Chronic Stupid

So what I thought I would do, I did not

So, after reading the Dragon blog I thought maybe I would pick-up his idea and run with it. So I reached for the nearest book and came up with Jon Krakauer's opus: "Into Thin Air". After searching for the proper page and trying to find the right sentence, and then deciding that it did not pack enough punch, I realized something; I LOVE this book. I read a huge volume of books a year. All types, Sci-Fi, mystery, Bios, Travel, history, non-fiction, religon, heck, even science text books. This is a constant though, I keep coming back to this one. Being somewhat of a mountain goat myself, I think this one just hits a little to close to home. This story scares the crap outta' me every time. I find myself always checking the epilouge, just maybe the ending changed...
Even if you don't climb mountains I would guess that this story will grab you. I have read this story so many times that I feel like I know the people who climbed that mountain ten years ago.
I was seventeen when this happened, and I was just begining to discover the allure of the mountains. It started with an obsesion for mountain biking, wich in-turn lead to rock climbing, wich lead to (don't ask how..) climbing big mountains in the winter at midnight!!!
I know, stupid right.
I have alway had an appetite for deadly hobbies. Maybe that's why I'm an electrician. Well, Hey, It's safer than the steel work I was doing before that....
Anyways, I think thats what scared me about this book. I know who these people are. Oh, I did not know them personaly, but I know who they are, they are Me...
So, here are two passages from "Into Thin Air" by Jon Krakauer.....

"Andy was a large man over six feet tall and 200 pounds, who spoke with a sharp Kiwi lilt; Martin was at least six inches shorter, weighed maybe 130 pounds, and spoke in a thick Texas drawl. How had I made such an egregious mistake? Was I really so debilitated that I had stared into the face of a near stranger and mistaken him for a friend with whom I'd spent the previous six weeks? And if Andy had never arrived at Camp Four after reaching the summit, what in the name of God had happened to him?"
My Mom will like this one...

"There were many, many fine reasons not to go, but attempting to climb Everest is an intrinsically irrational act-a triumph of desire over sensibility. Any person who would seriously consider it is almost by definition beyond the sway of reasoned argument."

posted by HazMatt @ 9:15 PM