Dude. So. I totally just climbed a wall without using my hands. And then I climbed it without using footholds, which was a zillion times harder, but I managed.

Lori called me last week and said "hey, you wanna take a rock climbing class?" And I like when people present me with opportunities, so I told her "Sure." And it was really, really fun. So I signed up for the next two in the series, and I just got back from lesson #2. SO FUN. It's absolutely freeing in the way that a good ropes course is, where you know if you slip and fall (and I did, several times) nothing bad will happen to you (because somebody's holding your line, and, failing that, the floor is really squishy).

All these metaphors keep occurring to me, too. Not while I'm climbing, though — then it's all "hand hand, foot foot, rock rock." But really, like, I handle a number of different things at my job, right? And I have to make sure I'm doing them all together if things are going to work well. They'll work when I forget things, just not very well. It's the same with climbing: forget to swing your weight over your foot before you push off, or keep your arms straight, or watch where your feet are going, and all you'll do is make yourself tired. Remembering all those things is hard, but by remembering them, you make everything easier on yourself in the end. And so on.

Also I totally contacted my USC advisor today, and walked a mile to the hardware store, and put my shelf together, and I ROCK SO HARD I just thought I'd let everyone know.

I'm really full of endorphins right now. And I love everything and everyone. Just so you know.

P.S. Awesomelope is the name of the princess in Magical Adventures in Space. Her bodyguards, Topato Potato and Sheriff Pony, went back in time to the moment of her birth and named her.