There are some people in the world who can pursue something with an intense focus and determination that is amazing to watch. One guy that I met last month confessed that climbing was his whole life. He does other things only so far as they permit him to go on climbing, and thinking about climbing. I'm not like that. Maybe my brain just gets restless, or I haven't found that one passionate thing that I can devote myself to utterly. At any rate, when Tom left for Michigan, I thought that it would be nice to take a break from climbing for a while and do some reading, some drawing and other non-climbing activities that having been itching in the back of my mind for some time. Oddly, that is not at all how it worked out.