Summer Bones

I've been staying busy this summer, yet finding plenty of ways to relax. It's been pretty fantastic, and I'm completely content here in the Bay Area. I'm not even that jealous when I read friends' blog posts about their trips to Sudan, Cuba, Korea, Belize, China, Mongolia, Taiwan ... just the normal amount of jealous, with lots of pride and happy thrown in. One of my favorite things about studying at the Monterey Institute is hearing about my colleagues' absolutely amazing adventures when the semester convenes.

Between researching participatory community projects in refugee camps, indicators for post-conflict development and preparing papers for FORGE, I've been flitting around Berkeley, Oakland and San Francisco eating the food, seeing the sights, meeting the people, and loving the life. I've also been running, yoga-ing, and climbing a fair bit. Maybe climbing too much - I've been to the orthopedist twice in the past three weeks for two separate bouldering injuries, on routes only inches from one another. This is the wall in question:

Now, it's not unusual to fall off a bouldering wall. That's why the crash pads are there, in addition to the springy, spongy blue flooring. But twice I've fallen from final holds at the top of this wall, and twice I've injured my bones. First, a bruised tibia which caused pain when I ran, but which was definitely bearable. It's healing fine. The second large fall occurred Tuesday night and has resulted in a fractured bone near my right elbow, making my arm look like this:

It's a little crooked and a lot painful. The very good news is no cast for this kind of injury, and I'm confident I'll survive. But it looks like I'll be sitting the bench for a while. I guess that's ok - school starts in a few weeks and less climbing will mean more time for studies during my last semester as a grad student at MIIS.

My dad lovingly joked that the next time I decide to fall off a wall, I should try to land on my head - my thick skull could definitely withstand a fall. You were joking, right Dad?

Happy summer!