DAY 258
12.18.07
TREE 183
Back to work today. The job was on a new home construction site. When we got there the ground was all frozen. But after a couple hours it started to thaw. Then everything became a muddy mess. Aaron and BJ dropped a few trees and I struggled to drag the brush up the slick, muddy hill. It really wore me out. I went home and was tired. I kept putting off climbing. Then I got a phone call. It was Julio, back in town. This was the perfect chance to get out, away from Oldham County and climb a tree and see a friend, only it worked in reverse order. I went straight to Julio’s. We talked, watched some show then decided we’d go get a drink. As we went out to the car I mention I still had to climb. He said, "why don’t you just climb this one." There in the front yard of him mom’s house next to the driveway was a perfectly climbable tree.
I began to size it up, pick my path, and I also started to talk to Julio. I asked him about his girlfriend and school. But once I was in the tree he refused to answer any questions.
He was nervous for me and just wanted me to concentrate on the climb. So I did. The tree split in two, very low, and I chose the one leaning towards the house’s direction. It was a pretty good climb with some challenging parts. I got up to as high as I could go, looked around and saw that I could have gone higher on the other part of the tree.
But I didn’t want to make Julio wait all night as I climbed a tree so I just tied my ribbon there. I had a bit of an awkward place to stand so that I could free both hands to take pictures. I was able to stay in place. I didn’t have a whole lot to shoot and less to stabilize my hands for long-exposures. So I quickly stuffed my camera back into my pocket. Time to climb down and get going, I thought. I turned around and began my descent. At one point my body hung down from a limb and I heard a little thud. Julio said my camera just fell. I looked down and the little green on/off button was on and it was laying in the grass. Julio picked it up and I told him to turn it off. I asked him if it looked all right and he said it was fine. It had landed on a soft patch of grass. I played it off nonchalantly, but I began to think what-if’s. What if it had fallen a few feet over on the driveway? Or even bounced to it? It would have been toast. Pictures lost, the future of my project in peril. I was so damn lucky. I finally made it to the ground and got my camera from Julio’s hands. This most precious and important item will never be treated so carelessly again. I’ve climbed everyday, but also taken pictures with this camera everyday since April 5th. I don’t have a back up. It was the first drop and the last. I am just incredibly thankful for my good fortune and luck that it didn’t get broken. Not the best climb but a good lesson. Anything can happen, do not let a lapse of carelessness happen again. A camera is one thing, my life is another.
12-18-08: Finally caught up! I feel I need to clarify and elaborate in this entry. The show we watched was It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia. It seems to have a cult following, and Julio seemed to really think it was hilarious. I, on the other hand, don’t see it. I am also in no mood to add any more must-see shows to my list. I have actually been doing a dandy job of not watching any TV at all lately.
The second thing I wanted to add was that I have since dropped the camera. It was the climb on September 14th of this year. Does that date sound important or ring a bell to you? That was the date of the Ike wind storm in the Louisville area. I climbed a sycamore in my parents’ front yard using my rope and harness. When I do that I tie the camera to my harness and let it dangle. It got caught it a branch and the cord broke and it fell leaving a tiny spot on the lens. I am in the market for a new camera but I have yet to find one that is perfect. Tell me if you find a digital camera with 10 megapixel images, 10 optical zoom, HD video capabilities, a bulb feature, extensive manual options, and fits nicely in a pocket, all for under $400. Oh, and takes an SD card. It doesn’t exist yet, but it would be awesome.
So LAST NIGHT (feels good to type that) I went to parkour at UofL as usual. The last day of finals was yesterday and the school seemed pretty deserted. The night started off poorly as I was sliding on an ice covered picnic table and rammed the tip of my index finger into the head of a nail that was sticking up. The blood came and dripped and pooled. NJ had a first aid kit and fixed me up proper. Then we moved onto campus to find some dry spots. Things got better behind the law building and over by the library quad. But while we were spending quite some time in a well let courtyard we must have been spotted. A Segway cop rolled up and told us we were not allowed to play here and to leave immediately. We looked at each other and paused a second and he forcefully repeated for us to get moving. At least be nice, it’s not like we were arguing. Jeez!
So we walked off campus back to the park where we had parked. I still needed to climb so I grabbed my camera and spotted a tree near the edge of the lot.
I invited everyone to join me thinking the tree looked like a fun climb. But when I got to the base of it, it turned out to have quite a difficult entry. Josh (from two entries ago) was also there and struggled to get into the tree after a few failed attempts, but eventually made it.
I went up a few feet and then had a decision to make. The branches split off in all directions and I was trying to pick which one to follow to get to the highest point.
But not seemed to have any good paths to get to them or to get up. I settled for the limb nearest to me and went up just a few more feet. Josh was climbing closer and I started to take pictures.
When he was on the branch I was on he shook me and made it difficult to take clear pictures. He switched branches to help me out but didn’t get far before transferring back to my branch.
By this point the other guys below were getting bored and wondering around.
I saw a cop car drive by and turn in across the street.
Then one of the guys saw the Segway cop coming. Josh sat still while he went in where the cop car had gone. When he was out of site we climbed down. I took my time figuring if he approached us I would argue that we were at a public park in open hours. If he argued against me I’d appologize and say I wouldn’t do it again. When I reached the ground the rest of the guys came out from under the bus stop shelter and we all left to get mexican food. Not the best climb, nor the best meet-up. Oh well.