A few months ago I switched my schedule from Monday-Friday to Tuesday-Saturday. One of the perks of this schedule is that I get to pick when to take my holidays, since most of them fall on Monday and I don't work Mondays. So I'm taking one of my holidays this Tuesday, and boy, I'm looking forward to it. I plan to relax and do not much otherwise.
For the past couple of weeks Jeff and I have been taking flax oil at bedtime, on the theory that it might help us sleep better. (I don't have any references for this; Jeff got the idea from a couple of his friends and wanted to try it.) I think it may have been helping, although it's hard to pin down such a subjective idea. In any case, whether because of the flax oil or by some other factor, I'm feeling a bit better rested these days.
This is possibly why I finally managed to go to the gym yesterday. For the past couple of months Jeff has been a member of Berkeley Ironworks, a small rock-climbing and fitness gym near my work, and he has been going in on Saturdays while I'm at work. He kept trying to get me to try it, not even necessarily to climb but just to use the fitness equipment, and I never managed to muster the energy to go, until yesterday.
Credit is also due to a co-worker who happened to mention climbing at lunch last week. She had a more female
perspective on climbing, which appealed to me more than Jeff's reasons. (Jeff mostly just wants to be on top of things; he doesn't know why.) She also suggested that I take a belay safety class, which would let me meet other new people. Jeff thought that was a good idea too, so that's what we did.
Jeff is now overjoyed that he has a belay partner and can get off the bouldering walls. I am perhaps not so enthusiastic as he about the climbing, but I plan to use the fitness equipment. We're going to try to go in before work in the morning; we'll see how that goes.
Maggie says:
So, what is the female perspective on climbing anyway? If you ask me, I probably would say something along the lines of wanting to be on top of things too :-) It's exhilerating to be able to jump off of the 2D plane we spend most of our lives in.
Laurabelle says:
Touché! I guess it's not really a female perspective. What I meant was that my co-worker was able to describe the experience and challenge of climbing in a manner that appealed to me and made me think I could actually do it.
One of the things she said is that men tend to progress faster through the lower levels (because they have more natural upper-body strength) but that women progress faster through the higher levels because they have to develop more technique earlier on. I find this thought very encouraging.
Maggie says:
Ah! that does make sense. Thanks for the clarification. (And I wonder if this comment is belated enough to be considered totally absurd). :-) It never occured to me that I wouldn't get a reply in my inbox!