Whatever Comes to Mind

Miss Kris posted about the changing meaning of adulthood - I'll continue on the issues of hipster, child-bearing adults still in the single-minded adult world. This article on "Grups" talks about the adults that don't want to lose their self defined identity after becoming a parent or living an adult lifestyle. From a different perspective, those that are still living the single life in the city, are seeing more and more parents showing up at their favorite breakfast spot, climbing crag, bar/rock venue with kids in tow. These parents group together at the local coffee shop, hijack all the tables to create the McDonald's Playground for their undisciplined kids to run amuck. While climbing, outdoors off the state-park trail, I've seen more and more kids in tow to the crag. I'm all for teaching kids about climbing, at the right age. It's a great activity for a child, especially to responibility and focused thought. But parents that just plop a child in-front of routes with all their hiking gear a couple ropes to top rope the easy route, all day, while their kids scream bloody - murder because they're scared , kills the essence of the woods and outdoors. It also kills your focus on the wall, while you're already scared because you're on lead with very poor protection. I've seen disciplined kids at the crags stay quite, learn to respect those climbing, and interested in the outdoors. They were only created by parents that understood to respect why the rest of the crowd was there. This attitude of respecting those around you and teaching your kids the same is slowing dying as more parents are staying in areas where singles thrive. I understand that grouping together tables at the local bar and having good time is easy when you're a 20-something, but you are usually not bothering anyone else. The self-invovled hipster needs to look around before bring their latest accessory, their kids, to their favorite spot.

This is result of my second hash. For those that don't know what hashing is, I'll try to explain it. Essentially, it's a running club. The group meets at different locations each week, depending on who sets the trail. The "hares" set a trail from the parking lot, leaving markers (flour or tp) and the rest of the group has to find the trail to the finish. It's not a race, just an adventure into the unseen parts of town. My legs, shown left, got cut up in some woods. Luckily, there was a creek portion of the trail, so I got to wash off the blood half - way through. In the end, there is beer, food, and dirty/bloody/tired friends to hang out with and share stories from the trail. I'm sure my legs will see some more of this nasty-ness.