I sure do [heart] the rock climbing...
I love it. I love it, love it, love it. I love hanging out at the gym and encourage people, and conquer fears and challenges, and be challenged, and fail, but know that I can keep trying. Oh, it's great.

I was talking with some of my climbing partners, though, and asked, so, when you look at a 5.12 route, do you think, "YEAH! One day, I'm going to conquer that!"? And they said, "Of course! Don't you?" Umm, no.

I really don't. I don't set goals like that. I'm happy doing 5.8 and 5.9, and not really doing 5.9s so much as cheating on the way up. I just think, my body is my body, and I don't think I have the body of a woman who can climb 5.12s. I had similar concessions when I was really pursuing taekwondo. I'm NEVER going to fight middleweight, I will never be THAT fast, but I work with the strengths I have, and I try to improve myself that way. But in rock climbing, I think that means I'll never climb a 5.12. I could totally be wrong. I don't know enough about the sport and the people to really know, but I get a sense ...

I don't *think* I let these self-imposed limits get in my way. I mean, if I found myself mastering 5.11s, I don't think I'd stop just because I had somehow decided I would never do 5.12s. I think I set these goals out of realism, reserving the option to be surprised. Maybe I'm a pragmatist. Maybe I'm a realist. Maybe I'm a pessimist. Who knows. I'm pretty happy right now. Hell, I usually take up a hobby and drop it after a few months, and the fact that I've been doing this for about 8 months straight, I think that's a good sign. If only I could get back into taekwondo...