at her desk. Ronda is counseling a Japanese husband and his incredibly dumbfuck wife. Who cannot decide whether to go snowshoeing or not. They´ve never attempted, so they don´t know what it feels like. They don´t know anything. I wish they had stayed where they came from. 30 minutes later, Ronda is still talking to our Jap couple. The Londoners before me are slightly annoyed. Me and the Italian couple behind me are openly discussing whether to kill Mr. Jap or not. Another 15 minutes later, Mr. Jap decides that he´ll pay for cross country skiing, snow shoeing and a guided husky ride. The Londoners say that they´ll be quicker and more decisive. I hope they will be. At 3.15 pm, after more than 1.3 hours of counseling, Mr. Jap and his incredibly stupid wife try to leave the tourist office. I´m blocking their way and refuse to move. I´m hoping he´ll say something upon which I in return could maybe say something terribly offensive but he won´t. He squeezes his way out. The Londoners turn out to be what you expect Londoners to be. Another 15 minutes later, I promise the Italian couple that my question will be a matter of seconds. Which it is, only because I´m cutting Ronda short though. I´m refusing to sign up for any refund based activities. Ronda is disappointed and I´m close to asking for a gun shop.
Ten minutes later, I´m a rich man. The cash transaction has worked. I put 500 crowns into my pocket, make some calls hopefully fit to save a wedding on the brink of disaster and then buy my ticket. After that, I have 10 minutes left, which I seize to buy some raisin bread. I´ll miss the wedding dinner. This man needs some calories.
I´m sitting on a bus. I have been for the past five hours and there´s one more to go.The world outside is a blur of white mixed with occasional lights and the driver´s putting the pedal to the metal, making the world outside blur even more. Somewhere north of the polar circle. On my way to a wedding I have as a matter of fact missed. Plans go wrong in life. It happens all the time. Sometime today, things went wrong. Put me where I am now and in the position I am in. Let´s call it an odyssey. Or let´s call it a paradox. I´ve traveled thrice the distance in less than half the time. What the hell. I need a beer. I´ll hopefully be able to jump into the hot tub. Maybe something of the wedding dinner will have been put away for me. This one´s finished. It has taken about half an hour. The world outside is still a blur of white and the bus driver´s still listening to Miley Cyrus. This is a ride I won´t forget. That´s kinda cool. I have a nephew. It´ll make for a fun story to tell him one day.
Yesterday, I boarded a plane. Flew to Oslo. Had an okay flight slightly made exciting by the fact that our pilot fucked up the landing. I´ve had my share of landings and that was a hard one. I spent the night at Oslo airport, huddled up on a Starbucks couch, anxiously awaiting 5.30 am. Fueled up on coffee, boarded another flight to Tromso, had more coffee and waited for a change.
It´s 12.35 and I´m walking up to the check in of my last flight. I´ve been on the road for close to 20 hours now and I´m starting to feel tired of it. I take out my ID, smile a confident smile and seconds later get told that I´m not on the passenger list. That I actually was on the passenger list for February the 1st. Which was exactly one month ago. Which of course is a major fuck up. I walk back into the lobby and try to get a rental car. There´s no rental car available, not a single one actually. I resort to making a lot of phone calls, none of which immediately mends the situation. Then I get told there´s a bus going to Alta from Tromso sometime around 4 pm. It´ll take six hours. I´ll miss the wedding and be there 6 hours late. At best. If worst comes to worst, I´ll have a few more airport nights. Whatever!
There is a bus going to Alta. The ticket is 570 crowns and I have about 200! Which is a major problem. I haven´t been paid yet, I´m still awaiting my first full time job paycheck in the new job. I call my bro for help – after all I´ll be missing his wedding – and ask for a quick cash transaction. They´ll try. Which leaves me with the task of finding out where exactly the Alta bus departs and when it does.
It´s 2 pm. I´m walking into the Tromso tourist office.Introducing Ronda. Ronda is my – that is our – tourist info desk personal. Ronda is also helplessly friendly and absolutely inapt at communicating that there´re soon more than 10 people queuing up at her desk. Ronda is counseling a Japanese husband and his incredibly dumbfuck wife. Who cannot decide whether to go snowshoeing or not. They´ve never attempted, so they don´t know what it feels like. They don´t know anything. I wish they had stayed where they came from. 30 minutes later, Ronda is still talking to our Jap couple. The Londoners before me are slightly annoyed. Me and the Italian couple behind me are openly discussing whether to kill Mr. Jap or not. Another 15 minutes later, Mr. Jap decides that he´ll pay for cross country skiing, snow shoeing and a guided husky ride. The Londoners say that they´ll be quicker and more decisive. I hope they will be. At 3.15 pm, after more than 1.3 hours of counseling, Mr. Jap and his incredibly stupid wife try to leave the tourist office. I´m blocking their way and refuse to move. I´m hoping he´ll say something upon which I in return could maybe say something terribly offensive but he won´t. He squeezes his way out. The Londoners turn out to be what you expect Londoners to be. Another 15 minutes later, I promise the Italian couple that my question will be a matter of seconds. Which it is, only because I´m cutting Ronda short though. I´m refusing to sign up for any refund based activities. Ronda is disappointed and I´m close to asking for a gun shop.
Ten minutes later, I´m a rich man. The cash transaction has worked. I put 500 crowns into my pocket, make some calls hopefully fit to save a wedding on the brink of disaster and then buy my ticket. After that, I have 10 minutes left, which I seize to buy some raisin bread. I´ll miss the wedding dinner. This man needs some calories.
I´m sitting on a bus. I have been for the past five hours and there´s one more to go.The world outside is a blur of white mixed with occasional lights and the driver´s putting the pedal to the metal, making the world outside blur even more. Somewhere north of the polar circle. On my way to a wedding I have as a matter of fact missed. Plans go wrong in life. It happens all the time. Sometime today, things went wrong. Put me where I am now and in the position I am in. Let´s call it an odyssey. Or let´s call it a paradox. I´ve traveled thrice the distance in less than half the time. What the hell. I need a beer. I´ll hopefully be able to jump into the hot tub. Maybe something of the wedding dinner will have been put away for me. This one´s finished. It has taken about half an hour. The world outside is still a blur of white and the bus driver´s still listening to Miley Cyrus. This is a ride I won´t forget. That´s kinda cool. I have a nephew. It´ll make for a fun story to tell him one day.
Freitag, 21. Februar 2014
Walking the mean streets...
“ But down these mean streets a man must
go, who is not himself mean, who is neither tarnished nor afraid.”
It´s over and done. Last Friday, I was handed my graduation papers. End
of a chapter. I´m a grammar school teacher now – and a good one at that.
I won´t say too much about it, recurring to my favorite Chandler quote,
all that I will say is that the streets were mean, that I walked them the way I
was intending to walk them – the way I was also supposed to walk them living up
to the true essence of the quote which is not necessarily the way I was meant
to walk them by the institutions and assessing boards – and that I´m glad it´s
over.
If the streets are mean, it´s easy
to adapt – it takes a man not to fall for that easy option. I vowed to be that
man. Didn´t become mean, didn´t become tarnished and didn´t become afraid. I
walked the streets without making a bow – and paid my price. There´s a price
tag on everything and I chose to pay the price tagged on resilience. We´ll see
where it takes me but I´m not worried. Why am I not worried? Because I firmly
believe in above quote, holding true what it postulates. The results I got have
always been overwhelming. I keep them on my wall. And somewhere else.
Here´s to those who made the streets less hard, less mean and gave back to me.
I hope and actually know that I was able to contribute something. Which is
cool. I won´t give names. But I can say that especially the classes I taught in
Franconia will forever remain special people to me.
I have a new car. I don´t have a girl friend anymore. I have a full time job. I
climbed a really cool route a few weeks ago. Right now I´m curing my sinusitis.
I had some amazing thai curry the day before yesterday. I´ll be flying to
Norway next weekend. Life´s full of positive things, mixed with a few
negatives.
Life´s good.
Mittwoch, 22. Januar 2014
Ulysses...
New girlfriend all´s good Arco cappuccinos a fun time love´s sweet and so rad to have freezing my fingers of making out and more we won´t have here oh sweet let´s climb something if we can´t afford shit blow all you have no matter what let´s go back and fall out left alone to wonder sadness and worry will I get a job I will get a job that´s rad feeling relieved and sad money´s a constant worry these days prices skyrocket fuck that fuck you and everybody annoying me all plans and no clues old dog and more new tricks I need something positive there it is I get the job I´m feeling sick I try my best I succeed one project less and such a rad one life´s a journey we´ll see what´s next after the next bend laughter and jokes and more cappuccinos and pull ups and one hundred forty five that night and what the hell I should be working by now but coffee I need coffee I have some of the raddest friends saving me each day and I love you all out there the few and the brave all I can say is never give up been to places blacker than the abyss all you can shove in my direction makes me stronger each day so let´s see bring it on more of that I need to grit my teeth to feel
alive!
Out!
alive!
Out!
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