#which one is it. i grigri
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comedy of errors dashboard simulator
🐜 ant-ipholus Follow
hey guys what do i do in ephesus
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👑 solinus
weird day at work today
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👊 drooooooomio Follow
why is my master talking about a thousand marks in gold. huh. what
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🤔 dromiooooooo Follow
WOMEN AHHHHHH. WHY ARE THEY IN LOVE WITH ME
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🐜 ant-ipholus Follow
why do people keep talking as though they know me. i’ve been here for literally two hours
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🧍♂️antipholus
why has my wife locked me out of the house.
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💃 adriana
MY HUSBAND IS MAD 😔
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#hello three comedy of errors enjoyers#unreality#comedy of errors#the comedy of errors#a comedy of errors#which one is it. i grigri
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I loved Salty Grigri! You know, agreeing with everything you said, it seems to me also that the pacing is bizarrely slow but rushed - in just a few chapters we went from the alley to Nayuta's severed head. And I'm here questioning if we shouldn't have addressed some little things along the way? This loss of pacing has turned it believable that some scenes were added for shock value instead of storytelling
I'm glad you like my alter ego... And again he was kind in terms of reviews, I still want to be consensual lol
Why does Part 2 sometimes seem... hard to follow?
To answer what you say, and without making a bad psychological analysis, I think Fujimoto is sometimes a prisoner of CSM. Let me explain, I have the feeling that in part 1, we're dealing with an author who writes HIS own work. CSM's identity was in the making, the tone, the characters, the references that would become fandom classics. This allowed him to work on a neutral ground, free of all expectations. Part 2 is incredibly difficult, because I think (and I blame) Fujimoto can't free himself from Part 1. To the point, where I have a theory that links the two enormously.
But this isn't just reflected from a narrative point of view, it's also reflected in an author's psychology. Sometimes I get the impression that Fujimoto isn't writing HIS work, but CSM.
I understand Fujimoto that we just have to listen to the song, but aren't you yourself a prisoner of it?
"Of course Fujimoto writes CSM, it's his work". That's right. It's his work. In progress. We know what CSM was, it remains to be seen how the work will turn out. The identity of a work is in the process of evolving until the end of the story. Not before.
What has made CSM so popular are the extremely striking scenes, whether absurd, shocking or tragic. Sometimes more moments than characters or the story as a whole. So when I read CSM, I get the impression that Fujimoto, while having a clear plot for the story as a whole, thinks and writes from moment to moment, scene to scene. I'm sure people will say: at what point does an author do anything other than lead one scene to another?
It's quite subtle, but instead of thinking about how the story is going to connect the scenes, Fujimoto seems to have thought out the scenes in advance, and the transitions are more improvised. or even secondary, which makes it rather difficult to understand the evolution of the work, as the highlights seem to be more scattered than connected per se.
And that's what detracts from Part 2, the story doesn't flow, it's choppy and confusing at times. Especially the interludes, the transitions are a time for the characters to come to terms with what's happened. Instead of shifting from one narrative rhythm to another in the form of a cursor, the rhythm is switched on or off by a button, which accentuates the acceleration or loss of rhythm felt by fans.
Part 1 took this care as the beginning of Part 2.
Our current arcs don't. They debrief in the same chapters that will lead to shocking scenes.
Chapter 168 is an exemple. Fujimoto closes an important scene, while debriefing the characters extremely quickly, as with Denji, and redoing an important scene with Asa hitting herself, instead of taking more time to deal with all these elements. Still in the same chapter, the characters board the train to the next important scene in the next chapter.
Several narrative functions (closing action, character debriefing, transition) are superimposed in a single chapter (or a maximum of two/three chapters). This not only makes the story unpredictable, it also makes it difficult to understand.
Thinking like this shows that Fujimoto thinks more about what CSM is - scenes replayed by the networks with fans losing their minds - than he does about his own work. Fujimoto is sometimes stuck in the reception of his work. And don't get me wrong, no scene is there just to get people talking and to be edgy. CSM is always brilliantly written, and the meaning often lies in the absurdity. But the lack of transition, or at least work on that, makes the work seem like a compilation of highlights. Which again reduces their impact.
It's essential for a work of art to be forgotten, to put the balm on extremely memorable scenes so as to make future ones more unpredictable.
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Jeff's Tuareg Cross
For sale on Etsy
The Meaning
Any question about their symbolism put to the users generally elicits only vague answers. Some attribute to it a function of "grigri" or “reserve of wealth". The ethnologists Germaine Dieterlen and Ziedonis Ligers spotted a situation where the father gave the jewel to his son in age of virility, marriage and nomadism, saying to him: "My son, I give you the four directions of the world, because we do not know where you will go to die".[6]
According to one Tuareg elder narration, a young nomadic warrior wanted to declare his love to the young girl of his heart, the latter being locked up at home and therefore inaccessible to his messages. The village blacksmith then had a very important place in Tuareg society. As such, the blacksmith had the right to enter the houses of all the families with whom he traded with. The young man then had a jewel forged which combines the two syllables of the Tamashek word " T (a) R (a)" ("tara" meaning " love" and spelled "ⵜⵔ" in the Tifinagh alphabet.) and entrusted the blacksmith with the mission of transmitting the message of love to his beloved in the greatest discretion.[7]
#jeff buckley#jeffbuckley#Tuareg#Tuareg cross#agadez cross#love cross#four directions of the world#nomad#nomadic
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OKAY I found my notebook so I didn’t have to put it in a napkin but. BUT
CHAINSAW MAN AU FRESNO BABYYYY I got it down finally after mulling it over my head for 50000 years and inspired from @sugar-grigri’s incredible write up on how a love devil would look like/function which was genius and absolutely helped with doing the connections that were missing and also taking elements from @krokaxe’s genesis Fresno design that still lives in my head rent free it’s so good
it's due a lot of retooling to make it feel Complete and not just like sketchy wip but it's perfect for now and maybe ill see to pulling it together
they’re the love. Fiend? Host? Hybrid? Something like that. They have a lot going on and I’m genuinely just going to throw up like 50000 lines about their design that is (more or less) wip since I still have to design the butterfly wing design since I didn’t have any proper ideas atm and see if I cram anymore heart motifs in there BUT. It’s here and I am sooo excited to ramble about it. Under the cut for everyone’s sake :3 also chainsaw man spoilers. smile
SO. i definitely did want to make fresno the love devil because they are ofc afraid of love and attachment and i love beating them with the irony stick so love devil/love fiend it was, msotly because they have extremely complicated feelings towards love and attachment because they both crave it and are scared of it, and with me reading on i figured going with a fiend/host situation would be fun. in the storyline in my head the love devil, a primal fear either pulls a pochita and escapes hell or lets itself be cut down to reincarnate into the world, maybe seeking this idea of like. experiencing how Humans Do and it's the idea of like, dying to be humanized but also struggling with it
which is very funny because fresno is the worst person they could have encountered for that, in my head its maybe like a contract maybe like a fiend takeover, but it's a little more arai/violence than asa/yoru, something something union/fusion/togetherness but i'm getting ahead of myself. fresno is deeply afraid and skittish of love and affection and also bugs. because ever since tma i want to torture them a little with the corruption just 4 laffs. so maybe the contract goes awry or it merges them
so a lot of the design is pulling from genesis which is kind of a personal bad end for fresno since it's a lot like. marriage. union. but kind of like a bitter idolization of like this like "wife"/virgin image that they come to hate, so the crown/chain halo. the chain halo is kind of pulling a motif from other pieces that i just kinda imagined since they are in the legion but uhhh love & control. iykyk. i figured that it was a good base to start with though i was split with going with the idea of maybe more classical devil since demons/devils are one of their Themes but then i thought nah lets beat them with the irony stick more. so they're angelic looking BUT with a broken halo completed with a chain. union. marriage. fusion. a middle ground between them
the butterfly motif really tied it all together though that FUCKS. mostly because fujimoto's fiend designs are simplistic but in a way that's kinda hard to nail down and i think tying the design to expressions is so cool and it added like entire layers of complexity to it all because like, butterflies in your stomach, but also butterflies also drink blood, love is blind and i didn't illustrate it but they're supposed to have the eye camo some butterflies have (its also why the butterfly wings are backwards) and also, heart motifs and their own personal gripes because fresno HATES being seen as weak and butterflies are very fragile.
maybe behind the wings they also have tears as a genesis element as well. hmm much to think about. i also wondered if they'd look too silly but i mean, yoru.
so maybe they can look a little silly. or maybe make the eyes ringed like the horsemen because. well. gay shit. they don't have eyes for anyone else.
the veil connecting their crown is also like vaguely "insect wing" looking but also heart looking. also i liked the idea of either some live butterflies or butterfly decorations on them so they didn't look so plain. their hair is also like, Iconic so i wanted to push that so the curls are vaguely heart looking, it's a little overshadowed by the butterfly sketch lines but there's at least a few i tried to put in.
in my head they do have the powers of like, blindness, frenzy, control (lol), but another i imagine would be the idea to give and take love, like imagine. for example. if you were a person that hadn't experienced love in a meaningful way and then you just like Feel it. all of it. love and warmth and togetherness in the blindest, purest, most unconditional way beamed directly into your head and then. it's gone. forever. unless...
the idea of fixation and people being fixated on them is also one of their Themes and like, in the vaf suspended in gaffa/mama animatic that exists only in my head the idea of like control devil (not the canon ones. in this one it's a whole other guy) being attracted to love first for power (since love and control DO go together in some scenarios) but also falling victim to their power as well is funny and i like that, and idea of losing yourself to another, where does one begin and the other end is like. well. incredibly up my alley. also just like getting the taste of something you've never experienced yourself but also twisted in its own way (in my head, there's the lyric in suspended in gaffa of "not till i'm ready for you" which is the singer addressing this like, higher power of something they want to have/see (in the song it's implied to be a glimpse of god) and they would have to work for their reward, but taking that and changing it into the speaker being the higher power addressing the singer feels like the type of shakeup that would be going thru a control's lens maybe. also using the idea of a transforming devil maybe a secondary power of transformation (haha, butterflies also represent that/reincarnation) as a loved one OR. the Potential of them as a loved one. fresno has the terrible luck of attracting people who love/value them for what they Can be or what they Could have been, and having the butterfly maybe swap designs or transform or be blank could be something like that. wanting someone to see behind the curtain, not shy away from who they Really Are Right Now. consider that another stick
there's also the aspect of union/fusion/togetherness tha i just. love. so i had to do it. something about tying together two beings, till death do us part, maybe the creation of a whole new thing since i'm insane and would like to tie the vaflings into it because of course i would
i think there would be a whole struggle of being afraid of what you represent/embody and acceptance and a lot of other things.
this turned out to be like a massive rambling thing SORRYYYYY i like talking about this a lot if you've read this far thank you and you havent thank you regardless. i'm soooo glad and excited to have a proper design to put in the grinder now
#If I @ don’t feel obligated to interact/rb or anything I’m just rambling based off my oc lmao just wanna give credit where credit is due#Also I was that anon I got. Shy. Hi. But seriously that post was awesome and helped me just Get there with this#Fresno#my art
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schroothoop - MACADAM - for a band that makes instruments out of scrap, the music is more mellifluous than I expected, favoring international grooves over skronk
Belgian junk jazz trio schroothoop (which translates as ‘junk yard’) bring together multi-instrumentalists Rik Staelens (wind & string instruments), Timo Vantyghem (bass & thumb piano) and Margo Maex (percussion). Their new album called ‘MACADAM’ will be out April 7 via Sdban Records, home of many strongholds in the lively contemporary Belgian jazz and groove scene. In 2020, schroothoop first emerged with their much-acclaimed and infectious debut album Klein Gevaarlijk Afval (Small Hazardous Waste). “Music on homemade instruments with a surprisingly good result” (De Standaard). “Schroothoop show that material limitation can be liberating and that sometimes the source of new sounds is just old junk.”(Written in music). “We assure you that this “scrap heap” is worth gold!“ (Le Grigri). On their second album, to be released on April 7, schroothoop explore the vast sounds of discarded objects found on the macadam streets of Brussels. Wooden crates turn into guitars and lyres. Scrap metal becomes a thumb piano, a cimbalom, or percussion bells. Their compelling collection of semi-improvised songs is born out of several fruitful residencies and live performances during which Margo Maex, Rik Staelens and Timo Vantyghem dive deeper into the possibilities and unique timbres of their DIY instruments. The junk jazz trio find inspiration in traditional Afro-Cuban and North-African rhythms, New Orleans second line grooves, and Arabic Hijaz scales. On Macadam, the band also explore the realms of electronic music, not shunning hints of drum and bass, dub riddims and ambient soundscapes, using pitch shifting delays or gauzy reverbs. The album delivers a mesmerizing trip through the most diverse capital of Europe, mixed and post-produced by none other than sound wizard Dijf Sanders. The trio originally met in the Brussels street orchestra scene. One night they found themselves jamming on trash cans, buckets and other illegally dumped materials. Soon after, they started building their own DIY instruments from street trash. Imagine flutes made out of pvc pipes, a scrap metal drum kit, thumb pianos made out of old kitchen knives, a tin can violin, worn-out cutting discs as gongs, and a washtub bass. Delivering their own brand of “junk jazz”, Schroothoop literally gives junk a second life by immortalizing a whole range of lost and found objects through music. The Brussels-based group effortlessly incorporates jazz, Northern African music, and Afro-Cuban rhythms, resulting in a danceable and hypnotic trip through the city’s melting pot.
#schroothoop#jazz#junk jazz#improvised music#homemade instruments#belgium#2023#sdban records#brussels
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2022: A Year in Review
First of all, happy holidays! I finished up my fall 2022 semester four days ago and it’s only now hitting me that I have just one semester of college left. Furthermore, it’s totally wild realizing that 2023 (my graduation year) is literally beginning in just a week’s time. Like with so many things in life, this is a bit bittersweet. For starters, I’m so so excited to “start my real life”. At the time time, I’m preemptively sad to be leaving Smith and the wonderful friends I’ve made.
Some keywords relevant to my 2022 include rock climbing and OneNote. In January of 2022, I wrote one of my all-time favorite blog posts all about how I use Microsoft OneNote as a student. (Beyond being a personal favorite, this was also my most popular post of the year and third most popular overall). In the future, I hope to write a post about how I used OneNote to organize my personal notes (guitar chords, recipes, etc.). In the spring 2022 semester, I finished my computer science major requirements and took my first graduate-level course.
I spent my summer in Seattle working as a software engineering intern at Microsoft. (As for why OneNote is one of my keywords for the year, I worked on the OneNote team). Through my intern project, I learned TypeScript, React, and Redux. If you are curious to read more about my intern experience, here are my day in the life and what’s in my backpack posts. In addition to work (which I do actually enjoy), I also got to do “fun activities” during the work day including playing games, painting, and a waterway cruise. Outside of work, but paid for by Microsoft I got to attend a soccer game, a baseball game, and a whale watch. For fun photos of these activities, click here. In addition to these intern-specific perks and benefits, I also I was able to boulder weekly at Seattle Bouldering Project and invest in rock climbing gear through Microsoft’s Perks+ benefit.
While initially nervous about being responsible for all of my meals, I discovered a passion for meal planning and genuinely enjoyed the meals I cooked for myself. I also became increasingly interested in personal finance. If interested, you can check out my updated expense tracking spreadsheet.
In early August I turned 21 and got a return offer to work at Microsoft as a full-time software engineer on the OneNote team. By the end of the month, I’d signed my offer letter and returned to Smith for my senior year.
During my fall 2022 semester, I spent a lot of time working on my senior capstone design project. Outside of regular academic courses (in the engineering and computer science departments), I also took emergency care (ESS 107), rock climbing (ESS 940ra), and joined the Chinese Music Ensemble (MUS 960). Highlights of this semester include time spent with friends and the three outdoor climbing trips I went on with the Smith Outdoor Adventure Program.
This past semester I also got to try a few new-to-me Northampton food locations including Thai Garden, T. Roots, Ana Bandeira Chocolates Cafe, Pasta E Basta (technically in Amherst), and Fitzwilly's. I would particularly recommend the chicken pad Thai at Thai Garden and pork chow fun at T. Roots. Returning to the rock-climbing theme, for Christmas, my dad got me some more rock-climbing gear (including a Grigri belay device)! Pictured below is a needle-felted snowman that I made for my parents last week during a finals study break.
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I'm so happy people love my rise! Hcs, so I'd figure I'd share my hcs for rc9gn as well.
Randy-
He believes in Judaism like Howard's family, he started to study it and follow the religion because of the weinermens as well. He hasn't told his family yet because they follow a different religion and want him to follow it(the Japanese religion Shinto).
His dad's away on work trips a lot, it's why he brings up his mom so much, she's the one always around.
His mom works as a caretaker for young kids(like Marci did), she's in her own head a lot so Randy can often get away with a lot.
Randy sometimes does dumb crap to cheer someone up(can't cry if you're laughing at him).
I joke about him being blood thirsty but in all honesty I don't think he is, he'd kill out of necessity but even then he be merciful(to people, animals/beasts are free game). And even then he wouldn't like it. A "I did what I had to" kinda situation.
Mature for his age due to his parents being busy most of the time.
Nothing wrong with weinerham as a ship(I just want to make that clear) but personally, I think they'd see each other more as brothers, I think Randy associates the whole weinermen family into his own, AGAIN there is nothing wrong with shipping weinerham! What i am saying is mere opinion, please Don't use this to attack anyone!.
Has called Mort dad before, it was a great moment for Mort.
Considers Mort and First ninja as father figures, in their own right. Not that he doesn't care for his bio dad, they all help him in some parental way, Mort being the comforting force, First ninja the motivating one and his bio dad being fun loving one.
Is very proud of his Japanese culture, his dad would make him study the language, history, and mythology, which was the one type of teaching he liked.
Is Very protective and clingy when he's in love.
Gets physically violent if mad enough (see: Raiders of the lost nomicon scene with bash as that's where I got the idea) which is why he tries to restrain his emotions.
Met Theresa off screen by bumping into her a little before "so you think you can stank?".
Has nightmares about Norrisville getting destroyed, normally he can handle it but sometimes it scares him bad enough he needs Something to shake him back to reality.
Ploplop-
Has definitely got some magic skills.
Grew up with first ninja, the nine took him off the streets when they first found norrisville.
Is actually First Ninja's voice of reason when he gets angry.
Helped the "shadow warrior"nine brother with his magical techniques.
First ninja-
* these are mostly on the idea of him being in modern day
Would absolutely own a dog named something like poopsie or spots.
Leather jackets and motorcycles 💫
Is addicted to coffee, rarely sleeps, and has in fact gotten dragged across his home by ploplop demanding he respect his wish to "sleep when he's dead" lol.
He was the baby brother ™️ of the nine. He looked up to all of them.
One of his brothers created the "Shadow warrior" persona out of "necessity", he truly believed fear would give them the power to stop the sorcerer.
First ninja studied every method, fighting technique, rages etc. From his brothers, he wanted to be as good as them someday.
The dragon fist move he does in "13th century Ninja" is a move only he can do. his brothers had moves exclusive to each of them as well.
It bothers him about his anger, he wants to teach himself to calm down but it's difficult, given the situations he often finds himself in.
Gets as jealous as Randy if ploplop gets other friends, it's like a yandere but in a more platonic way.
Him and Slimovitz would be pals i think.
LOVES SHARP THINGS, WEAPONS, KNIVES, THEY MAKE HIS SQUARE HEAD GO BRRR.
Used to head butt and bite his opponents, until his eldest brother demanded he stop.
The red tie he has his hair tied back with is from his second eldest brother, who was almost like a mother to him.
Booray-
Born in the swamp, parents died while he was really young.
Grigri/swamp spirit is either a witch he knew or his bio mom, either way she dead now 🤷♀️.
The creep/Bruce Mcheese-
Slob lifestyle 💫
Is the strongest thing in rc9gn's universe yet doesn't raise a finger at threats because 💖trauma💖.
Isn't from Norrisville, wasn't even born there(my man gotta be from a realm)
Has a mythical gf but they argue a lot.
Is closest to first ninja since they've spent the most time together.
Pacifist in present day, menace in the past.
Theresa-
Wants to become an actress
Needs reassurance a lot
Cries regardless of emotion
Isn't fond of Howard but is more then willing to change that for Randy's sake.
Is being raised by her step mother(she's big, Scottish, and very protective).
Has a parrot(patty) along with the hamster(sammy).
Norrisville-
Everyone lives scarily longer then normal, side effect of the stankings. it's why no one bats an eye at immortals like Ward Smith or Creep.
Tourists often visit to try and live longer as well, or get some footage of a monster attack.
Those "top 5 unsolved mysteries" videos are flooded on Shoobtube, almost all of them talk about norrisville. Norrisvilians watch them to laugh at since there always because of a stanking or robot.
People outside of norrisville are mixed about The ninja, some are grateful he saves at least one town, others wish he would extend his heroism.
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Climbing journal
Aug 26, 2022 Friday night
Friday Night I caravanned down to Lightning Dome which is just southeast of Granville ID with a couple friends.
Started off climbing a harder 5.6 Trad climb which leads up under a flake that you have to wedge yourself through. The approach is pretty narley as this Crag is in redevelopment so we ended up bushwhacking about 200M uphill to get to it. It looked super short and I tried just climbing with half a doubled up 70m rope so I wouldn’t need to deal with two ropes when I belayed my friends up, but it ended up being about 5 ft short of the bolts with the rope stretched out. I ended up building a quick trad anchor and belaying them on that with my ATC in guide mode.
when I climbed I had clipped the pieces with both strands of the rope though I was only being belayed on one. I had my first friend Dylan unclip only his strand as he climbing up and once he got about half way I had my other friend Chloe start climbing and cleaning the gear as she went. Since I was using my ATC in guide mode I could Belay both Simultaneously.
Once Dylan got to the top and was secure, I had Chloe take on the rope, then went up and threw my Vergo (trango assisted breaking device) on the actual anchors, and loaded the Chloes break strand into it. Once this was done I had Dylan unload the Guide ATC and belayed her up the rest of the way on the Vergo from a much more comfy position, and where I wouldn’t be in her way as she topped out.
From here I belayed them over to a nearby ledge over a short spicy traverse. There happened to be a fixed line hanging from a climb above that is in the process of being bolted, I clipped my PAS into the end of this as I traversed to protect the traverse for myself.
From here we hiked a hundred yards or so along the mountain and up a wind tunnel to the base of a 3 pitch Multi called Stony Staircase. Dylan and I had headlamps but Chloe had forgotten hers. At this point I probably should have turned around as it was almost dark, but everyone was stoked and I was pretty sure there were fixed lines over the 4th class terrain to get back down to the road.
We did this climb using two ropes, one 70m one 60m though I thought Dylans 60m was a 70m until we Rappelled instead of belaying simultaneously I decided to have each person climb one at a time on this one to make it simpler for if one of them wanted to lead and belay from the top. The setup was that I was tied into the end of one rope, Chloe was in the middle tied into both ropes, and Dylan was in the end tied into the other rope.
I lead the first pitch as it was the hardest, and was all Trad. Dylan lead the second pitch which had one easy trad placement, which he did awesome with. This was also his first multi pitch so I sent him up with a quad and a GriGri to belay from the top with after a short lesson.
Next Chloe climbed trailing my rope. Since she didn’t have a headlamp, both Dylan and I shone our lights on the climb for her. Since It was Dylan’s first time belaying from the top, I also had Chloe clip back in with my rope to the draws after she unclipped the one between her and Dylan. This way I could keep her on lead belay, in case Dylan messed something up his first time belaying from the top. I also had her check the anchor and belay device when they belayed me up to make sure everything was good when I climbed. Dylan did an awesome job and everything went well.
I lead the last pitch. Then Chloe Followed and I had her belay Dylan up to the top. Here we hung out for a while and enjoyed the stars.
When we went down was when things got spicy. We rapped off two ropes to hopefully make things go faster. But I didn’t know Dylan only had a 60 M.
I set it up by pre-rigging Dylan with an ATC on both ropes, then Chloe and I Simul-rappelled off Gri-Gris while clipped together. For extra endurance. With Dylan pre-rigged it fixed each individual rope so that if one of us lost control the rope wouldn’t slide through for the other, and since we were clipped together with Chloe’s pass one of us would stop the other if we did loose control.
We got down to the intermediate they didn’t have rap rings (this is the hazard of climbing in a area thats still in development). So we kept on going since it looked like we had plenty of rope. We got to the level of the first belay station, which is pretty close to the ground but off left a lot from the start of the route and realized Dylan’s rope was going to be too short. So we swung over to the first pitch anchor and clipped in. Then we gave Dylan a fireman’s belay as he rapped down to us.
From here I pre-rigged both Chloe and Dylan on ATCs and rapped down on my GriGri by myself. Since the first pitch traverses so much I ended up clipping into two cams as I descended to prevent swinging. Once i reached the bottom I gave Chloe a Fireman’s down. Holding the strands tight while she unclipped the strands and then again when she reclipped them for Dylan. Since there were two pieces she was always protected from swinging, though the clipping and unclipping was a bit awkward. Then I left Chloe to give Dylan a Fireman’s, so I could start setting up the next rappel. I had the extra rope since we only rapped of one for the last rappel
We could have walked off from here instead but I was afraid of getting lost on the scramble down or walking off a cliff so I choose to rappel the whole way. Anywho, once Dylan and Chloe were both at the bottom they pulled the rope and walked over to where I had set up the next rappel. Same story as before: I pre-rigged both of there belay devices on a single doubled up rope and rappel off with my GriGri only difference is that there was also an old fixed line on this rap station which I choose not to use. I had seen a friend do this at this rap station but never done it myself and foolishly assumed it would get me to the start of the last section of fixed lines.
It did not. I reached the end of my rope in a really slabby dihedral that would probably be considered 4th class terrain. So I transitioned off my rope and onto the fixed line. If it hadn’t been in 4th class terrain I probably wouldn’t have trusted it. From here I gave Dylan and Chloe a fireman’s to where I was and had them clip into some bolts next to the fixed line that appeared to be on a route that was in development. I also had them pre-rig on GriGris and I Rappelled down on my Vergo to explore and figure out where we were. Since at this point I was a bit lost and starting to panic a bit. I got down to the end of the fixed line and panicked for a while, got off my device and explored a bit. For a minute I thought we were going to have to figure out a walk off. But after about 5 minutes I realized we were just 20-30 m left of the fixed lines that would take us to the bottom.
From here I had them Rap down to where I was and come off rappel. Then we carefully walked over to the final fixed line. Once again I pre-rigged everyone on Gri-gris and rapped down first on my vergo. At this point Dylan’s headlamp was getting super dim, so I stopped at most of the good rest spots I could find and had them both rap down to me in my headlamp light. This line was really long we we ended up doing this 3 times. I really didn’t like having everyone on the one sketchy fixed line but I didn’t really have a choice with the headlamp situation.
Eventually we got to the bottom, and Dylan suggested that they go first so I could shine my headlamp ahead for them to see by. From there it was only 20-30M to the road and we walked back up a ways to get to our cars.
We started around 6 and got back to the car at 12. (6 hours total) I think it would have been much quicker 1: if everyone had working headlamps that lasted the whole time and 2: if there were only 2 people total, and 3: if it hadn’t been dark at all.
If I could change one thing, it would probably be to head back after Fat Albert, and not climb in the dark. It was a miss-calculation on my part.
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3x04 madwife analysis (aka freakout)
So when I started watching s3, I decided to only watch Laura’s scenes for many reasons. I didn’t exactly like any Madwife references beyond the first episode and I wasn’t expecting anything big.
But boy was I wrong as fuck!
I realized, before I started writing this, that we’ve gotten a lot of Madwife in s1 and s2, but almost all of it was from Sweeney’s PoV right? His feelings, his yearnings, his puppy-dog eyes. And now, we’re seeing Madwife from Laura’s point of view and the angst is overwhelming.
Let’s begin.
First off, it seems like Laura gave up the coin and went to purgatory/hell to try to find Sweeney right? At least, once she realized in 3x03 what was going on, she changed her tune. She talked to that old lady about Sweeney. She hilariously brushed off any sort of “relationship” between the two of them in a laughable, memeable way.
And then my friends.....
the old lady says “You were just talking like maybe he’s someone special.”
And what happens? We see Laura, looking mournful and guilty even, and then...AND THEN!
A MOTHER FUCKING MADWIFE MONTAGE OVER A ROMANTIC/ANGSTY SONG!!
I’m not even joking, I almost died. I was like “Am I really seeing this?! Is this really happening?!” And lord when I rewatched that part and listened to the lyrics, it hurt my god damn soul.
And then, Laura quickly changes her tune and tells the lady that no, he’s just the guy who killed her, but her face says otherwise.
Okay, BREATHE. Take a moment if you need to.
Second off, a small moment. Laura’s humming this tune that we heard in 3x03. Laura figures out the title is “Requiem of Balder”. !!! For those who don’t remember, Baldr is Odin’s son and briefly was mentioned in connection with Sweeney when he was doing his big battle as Lugh near the end of his life where he killed Baldr (or Odin), when he was talking to Mr. Ibis. This is cool because it not only links Laura with Odin and her destiny to kill him, but also Laura and Sweeney in a roundabout way.
Third, let’s just say, the moment I screamed and paused the show: the blood. Laura’s dust on the ground and some guys find Sweeney’s mutilated :( corpse. They take him away and the tomb he was laying on was covered in blood. His blood. One dude stays to clean it up and starts hosing it off which makes the blood start to slide down the sides of the tomb and what happens? The guy steps on the grigri potion that Samedi gave her to give her life.
And my friends, we watch with held breath as MAD SWEENEY’S BLOOD mixes with LAURA’S POTION and starts to glow with golden veins. And wouldn’t you know it, Laura gets yeeted out of purgatory and winds up, naked and alive, lying on the floor where the mixture had...mixed.
ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME?!!
I know most of the fandom had this idea from s2 onward. Sweeney���s blood was the key to Laura’s potion. But the implications is that Sweeney had LOVE IN HIS VEINS because, remember Samedi said the final potion ingredient was two drops of blood infused with love. *SCREAMS* I can’t even eloquently say how much this destroyed me in a good and bad way. The fact that it meant Sweeney kept up his bargain: he was paramount in making Laura live again. T___T His love (whether it be specifically for her, or just his ability to love in general) was paramount in making her potion work.
The poetry of it is just unparalleled.
Okay so Laura wakes up and asks where Sweeney is (she uses his GOD DAMN NAME and let me tell you I just about ascended to the pearly gates myself) and is told he’s gone. Like...gone gone. The subtle emotions on her face are indescribable. She’s guilty and sad, there is grief and confusion there. She says it’s “her fault” that he’s dead and that she should have been able to bring him back, but couldn’t. She’s so damn sad, you can’t help but feel for her. I don’t know if “her fault” was because she ran him away after they had magic~sex~ with the Lao or because she couldn’t save him...maybe it was both.
In any case, Laura facing her feelings and dealing with consequences of her actions and decisions is a big step for her. (Also can we celebrate that she’s alive again?! I hope she doesn’t squander this second chance, but I doubt she will. She has a plan and it’s to kill Wednesday so thank god.)
Also, we have Laura picking up Sweeney’s coin, which is, for once, covered in his blood rather than tucked away in her chest. That moment was sort of sweet and understated and I think will have something to do with Doyle finding her, but we’re not here to talk about that. The fact is, she didn’t leave it. She still has Sweeney’s coin, even after she willingly gave it to him.
Lastly, we find Laura eating, sitting in a cemetery. I feel like she’s at home in places of the dead now, even though she’s alive. I love the motif and the implications of what that means. Anyway, the guy brings over a box and in it is Sweeney’s ashes. Laura takes it almost delicately and we get some gorgeously heartbreaking shots of her hands stroking the sides and we get the line “Somehow all of him fits in here.” RIP MY HEART OUT WHY DON’T YOU. And then, as if I’m not in enough pain, they show another snippet of a flashback with that same ghostly romantic song, a shot of Sweeney sitting in that field. I think that’s important to note...THAT is the moment she thought of. When she was at her lowest and Sweeney told her to suck it up and keep fucking fighting, no matter what.
I think that says a lot in that moment. Now that Laura’s alive, she could easily return to a normal life, but that moment spoke a lot into her future. She’s going to keep on with her mission to kill Wednesday. Sweeney died trying to do the same and since she couldn’t save him, she’s going to kill the god instead.
And of course, there’s the symbolism of Laura being dropped off in the dark near a glowing hill. We know Laura always saw Shadow as a glow in her B&W dead vision right? So she’s standing there, glow in the distance....HUGGING THE BOX TO HER CHEST. She’s hugging Mad Sweeney to her chest, looking a little lost, just one sad girl trying to kill the Allfather, and she’s walking toward the light. OOF. It hurt big time, y’all. I can’t even.
Anyway, I feel like there may be a moment where Laura buries the box and officially says goodbye to Sweeney, but I also can’t help but think of all the emotional connection there is with the simple fact of her holding onto it. She could have dumped it into a river after she left the cemetery, but no she took it with her, her sole possession besides a golden god-coin, a box of ashes.
There’s a lot to unpack, and I haven’t even scratched the surface. I’m still digesting and I need time to process! Feel free to add your thoughts, let me know how y’all are doing.
#madwife#american gods#laura moon#sweeneyxlaura#idek what this is but i had too many feelings and had to write them all out#text
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I don’t remember how the idea of route setting came up. All I know is somehow Joe had met a Nature Conservancy guy in Arkansas who had the idea of putting up beginner climbing routes on one of their preserves. Joe,l wrangled me into a yes, which didn’t take much convincing. I was fresh off a season of wildland firefighting with months to kill before a spring job started. We tried to rope in a few more of our climbing buddies but we were the only two to follow through.
I got to Little Rock late one night and we went right to a brewery for a couple beers and dinner. I got caught up on the goings on at the Texas Conservation Corps, which I had quit early for my fire job. Talked about who had made it, who else had quit, and who had a hot shit new job. We also tried to find somewhere to get beer to take back to camp but it was a Sunday in the Bible Belt. No dice there.
The next morning we got down to business. Joe, who himself barely knew how to rappel (sorry, Joe) taught me how to set up and rappel safely. We built a couple anchors over the first wall to clean and gave it a go a couple times, getting familiar with slowing coming down a wall, moving the catch know as we went down. I guess the lesson must’ve been pretty good because I can still set up a rappel today.
The next step was choosing our tools for route clearing. Have seen the wall, we grabbed an assortment of hand tools (saw, loppers, garden trowel) and a gasoline powered backpack leaf blower. Check out the picture of Joe with that one. We’d clean the route with hand tools, getting all the large loose rocks and branches out of the way and then the fun began. One of use strapped on the big old blower and really cleaned that rock off, giving climbers a sure grip on rock instead of dirt and loose debris.
The one sketchy incident happened three or four days in. I was rappelling, and pretty used to it by now, when we stopped on a ledge to bullshit and clean. I looked at my rope and saw that somehow it had slid between the GriGri’s arm and braking mechanism. Thankfully, Joe had taught me to tie a hitch below it as a backup. I tired in another backup above the GriGri, disconnected the device, and rethreaded the rope. A test or two (and a worried look between Joe and I) and I undid the extra backup and continued down to the ground.
After we got the routes cleaned, we too roped them a time or two to figure out the great. Maybe an easy 5.8 we figured. Unfortunately The Nature Conservancy never got us the bolts to actually set the route…so neither of us got to claim first ascents. Maybe next time.
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Businesses burdened after Wrightsburgh Floods
The past several days in wrightsburgh have been, well, soggy. The streets flooded and many of us were stuck inside, a few of us were unlucky enough to have had to brave the deeps, We catch up with some of those brave folks today. Walking into the sheriff’s department was a somber affair as Jazmynn Honeypot our Sheriff was assessing the damage done to the processing and holding area, water had ravaged the entirety of the jail damaging equipment and bunks "Yeah...the tombs were hit pretty hard, All the bunks destroyed as well as a lot of equipment for processing prisoners...Camera, computer, finger printing equipment...all destroyed, I hope the Mayor will see clear to help add the cost to the police budget" Said Sheriff Honeypot standing in her office with her infant son near by. My next stop was the Wright-sloanes home, Pristinely situated on a picturesque landscaped lawn snuggly center of the block, as I pulled into the drive I was greeted by Laya ‘Red” Wright-Sloane and Husband Caiden Sloane. Laya is the proprietor of Club Red and Daughter of Mayor Wright. “Yes the flood was pretty bad, but not as bad as it could have been, Club Red had minimal Damage, only lost a few costumes and shoes, about two thousand dollars in damage” She told me in their beautiful Farmhouse decorated kitchen over a glass of lemonade. She told the story of discovering the damage along with three unwanted guests, alligators “Yes, there were what? 3 Gators up there?” she confirmed with her Husband “But Daryl was the man who came to get them for us, luckily he knew them well” she said (Daryl Deveraux, handyman-fisherman-gator tamer?) as we chatted away and the couples children played there was a knock on the door Eaton Wright, Laya’s twin Brother along with Wife Alicia Wright the two are also business owners here in town Eaton owns Higher Education Medical Marijuana Dispensary and Pharmacy, and Alicia who friends and family affectionately call ‘Ally’ Owns and Runs Alicia’s Mojo and conjure shop as well as Voodoo Cupcakes Bakery “Yeah Man, it was bad....lost a few pounds of sativa, and a good chunk of my special Read Pearl to mold, all the edibles too, a few bongs, blunt wrappers about six thousands dollars damage” Eaton told me between bouts of laughter elicited from the children’s humorous inquiries “Yes, My shop and bakery were hit pretty good too, lost several mojo hands, and grigris, boxes of herbs and roots, candle making supplies and baking equipment, mixers, immersion blenders, tons of ingredients” Ally chimed in. Through it all the group was upbeat and taking it all in stride, Laya Wright-Sloane positively glowing with optimism chimed in “Although the flood caused some damage to Club Red we are 100% in working order and opened for business” as for the mojo shop, bakery and dispensary? Eaton Wright thinks his place will be open at full capacity next week, and while cleanup is in progress House of Mojo and Voodoo Cupcakes are open for takeout only, Alicia was proud to announce although meditation sessions are canceled until the cleanup is completed, My next stop was to the home of Mayor Wright, Rounding the corner near his home it is hard to miss the wrought iron gate and beautiful stately home as I grabbed the door knocker I was greeted by the beautiful Brooke Mounier of WBYU news who is one of Mayor Wrights long time companions who announced my arrival, There sitting comfortably on a silver wing backed sofa was the Mayor and to his right sat Jenna Tull quickly joined by Brooke on either side of him like book ends Dressed and styled impeccably in black slip-dresses and identical accessories and flowy blownout hair do’s, I was offered a drink to which I gladly accepted as we spoke "Well....town was hit pretty good with flood waters an' what not...Jail was completely flooded in th' basement cell area...Lotta mud an' a bit of mold here an' there in places as a result...but we've had town crews all over helpin' ta' get things back in ship shape... Our quick response ta' th' flood helped immensely an' saved a lot of places from complete ruin" He said as he loving stroked each ladies hair “lets not ferget our dedicated and hard workin' town crew....they was instrumental in makin' sure th' whole damn town din't wind up under four foot of water...Lotta people dun't see what goes on b'hind th' scenes...them boys was on th' outskirts of town fer hours in downpour conditions puttin' out sandbags an' other barriers ta' keep most the waters from reachin' us" he explained as I sipped my cocktail slowly admiring the antiques and finery in his lovely home, Mayor Wright echos the optimism I’ve seen around town today, before I left him he had this to say "Th' town of Wrightsburgh has weathered a lot over th' years...ain't Hell nor Highwater kin dampin' this town's spirit ... I'm honored an' humbled by th' generosity an' support of our hard workin' citizens...an' I wanna thank all th' people that make this town what it is" Well said Mr Mayor, and I for one look forward to seeing the town sore to new heights right along side you.
~Craig Leflur, editor in chief
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Have you been up to the Milei election in Argentina? He was using Pochita and Chainsaw Man as symbols for new liberalism, hoping to see how Fujimoto answer that.
I'm aware of that, and I find it all the more ironic that Chainsaw Man is about the consequences of capitalism on childhood, identity and creation.
Pochita is the one who allies himself with a boy abandoned by the system, drowning in debt and with no access to education.
The first trailer uses a sequence shot to show passers-by walking down the street without paying any attention to a breathless child buried in an alleyway.
I've already analysed the anti-capitalist nature of Chainsaw Man, as well as the fact that Fujimoto talks not only about his relationship with the fans but also about the effects of a frantic pace on his creation.
https://www.tumblr.com/sugar-grigri/722221076393934849/ive-read-through-your-posts-and-deliberated-some
https://sugar-grigri.tumblr.com/post/720669019196227584/2-protest-between-the-authors-cynicism-and-
Milei intends to cut into public spending like the anarcho-capitalist that he is. Yet Denji is the result of a lack of public spending on child protection, just as part 2 focuses on the effects of a consumer society (symbolised by derivative products) to forget the real problems (the war with demons) just as they are unaware that a boy is behind the figure of Chainsaw Man
A boy who carries the weight of the society in which he wants to be included, without any real success, and whose back becomes bent and whose gaze emptied.
Pochita symbolises love, the far right advocates hate
So when Milei has Pochita in her hands, it's all the more contradictory
I don't think Fujimoto will comment on this, but he knows all about contradictions
A symbol of almost unlimited creation, of a creator who does nothing but wonder about art while hating his own profession, he is above all an author who hides behind the figure of Pochita when he appears in public for fear of dying for his own creations.
Ultra-liberalism is the death of creation
#chainsaw man#csm#csm part 2#denji#csm spoilers#my thoughts#pochita#as a French person I'm all the more sympathetic to the Argentinean cause#because we have an ultra-liberal president with a growing far-right movement
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I finally finished the Disney project I started yesterday. Some design have been a pain in the ass, other were fun to make. Probably some OCS’ colors aren’t correct, but I had no colored reference of them :) Oh and cici gets two cause I said so.
Which one do you like the best?
Edgar, Marcus and Cici are mine
Dodo and Loui are owned by @thenightmaregirls
Grigri, Trevor, Forrest and Julien are owned by @artsarasp / @mine-sara-sp
#disney#digital art#original art#oc#my oc#friend's oc#original character#original artists on tumblr#disney princesses#cinderella#snow white#hercules#atlantis the lost empire#tangled#frozen#beauty and the beast#sleeping beauty#emperor's new groove#my art#thenightmaregirls#artsarasp#edgar#dodo#loui#marcus#trevor#grigri#forrest#julien#cici
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hi grigri! 💕 i was thinking today about fire & water & elements in pathologic (the fire to burn out the plague, burning the bull, contaminated water, soppy pyotr, twyrine as burning water & his deal with immolation). do you have any thoughts on this topic? i know it’s broad but verryyy addicted to your style of analysis & expression of artistic and symbolic ideas. hope ur doing well and enjoyed ur break!
HI BESTIE ok so i'm going to try to be coherent but also i'm just home from a 4hrs drive on snaking backcountry roads in the scorching heat no AC in the car and i feel like my head is Still Spinnin from all the turns even tho i'm sittin here so. bear with me. going to throw kinda all i got in here and god help me if that makes any sense
two pieces of Lore that i believe inform my thought processes:
i personally see pyotr as bipolar, so dealing with extremes In General.
the twins are extremists in many ways: for andrey, too much drinking, fighting, whatever else: Dionysian hedonism; for peter, thinking too hard, creating too much, too tall, too beyond, too below, too radical; for the both of them, a search for transcendence at all costs, a constant race, and one that leaves pyotr empty, drained.
speaking of empty, drained: water is associated with the tarot suite of Cups. cups are vessels, cups overflow... the water-cup is a vessel for emotion(s), for feelings, for relationships too, hence the "overflowing": an overpouring of emotions, an overpouring of all that ache but also passion bursting for forth and forward: peter's tentative of immolation. it is, while very deliberate, an act of extreme. self-immolation is one of the most painful way one can go. all that liquid (twyrine) is emotions, passion, ache, sorrow, It All, and he smothers himself in it, and he wants it to be what kills him. it is an act of all-consumption by the overflowing of his cup, both metaphysically (mfer Had Enough) and physically (covers self in wet). the extremism comes up again: he covers himself in the Very Wet to go from soppy to Ember Ash Dry.
coming to Fucking Soppy peter: when you find him always, he is Wallowing. he is drunk, yet, so Physically Wet inside, but also Wet Outside, wearing his emotions: anger, grief, pain, artistic depression very outwardly (it is especially visible with his P2 model where he looks. well to quote one of my friends
you get the gist)
peter is water and airy. ghostlike in air, shapeless/shapeshifting like water. i've written him saying "Water takes the shape of the cup in which it is poured… It’s a foreign feeling to me. [...] I… protrude. Like my stairs… like my Tower." and to me this still is true. he's close to mist. he overflows; he never finds himself able to fit, or content with, the bounds of the vessel in which he "is poured": hence then the violence of the flames of immolation. twyrine is a liquid, but it is firey on the tongue and in the throat.
enough about that guy let's see re:"the fire to burn out the plague, burning the bull, contaminated water"
the town is a town opposed. it feels like it is fighting against itself; in ways, it is; in others, one part cannot exist without the other. it first appears as a town of extremes, again: the earth/pentacles-anchored olgimskys, the air/sword-pulled Kains; the Kin and the crushing industrialization of the town, the earth and the tower. water puts out flames, but of that water rises a scorching steam that burns your skin off.
also on water: water is essential to life. it is nurturing. it is primordial, as in: was there at the very beginning. the town's water, twyrine, amniotic liquid... all sustain life in one form or another. (tangentially: the stone yard corner of the map, into which is anchored the Tower, plays a song called "utroba": womb, utero, matrix. again associated to the primordial life-giving water, to amniotic fluid.
now on fire: the violence of it all... most people picture death by water as a smothering cold, seeping into; and death by fire as this fast, but insanely painful way to go, where you come outside of yourself, undone. the plague herself (will i use herself? sure i'll use herself) has this voice, and this voice speaks of coming-outside-of-oneself, of breaking down the self to become a many that is a whole, in the same way embers become wildfire: "You're all yourselves. I can bind you. Let you come within one another's souls. One-from-many.", "I am the cure for the self.", "I am the warm bloodway binding you to other folk. I am the taut string of hatred betwixt you. I am the bond." but it has also and this is powerful and potent: "I am fire. I am hearth."
but with that, both the water/wet, and the fire/dry kill:
for the wet, twyrine is slowly driving peter mad, you can imagine his liver is about to fail, it is used as fueled for his self-immolation, contaminated spreads the plague, the heavy rains of P1 make the game loud, blurry, a crawl, a hike.
for the dry, the Sand Pest is described as something dry. that dries you out, that makes you feel like you are burning. arsonists are driven mad by it, and spread their fires more and more mindlessly. it's a fire that peter wants to disappear in.
it's about them not being static. about them not being able to be boxed, contained, pointed, othered. in the same way the two endings of P2 force you to realized how your boxing, containment, pointing, othering of the plague might not be what it could be, what it seemed it was.
realizing this is a completely Disarticulated thing i'm giving you i'm really tired and can't make Sense very easily but basically i'm giving you these thoughts and images and i'm
yeah. so you can then think about it some more yourself.
and THANK YOU i did enjoy my break :3 taking anotha one in like 2 days with family this time. EXHAUSTED! SUNBURNED! but happy content thriving.
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Granada! It’s so Moorish (boom boom...Kill me Now)
Long before I got back into climbing, I booked a holiday with the fam along with Andy & Elaine (from the Brecon Beacons fastpacking trip) and their children Esmé (9) & James (5 months). We booked an Airbnb to Otura at the foothills of the Sierra Nevada mountains near Granada in Spain. It turned out to be an absolute gold mine of amazing climbing routes and hiking. Kerching!
I bought a couple of local climbing guides (I’d particularly recommend the Andalusia - Guia de Escalada Deportiva (if you want it please click on the link and buy it so I get a bit of cash from Amazon too!) and spoke to a local guide called Nino from the amazing Club Cabraloca (the appropriately named crazy goat when translated - Seriously, if you want to climb in Granada hit him up, he’s an absolute legend and they do everything through canyoning, via ferrata to diving or caving). We chatted by email in the run up to the holiday - Nino doesn’t speak English so it was a great opportunity to practice my Spanish (I’m terrible at languages but I’ve been trying to relearn since before our last trip to Barcelona with Andy and Elaine - I’m rubbish but getting there).
Lads Lads Lads - From left to Right; Antonio (interpreter & dog owner extraordinaire), Andy, Yours Truly and Nino (Club Cabraloca and all round legend)
I explained to Nino that there would be 4 adults (who apart from Sammy, climb regularly indoors, along with me having done a bit of rock climbing as a kid), Lenora (age 7 - an absolute beast), Esmé (9 - who has done a bit of bouldering indoors), Autumn (3 - who has done a bit of bouldering indoors but mainly will be climbing for our entertainment *please don’t call social services) and James (4 months, who most likely won’t be up for climbing but we would see how he feels on the day).
We wanted to climbs somewhere (in order of importance) 1 - That was in the shade (It’s brutally hot in Granada in August), 2 - (that had grades between 4-7 in the same spot so that everyone could have a challenge) and 3 - My Spanish isn’t particularly good so would he have someone that spoke English (I’m happy ordering a few beers or chatting conversationally, but don’t want to die because of getting a verb mixed up). Nino was all over it and reassured me all would be taken care of.
For anyone that hasn’t been, I can’t recommend Granada enough. It’s a small city that isn’t very busy (coming from London that’s a massive plus), there’s very little traffic, you’re right on the foot of the Sierra Nevada mountain range (which has Mulhacen, the highest mountain in Western Europe outside the alps as well as the most Southern ski resort) and some ace beaches (the lesser known Costa Tropical) which don’t suffer the hordes of people and Brits that other coasts nearby do. Plus the Alhambra, Nasrid Palace & Generalife Gardens are truly spectacular.
The Nasrid Palace, presented to you by Big L
We spent a few days checking out the area, visiting the tourist spots, going to the beach, lounging around our pool and BBQing (with some drinking thrown in too), but also scoped out some climbing routes on a hike too. For those not in the know, Los Cahorros is a fantastic trail of rope bridges, rivers and stunning views through a gorge and mountainsides. It’s also famous for having some incredible climbing routes, so we had a good old hike around to check it out.
A hill at the start of Los Cahorros
It’s always a good idea to set off early when the days get so hot so we did most of our hiking in the morning to head home at around 2. The hike is really fun and family friendly with plenty of access to mountain run off water (I always bring my Sawyer Filter with me wherever I go where I might run out of water, despite the several litres of frozen water we had with us, as it’s ace just to fill up whenever you need. Super handy, very light, connects to a regular bottle and lasts forever. link on image below).
Los Cahorros only has about 300m of elevation across the hike so is family friendly whilst being hard enough work when Elaine was carrying James and I was mainly carrying Autumn.
Lunch in a nice little cave
Anyway...it’s really cool with a load of rope bridges, stunning scenery, great access to water, lots of shade & amazing climbing routes. Do it.
Next up on the list was hooking up with Nino. Unfortunately Antonio, Nino’s buddy and translator couldn’t make the Thursday so we rescheduled for Friday. No biggie, as we had a lazy day by the pool but come Friday we were all super hyped to get on some rock.
We met Nino in the Lidl car park near the main Decathlon (I love Decathlon) and had a good laugh about my obscene amount of emails I had sent Nino. He had been very patient and was just as nice in person as he was on email. His mate Antonio would be our translator as Nino’s English was similar to my Spanish, and Antonio came with the added bonus of his dog who was epic. She was a jet black Belgian shepherd and the kids were super hyped as they were missing Ripley (our Sproodle).
After a quick drive to Alfacar (there are loads of routes within a very short drive of Granada) we found our wall. After a pretty steep hike up the hill through some trees (I was a little worried about Elaine as she had James strapped to her chest, but she’s an absolute machine and didn’t seem phased at all) we got to a really nice and shady ledge below our climbing spot.
Autumn kicking back at basecamp (poser)
All the gear, all the ideas (Nino & Antonio, at least)
Sammy, checking out the photos, being stalked by the dog
After setting up, Nino asked who wanted to go first - before he’d even had the chance to finish the sentence, Lenora was up and putting on a harness whilst simultaneously saying ‘I will’ in a manner that suggested this wasn’t up for discussion. Within minutes, she had blasted her way up the first route (route 8 of el Sector del Esconchón in the Guia de Escalada en Alfacar Granada, if you’re interested) and cockily confirmed that it was easy.
Lenora (just turned 7) before ‘warming up on an easy route’ - her words not mine
Esmé and Autumn found it a bit trickier and only made it half way up, but Esmé doesn’t climb as much and Autumn is only 3. To give her credit, she got a good 8 metres up and it’s her first time climbing outdoors. We all had a good laugh when Autumn rolled over onto her back, hanging from the rope and started shouting “I can’t roll over! I can’t roll over!”. Please don’t call social services.
Like a beetle on it’s back (Autumn, 3 years old)
I normally belay with a Black Diamond ATC Guide (linked to Amazon) but Antonio got me on a Grigri+ for the first time and it felt a bit odd to use. Paying out the rope was a little more tricky but I appreciated the extra safety feature knowing that it auto locks if someone is belaying me and not paying attention (having 4 kids with us, that’s quite possible too). I’m still in two minds about which I prefer to use, but then redundancy is key in climbing and the GriGri definitely offers a greater level of safety.
Esmé getting involved
Sammy had a good old crack at the route and managed to top out, but freaked a bit when she saw the view. It’s a bit different to an indoor wall, when you’re already 1350m up, the 30m feels a lot higher.
Nino and Antonio started planning out the more challenging routes once they’d gauged our abilities on the warm up route. They put up a harder route (route 5) which Elaine and Andy promptly powered through, followed by me. It was a challenging route (a V+ in the local grades, which according to the guidebook and the UKC website which have a conversion chart shows the local grades being two lower than normal French grades, so this would have been a 6a+ apparently).
Andy!
Esmé having a crack at the second route with Andy on belay
Not one to be outdone, Lenora got tied in and had a shot at the harder route. I wasn’t sure how far up she’d get as it wasn’t particularly easy and she’s still only small. Of course, she flipped the beast mode switch and absolutely crushed it.
She never fails to amaze me. Big L went up the wall like a rat up a drain pipe & both our guides were super impressed by how brave she was. Putting in all those hours at YonderE17 and the Arch obviously paid off. Things were going really well until Lenora reached up into hold (in the side of the big rock in the picture above and got a nasty surprise.
Lenora topping out but getting a nasty surprise
There was a really spiky bush in the rock which Lenora put her hand right in to, so the pain combined with a sudden realisation that she was super high up freaked her out. She wanted to come down right away, but was pretty gripped so lost her concentration. Usually at the Reach and Castle climbing centres (which I think are about 15 metres) she loves abseiling down, with whoops of joy and wild/possibly real claims that she’s a ninja/special forces etc. Things were a bit different here, with the wall not being as flat as in a climbing centre what with overhangs and the risk of other spiky plants. It all got a bit much for her but we finally got her down. Nino was great and climbed over to her, got her to relax a bit and then things were fine.
Nino helping Lenora find her Zen
Meanwhile, Antonio had set up a much harder route (route 2 in the guide) along with changing the first easy route over a few metres into a similarly hard route (route 7). Elaine had a crack at the hardest route and despite having the background noise of a crying 5 month old baby James being held by Andy, a mildly hysteric Lenora, along with Autumn and Esmé arguing over who was more of a unicorn, managed to focus and get on with it.
Elaine, getting stuck in
After Elaine got down, the kids were getting a bit grumpy so I helped Elaine and Sammy get them all back to the comfort of the air con in the cars (and iPads) so that Andy and I could have a crack at the last routes before helping Nino and Antonio Pack up.
Where’s Wally? I’m on there somewhere (shots from the cars)
Me, topping out on route 2 - loads of fun & a bit of a challenge. Great shot by Andy
The view over Granada from Alfacar
All in all it was a great day. I thoroughly enjoyed the routes - the final two routes were the most challenging and in very different ways, but I think we could have pushed it up a grade looking back even. The view over Granada was spectacular and the size of the mountains is really humbling. To give context, Alfacar (a low to medium size mountain) from where we parked the car, was starting at around 1300m, which is roughly the height of Ben Nevis (the highest peak in the UK at 1345m) with the peak topping out at around 1400m.
I’d love to get back to the area again for more exploration - apparently Autumn is ideal as it’s still nice and warm, but not so punishingly hot. This opens up a number of walls that don’t have shade at the bottom, so that would be nice.
All in all, I can thoroughly recommend Granada and if you get the chance to go, make sure you hit up Nino at Club Cabraloca to save you lugging a ton of kit over whilst getting the benefit of a super experienced local guide.
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Technically the book has been out for about two days now in France and through that time the delivery wait for those who live in the country has changed from 1-2 months to 7-10 days.As for my situation in the matter...It’s expected to still be sent out on the ninth and hopefully ordering back in January granted me some form of preorder privilege.Predicted delivery date is still estimated to be 20-3 which means if that stays to its word I will not be seeing this until after vacation.
Now the focus on this is the weirdness which is Armadillain’s existence.We can clearly see he is going to have a role in L'école since he is on the cover yet his name is not mentioned.The provided description only mentions the other faces we do see on this cover besides the main trio,Lilifée and the Mascrapules but also some return appearances in the form of Energuman and Romeo.Does this mean he’s a fourth member to the Mascrapules?Unless that information has been hiding elsewhere I don’t think we know the French equivalent to his name either but there is a good guess on possibilities on how it could work thanks to the other animal-themed characters present:
Like his English name,his French one could be based on the species he is dressed as.The word for Armadillo seems to be “Tatou” and it could simply be whatever sort of significance is in the letter change of hibou to Bibou.
It could be some sort of corruption based around his color or main powers similar to how Grigri seems to be a play on gris(Gray) or Gluglu for glue thanks to stickiness quality.If the color route is done it seems the word for brown is “Marron”.
But in all likelihood the name will probably be something deep within the language barrier I won’t understand for the longest time.Most I have the ability to do is wait and see how it goes.
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