…beyond nice.

What do the Oscars and mountaineers have in common?  The f*ck if I know.
I started training for my Baker climb and hiked up Mount Si with 25lbs.  I have to say, it’s not as easy as I remembered.  At my best shape, I was able to carry 45lbs up a mountain, and even at that, I was limited by the fact that my skin was not used to that much weight rubbing against me.  At some point, I had patches of skin, rubbed raw by my backpack.  I can’t describe that as erotic or even somewhat pleasant-like sensation, unless scrubbing a fresh wound with a brillo pad is pleasant.
My best friend, who is really into corporeal punishment S&M play once tried describe to me why people, like himself, into S&M like what they like.  He said, think about your brain and what an intricate network of neurons it is.  Occasionally you get a person where every time a neuron fires when they feel pain, it also crossfires with a neuron that feel pleasure.  That’s how you get people that loves the masochist play.  Don’t ask me about the “S” part, I can’t hear a Sim character cry without feeling all torn up.
I’ve heard that hardcore hikers and mountaineers love pain, like true masochists.  From my point of view, I don’t think it’s a case of brain channel misfires.  I think mountaineers have some high tolerance for brain pleasure center and they only feel that reward when they hit a peak.  It’s like a mouse that can’t satiate its hunger with mere pellets until it’s standing at the very tallest point of what its beady little eyes can take in.
I was reading a book called “Nurture Shock” where kids that weren’t over-praised/coddled by parents will try harder at tough puzzles because their brains seek the pleasure center lighting up when the puzzle is solved.  Kids with parents that constantly tell them they are awesome don’t try so hard because…eh, that part of their brain is always lit from constant praises…what’s solving a little puzzle going to add?  So my theory goes, that mountaineers are kids raised by Tiger mothers that are a bit praise starved.  Harsh, non?  I’ll say I fall in that category.
In my carrying 25lbs after doing a whole lot of watching everything on Hulu and not much else, I was tempted to cry and complain.  You know what the best solution to that is?  Have a friend hike with you who is carrying FIFTY f*cking pounds.  There is nothing quite like someone else carrying twice the weight you are carrying to hand you a sippy cup full of SHUT-THE-F*CK-UP.  You will suffer in silence and like it!
My sister invited me to an Oscar party tomorrow.  I’m not talking about a party at her girlfriend’s house, I’m talking about a $75 per ticket, black-tie, held at a fancy hotel — party.  I told her what I thought about it, which…let’s not go in details, but I think I said people who dress up to go watch the Oscars on TV at hotels are chumps.  Oh, but she already bought a pair of tickets for me and despite my declining she can’t fob off the tickets.
Why hello there, my name is “Chump: the praise deprived kid”.

For 2011:
1)Summit Mount Baker
2)Get scuba certified
3)Apply to law school
I’ve stopped writing because, I want to give myself excuse that I was a bit depressed for a number of reasons but the truth is, I was being self-indulgent and letting my mind rot.   A few things have changed since I last wrote, I no longer work in the game industry, I have been dating the boyfriend for almost 3 years now,  and I am working towards applying for law school come the end of this year.The thought of law school scares me mostly because I know I will have to trade everything that I now think of as a “life” for endless studying for 3 years.  I only decided on law school at the beginning of this year and I started looking into applying for school starting this fall, but then I found out I pretty much missed every school application deadline already.  At first I was sad, because OH MY GOD I AM TOO OLD ALREADY.  Can I really waste another year waiting around to start school and then have another few years vanish in schooldom?  I called my friends and whined about being too old for school.  They gave me pretty much what I asked for, which is a swift kick in the pants and pushed me back into the ring.
Armed with some good pep talks, I gathered my thoughts on how I will spend the next year and a half preparing for the intensive studying to come.  It dawned on me how cool it is to be given a set amount of time to fuck around before hunkering down.  I will be pushing 40 by the time I get out of school, so I wanted to do the more physically taxing things that I’ve always wanted to do but never got around to.
I wanted to climb Mount Baker, I came close a couple years before, but an accident happened and that class got postponed.  I need to train to carry 50lbs halfway up the mountain, which is half my weight.  This shouldn’t be all that difficult if I had a bit of Nepalese blood in me and I was motivated by 2 years wages for one mountain run, but as it stands, I only have a lot of lazy ass blood in me and my years of training by sitting in front of the computer might not be nearly as helpful as it sounds.
I’ve been talking about scuba diving in Great Barrier Reef since forever but never got around to learning how to swim.  I worry that by the time I graduate and can afford to head to the Australia, the Reef will have been long destroyed by pesky humans.  I was talking to the boyfriend’s buddy about learning how to swim and how I can’t seem to stay afloat.  He said swimming has always come naturally to him and that it’s actually hard for him to sink.  I should maybe swap lessons with him, I’m the expert of sinking in water.  It’s really not that hard.  Just jump in the water, picture some cold dead hand reaching at you from underneath trying to pull you in, have a panic attack, and flail like crazy.  It’s my trade seekrit on drowning efficiently, don’t go out and share that with everyone now.