Sunday, October 12, 2008

Day 63: Spelunking.


So this weekend in general I learned a very important lesson and it has to do with this blog. This blog isn't going to be what I initially planned it to be. As many of you noticed and have commented to me, I haven't blogged in a long time. One of the reasons is that my life has really picked up here in Albany and I've been making more plans than I even have time to handle. Now, in some ways that is good and in some ways that is bad (another post for another day). But what it boils down to is that I have less time to blog and I initially vowed for this to be a daily thing.

I kept wanting to post about things that happened in my days or things that I learned and I've actually been writing them all down but I just haven't had the time to catch up. Even when I've had the time and the desire to write about something that happened THAT DAY I avoided it because I felt like I needed to catch up because of that promise I made.


Well screw that promise. The point of this blog is not to keep that promise of posting every day but to learn new things and experience life. The fact that I am busier and doing more shouldn't be something I feel guilty about it should be something that I stress and worry about when/what to post. I should be EXCITED that I'm too busy to post. Yeah, that ain't so fun for you all, but whatever, I'd doing cool and fun stuff and meeting cool and fun new people. So phooey for you.


Anyways, I think that giving myself permission to not blog EVERY day will actually allow myself to blog more in these busier days. I hope that you all see it that way too?


TODAY for example, I went caving! Caving was an incredible adventure that began terrifyingly by shimmying through a tiny hole/shoot into the ground. I was not expecting that when we walked up. I was expecting something along the lines of the Polar Bear Caves in NH but no way... this was crawling and scooting and belly crawling through tiny crevices and cracks, sliding down rock shoots, scaling across rock walls over a 15 foot pool of water, and getting up to my neck in water to get through a small crevice and get out of the rock cave. It was at points extremely uncomfortable and way outside of my comfort zone and at other points, calming and serene, and at other points it was exciting, thrilling, and totally made me feel like an adventurer/explorer searching out unseen parts of the world.


I also learned the difference between the words "spelunking" and "caving". The trip was advertised as a "caving" trip but I have been calling it "spelunking" all week, because come on, spelunking is a badass word! Today I learned by our guides that spelunking is what you call what people do who just go into caves with no experience no guide no flashlight and just do a crummy job or get hurt or something like that. "Caving" is what our guides say that they do... where they really explore and go with equipment and learn about the caves and learn about the rock formations and are really SERIOUS about the sport.


As for me? I'd like to say that I started the day a spelunker and ended the day a caver :)


An autumn foliage pic I took today is at the top and some caving pictures are below... I'll post pics of actually being in the cave once I get them from the cave leader.





** This last one is the whole that we crawled into!!!

3 comments:

Carol said...

Oh my god, are you crazy??? I'm having a claustrophobic panic attack just thinking about doing that! Glad to hear about it AFTER you did it. And by the way, is that my old Syracuse sweatshirt with all the mud all over it?

Paula said...

Katie, I'm so glad you blogged again now that I figured out how to comment (thanks, Amy!) but I'm speechless (typeless?) about what you did! I would NEVER go down in that hole!!! Are you crazy? I wouldn't even throw something down the hole- I'd be afraid I might scare up a snake...or a wolverine!
Oh and by the way, I believe the expression is phooey for you-ey, and you're right, a busy life is nothing to make excuses for! We'll all just appreciate your blogging even more when you do it!

heather said...

Okay, I just hope that everyone will stop giving me crap for not blogging every day!!!

I went caving in Australia and it was one of the most exciting, most fun and most comical experiences of my life.

The comical parts mostly involving me, the faulty lamp on my helmet and the fact that sound travels VERY well in a cave...