BWare

Three types of fun:

• I –  Immediate.   Type I doesn’t mean “without risk”, but it feels really good in the moment without a lot of effort. Examples: Sex.  Chocolate.  Masturbation.  Ice cream.  Beer.  Drugs.  Driving fast. 5.9 hands.  5.11 sport. Wired 12s.
• II – Delayed.  Can be somewhat fun at times when you’re doing it, but it also means alpine starts, lack of sleep, working hard, getting blisters, altitude sickness, and maybe it’s not as easy as sitting on the couch watching a movie eating chocolate and drinking beer and wondering whether to wank or not.  But it’s immensely gratifying when you’re done – kind of like hitting yourself in the head with a hammer.  It’s making a movie versus watching one.  Making music versus listening. Climbing something versus watching a movie about someone else climbing something. Examples: Working out.  Studying.  Running.  Traveling.  Training.  Peaty scotch. Easy access moderate alpine peak, or an A2 big wall.  5.10 fingers. Yet Another one fall burn on the 5.12+.
• III – Not. In no way, shape, or form at all fun before, during, or after. Yet strangely compelling. Examples: Expeditions.  Triathlons. A3+ and up walls.  Alpine C2CIAD.  Ocean swims. First ascents. One more dog burn on that goddamned 8a to see if maybe you can figure out the stopper move. 5.10 offwidth.  “Oh shit.  There’s a very real chance that I’m gonna die here, I wanna puke, I’m wet, hypothermic, and exhausted, out of food, and it’s easier to top out than it is to go down.  Can we even go down?  Hey, what’s that peak over there, I wonder, and how soon can I save enough to get back here?” The only fun in Type III is sandbagging it in a bar.

Of course there are other things that are just not fun at all. Type III is still fun, it’s just a weird masochistic sort of fun.