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Cutting away the B.S. - A mini-rant


willstrickland

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Dru,

Good point, don't want me polluting the gene pool, but going without the nads would probably impede my other favorite passtime - sport-fucking! Poor trade-off in my opinion, anyway I don't usually lack power, but endurane (in both sports, eh!). (Any female CC'ers disregard the above humor, me love you long time)

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vert,

two separate posts, two separate intentions. First was serious, second was intended to be(obviously) humorous. I don't intend to become an ascetic, just eliminate the things that stand in the way of my dreams. Even the Buddha discovered that ascetism wasn't the way...after fasting and meditating until on the brink of death, he nourished his body and encouraged other ascetics to eat and keep themselves healthy so that they might reach enlightenment before they died trying.

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Girls that like sport fucking like strong manly man with quads of iron from bike ride everywhere and no TV belly....

I prefer the trad variety myself. Sport fucking is tainted by the fact it stays away from cracks, on blank faces.... bounce.gif

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quote:

Originally posted by EV:

Wil: Good post. Eliminating excess from one's life is often good - the less, the better.

Also, nice article in the recent Rock and Ice on Portland.

Getting rid of excess is good unless it's an excessively long crack route! Man, this route in Zion called Tricks of the Trade has a phenomenal hand crack that's gotta be at least 400 continuous feet of primarily perfect hands on a vertical wall.

and about that article, thanks! I'm just waiting for the "does it bother anyone that a guy from Georgia via Utah is writing a climbing article about Portland" stuff to start. smile.gif

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I don't know if I could go as far as you did (I love tv and movies too much), but I try to free myself from the worlds distractions.

I spent 6 months this year w/o communication to the outside world, w/o the thoughts of the daily grind, and w/o any expensive gear (Or sleep and food for that matter). You learn to appreciate comfort; when all comfort and happiness are taken from you, and all you know is SUCK. You know your sucking when: an hour of sleep, a moment of peace, or a piece of bread and some peanutbutter is an answered praryer. I learned a lot about myself and God through this challenge. I found my limits and surpassed them.

I've found, since I've been back, that I've ignored a lot of learned.

I believe that all mountaineers, deep down, want to experence some suck. Suck challenges you to find your limits. Suck reminds you of what is important. Suck opens your senses to the world. Suck makes you apprecitate all that we have. Suck tells us we are alive.

We all should go on a suckfest once in a while.

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Hey Will,

Isn't that you clipping that fat bolt in Rock and Ice this month? Or is that the other Will Strickland from Portland?

What's up "all a rounder"? You to cool for bolts now? So you threw away your TV, big deal...Why didn't you donate it to the Salvation Army? My guess is that it was broken, 'cause you couln't plug it in to your cigarette lighter, or you couldn't pay the power bill!

Keep in mind that your quest for "spiritual development" and "plaing" are privliges of White Middle Class Americans who have the luxury of selling their car so he can concentrate on climbing more... oh, just rambling again.

But really, I'm curious... How does ripping bolts out of a rock help you "improve yourself"? And who are you to judge which bolts should be ripped out and which shouldn't? More importantly, how does it help others? Sounds like a selfish endevor to me.

No hard feelings Will I just question your motives, and I'm not sold on all the non-materialistic spiritual-hippe bullshit.

I enjoyed your article in the Mag. It was about the most interesting thing in it!

 

[This message has been edited by lambone (edited 07-25-2001).]

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Will,

Good article in Rock and Vice. Well done. I think we all need to find the path that suits us well and do our best to stay on it. One thing I've learned is that my path is not "the" path and honestly my goal is to remove as much fear and expectations from my life as possible through some basic spiritual principles.

That is until that son of a bitch in the QFC cut in front of me today in the checkout line. I showed that fuc*&er the path!!! LOL

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This discussion about the DDD restoration got me thinking. As I dive farther and farther into the climbing life, my ethics evolve and my lifestyle changes. I find myself trying to say more by saying less, and to subsitute action for ego. Eight years ago I threw my TV in the dumpster. It was wasting time I could use to improve myself. Six years ago I stopped buying "fashionable" clothes and used surplus, thrift, and outlet stores, the less I spend the less time I owe to others. Four years ago I eliminated housing from the equation and lived out of tents and hostels for almost a year. Two years ago I lived out of a vehicle for almost two years year while holding an 8 on - 6 off job and climbing on the off days. I sold my truck last week and now rely on a road bike, mt bike, and public transit. I do all of this to remove the excess shit from my life so I can concentrate on climbing, training, spiritual development, and just plain playing. We are so rich in this country that the basics (food shelter clothing) are easily covered. Time is the most valuable asset we have and the current system requires us to lock our future time up in the management of debt.

In climbing I've gone from clipping bolts to chopping bolts. I've gone from having a hard sport route as a typical project to having scary wall routes and hard offwidths as projects. As my exposure to areas around the country has grown, my disgust with the current trends of climbing has grown. I've gone from passing by a retro-job and saying "that's a shame, people shouldn't do that" to getting off my ass and correcting the transgression. I've gone from looking at established difficulties for a challenge (A2, A3 and on up the scale) to creating my own challenges by attempting (and failing most of the time)first clean ascents of established nailing routes.

The point of all this is that the more I remove, the richer my life seems. I have less things to maintain, and more time. I seek value in relationships and adventures rather than material goods. I live in the present rather than playing the "I'll be happy when..." game. And, I spend more time climbing things I never imagined I would than sitting around thinking "if I just get those new axes I'll be able to climb better". It's about time, time on the rock, time on the mountain.

Good gear is nice, and most of my gear is quality stuff, but there is no substitute for an investment of time. Having 500 pitches of 5.8 leads under your belt will do much more for you than having $500 of new cams on your rack...

Just a ramble, nothing more, but I'm interested in your stories. Sacrifices you've made and continue to make, the value you've found in structuring your life around your climbing rather than the other way around.

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Will, just wondering, if you're into seeing what you can do without, have you considered having yourself neutered? I've read somewhere that without the excess energy being diverted to your gonads your power level "will" increase by about 8%...

idea.gif

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I gave up TV a year ago, don't own a computer, don't own or use a cell phone, don't use plastic.

But my life does not revolve around climbing. Climbing is an integral part of my life, but I have other dreams in this short bit of time we're given called life.

That's my story.

Good ramble, Will. Can't say I'd go to that extent, but good story nonetheless.

It's interesting to see how many of the posters here have computer (IT, IS) related jobs.

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quote:

Originally posted by lambone:

Hey Will,

1. Isn't that you clipping that fat bolt in Rock and Ice this month?

2. What's up "all a rounder"? You to cool for bolts now?

3. So you threw away your TV, big deal...Why didn't you donate it to the Salvation Army?

4. Keep in mind that your quest for "spiritual development" and "plaing" are privliges of White Middle Class Americans who have the luxury of selling their car so he can concentrate on climbing more...

5. But really, I'm curious... How does ripping bolts out of a rock help you "improve yourself"?

6. And who are you to judge which bolts should be ripped out and which shouldn't? More importantly, how does it help others? Sounds like a selfish endevor to me.


Ok, 'bone I'll have a go at these.

1. No, that is not me clipping the bolt in the picture, as stated in the caption, that is Sam Elmore, who actually does resemble me a bit, or me him, or whatever...

2. Yeah, the all-arounder thing was funny, a direct product of R&I's editors making my original text more "print worthy"

3. TV worked, but required a good fist slam on top to get the picture going most of the time, didn't seem like something anyone would want.

4. Don't give me that white middle class shit. I grew up in a lower class single parent home, put myself through undergrad and grad school, have no outside financial support, truck was being paid for via loan so I didn't profit other than the equity which was due more to a shrewd business deal

on my part than on paying off much of the loan. And a quote attributed to Beck put it nicely : "at either end of the social spectrum there lies a leisure class"

5. By upholding the ethic that I know beyond doubt is the proper one. Standing up for what I believe in, respecting the natural resources, etc

6. In this case it was a no-brainer, and I was far from being alone in judging that those bolts should have been removed. Of all the routes I've chopped (4 and counting) all were retro-jobs which were easily top-ropable. How does it help others? By restoring the aesthetics of the area (blank sweep of rock rather than shiny line of steel) and by restoring a real climbing challenge rather than a psuedo-challenge which is no different than an outdoor climbing gym.

No offense taken to your comments, I can understand where you're coming from. And keep in mind that simplicity doesn't necessarily mean eating rice 3 meals a day and only owning a robe and bowl, it means evaluating the time committments that every "thing" requires (time to maintain it, time to work to pay for it) and deciding if it is truly worth that time. Material goods are a carrot on a stick deal, because unless you NEED something to survive it only satisfies a WANT and wants are infinitely expandable.

-Will

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Good topic Will. I just finished reading the book -

Your Money or Your Life : Transforming Your Relationship With Money and Achieving Financial Independence -- by Joe Dominguez, Vicki Robin; Paperback

Great info in it regarding cutting the consumerism we are subscribing to and suggestions on how to get more from your life.

My $.02

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Yeah Bronco, that's a good one. Some other good reading in the simplicity/downshifting area are "The Overworked American: The unexpected decline of lesiure..." by Harvard economist Juliet Schor; "Voluntary Simplicity" by Duane Elgin; "The Simple Living Handbook" by Janet Luhrs, and "Chop Wood, Carry Water", which is a collection. Finally, there was a PBS series a while back called "Affluenza" which investigated the growth of consumer culture in the US and the myth of happiness through affluence.

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Will-

Nice rebuttal to lambone's challenges.

Sometimes we think we see a picture, but often don't know all the facts behind it.

Good to see someone putting some deeper thought into their posts (no offense lam' - you're totally entitled to question).

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