Such Great Heights: Week 6 Summary
So this past week was our last mostly-normal week in Vegas. We’re figuring out our options for how and when to get home without leaving our friends stranded. Here’s the update:
CLIMB: An unprecedented amount of rain has been falling in the desert, which meant that, following directives from the Wet Rock Police, we had to seek alternatives to climbing in Red Rock Canyon for a few days. We took to a nearby limestone crag one of the days, which turned out to be a bit of a dud (think crumbly sharp rock, drilled holds on a “5.13” route - in short, would not recommend). On another day we attempted a hike, which was curtailed about halfway through as the rain had turned a small creek running through the bottom of the canyon into a veritable river, significantly minimizing rock-hopping possibilities for ascent. Obviously, it’s still terribly difficult to be anything but grateful about this thus-far-once-in-a-lifetime experience. 8/10.
READ: On a rest day we went into an eerily empty Barnes & Noble, while that was still a thing people did. I purchased Too Much after a dear friend (hi Sarah!) shared an article that seriously hit home, and have been reading it since. This also indicates just how terrible I am at finishing books - though it looks like I will soon have a fair amount of time on my hands to read. 7/10.
QUEST: We had a session last week (all of these are over Zoom for our cohort, so they are likely to continue uninterrupted). I’ve discovered a few things in myself: 1) a tendency towards apprenticeship, 2) a “normal” number of “bad” days per week, 3) an outsized empathetic response to the moods of people in my immediate surroundings. I’ve decided that the upside of group interaction for me is actually meta: by listening to folks’ reactions, I can elicit patterns (instead of, for example, taking their feedback at face value). 8/10.
FRENCH: Real-life French immersion continues! I’m even speaking a bit of French with Jean, which is harder as English is habitual for us. 10/10.
Wanna Help?
It looks like the community measures undertaken in China are having an effect - so we can do this, together. If you want to estimate your impact, check out this brilliant piece and interactive tool by my friends and ex-colleagues: “Should I go to brunch? An interactive tool for COVID-19 curve flattening”.
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