New Hobby: Climbing

I have a new hobby! Are you surprised? Well, you shouldn't be. It happens pretty frequently. Although this is more of a renewed hobby, as I spent most of my childhood climbing anything I could get up.

When I was about eight months pregnant and on bedrest, I decided I wanted to take up rock climbing. (Yeah. Bad timing. I know.) Well, I didn't start then, but I did as soon as I was able, or in other words, about six weeks postpartum. We started with short climbs indoors at Main Event once a week.

I'm really thankful that Robert's been a great sport and has joined me. We take turns climbing and taking care of TK and KT, and it works pretty well.

When we get the chance, we like to climb at Seismic in the Barton Creek Greenbelt.

Typical scenes from Seismic--Kestrel wiggles, Tiernan explores, and we climb. Tiernan found his own rock to climb--and discovered that it made a decent slide.

We don't have all the gear or skill in lead climbing to go by ourselves yet, so a big thanks to Matt LaCour for taking us out and teaching us the ropes. Done correctly, climbing is relatively safe--done incorrectly, and it is dangerous. I greatly appreciate Matt's mildly obsessive attention to safety. Not all climbers are as attentive or knowledgeable, and I'm glad to be learning from him.

These days I climb once or twice a week for about two hours each time. We've been climbing now for about two and a half months, and I've seen significant progress. Granted, I started from an atrophied state, but the difference in my upper body strength between now and then is astounding. For the first time, I have found a way to workout that I actually enjoy--which means I'm so much more likely to do it. It's empowering to see myself doing things that I couldn't before. Combined with the adrenaline, I usually leave feeling like I could take over the world.

If you're interested in trying it out, let me know--we'd love to have you join us.

It Is Finished...

You might ask, "So, Erin, what have you been doing recently?" Well, let me tell you one of the things. We've been making this.





Towards the end of September, Robert came to me and said that one of his recording forums was doing another competition. They provided guitar, bass, and drum tracks, and the contestants do whatever they want to create a song. The only rule is that the final product had to be reasonably considered to be within the metal genre. We could add, rearrange, cut, or whatever we wanted.


If I had to pick a favorite genre of music, it would be symphonic metal. Nightwish. Epica. Within Temptation. HB. Beauty of an orchestra, energy of metal--seriously epic music. Passionate, complex, and moving. We'd never tried doing it--we thought it was pretty far beyond our skill and ability. And it was, individually.


I talked Robert into giving it a try. We already had the guitars, bass, and drums, so it was like having a head start. So, we started working together on it. Robert produced, sang the male lead, recorded, mixed, and mastered the song. I wrote the lyrics, melody, orchestration, and sang the female lead. It took us four weeks. Not bad, if you ask me, considering we do have two small children and didn't stop doing other fun things during that time.

The lyrics are inspired by The Well of Ascension by Brandon Sanderson, second of the Mistborn trilogy.

Cast of Characters

• A Mistborn is a person with the ability to ingest and ‘burn’ metals to gain superhuman powers.

• Vin (female lead) is a girl in her late teens, struggling to reconcile the different facets of her personality--the street thief of her childhood, the noblewoman she impersonated for several months, the Mistborn assassin and bodyguard, and the courtly lady she thinks she needs to be for Elend, the man she loves. Although she has blocked several attempts on his life, she worries constantly that she will someday fail to protect him.
• Elend is the young scholarly and idealistic king of Luthadel who is struggling to hold onto his throne. Multiple armies are besieging the city, including one led by his father, Straff Venture.
• Cett is another contender vying for Elend’s throne, the leader of one of the opposing armies.
• Zane (male lead) is Elend’s unstable half-brother, a Mistborn, and Straff’s assassin. Although under orders to kill Vin, he believes that she can save him from his own insanity, and tries to get her to run away with him. He hopes that by convincing her to attack Lord Cett she will realize her own power and that Elend will never be able to understand what it is to be a Mistborn.

And here are the lyrics:

Zane’s Vocals
Vin’s Vocals

What you are
He’ll never understand
I’m of your world
Come take my hand
Why play the tool
When you could be free
Why be their fool
When you could save me

What am I?
A lady bright?
But I am Mistborn
Creature of the night
Could it be
That Zane is right
These mists are me
I was born to fight

I saw that look
In Elend’s eyes
Innocence I took
But I saved his life
Our love was shook
When I made them die
He is of books
And made me his knife

I cannot succeed
At this one simple task
I can’t keep him safe
This luck will not last
It’s time to do
Things a different way
A knife I’ll be
And see what they say

What am I?
A thief slight?
I am Mistborn
Creature of the night
Cett is a threat
To all that I love
It’s time to see
What you’re capable of

Show them once
And for all
What you can do
Kill them all
What am I? // Set yourself free
An Heir of might?
I am Mistborn // Come save me
Creature of the night

Instrumental – Attack on Cett

Save me!

What am I?
Is this right?
I am Mistborn
Creature of the night
What have I done?
Is this really me? // Fight! Be free!
This destruction and
Brutality? // You must save me

The Mistborn Trilogy is, in our humble opinions, among the best fantasy ever written. The intricate magical system, the well developed world, the amazingly complex plots, and freaking awesome characters make for an excellent read. We highly recommend it and all of Sanderson’s other works.