the Special Lady Friend came with me last night to the gym. she used to come quite often, but when she switched jobs almost two years ago, she let her membership lapse. so, very nice to have her back and climbing again; and she did quite well considering how much time off she had had. there was one especially interesting part of the evening, tho. there's this guy who climbs at the gym frequently, and is un-affectionately known as "Belay-Me Elmo". always comes in by himself, and finds some unsuspecting new-ish climber to belay him. well, last night he was there, and decided that he wanted to do some lead climbing on the (mainly) toproping walls. the problem with this is that you usually need a bit more room when you are either climbing or belaying lead. BME was trying to do this in the front hallway, which is usually loaded with topropers, and last night was no exception. there is a wall specifically for lead climbing, but it was closed while the gymnasts next door did their thing, and wouldn't open for a little while longer.

during the course of belaying the slf on a few climbs in the hallway, i watched him skip a clip (a big no-no), and ask some woman who was already anchored in and ready to start belaying to unhook and move so he could start the climb he wanted to. waaaaay, waaaaay back in the day when i took the lead course at tcw, the guy giving the course said that he really did prefer that you not lead climb when it was busy on the toprope walls, for exactly that reason. on the next climb i was anchored in to belay near where he was belaying this poor unsuspecting chud. he said something to me about having to move way over, and here's the conversation that ensued:

me: (in a nice conversational tone) you know, that's why they don't like you to lead climb on the toprope walls when it's busy. BME: why are you throwing fucking attitude at me? me: (in an even nicer nice conversational tone) i'm not throwing attitude. i've just seen you kick one girl off a belay after she was anchored in, and now you're asking me to move. it's too busy in here for you to be leading. BME: whatever... don't fucking talk to me. just stay out of my way. me: (stares blankly at him, and then turns attention to the slf) belay on!

didn't want to press the issue because frankly, he looked a little crazy, and i didn't need to be getting into a fistfight. boy obviously has anger-management issues. after that climb was finished, he did move out to an area that was more sparsely populated, which was a good thing. after he had gone, i was telling the story to some friends, and the manager of the place just happend to be there. he said that if he had known that happened, he would have taken away he lead rope "like it was a toy"... so, hopefully that'll happen next time, and maybe i'll even be there to see it! apparently every time he's in and lead climbing he does similar things, and is basically just an all-around arrogant jackass. i hope i'm not ever bouldering over where he's belaying... because heaven forbid i should (begin dr. evil "finger quotes") //slip\\ and //fall\\ and catch him in the //face\\ with my //elbow\\.