15 Year-Old Sets Seven-Peak Record and Leaves the Rest of the World Feeling Unaccomplished

I’ve never climbed, and I don’t consider myself a connoisseur of anything cultured. But I certainly would like to! Instead, I read about other kids’ accomplishments and wallow in self-pity. Not really, I just blog about it and you have to read it. So the story is that this 15 year old boy Jordan Romero broke a bunch of world records by climbing the seven summits. I’m not sure if I should feel inspired by his story or depressed by my lack thereof. His dream was accomplished on Christmas Eve (aw, a Christmas miracle. precious). His dad and step mom accompanied him on his adventures, providing aid as experienced mountaineers. His dad is trained in high altitude medicine and rescue, and his step mom is a personal trainer. On his personal website, www.jordanromero.com , Jordan posted a couple hundred photos (yes, I looked through them all) that you should check out. I have a few below, and it really intrigues me how much work goes into climbing a mountain. You can picture standing on top of a mountain, but seldom realize the months of preparation that go into that one moment. Just look at all of that healthy stuff in bottles. Yuck (I mean, unless that’s your thing).

Aw, cute kid!

The list of mountains he’s climbed: Kilimanjaro-Africa-age 10 (10!) World Record; Kosciuszko- Australia; Elbrus- Europe/Russia- age 10 World Record; Aconcagua- South America- age 10 World Record; Denali- North America- age 11; Carstensz Pyramid- Oceana- age 11 World Record; Mount Everest- Asia- age 13 World Record. Slow down, kid, leave some world records for the rest of us! Everybody’s so darn talented these days..

Packing their food below. Even a huge white board to plan what to bring! Serious stuff.

I don’t know who that is below, maybe some people they met along the way. Just thought it looked neat. But how fun would that be to bond with people you met along the way? Instant connection I would believe, with none of you having sufficient sleep, eaten well, or showered for days.

Jordan and his step mom (I think), cute! Talk about family bonding.

Now Jordan is touring and speaking for businesses, schools, you name it, to inspire others. I think there’s a video of his talk on TED (awesome inspirational talks), but I couldn’t get anything to load. Maybe you can do better. Hey, this is my 55th post in case you were wondering. Yay!

Sitting on the Bottom Bunk of My Bed at Home

Home sweet STL! One of the things that makes me happiest is the first evening home from college after being away for awhile. My peaceful afternoon included catching up with family and friends, baking chocolate chip pumpkin cookies, enjoying a homecooked meal of spaghetti and salad, shopping at Target (no Target by my school!), watching my 6 year old brother’s soccer practice, and driving around in my 17 year old brother’s bright red new car. After enjoying these comforts of home, I love to settle down in my old bed, turn on the bedside lamp, and curl up with my laptop. On Stefan Sagmeister’s ‘Scale of Happiness’ (picture below), I’d say that feeling is one of delight, with bliss being ultimate happiness. So yea, it’s a pretty peaceful feeling.

In doing so, I went through ALL of my old Illustration posts (conveniently linked to all the posts in the ‘Illustration‘ link on the top right of the blog). And I was happily surprised that I feel like I’m making progress. Just from the amount of comments, likes, and stats, my ’3 Montage’ of the bird, lantern, and waffle seemed to be quite well done. And my beginning sketches are absolutely awful compared to my more recent work with watercolor and gouache. So I’m happy with the way things are going, even though it might not seem like I’m getting better when I see everyone else in my class making freaking awesome artwork.

Inspirational Scene From Benjamin Button

Skip to 1:10.

“For what it’s worth: it’s never too late or, in my case, too early to be whoever you want to be. There’s no time limit, stop whenever you want. You can change or stay the same, there are no rules to this thing. We can make the best or the worst of it. I hope you make the best of it. And I hope you see things that startle you. I hope you feel things you never felt before. I hope you meet people with a different point of view. I hope you live a life you’re proud of. If you find that you’re not, I hope you have the strength to start all over again.”