We came to climb a mountain, not a ladder!

Daniel and I were sitting on our surfboards bobbing up and down like a couple of giant fishing corks, waiting for the next set waves to roll in and talking about what we were going to do the next day. We couldn't kayak to the ocean because it was only 2 days before Christmas, so I suggested we ride our bikes from Jax pier to St.Augustine and back. Both our eyes lit up, and we each new that this would be the next adventure! Just like that, we started at dawn the next morning with rain and a 15-25mph NNE wind, yes indeed, pristine conditions for a good adventure! The ride down A1A was characterized by beautiful beach scenery and the singing of King Henry the 8th -you know- "I'm Henry the eighth I am, Henry the eighth I am I am...." In just a little over 1.5hrs we were at the castle!!! We took a picture, drove down St.George street to some nameless coffee shop to get a hot brew, and in a just a few minutes, were back on our way to the pier.

The trip back was HELL!!! but in a good way. The wind was blasting in our faces and slowing us down to around 10mph. The good news was that the rain was horizontal, so whenever I got thirsty, I just opened up the old gantlet and took in a few swigs. No one ever said Le Tour de Pier would be easy! Slowly, Daniel aka Lance! started getting considerably ahead of me. It started looking pretty grim, all I had going through my head were some terrible 80's songs and some excerpts I'd memorized from a book I read by Reinhold Messner. It all slowly turned into a blur and I don't remember much between Guana and South Jax Beach. I just kept on peddling as hard as my body would allow!!! It was like I was in a trance, and all I could think about was the next rotation of my peddles. "peddle! Peddle! peddle! lean on one leg, peddle! Peddle! peddle!" over and over in my mind

The bleak of December and Castillo de San Marco behind, Pure Elation in the foreground

When I reached the pier, it was nothing but love! Daniel and I congratulated each other and sat down to try and take in what we just did!!! 65 miles in a little over 4.5 hrs!!! So immaterial was the feat, yet immeasurably significant! I think Reinhold Messner captured that moment in time best, when he said:

"As far as mankind is concerned, it is completely immaterial whether Dhaulagiri South Face gets climbed or not; it's equally unimportant if man stands on the summit of Everest or not. The only thing that counts is the EXPERIENCE, the sensation the climb engenders, and that only for the person who climbed it."

The Big Walls p.131

cheers

A Wedding and Philosophy

This weekend I went to a friends wedding in Atlanta. At the wedding I had an interesting conversation with a middle aged man. He asked me the typical questions "Where do you go to school?" "What are you studying?" etc. Anyways when I told him I was a philosophy major, he looked at me like I was evil. We started talking about philosophy and who my favorite philosophers were. Naturally, I said it was like picking a favorite child and just could not be done, so I mentioned that I was reading a book by Nietzsche and another by Schopenhauer at present. As the conversation went on, he turned out to be a bit of an ignoramus as regards philosophy, which is ok, because I don't expect everyone to know everything about everything. What was not ok was that through his completely unfounded assertions against Nietzsche and philosophy, he became completely unreceptive to anything but what little he already knew. The only thing the naive gentleman knew about Nietzsche was that he said "God is dead" and because of it he didn't care about Nietzsche or anything else he had to say. Oh mon enfant! This very meek individual then started telling me that philosophy was shallow and proceeded in trying to convert me to Christianity. He absolutely hated Nietzsche, but he didn't even know anything about him, his philosophical ideas, and ultimately why he hated him. !Que ridiculo! When I mentioned to him that Nietzsche loved Jesus his face brightened up. If you disown someone or something like this guy did, just because of one thing that he or she believes, or that the subject entails, then you are just trying to protect your image and please others. And that my dear friends, is weak and pathetic!!!

Dammit, forget all that I just said, what I'm trying to point out here is that if we shut out people, or whole subjects i.e. philosophy, because of one opposing view, then we would all hate each other and everything...and that's BULLSHIT!!! The fact is that none of us hate everyone, and his arbitrary intolerance for Nietzsche and philosophy in general, is completely unfounded. It's almost like saying "oh, you are wearing a pink shirt today, and I don't like pink, so I'll pretend like you don't exist from here on out." How random?! Even more: How limiting to oneself?! With that kind of "logic"(or lack there of), he might as well start disowning his wife, smokin hot daughter I got to meet, parents and everyone else, and ignore them all out right. This is because NO ONE agrees completely with their fellow man's views! NO ONE! no matter who they are! So to make others irrelevant (Nietzsche and Philosophy), just because you don't agree with everything they say, is flawed. The way I see it, I don't care who you are, or what you've said, if you say something that helps me understand something better and I find wisdom in it, then I accept it, and apply it. nuff said

In summation of this story, I told this man exactly what I just told you, and the conversation went on much better from there. He even stopped trying to convert me!

ok, now I'll take the poker out of my ass and start taking some deep breaths:)

love you guys,
Mark

Winter Break Goals

1. Kayak to the ocean from my house
2. Go snowboarding
3. Camp out at the island for a few nights
4. Climb the big oak tree outside my window
5. Get an internship at American University for the summer
6. Stop sleeping all the time or not sleeping at all
7. Watch Endless Summer I and II
8. Ride my bike to St.Augustine
9. Solve the puzzle that is women

TBC

California

Two weeks ago I went to visit my Aunt Priscilla and Uncle Don for a weekend in California. I also got to meet my new 4 month old cousin Judah! He was a pretty cool little whipper snapper let me tell ya. Never even cried once the whole time I was there. I was so stoked leaving Jacksonville on that early Friday morning because I knew that 8-9ft waves were to greet me that afternoon. I had my thick 4/3 wetsuit, gloves, booties, and the Essential kook cap all packed in preparation for some really sweet waves! Unfortunately however, I encountered a few "weather" delays on the way west and as a consequence, I arrived 7hrs later than was planned. I was pretty nackkered from sitting around in the Houston airport all day not using up any of the energy I'd built up from thinking about going surfing. UHH! By the time I got to the San Francisco airport, it was 10:00pm, so it was impossible to surf. But that's just how travel goes, nothing to get emotional about. Anyways, the next morning I woke up to 3-5ft choppy waves and an air temp of 32 degrees. In my head all I could here was that old surfer's saying coined by Bruce Brown "ya shoulda been here yesta-dye." So instead, we all drove 40 minutes North to the resident volcano of the area, Mt.Diablo(3849ft),which means Devil mountain in Spanish, and did some light hiking. Mt.Diablo is also the center mountain in the background of my blog's logo picture, with me skateboarding down a different mountain. Look Familiar?
I did however, get do a bit of boldering on some of the exposed rock clefts about midway up the mountain as well as experience some of that exhilarating mountain air I hold so dear! It was spectacular! There is something so incredibly gratifying about putting some of my climbing training to use!!!Oh I loved it!
When we got back to the house, I put little Judah on his first skateboard as any responsible cousin would. I've never been so proud of that little crumb cruncher! and he's goofy foot just like me!!! The reason why it took me so long to finish this post was because I wanted to get those pictures of Judah and I on the skateboard but they got erased somehow. This post just doesn't seem complete without them. They would have turned out so well! Well enjoy the rest of the pics and thanks for your patience!

-Mark

My Uncle doing what he does best "look over there!(hits Mark in sternum)" on the summit of Mount Diablo temperature 30F

A more dignified pose fit for the summit

2 kooks halfway up Mt.Diablo
Merglatroid