Summer is a time for:

So, despite all intentions to the contrary, I have not been blogging at all this summer.  This is truly tragic.
Well, tragic a little for me.  This blog is my best excuse for doing crazy things, and is one of my few ways to get feedback on the adventures that I do choose.
So if anyone is checking this, and would like a glimpse at some of the non-standard stuff that I have been up to this summer, here's a quick update:

Not particularly current, but climbing a 15,000 ft peak in Ecuador was pretty freaking fantastic.  Also brought my total number of continents that I have climbed major peaks on up to 4. :)

Only a partial view here, but on arriving back from Ecuador with no mattress in my apartment, I was able to set up a hammock and mosquito net on my balcony for a much more alternative, and still highly effective sleeping arrangement.

Along with not having a mattress, I also didn't have any cooking gear upon arrival.  This was solved the first night when I, ah, liberated this beautiful wok from someone's garbage.

 Though extremely rusty, it was still in top notch condition.  However, the rust was quite easily removed with soap and water, intense scrubbing with a copper scouring pad, chemical warfare via powerful toilet bowl cleaners.

And voila!  Ready for duty.  I am pleased to state that we now have a fully equipped kitchen with everything necessary to make actual, home-cooked meals of a great deal better quality than Survival Food I-V.

I also got to join some friends in attending Houston's annual Pride Parade, an event with close to 100,000 spectators and more rainbow than you have ever seen in your life.

Naturally, I discovered that Rice had a float in the parade.  And yes, I did maybe abuse the fact that I had thousands of captive spectators to perform street tumbling for.  But of course, all the acrobatics was strictly for a good cause.  Because I never show off, nope. :)

And then recently, I celebrated Cow Appreciation day by going to Chic-Fil-A with roommates, dressed as a herd of cows.

Oh, the things I do for free food...

Not pictured are activities involving my transformation into Captain Diversity/4th of July Man/ the dude in the orange morphsuit with a rainbow mohawk and flag cape, parkour workshops, and a lot of general silliness inside my car.  When I get stuck in traffic, I frequently find myself reenacting this Sesame Street video with myself.  Great stress relief!

And of course, my summer employment as a math teacher has mostly led to me convincing high schoolers all across the city in groups of 10-30 that I am, in fact, crazy.