Buono Tempo

In Italian, "tempo" means both weather and time (it's also a brand of tissues but we're gonna look past that for now). Are you serious? Cheesy analogies are kinda my thing so there's no way I'm passing this one up. 

I'm not sure what I would do with myself if a meteorologist accurately predicted the weather for a whole week. Heck, I'd take two days in row for that matter. It's just so unpredictable even with technology so advanced it can predict whether I should start An extra running back or wide receiver this week in my fantasy football league. I think that unpredictability makes it that much more incredible, intemidating, and sometimes dangerous. I wish I had my own personal life-ologist who could make predictions on what was coming up for the week. He'd pop in sometime during breakfast and be like, "Hey Ryan so probably don't eat Taco Bell later today cause you'll regret it after. Waffle House on the other hand is totally fine!" This guy gets me, unfortunately there's no random person coming over to let me know what's up. Time, more specifically what happens in our time, is frustratingly/wonderfully unpredictable. Recently I find myself wanting more and more to just know what's going to happen. Questions like, should I take this job, should I move to this new place, should I spend this money, or should I date this girl run through my head. Like any other person, I fear failure which isn't all bad but this fear sometimes prohibits me from progressing in life. The unpredictability causes me to dig in, get comfortable, and wait it out. If you ask any of my climbing partners what are some of the most memorable we've had in the gorge, they would probably say the days that we went when the weather looked terrible/it was raining when we left and it turned out to be a perfect climbing day. I can't let unpredictability hold me back.

We have all these sayings that center around time. Times flies when you're having fun, time is money, time heals all, and...well I thought I knew more, for the sake of the blog let's just assume there's an agregious amount of sayings centered around time. Why is this? Maybe time is just super relevant in many aspects of our life or I'm over thinking this or we just like a good catchphrase. I think time, like our heartbeat or breathing or having non-expired milk, is one of those things we take for granted until something goes wrong. When that does happen, i find myself doing all that I can to extend the time that I have which sometimes causes me to just overlook what's happening in front of me. Wow, rambling much? 

What am I trying to say? I have no idea, this blog feels super disconnected and wordy. All I know is that as I sit here writing this, I'm watching one of the most beautiful sunsets I've ever seen. Time scares me, sometimes weather scares me but if I let that fear always dictate how I live, I could miss out on the beautiful/exciting/unknown things in life. I want as little regret as possible in my life, I already have way more than I'd care to have, and I think accepting the changing time and just going hard can help with that. 

I say all these things with the knowledge that I have a God that actually does know what's happening. It's super hard to believe that sometimes, but I should find peace in this.

Meh, not so much

So I figured that since I made a list of things I liked about Italy, there should be a list of the opposite. So here's a list of things that, through my American eyes, could be better.

The euro

It just frustrated me when I exchanged my dollars for euros and got way less back. I mean, come on Europe, we already view you as kind of uppity then you have to go and be like "oo la la our money is way better than yours!" Whatever, it doesn't even look like real currency with all it's colors and shiny things. It's basically like kids play money....I feel better now

Men in tight clothing

Whoa, for real though just buy a size or two or three bigger. I know it's a trend but it just looks uncomfortable and not all the guys with these super tight/deep v-necks are neccesarily trim if you know what I mean. The pants and shorts are tight as well to complete the vaccumed look. Sure , I'm used to skinny jeans but do you have to wear incredibly tight shorts as well? Maybe I should give it a try...or I could continue have good circulation throughout my entire body!

No HIMYM (How I Met Your Mother)

For those of you that don't know, I'm a big himym fan and I love getting to watch it with some of bestest friends (shout out to Jason, Allison, Seth, and Jake but not you Jen or Erin cause you're never there!). The 9th and final season just started and I was really missing being with those people and watching the first episode of a great sitcom. If you don't watch it, you should and that's the only reason you need!

Hair product

Whoever sells this stuff has got to be making a fortune off Italians. Sure, I went through my hair gel phase in high school but not to this level and that was high school. There are massive faux-hawks, extreme combovers (yes it's possible), hair slicked back so tightly it might rip the scalp off, and gelled swoops that look kinda icky. It just looks like they wash their hair with grease and I don't want that! Claudio, if you read this via google translate, don't be offended cause you definitely rock the faux-hawk.

Bike pedals

I borrowed Fabio's bike to ride around while I'm here which I was super excited about cause it would allow me to see more of the area. The first time out however, I was pedaling up a hill just doin work when snap! My pedal decides to break and I have to walk up a monster hill. Turned out to be a good thing cause I got to forage for mushrooms, oregano, and random fruit. Still not happy about the pedal though! Ps, haven't told anyone yet cause I'm trying to figure out how to say "hey I broke this pedal but it was the cheap Italian plastic's fault so yeah, sorry bout that" in Italian.

Jean shorts aka Jorts

Let's admit it, jorts can be awesome. Climbing in a nice pair jorts that I made myself out of a pair of jeans I loved and wore so much they couldn't be appropriately worn in public and therefore became said jorts is one of my favorite things to do! (Yeah, that was a long sentence, but hey my blog my grammar.) However, Italian jorts were never full grown jeans. People are walking around in these tight, hemmed, washed out, attempting to look stylish jorts! Jorts should be dirty, ragged, have little strings hanging from where they were cut, and only be worn for extreme sports/activities!

Shower curtains

I just hate mine, period. It simply doesn't contain the water of my 2x2 foot shower so, no matter how hard I try, I practically flood the bathroom every time I shower. I have remedied this by showering approximately .75 times a week, don't hate I'm just adapting.

Lack of climbable rock in the area

All I want is for my hands to be one big calus again, to have my forearms beg for mercy so I can tell them to suck it up and work harder, to eat at Miguel's after a great day of climbing with great people, and I don't want James, Trent, and Neil to kick all of my butt when I get back! My climbing workout here consists of climbing up and down the underside of my exposed steps, it'll have to do.

Let me reiterate that most of these dislikes are from me being culturally insensitive and they're not even a big deal, guess I just needed to complain about something. When I am bothered by any of these things, I try to take a moment and remember where I am and how incredibly blesses I am to be here. I should probably do that no matter where I am...