Donnerstag, 29. Januar 2009

I`m feeling done...

I`m feeling done. Flat. Spanked. 

I have been setting routes for the past three days and even though I have set a few of the best I ever set, I realized today that I need a break. After setting a moderate 7b today I tried the route and got super pumped...my forearms hurt like hell!

I just need to chill out...

I seriously wanna get outta this place for some time. 

Too many days to Frisco...

Mittwoch, 21. Januar 2009

A Moment in Time

Barack Obama`s inaugural speech is already past. Throughout the past years, throughout the times I have been interested in politics and common interests rather than just my own little world, ever since I have realized that simple minded egoism is the manifesto of stupidity, I have never heard a better speech.

I listened to Martin Luther King`s "I Have A Dream" speech a couple of days ago. It`s a speech students of English and American culture listen to for various reasons. As a student, I had to listen to it years ago already. There is however a quality in it that keeps drawing me back to it, that keeps me, even though I have never felt segregation or even slightly suffered any disadvantages in my life except those self inflicted draws my heart to it. In it shines a hope and inspiring belief in the world and every single man`s and woman`s possibilities if only stupidity and cynism can be overcome. 

Barack Obama`s speech he held as 44th president of the US is one that`s carven out of the same wood. It was full of determination, of power and intelligence. There are a few amazing speeches in the history of mankind and listening to them makes you shiver in a way. In some cases, the shivering just means that you acknowledge the quality of the speech but in the same way realize the demonic mind behind it, as it`s the case with Goebbels`s speech of 1944 in which he proclaimed total war. In other cases, the shivering means something much more positive: emotional connection on account of agreement. This is the case with Barack Obama`s speech. 

I have listened to it a couple of times now and somehow I wish I could have been there. Somehow I wish to have been a member of those witnessing that moment. I have a feeling deep inside that it might be a historic moment. Even though it was just another 20 minutes that passed physically speaking exactly as fast or slow as those I spent waiting for my train yesterday, the feel historic. They have a quality I can only paraphrase, in a hundred years from now on, children might get taught that in a time of global crisis a man made a historic speech, setting out an agenda for what terms itself the free world.

Barack Obama is a young man, compared to many politicians. Yet is it a stereotype to think that wisdom comes with age, the abilitiy to see things clearly is not dependent on age. After eight lost years under the Bush presidency, after Guantanamo, water boarding, Abu Ghoreib and the Kyoto accord disaster, after eight years in which is was pretty easy to have faith in your political leaders as long as you considered the poor Americans and the fool they suffered from, the US finally have a president with charisma and intelligence again. 

A message has been sent. If the world hears it and responds in an according way, it could be that 20 minutes make it a better place.

Mittwoch, 14. Januar 2009

2009 goes on...

Even though it started like crap, 2009 didn`t turn out to be so bad after all. I´m finally feeling in shape again and things look pretty good climbing wise. 

I´m super psyched now for my Intercultural Proj. which is gonna be an absolute blast of a time. For those of you who want to check where I´m gonna work, check

http://www.bridgesrockgym.com/

all that I can say is that those guys are really amazing and kind and super welcoming and...

I`ve spent the past weeks doing a lot of work basically, in order to avoid being broke in the US which would be a serious bummer and would put me in the embarrasing position of somebody having to call for help in Germany, kinda "please fill my bank account"-wise. So I`ve been busy setting routes in Munich and Rosenheim and given more top-rope courses that I would normally like. Fortunatly I have been able to get an amazing replacement coach for my Wednesday climbing group. Stony is a really cool and fun person and climbs really well, we went bouldering last week and three hours passed like a whirlwind. The kids like him and he`ll also be able to handle the wilder ones of the bunch, so I don`t have to worry about the kids, which is a good thing. I really like a few of them and it would have been a pity if they had felt pushed to quit climbing just because my replacement would have been some jerk rambling on about bouldering being not climbing but something you do if you`re afraid of heights. 

The weather forecast for the weekend sound pretty good, so I hope that me and Verena will be able to head to Kochel for some outdoor action. 

Just because I´m thinking of it: if you want a good laugh, check youtube for Jeff Dunham! Bubba J. and Achmed the dead Terrorist are my personal favorites...

Take care!

Mittwoch, 31. Dezember 2008

Happy New Year!?!

The year 2009 has arrived. I didn`t party last night on account of the fact that my parents wanted to go to the Zillertal and I was hoping to get some bouldering done, I was that psyched to go there that I didn`t party with my best friends. Only to get the big New Year surprise that my parents don`t feel like going because of the inch of snow that has fallen in the past hour! I would go on my own but my dad drives me nuts about the car being insured only for him and my mom, which is why he won`t let me have it...

Here goes my year 2009 beginning. I spent yesterday checking my guidebook for cool lines that I would be psyched to try and now I´m clinging to the gym-as if I didn`t go there often enough!

I can only stress that the whole thing is a SERIOUS bummer! I hope that the rest of the year turns out to be better and more fun than this morning, I´m seriously pissed and I need someone to take it out on. 

Mittwoch, 24. Dezember 2008

Niederschelderhütte

After a heinous journey that I owe to German Railway (FUCK YOU!) I made it to N.
The past two days I have spent chilling out...
and bouldering of course...
After I climbed on Sunday morning in Munich, I felt really good and strong as well, which is a good sign and means that my cold has finally passed completely.
So I headed to my beloved woody and started to train as soon as I got home. I must again state that it`s a wonderful place to get in shape and being small, it is however as good as the boulder area in Rosenheim.

I also said hello to our dog and our cat. In the evening I rode to Dortmund with my bro to pick up his girlfriend -Dortmund immediately made it on my Top 10 List concerning towns I despise.

I`really hope that this Christmas Eve will turn out to be cool, that my relatives don`t bore the shit out of me and that there will be no drama.

I would like to say that I want all my friends to know that I wish them a Merry Xmas, I hope you enjoy your presents and my thoughts are with you. I`m really looking forward to being at home again in two days, even though N. is not bad, it stopped being my home some time ago. Home is where my heart is...

There will be a post tomorrow featuring pics from my woody and my pets.

Freitag, 19. Dezember 2008

Back in the game...

Yap, I´m back after the cold. Yesterday I did a couple of campus board goes and it felt really cool, I felt strong and that`s nice after two weeks of total break.
I spent the whole day at the gym yesterday, giving courses and watching people try the boulders I set in the tunnel.
THE big achievement of yesterday however was -and props go to Mr. Andy "Cookie" Schmieder, chef at the gym and a really nice guy- the surprise dessert I got to taste and eat. I was sitting at the bar, chatting with Simon, when Andy presented us with Mousse au Chocolat and something I don`t know the name for, nevertheless it tasted ABSOLUTELY AMAZING and therefore, thx Cookie:)
Tomorrow will be spent training in the gym again. With the rain pouring like hell, there ain`t much to do else...
Big up to Chris Sharma for sending Golpe d`Estado and being the driving force in sportclimbing. Others climb routes, Sharma climbs THE LINES...

Sonntag, 14. Dezember 2008

Animal Impersonations...



I feel like a bear! Seriously...since I caught a bad cold the beginning of this week, I been waiting for the weekend. Time to chill out and sleep...which is what I intend to do most time of this Sunday. I hope to be fit by the end of the week to come, in order to enjoy climbing again! Until then, I´ll listen to The Offspring and sleep:)
Peace out and big up!