Chocolate = I can't go to bed
I was about to go to bed and then I discovered a block of top deck chocolate in the kitchen, so I decided I'd best eat it before someone else does :D And with my spare time I s'pose I should blog too :)
What needs discussing? World cup!! Last night! Australia 3, Japan 1. Awesome! Thank soccerus I don't bite my nails. Stayed up and watched it live. I must say it's really a bit embarrassing the "confetti" of yellow cards we got. Callum said the referee was biased and the commentator questioned how much "big match experience" referees from smaller countries have had, but I maintain that if you play cleanly the referee will have nothing to pick you up on. I've never umpired any sports, but I'm damn sure it would be VERY hard. The Japanese goal should have been a foul, but there were so many players there that from the ref's angle he probably couldn't see anything.
When I played soccer I always tried to play clean. I never grabbed anyone's shirts, or deliberately tripped people, or dived. Any fouls I made were accidental. I guess some people just become so obsessed with winning that they can justify breaking the rules on purpose :s
Meh. Monday daytime we went hiking. Got up at 7:30 am and rode off into the freezing cold. Didn't have any breakfast at home but I was riding past subway and could smell the fresh bread, so I had to go in :) Kate was running 25 minutes late or something, which is really quite slack when you're holding up a big group of people. Eventually arrived up at Belair, hiked around a bit. Rested, hiked more, etc.
According to Kate I "tried to kill myself" climbing up a cliff. Let me point out that I was not, in fact, trying to kill myself, as if I was, I can think of plenty of more reliable ways to do so. In hindsight, as it was a scouting activity and such, I probably shouldn't have. However that is the only reason, I think, why I shouldn't have.
Yes, climbing without ropes is dangerous. Yes people die, break bones, become quadriplegic etc. etc. from falling off stuff, but then people die and get injured just walking down the street. You're probably at more risk climbing, yes, but that's what's so awesome about it. The adrenalin pumping through your veins, your every thought and muscle focused. That risk is what makes it so much fun. And yet on the other hand, it's a calculated risk. When you're climbing, you're in control. Every movement, every reach, every pull, is controlled by you. And believe me, climbing without ropes, I don't just think "ooh that hold looks nice" and jump for it. I move slowly, I test, analyze, check, doublecheck and recheck before doing anything. That's the beauty of it. When you're just walking down the street and get run over by a bus, you didn't get to make any decisions there, you weren't in control. If you fall while climbing, it's your fault, and frankly, I think that's a much better way to die, doing something that you really enjoy, rather than just something random happening to you. Note please that I didn't die. Now that I think about it, there is a difference between "risk" and "uncertainty." Every time you walk down the street, there is the uncertainty that you may get run over by a bus. However, if you are a bus driver and there are no other drivers on the road, there is a risk that you might lose control and run over someone - but you are in control because you are the driver. The risk is controlled by your skill as a bus driver, and as such, if you drive carefully and stay alert, there is far less chance of you having a crash. When you're just waling down the street, we're assuming you never saw the bus coming. So um yeah, getting back, the uncertainties in that situation (earthquakes, trees falling on me etc.) were pretty minor. I was in control of the risks, and remained in control.
I did not make it to the top of that wall. I wasn't worn out, I wasn't scared, I just thought about the whole scouting activity thing and decided I probably shouldn't, and Kate was whimpering like all hell at the bottom. If there had been less people and less whimpering, I think I probably would have gone further, maybe making it to the top, maybe not. Obviously with ropes I would have been about 50 times as quick, but as I said, you just don't get that rush.
Okay, chocolate's gone :(
What needs discussing? World cup!! Last night! Australia 3, Japan 1. Awesome! Thank soccerus I don't bite my nails. Stayed up and watched it live. I must say it's really a bit embarrassing the "confetti" of yellow cards we got. Callum said the referee was biased and the commentator questioned how much "big match experience" referees from smaller countries have had, but I maintain that if you play cleanly the referee will have nothing to pick you up on. I've never umpired any sports, but I'm damn sure it would be VERY hard. The Japanese goal should have been a foul, but there were so many players there that from the ref's angle he probably couldn't see anything.
When I played soccer I always tried to play clean. I never grabbed anyone's shirts, or deliberately tripped people, or dived. Any fouls I made were accidental. I guess some people just become so obsessed with winning that they can justify breaking the rules on purpose :s
Meh. Monday daytime we went hiking. Got up at 7:30 am and rode off into the freezing cold. Didn't have any breakfast at home but I was riding past subway and could smell the fresh bread, so I had to go in :) Kate was running 25 minutes late or something, which is really quite slack when you're holding up a big group of people. Eventually arrived up at Belair, hiked around a bit. Rested, hiked more, etc.
According to Kate I "tried to kill myself" climbing up a cliff. Let me point out that I was not, in fact, trying to kill myself, as if I was, I can think of plenty of more reliable ways to do so. In hindsight, as it was a scouting activity and such, I probably shouldn't have. However that is the only reason, I think, why I shouldn't have.
Yes, climbing without ropes is dangerous. Yes people die, break bones, become quadriplegic etc. etc. from falling off stuff, but then people die and get injured just walking down the street. You're probably at more risk climbing, yes, but that's what's so awesome about it. The adrenalin pumping through your veins, your every thought and muscle focused. That risk is what makes it so much fun. And yet on the other hand, it's a calculated risk. When you're climbing, you're in control. Every movement, every reach, every pull, is controlled by you. And believe me, climbing without ropes, I don't just think "ooh that hold looks nice" and jump for it. I move slowly, I test, analyze, check, doublecheck and recheck before doing anything. That's the beauty of it. When you're just walking down the street and get run over by a bus, you didn't get to make any decisions there, you weren't in control. If you fall while climbing, it's your fault, and frankly, I think that's a much better way to die, doing something that you really enjoy, rather than just something random happening to you. Note please that I didn't die. Now that I think about it, there is a difference between "risk" and "uncertainty." Every time you walk down the street, there is the uncertainty that you may get run over by a bus. However, if you are a bus driver and there are no other drivers on the road, there is a risk that you might lose control and run over someone - but you are in control because you are the driver. The risk is controlled by your skill as a bus driver, and as such, if you drive carefully and stay alert, there is far less chance of you having a crash. When you're just waling down the street, we're assuming you never saw the bus coming. So um yeah, getting back, the uncertainties in that situation (earthquakes, trees falling on me etc.) were pretty minor. I was in control of the risks, and remained in control.
I did not make it to the top of that wall. I wasn't worn out, I wasn't scared, I just thought about the whole scouting activity thing and decided I probably shouldn't, and Kate was whimpering like all hell at the bottom. If there had been less people and less whimpering, I think I probably would have gone further, maybe making it to the top, maybe not. Obviously with ropes I would have been about 50 times as quick, but as I said, you just don't get that rush.
Okay, chocolate's gone :(