Yesterday afternoon when I woke, I showered ect. When I opened the curtains to let what little sun shone into the alley into my room I noticed that there was scaffolding filling the alley, I peeked out and noticed that it was maybe two stories and they were still building it up. I went back later that night, I called my neighbor (Kouka Mono) who told me he was interested in "ninja stuff" and climbing shit, but he was studying.
Gear:
Me-
Black Long Sleeve Shirt
Black Cargo Sweatpants
Black Water Shoes
Kouka Mono-
Grey Hoodie
Jeans
Grey Sneakers
I walked out my front door, and down the stairs, checked the street for anyone, all clear. I dash into the alley and look at the scaffolding. It goes all the way up to the roof of the building next to where I live and it's pressed against the wall so no scary 5th story jumping required, yay. There are three ways up, all three are basically just ladders, I take the middle, climb up three stories. Once on the third I realize I need to take a different way up because the workers added wood to the top and I can climb through it. I climb a bit higher to a lower and much thinner wood platform and carefully walk along it until I'm at the back of the scaffolding. From there I continue my climb up, I get to the wooden platform and I have to pull up with my arms leaving my legs to dangle, it's always uncomfortable but at this point I'm used to this stuff. I hoist myself up and from there climb over the ledge and start exploring the roof.
There's a nice view of the downtown skyline and there are some other roofs to check out, I climb down a story and check out my neighbors' roofs, they're all wet and saggy so I tread lightly. I decide I want to take a pic of the skyline. I wallrun up to the first roof and climb down the scaffolding. I go into the apartment and ask Ting to pass me his camera. I head back to Kouka Mono and tell him he should check the roof, he's down after I tell him it only takes five minutes. I head down to the alley and wait for him.
I've already photographed the scaffolding when he gets out. I hear him talking to someone asking if I've already gone up, I slip out of the shadows (I notice be brought his roomie, but I'm ok with that) and explain the best route up then start climbing. I get up and take pics and we explore teh roofs I've seen last time. I'm pleasantly surprised that Kouka Mono can do a wall run untrained and doesn't need any help getting up or down. After that we climb down and it's over.
Lessons learned:
None really, climbing scaffolding is fun.
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
Monday, October 26, 2009
Also on the way home
I wake up at Down's place and everyone (her and her two roomies) are preparing the thanks giving stuff, I stay in bed enjoying the sun and dozing until about 4ish. I get up then and we hang out until people show up for dinner. It's a good time and about halfway through me and down are playing with each others feet under the table until we all decide to clean up. After cleaning and chatting and tea we all head home. On my way home I take the alley shortcut and since I'm wearing all my dumpster clothes I check every dumpster on the way but no luck...
I then do the pharmacy dumpster to see if I have any luck there, well, I don't, the same stuff as the last two raids, I can see that nothing has even moved...
On the way back to the apartment I decide to check the bins behind the coffee shop, they hadn't warmed up to me in the two times I checked them so I thought maybe third time is the charm.
As I'm heading towards them I see two guys dressed in black go into the alley and I feel that I may have to compete for whatever is in the dumpsters. I turn the corner into the alley and see a whole group of guys in leather jackets talking in French to each other. I think they're a gang and after seeing me (dressed like a dirty bum complete with dirty backpack) they decide to move to another spot to chat. In the dumpster I find four slices of pizza, two pepperoni and two with ham and peppers. I snag those, there's other pizza but it's flavors I wouldn't eat and they seem bad (maybe white cheese looks just as gross in a dumpster...)
I head home and finish the twizzlers and eat two pepperoni slices and throw away one of the ham and pepper ones as it seems bad. One slice is left in the freezer.
I then do the pharmacy dumpster to see if I have any luck there, well, I don't, the same stuff as the last two raids, I can see that nothing has even moved...
On the way back to the apartment I decide to check the bins behind the coffee shop, they hadn't warmed up to me in the two times I checked them so I thought maybe third time is the charm.
As I'm heading towards them I see two guys dressed in black go into the alley and I feel that I may have to compete for whatever is in the dumpsters. I turn the corner into the alley and see a whole group of guys in leather jackets talking in French to each other. I think they're a gang and after seeing me (dressed like a dirty bum complete with dirty backpack) they decide to move to another spot to chat. In the dumpster I find four slices of pizza, two pepperoni and two with ham and peppers. I snag those, there's other pizza but it's flavors I wouldn't eat and they seem bad (maybe white cheese looks just as gross in a dumpster...)
I head home and finish the twizzlers and eat two pepperoni slices and throw away one of the ham and pepper ones as it seems bad. One slice is left in the freezer.
Sunday, October 25, 2009
Old School and Donuts and Pretty Lights
This weekend was pretty awesome in my book. It all started at 3 PM on Saturday when my roomie Ting woke me to tell me someone was here to see me...
I was supposed to climb up the mountain today with my friend Down (I'll call her down, because she's down with a bunch of my ideas even the weird ones). I told her to come over and get me since I lost my phone. I expected her to show up around 12 since that was the time we agreed on. I woke when she got here and it was three in the afternoon and raining. No fun climbing the mountain in the rain. Instead we stayed in and talked and watched youtube and talked and showed off my dumpster food. After a while we traded massages then decided to go diving before hanging out at her place. My plan at that time was to go there, dive in her area and then see what my roomies were up to and crash whatever party they went to.
It was only seven or eight when we went diving so even the bakery dumpster didn't offer anything. We moved to the train station and went to her place, we helped prepare some food for the next day, also apparently I'm invited for thanksgiving tomorrow night at their place (cool a second one, sure). We cut up veggies and generally help out until around ten before we head out to dive her area. But before we dive, Down had suggested that we check out the abandoned building down her street. Her roomie says it was once a school. As we approach it I decide we should circle around it first to make sure there aren't any security patrols (more cautious now after having been busted trying to climb an abandoned building with Dreads and Guts). First obstacle, a barbed wire fence, but it isn't a problem because it's perpendicular to another fence and we can squeeze through, our patrol is slow and boring but we do admire some nice graffiti while we walk. Once we're sure there's no guards we go back to the building itself. We had brought a hammer and a flathead screwdriver to get through any boarded up windows or anything like that get in. Totally unnecessary the building welcomed us with open arms, it had a nice strong door with the window missing, needless to say we climbed through. We navigated around in the pitch black, read graff with the flashlight. The building was pretty creepy, it was really tagged up by some guys called EMK Crew and some other taggers I never really heard of. It was completely empty except one room in the basement that had a janitor bucket. Living in the building would have been totally feasible, there was even a pipe that seemed to spill water forever. We checked around every room before leaving. Down was reminded of many a horror movie while we walked the dark interior.
After heading back out we went diving at various places but only took things from Fran Prix and some gas station dumpster, he took:
a warm sweater
some mascara
some festive Christmas colored earrings
Three boxes of Krispy Kremes donuts!!!!1
After wandering around trying to find more dumpsters I called Kusa and Ting to see how the house party was and to decide whether I wanted to crash it. Kusa tells me its all drinking and smoking no dancing or anything I'd like, so I tell Down let's watch Princess Bride (I fell asleep the first time I saw it) at her place while we eat the donuts. She's down of course, on the way back I climb a roof quickly for fun. Turns out to be a good movie and the donuts are delicious too. After that I'm tired enough to sleep (but I won't for a while), so I tell Down put some chill music we can fall asleep to. She can't really find any so I play this album I like from Pretty Lights. We lay down and I take off my nasty, heavy pants (mud encrusted BDUs with pockets full of flashlight and wallet and all that) and shirt. We stare at each others eyes for what seems like forever, just holding eye contact while the music plays, at one point Down moves herself up or forward or something and that sparks it. I grab her and pull her towards me and we lock into an embrace. I guess there was some tension that build up during the movie and the exploring and the laying down looking into each others eyes. We cover the whole spectrum of intensity from scratching and biting to breathing on each others necks and caressing each other. I end up in my boxers (well I only had a tank top on before that) and Down is in her pants and a bra. She isn't feeling sex so we keep at it and just end up gazing into each others faces and holding each other and caressing each other until we lay down in a gentle embrace. It's around 6 at this point, Down tells me I'm a bad influence, I laugh, we go to sleep.
I was supposed to climb up the mountain today with my friend Down (I'll call her down, because she's down with a bunch of my ideas even the weird ones). I told her to come over and get me since I lost my phone. I expected her to show up around 12 since that was the time we agreed on. I woke when she got here and it was three in the afternoon and raining. No fun climbing the mountain in the rain. Instead we stayed in and talked and watched youtube and talked and showed off my dumpster food. After a while we traded massages then decided to go diving before hanging out at her place. My plan at that time was to go there, dive in her area and then see what my roomies were up to and crash whatever party they went to.
It was only seven or eight when we went diving so even the bakery dumpster didn't offer anything. We moved to the train station and went to her place, we helped prepare some food for the next day, also apparently I'm invited for thanksgiving tomorrow night at their place (cool a second one, sure). We cut up veggies and generally help out until around ten before we head out to dive her area. But before we dive, Down had suggested that we check out the abandoned building down her street. Her roomie says it was once a school. As we approach it I decide we should circle around it first to make sure there aren't any security patrols (more cautious now after having been busted trying to climb an abandoned building with Dreads and Guts). First obstacle, a barbed wire fence, but it isn't a problem because it's perpendicular to another fence and we can squeeze through, our patrol is slow and boring but we do admire some nice graffiti while we walk. Once we're sure there's no guards we go back to the building itself. We had brought a hammer and a flathead screwdriver to get through any boarded up windows or anything like that get in. Totally unnecessary the building welcomed us with open arms, it had a nice strong door with the window missing, needless to say we climbed through. We navigated around in the pitch black, read graff with the flashlight. The building was pretty creepy, it was really tagged up by some guys called EMK Crew and some other taggers I never really heard of. It was completely empty except one room in the basement that had a janitor bucket. Living in the building would have been totally feasible, there was even a pipe that seemed to spill water forever. We checked around every room before leaving. Down was reminded of many a horror movie while we walked the dark interior.
After heading back out we went diving at various places but only took things from Fran Prix and some gas station dumpster, he took:
a warm sweater
some mascara
some festive Christmas colored earrings
Three boxes of Krispy Kremes donuts!!!!1
After wandering around trying to find more dumpsters I called Kusa and Ting to see how the house party was and to decide whether I wanted to crash it. Kusa tells me its all drinking and smoking no dancing or anything I'd like, so I tell Down let's watch Princess Bride (I fell asleep the first time I saw it) at her place while we eat the donuts. She's down of course, on the way back I climb a roof quickly for fun. Turns out to be a good movie and the donuts are delicious too. After that I'm tired enough to sleep (but I won't for a while), so I tell Down put some chill music we can fall asleep to. She can't really find any so I play this album I like from Pretty Lights. We lay down and I take off my nasty, heavy pants (mud encrusted BDUs with pockets full of flashlight and wallet and all that) and shirt. We stare at each others eyes for what seems like forever, just holding eye contact while the music plays, at one point Down moves herself up or forward or something and that sparks it. I grab her and pull her towards me and we lock into an embrace. I guess there was some tension that build up during the movie and the exploring and the laying down looking into each others eyes. We cover the whole spectrum of intensity from scratching and biting to breathing on each others necks and caressing each other. I end up in my boxers (well I only had a tank top on before that) and Down is in her pants and a bra. She isn't feeling sex so we keep at it and just end up gazing into each others faces and holding each other and caressing each other until we lay down in a gentle embrace. It's around 6 at this point, Down tells me I'm a bad influence, I laugh, we go to sleep.
Wednesday, October 21, 2009
Some Links
Here are just some links I like, things I follow etc, to give you guys an idea of some of my influences, how I see things and what I agree with.
Evasion Probably what I consider the best book I ever read. It's all non-fiction which means if you want to (I know I do), you can pull this off.
Buttery Ass Mondays Donovan Strain explains and shows a ton of stuff. He's a skater, hustler, hip hop fan and is just resourceful.
Night Ops For the hardcore ones among you check this out. The real jem here is the forum.
My Youtube Account I don't have much uploaded but there's a ton of parkour and ninja stuff in my favorites (almost exclusively so).
Hobos, Tramps and Homeless Bums a great thread on a graffitti forum that'll teach a ton about, you guessed it hobos, tramps and bum. Goes over hopping trains, diving, jungling up, factions whatever.
Wikihow Learn to do things on your own.
That's it for now, off the top of my head, but that'll maybe give a bit of insight into my mind...
Evasion Probably what I consider the best book I ever read. It's all non-fiction which means if you want to (I know I do), you can pull this off.
Buttery Ass Mondays Donovan Strain explains and shows a ton of stuff. He's a skater, hustler, hip hop fan and is just resourceful.
Night Ops For the hardcore ones among you check this out. The real jem here is the forum.
My Youtube Account I don't have much uploaded but there's a ton of parkour and ninja stuff in my favorites (almost exclusively so).
Hobos, Tramps and Homeless Bums a great thread on a graffitti forum that'll teach a ton about, you guessed it hobos, tramps and bum. Goes over hopping trains, diving, jungling up, factions whatever.
Wikihow Learn to do things on your own.
That's it for now, off the top of my head, but that'll maybe give a bit of insight into my mind...
Sunday, October 18, 2009
4 Pizzas among other things
Tonight I found a ton of food while diving. I went to the bakery I usually go to and picked up some bread (no pastries tonight), then on my way back I stopped at the dumpster behind the pharmacy. It was locked and there was a cardboard box next to it. I got chicken parm from the box. After looking in the dumpster by holding it open as high as the the chain would allow, I realized the ridiculous amount of food I decided not to let the lock stop me.
First I tried simply loosening and removing the washer and nut that held the chain but my hands were too cold and the buts were tight. After that I decided to simply open up the edge until I could fit my torso in and started pulling stuff out. After a short while I realized that I could actually dive in. I put my gloves on and and went in head first. Inside I piled all the food I wanted in one corner. I peeked out of the dumpster through the cracks until people around left and then snaked out. I took everything out of the dumpster and started putting it in my bag, when this guy comes towards the dumpster.
We talked about the stuff in the dumpster for a bit before trying to get stuff out again. He tried to pull the lock but no luck. Since I'm skinny enough to reach into the dumpster I grabbed a ton of milk bags. After that I rolled home and put everything in the fridge and ate the chicken parm for dinner.
First I tried simply loosening and removing the washer and nut that held the chain but my hands were too cold and the buts were tight. After that I decided to simply open up the edge until I could fit my torso in and started pulling stuff out. After a short while I realized that I could actually dive in. I put my gloves on and and went in head first. Inside I piled all the food I wanted in one corner. I peeked out of the dumpster through the cracks until people around left and then snaked out. I took everything out of the dumpster and started putting it in my bag, when this guy comes towards the dumpster.
We talked about the stuff in the dumpster for a bit before trying to get stuff out again. He tried to pull the lock but no luck. Since I'm skinny enough to reach into the dumpster I grabbed a ton of milk bags. After that I rolled home and put everything in the fridge and ate the chicken parm for dinner.
Saturday, October 17, 2009
Roof to Roof
Today did my first significantly large roof to roof gap. I spotted it this morning while exploring the roofs around my neighbor's (Kunoichi's) apartment. I went back immediately after dusk.
The gap wasn't too crazy, from a higher roof to a lower one maybe the width of three cars wide. I stretched my legs before doing it because of the soreness from yesterday's training. After that I just backed up gained speed and didn't give myself time to hesitate. It was easier than I expected though I botched the landing by not rolling (the second roof seemed like it had suffered some water damage), so I was loud and too a lot of impact with my arms (resulting in some cuts on my hands). Other than that it was all good. I'm probably going to go back a few times to do it again and get used to the idea that distances are the same difficulty regardless of height.
The gap wasn't too crazy, from a higher roof to a lower one maybe the width of three cars wide. I stretched my legs before doing it because of the soreness from yesterday's training. After that I just backed up gained speed and didn't give myself time to hesitate. It was easier than I expected though I botched the landing by not rolling (the second roof seemed like it had suffered some water damage), so I was loud and too a lot of impact with my arms (resulting in some cuts on my hands). Other than that it was all good. I'm probably going to go back a few times to do it again and get used to the idea that distances are the same difficulty regardless of height.
Friday, October 16, 2009
Precise conditioning
After class today I felt very acrobatic and decided to do some parkour training with someone. I called all the people who would be down to train and V came through. I told him to meet me at the entrance of a nice campus in the city. We went in and realized that a lot was being renovated (including an awesome tictac to lazy vault). We worked on vaulting a bit just some basics like speed, two handed and lazy. We didn't work on them too long before we decided to move and find more interesting spots.
We found a nice wall with a few rails and cement lines around it. This was a great spot to condition various techniques. It turned out to be a very technical conditioning session that turned out well. We first worked on wall running and reverse blocking rolls. After getting technique down we did a few conditioning circuits to work on flow. We moved onto precision landings from high, low and with momentum and without. After a lot of landing and jumping work we did wall run + momentum precision circuits before calling it a day.
Overall a good technical session. I learned a lot by breaking down the techniques to explain them to V.
We found a nice wall with a few rails and cement lines around it. This was a great spot to condition various techniques. It turned out to be a very technical conditioning session that turned out well. We first worked on wall running and reverse blocking rolls. After getting technique down we did a few conditioning circuits to work on flow. We moved onto precision landings from high, low and with momentum and without. After a lot of landing and jumping work we did wall run + momentum precision circuits before calling it a day.
Overall a good technical session. I learned a lot by breaking down the techniques to explain them to V.
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