NewBlood's journal

[NewBlood]

I have one on my way to the train station, so i check it for pants regularly

Ah, nice routine! It doesn't look like there's one on my usual routes, but I haven't looked very hard yet.

[NewBlood]

2025 update 6/52

This was a pretty good week. Sleep is still all over the place but I kept myself busy enough.

I had my climbing class, then a friend stopped over here for a night and we went out to dinner, it was nice to catch up, and for me to discover a local restaurant. On Friday, I went to a bouldering session organized by the club, practiced a lot of techniques I rarely use at my level, and on Sunday I went outdoor climbing for the first time!

That was really fun despite the cold (it was 2ºC when we got there, but thankfully warmed up towards the middle of the day). I lead climbed a couple of 5b routes to learn the rope technique at the top, and top-rope climbed up to 6a. I was very happy with that, because it’s sooo different than indoors and I had a hard time getting used to it at first, my feet kept slipping on that rock. The view at the top though, totally worth it. That was one long day. Left my house before 7am, biked 50 mins in the frost to the meeting spot, 1.5h drive there, climbed for about 8h, 1.5h drive back, beer, 50 min bike ride back.





Would definitely do it again.

Unfortunately, my beloved climbing shoes that I inherited from a friend years ago lost the battle against the rock… Now I need to get a new pair and send these to get resoled…



Workwise, contract is humming along except I have no idea if my new biz is set up or not. The govt portal is horrible and there’s no way to tell if things are pending or just disappeared. I haven’t received a confirmation email or any legal doc proving its existence, which I need to start billing. It’s frustrating.

Goals for the week:
- Climb 3 times, once with favorite climbing partner in City 1
- go spend time in city 1, because mom is depressed
- figure out business situation?

[brainstorm]

Woah, cool trip! The view at the top is always so much more satisfying. Did you feel your gym training prepared you well for your outdoor climbing? I remember feeling like all the safety stuff was a lot to keep in mind - but I’ve also never lead climbed before.

[NewBlood]

Did you feel your gym training prepared you well for your outdoor climbing?

Ummm yes and no. Outside of the technique to set up a top rope at the relay, I had seen/done everything at the gym. We do a fair bit of lead climbing during classes (including "mandatory" falls) to practice. We only did single-pitch stuff though (baby steps). Also this is not trad climbing, all the routes are equipped here.

Wearing a helmet all day was new and not super comfortable, but better that than a cracked skull.
The hardest for me was that grabbing the "hand-holds" was much more painful than at the gym, and my feet kept slipping. This might vary a lot depending on the type of rock I'm guessing (this was limestone). The topo did mention that friction was pretty poor on this sector, probably because it's the sector with the easiest climbs, so it got pretty slick from heavy use over time?
Also the bottom of the cliff was pretty steep and narrow, so not a lot of room for belayers to maneuver. It was a bit challenging to find a stable stance.

[NewBlood]

2025 update 7/52

This was a productive week.

My business exists! A request for signature was lost in the system and there was no way to know this was missing unless you stumble upon the right section of the govt portal…. Luckily I did, and it’s all good. Now onto figuring out taxes and business contributions… I also signed the dissolution of my previous business and should get back a nice little chunk of money from it – everything I’ve spent on it, plus a bit of profit from the one tiny contract I did with it. That should more than cover all the money I’ll be spending on climbing for the year, and then some.

I also finalized a report which was the first milestone of the contract I’m working on. This was a bit challenging after not working for about a year, the activation energy was high. I also had never had to write a product specification document before, so had to figure that out. Now waiting for feedback.

I went to two climbing classes, 2d one was an extra one to pair with the pre-winter break party, so we had another winner-wins-nothing contest, and then shared food and drinks all together. I’m really loving being part of this club and am slowly getting to know people better and getting more comfortable.

I then went back to City 1 to spend some time with my parents, especially my mom who is still depressed after her dog’s death and because my dad doesn’t say a word all day… great atmosphere. We made some yummy food, hung out and this is giving me an opportunity to go climbing with my favorite climbing partner. I still wish we could climb together more often. I almost linked a 6b route in steep overhang. Which means nothing since grades are so different here, but it was very satisfying.

I had to buy new climbing shoes and getting used to them is challenging. I am having a hard time trusting my feet in them until I get more used to them. I need to spend more time on slabs to practice. I sent the old ones for resoling, but since it’s a pair from 2009 that I inherited from a friend, the guy looked at them, then me, then took them with a very skeptical look on his face, telling me he doesn’t know if they’re too far gone or not. I should find out in a couple of weeks.

Goals for the week:
- Climb twice with favorite climbing partner in City 1
- go back to city 2
- go ski or hike with my friends depending on the snow
- help out at a climbing contest that asked for volunteers
- maybe figure out how invoicing and business taxes work with this new structure...

[NewBlood]

2025 update 8/52

Busy week.
I spent more time with my parents, went climbing twice with favorite climbing partner (FCP?), then took the train back home to city2, went hiking in the mountains with my friend and one of the toddlers (the snow is all gone), had our Irish pub night, volunteered for a climbing competition, then spent Sunday sleeping (but also bouldering for a couple hours).

I also managed to go to the bike house this time to fix up my parents super old rusty bike. It has a drum brake, which I had never seen before and that wasn’t working. Turns out it just needed a new cable and cable housing. The guy also showed me how to restore the thoroughly rusted through chain that I assumed I needed to replace (which would have cost 8eur...). A bunch of WD40, grease and elbow grease, and it’s like new. We readjusted the derailleur and front brake. I will eventually have to buy new tires, but for now the old ones look pretty bad but are holding.
3h later, I have a functional bike. It would have cost me 6eur all in all, but I gave them 10eur to renew my membership instead of 4eur, because it was too ridiculous.

I’ve been half sick again, mostly a lot of coughing which wasn’t bothering me that much, but now it’s turning into a head cold, which is a lot more tiring. I’ve been feeling weak while climbing.

The climbing competition was interesting (and very impressive). It was bouldering only. It was basically the best teenagers in the country, competing for only one spot on the national team in each category. The whole thing was very well organized. I was a bit disappointed because I was hoping it’d be a good way to get more involved in my city’s climbing community, but there were almost no locals. This was a national level event that just happened to be organized here because we have the right facilities. The whole volunteer team came from a club quite far away from here. I was one of a handful of random people answering an email from the league asking for extra hands. So I didn’t know anybody and probably won’t see them again. I was in charge of making sure the kids entered the circuit in the correct order and on time, but my role really wasn’t needed. These are highly motivated youngsters, they know to show up on time and how to read a call sheet. Still very cool to see the whole thing, I don’t regret going. It would be fun if I recognize a name in the next Olympics.

Zero work of any kind was done this week. Waiting to hear something on the report I wrote before I move on to the next phase. People are busy. Not complaining. I don’t have time for work.

Goals for the week:
- climb at least twice,
- have lunch with a former colleague from here from my PhD time
- hang out with my friend
- make some progress on work/business set up
- make an appointment with the local tax office because I’ve never paid taxes in home country and I will soon have to and I have no idea how it all works.

[NewBlood]

2025 update 9/52

I’m still coughing, went to see my doctor who prescribed some meds, hoping it’ll clear up soon because it’s getting annoying.

It’s not slowing me down much though, thankfully. I went climbing 3 times, once with an acquaintance, twice on my own but each time someone asked if I wanted to climb with them. I met some nice people and tried some routes I wouldn’t have been able to do on the auto-belays. My 6a+ nemesis route is still escaping me, I can’t link it, but I’m getting closer. Maybe next time…

My friend + one of the toddlers came over to have dinner at my house, it was nice.
I also had lunch with an old colleague and someone I’m working with on this contract, who I hadn’t yet met in person. It was nice to reconnect and get caught up on the happenings of people I used to know during my PhD. Both of them asked me if I was looking for work, and one of these offers sounds pretty serious. It would be interesting to go back to the kind of work I was doing then (which I haven’t done since then though), going full circle. As always, I’m not counting on it actually happening, we’ll see. And I didn’t mention I’d rather do it only half-time (who has time for a full-time job??). But if it does happen, it would be remote and could be pretty cool. I'm also unsure how it would be to work with this former colleague. Possibly challenging, not sure. But I'm open to it.

I also talked to someone from the tax office, that didn’t exactly clear things up for me, but they told me how to get an appointment with someone who knows about foreign taxes who can give more detailed advice closer to the filing period. Mini progress.

I finally got some (good) feedback on the report I wrote, moving on to the next phase with more clarity, so that’s also good.

So good progress on several fronts. But it was still winter break here, most people are gone, and it felt a bit lonely… I need to find something in addition to climbing where I can meet people.

Fitness-wise, I finally started doing the door stretches, Palof Press and face pulls from here: https://www.hoopersbeta.com/library/let ... ad-posture
How are these working for you @brainstorm?
And working on pistol squats.
I’m still trying to figure out a good routine, not sure when to fit those and still have rest days.

Goals for the week:
- go to two climbing classes
- go check out hiking club and see if I can join a hike this coming weekend
- make progress on contract, try to finish milestone 2
- figure out invoicing for business

[NewBlood]

February expenses

income: $0
back-of-envelope adjusted for taxes total net worth (ATNW): - $6k
back-of-envelope adjusted for taxes liquid net worth: - $3k
cash balances: - $3k

3% of ATNW: - 17 eur/month.
now equal to 104.7% of post-tax minimum wage (aka my spending target).

4% of ATNW: - 23 eur/month.
Now equal to 139.6% of post-tax minimum wage

Expenses were high again, most notably climbing-related stuff. I had to buy a lanyard, helmet and carabineers, all safety equipment necessary to go climb outdoors. Not something I’d buy second-hand (because safety) but also not something I should need to buy again for a long while. I bought new climbing shoes as well. My first pair ever, since the ones I was using until now were gifted to me. Now that I’ve almost broken those in and know my size for this model, I expect I should be able to find the next ones second-hand. I bought these ones new from the store because of the ability to return them if they didn’t work out, which for climbing shoes is really hard to tell for at least 2-3 weeks.

March will also be expensive because I’ll go on a 2-day trip with an instructor, and I’ll pay for the resoling of my old shoes.

Withdrawal rate in February was 4.07% of ATNW.

[Jean]

I'm glad you're having some climbing gears to bring to the meetup.
Also, it looks like I go to city2 a few times per year (gf parents live in the area) I'll tell you next time.

Also im not sure that i understand your number. It sounds like you spent 6k in climbing gears, which is probably not what happened

[NewBlood]

Hey Jean,
Yes, I'll bring all my gear, and also, I've been meaning to ask the instructors if it would be possible to borrow a rope and a set of quickdraws for a few days. (no idea how likely it is they'll say yes though). Good reminder, thanks!

I'll pm you about city2, would be awesome to meet up next time you're in town if we're talking about the same town
(here I thought I was being stealthy...)

Yeah, not sure my numbers can be useful to anybody else but me but the -6k is a lot more due to market movements than my spending.
the -3k in cash is closer to my total spending although quite a bit higher, maybe due to credit card timing, not sure. I also moved some money from US to home country and had to pay some wire fees.

All in all, I spent 317 eur on climbing (gyms in two cities plus carpooling to outdoor site) and climbing gear in February though Not at all an ERE hobby at the moment...

[brainstorm]

I’ve been liking the door stretches, but only do the strength/core work every once in a while. I’m trying to figure out how to put them in my routine too. Lately, doing them after climbing seems to be okay since the weights are near the gym entrance/exit, but if I climb for too long then I have no energy left for that. So setting a time limit means I’ve been more consistent.

It sounds like you’re trying to do them on dedicated (non-climbing) days. Does that work better for your schedule (timing), or is it an energy thing? Or I may have misread it.

Agreed that shoes are expensive af new! I didn’t have much luck on eBay last time I checked, but already found my current pair on steep and cheap for 40% off. Sadly that’s still $100…

[NewBlood]

I’ve been liking the door stretches, but only do the strength/core work every once in a while. I’m trying to figure out how to put them in my routine too. Lately, doing them after climbing seems to be okay since the weights are near the gym entrance/exit, but if I climb for too long then I have no energy left for that. So setting a time limit means I’ve been more consistent.

It sounds like you’re trying to do them on dedicated (non-climbing) days. Does that work better for your schedule (timing), or is it an energy thing? Or I may have misread it.

I try to do the door stretches every day (I don't, I often forget). And yes I was trying to do the core and lats stuff on non-climbing days, but it just doesn't work. My muscles are usually too tired or sore and I can't get motivated. I've been experimenting with doing them at the gym, before climbing. So far so good, I should be able to do them that way about twice a week. I'll keep experimenting.

Agreed that shoes are expensive af new! I didn’t have much luck on eBay last time I checked, but already found my current pair on steep and cheap for 40% off. Sadly that’s still $100…

Have you tried Poshmark?

[NewBlood]

2025 update 10/52

This wasn’t a very eventful week.

I’m still coughing, but a bit less. Going to see my doctor next week to figure out what’s going on… I’m over it.

I went climbing twice and finally managed to link the 6a+ that I had been trying since October. I was pretty happy with that. I also tried to lead climb a couple 6a on very steep overhang. That was a bit scary and I couldn’t do them in one go but I was pretty happy overall. I haven’t lead climbed a lot of 6a yet, it’s a bit out of my comfort zone but I managed to not be too stressed out. Whenever I stopped, it was because of lack of strength rather than fear which is encouraging.

I haven’t made any progress on work but my week was consumed with formalities for my business. I need a new bank account for it, but opening a bank account here, especially when you’re a US person is a whole thing. I have my 2d in-person appointment at the bank next week… The government website in charge of withholding retirement and healthcare stuff won’t accept my social security number. etc… So time-consuming and annoying. I can’t start invoicing until all of that is set up.

I went on a couple dates. It wasn’t great. I’m slowly delving into the apps. Let me tell you, it’s bleak out there for my demographics.

I went to check out the alpine club. They have a website where you can sign up for outings, but they recommend showing up to the in-person meeting at their office. So I went, except I didn’t know that pretty much all outings had been canceled because this weekend’s weather forecast in the mountains was horrible. I’m not super sold on it from what I saw and the people I met. It’s the same club I was in in Town 1 last year but it’s a lot bigger here. We’ll see. I’ll keep checking the planning to see if I can join for hiking or climbing outdoors one weekend.

Goals for the week:

- go climbing twice
- and go on a two-day outdoor climbing trip
- actually make progress on work contract and business admin stuff

[NewBlood]

2025 update 11/52

After two doc appointments, a chest x-ray (all clear) and a new medicine, I’m still coughing but a lot less…. Doctors aren’t worried, bronchitis have been taking forever to clear this year apparently. Ugh.

I went to two climbing classes and a two-day outdoor climbing trip with my club. That was pretty awesome. There were 12 of us plus the instructor, all very nice people I enjoyed spending time with. The spot was inside a dried up canyon, it was beautiful and we had perfect weather.

I had a really hard time figuring out the routes, it’s so much harder than indoors, I keep being frustrated when I can’t do “easy” grades stuff which is stupid. But I managed to relax eventually and enjoy the routes. One was inside a cave (see pics), so cool.

The trip was exhausting, 45 min early morning bike ride to meeting spot, 2h30 drive to the spot, lots of climbing, then grocery shopping, group cooking, group dinner, in bed around midnight in group lodgings with snorers, almost zero sleep, lots of climbing, 2h30 drive back, 45 min bike ride back home. I’m so tired and sore, my knees are two giant bruises, but it was totally worth it.











I finally have a bank account for my business, after a second 1h30 in-person appointment at the bank during which I signed hundreds of pages of stuff. Again. This country, I swear.

Goals for the week:
- finish milestone 2 for work contract
- finish setting up business account for taxes
- meeting about potential new job/contract
- go back to city 1 for mom’s bday
- climb 3 times, one time with FCP

[delay]

There were 12 of us plus the instructor, all very nice people I enjoyed spending time with.
...
I had a really hard time figuring out the routes, it’s so much harder than indoors, I keep being frustrated when I can’t do “easy” grades stuff which is stupid.

Thanks for your journal update and the beautiful pictures! As an introvert I naturally avoid groups. It's great that you found a group you enjoy spending time with.

Different climbers rate routes differently. A route can match your personal strengths or weaknesses. A climber's level level can be different outdoors. At the end of the day route difficulty is just a model. If a route is fun for you, what does it matter that someone gave it a low rating?

[AxelHeyst]

Loving the climbing updates!!

The transition from gym to rock can be a steep one; even if technically speaking the “grade” difficulty is the same. You’ve got to spend more brain power finding the hand and feet holds and making decisions - the ‘correct’ holds aren’t color-coded or marked with tape. All that time patting the rock looking for holds and places to jam your toes where they won’t slip is wearing your muscles and mind out. The more time you spend on real rock the more that process submerges into unconscious intuitive feel and you’re able to flow with it more and more and get a lot more efficient.

Ask Of course delay is absolutely correct - a 12a at the locals spot near QH is an 11b on Kalynnos and a 8 or 9 in Yosemite (in YDS).

[NewBlood]

Different climbers rate routes differently. A route can match your personal strengths or weaknesses. A climber's level level can be different outdoors. At the end of the day route difficulty is just a model. If a route is fun for you, what does it matter that someone gave it a low rating?

Bro, I know! I know it's stupid to get hung up on grades. Intellectually/rationally, I know grades are subjective and vary between spots, gyms, setters.

Emotionally though, I'm like: "I just spent 20 mins on ONE move on a 5a/5.8, W.T.A.F ??!!". I had never struggled on a 5a before, not even on my first day in a climbing gym.

[NewBlood]

The transition from gym to rock can be a steep one

So steep! I really hadn't realized to what extent it's a different sport, for all the reasons you mention.
Apparently the saying here is: "the cliff will humble you"

Ask Of course delay is absolutely correct - a 12a at the locals spot near QH is an 11b on Kalynnos and a 8 or 9 in Yosemite (in YDS).

thanks for that, I hadn't heard of YDS yet. Found this:
https://climber.org/data/decimal.html

5.10: No hand- or footholds. The choices are to pretend a hold is there, pray a lot, or go home.
5.11: After thorough inspection you conclude this move is obviously impossible; however, occasionally someone actually accomplishes it. Since there is nothing for a handhold, grab it with both hands.

[Jean]

Limestone is very splippery, everything else feels extragrippy when you are used to limestone.

[NewBlood]

Limestone is very splippery, everything else feels extragrippy when you are used to limestone.

Good to know! Good thing your crag is ... limestone too