It was raining fairly hard this morning. I'm on my second consecutive rest day, in part because of the puncture wounds in my left hand, and also because the majority of people decided likewise. The rain isn't enough of an excuse to not climb, there are plenty of over-hanging route to ascend, it's just that tomorrow's promise of nice temperatures is a treat one would be foolish not to take advantage of in one's prime. Thus, everyone rests.
Car break-ins have started to reoccur at the crag parking lots in the southern region of the gorge. There is some idea who is behind it (a local with a reputation for doing as such), but no proof. The idea of staking outside a parking area to capture the vandal has been tossed around, but as of yet no one has followed up on the thought. What has been happening is that one would return from a day of climbing to find their car's window shattered, and anything left in bags (duffel bags, laptop bags, etc.) were stolen. However, though the only thing being taken are those nicely packaged for a cowards escape, now the locks on the trunks of people's cars are being is using a chisel and hammer to dislodge the mechanism.
But I don't know, I'm not a doctor.
All that can be done is to keep valuables out of one's car, and keep the car unlocked (people have had their cars rummaged through, but had nothing stolen).
Anyways, this is just a random thought that is not very well constructed, I think. I'd suggest taking it with a heap of salt.
I've had some time to think recently. I'm in such a fortunate state. I have a college degree, grew up in a fairly middle class family, and have been given a car to live out of. On a drive to Lexington, I thought how strange it is that I'm doing this little adventure of mine, if you could even call it something so compact as an adventure. I've seen my father essentially work at a job, that as far as I've been able to deduce, is not something he enjoys. Yet he's made a good living from it, and it's benefited my siblings and I greatly. Then, after twenty-one years, I've pretty much rejected that in favor of something significantly more simple: living out of a tent - out of a car. But it's strange: it's more likely that someone from a middle-class/upper-class background would choose to live in such a way, whereas I don't think most people born into poverty would be as thrilled about the idea (this is probably more true for "western" nations than others).
How did this happen? Too much punk rock in high school? Too much science fiction? Probably. Then what in college catalyzed and adhered my scattered thoughts into such an amalgamation that only Frankenstein's monster could recognize it as beautiful? Simplicity seems to be the name of the game, but the only way I'm able to achieve that was by biting that had that gave me a "comfortable life." Or maybe I'm wrong. It just appears that things like punk and scifi have no business together, purely is purely anti-establishment (debatable) and scifi is geared to middle-class individuals where the things held in high esteem are those which punk wants to dismember.
Hell, do I even see that much of an appeal in those around me now who have careers and are being weekend (or summer) warriors? Not particularly. As it turns out, I could live in this sort of set up working a part-time minimum wage job. I'm curious as to why people think they need what they spend a lot of their time working for. Fun? Forty hours a week to earn something you get to enjoy only on the weekend or for a isolated week in the year seems like, well, a lot of work.
I'm probably generalizing.
I don't mean to suggest that people should sell all of their stuff and live out of their tents. I'm not so foolish to think that simplicity means anything more than living without a great rate of consumption. You can keep your house, TV, elaborate cars and hipster coffee shops (assuming you aren't over-consuming). I'd just question whether or not it's worth working so much for. If you think so, by all means have a ball.
But I, I am not a work-a-holic. I'm a lazy bum. Thus, I live in a tent.
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