Occupy My Pants

Gah. I need to start taking pictures at the hostel of my favorite guests and some of the stuff that goes down here. I also need a computer of my own, so I don't have to do this on the office computer. Someday, these things will happen.

In the mean time: I spent Christmas out at the hostel. I was a little sad to miss the Oakland festivities, but I was afraid I would get overwhelmed while I was there like I did the last time I was down that way. I ended up having a really relaxing four days, went on two long hikes, cleared my head up and then had a blast christmas night with the guests that had come out. I made some new friends and sang songs and played guitar and laughed real hard.  Favorites: A couple from the bay area, she worked on scrap booking and gave me some occupy pins before she left, he asked a lot of questions about Cilantro. I had made their reservation and spoke to him over the phone, and apparently they had been asking for me, and he was really excited to meet me. She told me, "He's been so excited! The whole way up here he was all, 'My friend Ashley...'" I laughed and looked at him, and I said, "Yeah new friend! High Five!". He was stoked. They basically weren't having any of the silent oppression of the common area on Christmas night, and they truly made it a night.

The next day my favorite Texans came out with cobbler and a band shirt, and the ugly mom scarf. I'll come back and post pictures of this scarf as soon as I can, because it is truly something to behold. Really. It's a genius masterpiece of ugly.

Last night we had an arborist staying at the hostel, who happened to be a good friend of a previous landlord of mine, who was also here. This is a fine example of how small my world is getting and how it attacks me at random at my work. Anyways, apparently, you can compete at anything, including Arboristism. No, this is not a real word. I made it up, however, competing as an arborist is in fact a real thing, and this is the stuff I love my job for. How else would I know that you could compete in tree climbing/trimming competitions? Note: This is NOT a lumberjack competition. I mean, damn, just look at this guy:

Is this not honey badger status? I think so.

I have some friends coming up for New Years Eve. I'm hoping rain doesn't dampen our party, I really want to take them all out to the beach for the rise of the New Year.

Redneck Bicyclist

And also, Merry Christmas!

For once, I have had money to spend on Christmas gifts. I paid off my school bill, I bought Christmas gifts, I made a ton of gifts, and frankly, I'm pretty stoked about this whole Christmas thing this year. Though, admittedly, most of my gifts will be sent late, since I got them kind of late, and they still need to be wrapped and packed.

Sad news this week, Warren Hellman, who has put on the amazing Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival for the past 10 years, passed away this week. If every billionaire spent his money like that, the world would sound beautiful.

I thought I was a horse person. Turns out no, I am a bicycle person. I have moved far away from the hustle of Oakland, and I am in the woods with no cell phone service, no phone, little contact with the outside world, and yet I can end up making friends with one of the highest level directors of Safe Routes to Schools, because he chose to bring his family here on his two week vacation, instead of to a fancy hotel. His kids are rad, his wife is awesome, and he was fun to talk to and play music with. They were so Portland. I saw the future of my friends right before my eyes. I don't even know how I ended up in this world, except that sitting in a park when I was 24, I said to myself on a whim, after seeing a messenger fixed gear riding type, that THAT was who I wanted to be, who I wanted to hang out with, and how I wanted to get around. And today, here I am.

He also looks like an old sailing instructor I know, who happened to start one of the more successful community bike shops in Portland a decade and more ago, only director guy is significantly shorter than sailing instructor. Also, there must be some Portland specific affliction that causes 40 year old ish men to grow soul patches. I don't get it.

When I was talking to my dad about possibly visiting Texas, he asked why I would want to go there?
"It's full of Rednecks!"
I told him I wanted to go there BECAUSE of the rednecks.
"Well", he huffed. "I don't know why."
"Well because I come from a family of rednecks and I'm more comfortable around them."
He looked at me and said, "You think I'M a redneck?"
I raised my eyebrows at him in the classic "Really?" style.
He goes, "Yeah, I'm a redneck...hehehehe" (really, my dad laughs like that.)
Then we got into talking about bike shops and he told me he wanted to make me a t-shirt.
"Yeah? Of what?" 
"It would say Redneck Bicyclist!" He's a genius.

I told this to my Texan friends later, and they laughed and said it would go over really well. Sincerely. We decided iron on letters on a white t-shirt would be the best way to pull this off.

I'mma get me some.

Also, my amazing grandfather has been haunting me lately. Can't say I mind it, he was pretty awesome, but it's been interesting. And I don't mean haunting like he's flipping switches or doing weird things like he's a ghost, only that he's been on my mind a lot lately, more so than he has been in years, and it happened suddenly, and it started about two weeks ago. I'm not sure what's up with that.

I'm going to go for some hikes in the next few days and see if I can hear what it is I'm straining to hear so hard and settle my mind a bit.

A short synopsis on a five day weekend

Bam.

Update on Occupy Arrest Status: Still under investigation. I have to call back once a week until they decide what to do with me.

Five day break: Awesomeness:

EBBC Winter party made money and had a bunch of attendees and was really fun this year! Yay EBBC!

SF Bike Party was a blast: Space dress was amazing, the ride was great.

Aaron guided partial tour of the city, hilarious.

OCSC Sailing Christmas Party: Weird, in that I saw a bunch of people I used to know, but didn't get to see the people I most wanted to see.

Pelican Inn beer: Delicious. The band was pretty cool, and they let me and another audience member sing Wagon Wheel and then told me to sing another one and then told me to come back and sing with them again sometime.

Fentons: Deliciousness.

Sunday sleep in, very nice. Picked up some much needed crafty things at the Depot, and then Picked up my own christmas tree makings at the  christmas tree place, and then watched braveheart on projector screen.

Monday family shopping trip, also hilarious.

I haven't laughed as much as I did this weekend in a while.

This Will Surely Prove to my Family I'm a Hippy

Sad news today, Cafe Gratitude is closing it's northern California stores. I didn't know they had so many. But this means an end to the amazing grateful bowl, which fed me a bit when I was very poor, for very cheap, and which I pay as much as I can for now that I have money. I'm probably going to miss the green sauce they make the most. They basically make a rice bowl of black beans, brown rice, kale, and this green sauce, and it's delicious:

It's my favorite. Apparently I need to find the recipe for that green sauce. I think probably it's avocado based. Plus I love Kale. And look! Here's a guy in Vermont who makes Kale and Cheese related T-shirts and hoodies:

Eat More Kale!

I just found 100 Years of Solitude on the bookshelf here at the hostel. I'm stoked. This bumps up my pile of books to 5: Green Mars by Kim Robinson, Feast of Crows by George Martin, South America Lonely Planet Guide, New Zealand Lonely Planet guide, and now 100 Years of Solitude. Yeah, I know, that's a lot of books. I keep thinking they should be going faster, but Green Mars is heavy on science talk, and Feast of Crows is heavy on historical politics, so even though I'm thoroughly engrossed the reading is slow. The travel books are browsers right now. I'll get to the planning later. 100 Years, well now, I might wait to start that one after I've finished Green Mars or Feast of Crows. I know this is all facinating to you.

Maybe more interesting was my reading list for the day. I started at Occupy Oakland on Facebook, out of curiosity for what the movement is doing in my town after reading a synopsis of the minutes of the most recent GA that a friend posted up. I will admit that I'm disheartened by the co-opting of the movement in Oakland by some overly radical characters. We need more balanced view points at the GAs!

My foray onto the page led me to an article talking about the movement getting co-opted for the democratic party. It's decidedly and admittedly one sided, but it led me to an article by a man who used to be an accountant for the IMF, or for those who don't know, the International Monetary Fund. These guys are the biggest bank in the world, and they bail out countries who have no where else to turn. The IMF is also kind of evil on some other levels, but this is basically a general economic and history lesson related to debt laden countries. The quote that led me to this article from the one on Slate?

"Squeezing the oligarchs, though, is seldom the strategy of choice among emerging-market governments. Quite the contrary: at the outset of the crisis, the oligarchs are usually among the first to get extra help from the government, such as preferential access to foreign currency, or maybe a nice tax break, or—here’s a classic Kremlin bailout technique—the assumption of private debt obligations by the government. Under duress, generosity toward old friends takes many innovative forms. Meanwhile, needing to squeeze someone, most emerging-market governments look first to ordinary working folk—at least until the riots grow too large."



Oligarchy: a government in which a small group exercises control especially for corrupt and selfish purposes; also : a group exercising such control (I do the work so you don't have to!)

 I read an article on the daily Kos:

To the black bloc "anarchists", F*** OFF! This is "Occupy", NOT "Destroy"

Which led me to also read an open letter to the Black Bloc at Occupy Oakland on Indy Bay, which articulated my own frustration with what happened on my side the night of the General Strike.

"An Open Letter to the Black Bloc and Others Concerning Wednesday's Tactics in Oakland"

My last bit of reading? Well I've been a bit concerned over the National Defense Authorization Act, which is a huge bill with a couple scary small provisions. Today the bill was voted on and passed the senate. Here's a right wing view on what's wrong with this bill from Politico:

"Opinion: Matters of Injustice"

On a side note: I was told once by a friend that the Mahna Mahna song from the muppets was originally a swedish porn song. I told this to my friends after we went to see the Muppets on Thanksgiving, and it turns out someone actually did a whole overview of the origination of the song on Slate. Italian soft core porn about swedish snow bunny babes in a sauna is where the song actually first originated. Good to know weird information for the future.

Snowths & Mahna Mahna photograph by John E. Barrett. © The Muppets Studio, LLC. © Disney Enterprises. All Rights Reserved. (I figured I ought to cover my butt with this picture, namean?)  OH! And thanksgiving! So much fooooood! I did lunch with the fam, and got to see my amazing grandmother who I adore, and talk music, bikes, and fantasy fiction with my Uncle, who then gave me a burned CD of an awesome Bob Dylan Bootleg from 1960, Sam Cooke live at the Harlem Cafe (?), and some more Holy Modal Rounders full of bad harmonizing. And THEN he gave me the first two books of the Wheel of Time series, which was recommended by a new friend.  After family lunch, I had friend dinner. Two turkeys. at least 15 side dishes, (Highlights? Duck with Pomegranate Sauce, persian, and Mole, mexican) and I don't even know how many desserts. Here's a picture of the desserts for reference on what kind of feast this was: 

  That's me in the corner photobombing. Three photobombs later of the same picture I managed to get my face shoved into the beautiful bird cake in the lower right corner. And then Doug photobombed the next picture just for good measure. Moral: I love my Oakland people, and I love feasting, and we had a ton of fun at dinner, and always photobomb!
Then I took the bruise crew in a friend of a friend's van out to the movies. We saw the Muppets. Duh. And it was awesome. I wore an animal costume and scared a very large man behind the snack counter so bad he broke out in a cold sweat and the shakes. I sat with a giant grin on my face the whole movie. Best Thanksgiving EVER.
Work has been easy the last few days, very slow, so lots of laundry has been done. Tomorrow it's bleaching the linens and the mattress covers for the new building. Facinating, no?
Break time was all sunshine today. I threw on my wetsuit, rode my bike down coast trail, right through the giant puddle, skirted up a dune, landed on the beach but didn't swim because i was afraid of the waves and maybe sharks and I was all alone at the beach. If I'd been eaten or swept out to sea no one would know! I played it safe and only went in as far as I could touch, then took off the suit and napped in the sun for about an hour before riding back, just as the fog was rolling in. I love it here. Even on foggy days I think it's super beautiful. It's not the mountains, but it'll do.  Update: I just read a blog that told me to look out for stinging nettle jellyfish! The ocean is SCARY!

Courage

So it's been a while since I posted a gratitude list, so here we go:

Things I'm grateful for:

1. Rainbows
2. The way California smells
3. People you meet and who light up your life for a brief moment, who become your five hour friends, never to see you again.
4. Occupy Wall Street
5. Shooting stars and the Milky Way
6. Being able to hear birds and wind instead of traffic and helicopters
7. This poem by Josh Healey: When Hope Comes Back
8. Muddy feet late night adventures
9. Courage
10. Perspective
11. Campus protesters at Berkeley and Davis, and people present documenting what happened to them. My heart breaks when I see it, and I'm inspired by their courage to remain non-violent against such brutality.

MORE MILLI VANILLI!!!

Or: Occupying life.

First, let us start in the beginning when I had the flu and then an ear infection. I thought the ear infection was flu related, and it probably was, but then I discovered a piece of tooth that got left behind when I had my tooth pulled out in August. And then it fell out last week, and I said, well no wonder I had an ear infection. My hearing is almost back to normal. This is what happens when you have to use county medical because you don't have health insurance.


After recovering from flu and ear infection, I worked for a few more weeks. I did some protesting with Occupy Oakland. I participated in a Strike and it was one of the most beautiful things I've ever seen, next to filling the port with bicycles. I got arrested. I wouldn't say getting arrested was fun, but I'd do it again without thinking twice. Standing up for what you believe is a good thing, not something to be mocked from a couch, and while I know that not all police are corrupt, (in fact, my arresting officer was fairly nice to me after he calmed down) the Oakland PD is a particularly special case and the things I saw and heard from both the police and the prisoners in Santa Rita were extremely sad, and extremely dehumanizing. Brutal force on peaceful protesters is NEVER appropriate. I don't really know that people will ever truly understand that. And the minority of people destroying property does not mean that thousands of people should be tear gassed, beaten, and arrested. Oakland makes me nervous and excitable.

My original plan for getting out of the bay area had been to buy tickets to the east coast and then go on a South American adventure. My plans were put off so that I could accept a full time job out at Point Reyes. So now, I'm living in Point Reyes, at a beautiful hostel, making money, meeting cool people, folding laundry, mopping floors and cleaning out toilets. I honestly couldn't be happier. I'm visiting the bay area right now, picking up some warm weather stuff, some sheets for my bed, and transferring my bank accounts to a credit union. I have an orientation on Wednesday, then six 10-13 hour days before my next weekend. It's beautiful there. Pictures, well I'll post them soon.

Yesterday was Sunday, and the last day of the expo. I never plan things anymore, because my winging it mode works much better. So I wung it down to Cow Palace, and then friends found an xtracycle for me to ride on the back of, to a Family Dinner, where 20 people showed up, lots of kitchen dancing happened, many beers were drunk, and good, no, excellent food was consumed. At one point, Milli Vanilli was played, and then turned off, and then the shout came from the kitchen: MORE MILLI VANILLI!!! So we put on more milli vanilli, and then Toto, and then some 90's rap, which got karaoked to. Every time someone broke out in song, 10 people would back them up. I had crazy deja vu, and pretty much felt like these people could easily have been my friends. I had a blast and I'm pretty sure I made some new friends. This has been a successful trip, if only for last night. Can't wait to get back to the point though. I'm going to settle in for a while I think.

Shake Yo BluegrASS

Epic Bike Parking

Epic Beard

Favorite T-shirt

Air Guitar, with a real guitar...

Ginger babies playing bluegrass on stage for thousands of people

Rocking it.

Gillian Welch, David Rawlings. Favorites.

Festival picture!

So much good in this picture.

I believe this man's face sums up the entire Hardly Strictly experience.

Stress Makes me Lose Things

And cry a lot. The last 24 hours are no exception.

Hardly Strictly was awesome, super fun, I met fun people and danced a lot, and laughed a lot, and got a full dose of Tahoe love. It's always a hard thing to say goodbye to the people in my life from there, even if it's for not too long.

I definitely caught the flu at some point in the last few days. I don't honestly know if I caught it working last week, or if I caught it from the camp kids, since camp cold happens to be going around up there. Regardless, it makes me feel like death for at least 70% of the day. I've pretty much spent the whole day sleeping.

Yesterday the combination of feeling wicked sick, a little too sun burnt, and a little too tired, caused me to lose my wallet.

Disaster. I know. Trust me, I know. But the good news? Just as I was writing this, 311 called me to let me know that they'd found it! Awesome Sauce.

Also, I peed my pants. Not on purpose, and not for lack of trying to hold it. It's just that I downed about 3 liters of water in the last two hours of the festival, and we were walking to the beach (30 blocks) and I held it as long as I could, but there were no bathrooms! We finally crossed a park, and I found some good bushes, but I was JUST short of getting my shorts off before things started to flow. Luckily I had a tropical print towel and clean underwear in my bag. I should have brought the jeans. Who knew? Also, I had to pee ALOT on that walk, and it was by far one of the weirdest city walks I've ever done with a group of people.

I didn't sleep much because I'm pretty sure I have the flu. Plus I was upset that I'd lost my wallet, plus I was sad that the three lovely people sleeping on the floor were going to be taking off in a car without me in three hours. Not gonna lie, I cried a little, threw myself a little pity party, slept a little, woke up and helped them get stuff out to the car, hugged them hard, and tried to sleep a little more. What ended up happening is that I wasn't very good at sleeping, so I woke up at 4:30am, read, called the EBT people to cancel my EBT card (they are sending another one to replace it, probably they sent it today, but who knows really), and read.


There's been a lot of reading. Had to miss work today because of the sickness, and it looks the same for tomorrow too. I can't go out into the world and spread whatever this thing is.

Twain Harte

Gates to the wilderness, somewhere between the foothills and Twain Harte

Home for sale or rent! The lovely mountain home of the Williams family. Pond included.

English Geese, owning the pond

Elzy's Eagle, looking out over the pond from the deck

Mallards mate for life Jon. 

Basement bikes in the woods

Can you name this plant? It was basically growing wild as a ground cover, smelled sweet and was sticky.

Big sky.

Money Be Tight Yo.

Whoo boy, it's been a while since I posted anything up.

Things have most definitely led me down some crazy paths the last few weeks. From laughing with a family in Carson City, feeding cows and wine tasting in Placerville, to night time hikes with old and awkward friends, piano and big fire in the old lodge out at camp, lake sunrises and jumps, hitching a last minute ride to the Bay Area and changing ALL my plans in less than a minute, getting a job 3 days after arriving back in the bay, riding a bike 30 miles to pick up some stuff, then hitching a ride with a surfer/stoner/burner kid from Ukiah who got lost looking for the San Pablo exit in Oakland off of 80, to spending a night in Twain Harte with the pretty cool and very loving family of a man who is a very dear friend of mine.

I have joked with friends recently that my life has become a "Choose your own adventure" story book. I managed to hit a pile of vipers and got sent back to the start to try again, so here I am, back in Oakland, and working no less. (There's a lot I could say and won't about this situation. My best friends know what's up.)

To top it all off, Back in July I had applied for unemployment, and got rejected. Up in Tahoe, I reapplied, figuring it couldn't hurt to try again. Well, tonight I found out I was approved, finally, after three months and hardly any money. I should get my check at the end of this week if all goes according to plan.

Speaking of funds, here is the break down of my recent costs and bank account:

Medical Supplies: 140.00 (This is about what I paid when I had health insurance too, and might even be less than I paid when I had insurance, since I was also paying for insurance at the time. By the way, this is a scary position to be in, since I cannot get health insurance due to my pre-existing condition until 2013 unless my employer provides it, but that's a conversation for another day.)
Cell Phone: 52.00
New Cell Phone due to lost Charger: 12.71 (I could not find a charger for my old phone, and besides, all the chargers I could find cost 25.00 or more.)
CA ID: 26.00 (Mine has not been valid for a year and I lost my passport in Utah. If I want to get a real job, I'll need a valid ID, and a Social Security card, both of which are cheaper at the moment then replacing the passport.)
1 Coffee: 1.50

Total in Bank Account today, after all was said and done:

91.52

Bills that aren't getting paid this month:

School: 152.00
ER Bill from Kidney Stones: $2500 (It's unlikely this bill will get paid for sometime yet. And in the mean time it's accruing interest)

Things I cut out of my budget last month: Netflix and Drop Box for a total of 32.00.

Other things going on: I found holes in the one pair of jeans I own. My sweatshirt smells bad because I've worn it every day for the last two months (I wash it frequently). I lost my glasses in a lake in the wilderness. Well, lost is not really the right word for it. My glasses are sitting at the bottom of a lake in the wilderness, waiting for me to retrieve them some day. If anyone has a wetsuit and the ability to freedive to find them, please let me know.

Just a short comment on job applications: I've been sending several out in chunks when I have internet access. It's hard to do when you don't have a computer you know?

Placerville

Mountain Places

Today we hiked up to Aloha and Jabu through the Desolation Wilderness, which is the back border of SSCC. Pictures are not mine, since I didn't have a camera, but just to give you an idea of where I spent my day:

(The trail marked on this map covers part of what we did today. If you follow the red line from the bottom of the map, you'll see that it passes by Jabu, around Aloha, and past Heathers. We actually took a loop that started out by lilly lake and went around, decending down Tamarack. The yellow line shows a trail up to Mt. Tallac at 10,000 feet. I've done that climb, many years ago, but I went up the Fallen Leaf side. I'll probably take the Glen Alpine Springs Trail next time, which I think will be next week before the snow comes. Map Credit: Stanford.)

(Lake Aloha, Photo Credit: Flickr Member Slang4201)

(Lake Jabu, Photo Credit: Flickr Member PaloJono)

Neither of these pictures can completely do the places justice, but you get the idea, yeah?

On the way back we the Echo Lakes trail, which is part of the PCT, and then took Tamarack trail, which is not marked on the maps, and follows a water flow down from Angora Ridge. It was tough and gorgeous.

I was tired at this point and was trailing with Jared, and we had about 20 minutes of improv play after climbing through a vortex tree, which turned us into wild mountain creatures discovering our world for the first time, and we found a stick and made it into several things before it's final incarnation as a laser gun.

Needless to say: I had fun. Jabu lake is cold and clear right down to the bottom. Aloha is gorgeous and quiet. I swam in Jabu, had some filtered Aloha water after wading in knee high, and did some trail running. My body hurts in the best way.

Carson City!

There's a lot more to this city that I'll have to share later, but I just got back from Carson City Nevada. A couple of my best girlfriends from Oakland checked in with me yesterday and picked some theme songs for my life, completely seperately.

First, Sarah's pick, when she heard I've not yet gotten the Tahoe job:



And then Amanda's Pick:

Tahoe Pt. 3

Spent:

6 on breakfast
5 on lunch (peanut butter sando and a hot cocoa.)
5 for a monthly bank fee
6 dollars on a bank fee I was not aware I was going to be charged.

Total in bank:
324.22

Total in pocket:
10

I appreciate the sounds of this place:

The look and color of the leaves of the Aspens
Lake waves at Kiva:

(Photo Credit: Jon Green)

Wind blowing between the moraines and peaks and brushing the needles of the pine trees

Update: I am in a friend's home looking to leave tomorrow for a few days. I miss Matty and Jared, but Becca is here, and I love her so much, and am so grateful for her and Tom for letting me stay a few nights with them. I've been to two open mic nights since I got to town, spent a day out at Kiva with the boys, spent a day watching movies with Becca. I heard yesterday that there was an opening at camp, so I gave Brian a call to let him know I was still very interested in working out there, then spent today waiting for a call back, looking for other jobs, applying to other jobs, though what I most want is camp.

I got a call from Cyndi and talked plans (on her side) and ideas (on my side). 

There are many more ideas, as change of location is bound to bring. Matty gave me his guide to short term job adventures to go through, and I'm finding a wealth of outdoor education jobs. It's making me so stoked to get out and apply for them. A lot of them require previous experience, so I'm trying to get on this path so I can go work these awesome jobs.

I have to say that I'm incredibly grateful for the wonderful men in my life that are based out here for the moment. Jon has been incredibly generous with food, and has stuck with me through movement, driving us around and offering really awesome conversation and encouragement, since we're both homeless right now. I feel protected and less lonely with him around, plus he's hustling sleeping spaces and has way more connections out this way then I do. Matty has been generous with the mobile space he owns, and I'm glad David and Jared are out here because they make me laugh a lot.

Then there's this, which was a Becca gift tonight:

Tahoe pt. 2

Fireworks! Wedding crashing! Free Dinner! Beastie Boys! Scene Scoping!

We'll start with it being a lovely Tahoe day. We hit up Fallen Leaf Lake, did some swimming, ate some food, drank some mango champagne. Then we headed home, then headed out to the casinos. Here is where I have to admit to missing some Texans, and being reminded of my trip to Las Vegas last year. We started in the parking lot of Horizon, where the fireworks were shooting over the trees, and someone had their stereo blasting the music that the fireworks were choreographed to. From there, Matty went off to play some poker, and Jon and I headed up to the top of the parking garage at Harrah's, where we saw a band playing in the distance. By the time we reached the right side of the garage, they were playing "Don't Stop Believing". You who know me, know I was stoked. So, we got in the elevator to head up to the top floor and were told by the security guard pressing the buttons, that it it was an "invitation only" event. So we took the stairs, snuck past security, grabbed a cupcake and a plate of food, and headed back down to the casino floor.

It made Jon nervous.

From there, I caused some minor Karaoke style Ruckus in Harvey's (I think. Maybe that was Harrah's. They are right across the street from each other, I can't remember which is which.) And then some dance ruckus at the pizza place in the Casino Matty was playing poker in, and then we waited too long for pizza and I got tired and we headed home. Now I'm going to bed because I plan on doing a little hiking in the morning out at Angora:




Photo Credit Lunkerhunter (What's a lunker?)

Tahoe!

I made it.

Money spent?

30- Rideshare (Amtrak takes 50$ one way from the East Bay. Greyhound doesn't stop in South Lake)
3.77- Belt, Pair of Shorts, Hat from the Attic, which is a local thrift store.

This money was spent out of some extra I had from selling my Bed and Dishes, so I'm not yet digging into my $355.

The ride up took 5 and a half hours. It was like driving up the mountains in a snow storm, only with less cars sliding around the road. My ride share girl was pretty rad, she'd worked in Vail for 6 years before moving to Tahoe and working here for a couple years. She lives in SF now, going to school and working full time. She seemed to know a ton of people up here which could be good for me. Mostly I'm exhausted though. Between having my plans change almost hourly, getting my stuff out of the house, whether it was being sold or given away or stored, choosing the stuff that I would keep vs the stuff to get rid of (Art, costumes, sticks and rocks got kept. Almost everything else? Gone.), interviews, job applications and budgeting, I've been pretty stressed out the last few weeks. My wit has gone up, my language skills have gone down, and my memory is reliably unreliable. I'm starting to catch up on sleep, but it's still going to be a while before I'm at 100%.

I cooked a skillet pizza last night for the boys.

I'm staying at a house in town populated by camp people, and sleeping in the RV with Matty and Jon.

(Abiyoyo. Photo: Jon Green)

The traffic is crazy in town right now. I'll be glad when the tourists go home and I can ride my bike around.

Jared is getting out to camp tomorrow sometime, and Ficke is heading out on Tuesday.

Right now my plan is to do a couple open mic nights in town and meet some musicians. I'm going to go to the EDD in town and talk to them about getting unemployment, (I applied and got turned down, I'm going to see about an appeal) and I'm going to go visit Heavenly. I am pretty sure this is not where I'm going to end up in the end, though I think I'm going to spend the winter up here. There's a migration to the central coast, but that isn't where I want to be, and one of my most favorite people is moving to Upstate New York, but I don't want east coast winters.

Before I left I got a package from my dear friend Cyndi, containing the clothes I left at her house in Utah, and three CD's. One was a Mason Jennings CD. This is the song I listened to on my way out of Oakland, and it's been stuck in my head:

I Am On a Journey

So I had a lot of ideas of what to make this last post in Oakland.

It started way back in July with this picture. This was up at July's art murmur. The photo credit goes to Jon Suzuki of The Missing Link, who takes excellent photos. The story behind it is this: This young man found this old book in his grandfather's attic. The book was published in 1925 and is called "Who Made Oakland", written by Florence B. Crocker, and published by Clyde Dalton, in Oakland, of course. When asked, the guy explained that he hadn't been able to find another copy of the book, so he was working on getting it reprinted, and in the mean time, had made prints of some of the images and pages, this being one of them. He said that he'd read through it and it was amazing how much of it was still relevant today. Me, I'm just glad he found it and is doing something with it.

As for me, it is up to me what my future will be, and that's exciting. Talking to a friend this evening, I mentioned that I applied for a job today at an outdoor school that I'd applied to several years ago, and got offered a job at, that I declined to take for several reasons. If I get offered it again, I will not turn it down, and that would be a little bit of a circle back to another life path.

Anyways, here's the deal. I've got 355 dollars to my name. I have a great resume, but no job. I have wonderful friends, but no home, as of tomorrow, I have a cell phone, but it's not smart. My ultimate goal is to get to the east coast any way that I can by Thanksgiving, to see my family, and then get back to the west as quickly as possible to have a job.

How does one do that on 355 dollars? The ultimate, of course, would be to have a job that will pay for this, but, in the mean time, with no job forthcoming, I'm going to turn this into an adventure, and in true Ashley style, a little bit of a community effort. Sitting around was never my style, after all. Though I have to admit it's been nice to take a breather.

So here's what I'm going to do. I'm going to document to you every adventure I have, and every penny I spend of my 355 in cash via my blog. I'm going to utilize friend connections, ride shares, my bike, and couchsurfing.com to travel. I'm going to be trying some pretty unconventional things along the way. I'm pretty sure this is going to be worth it. Let's see how far I can get, yeah? I'm starting on Friday.

I've applied to a lot of jobs. I'll continue to apply to jobs on the road. There's not much more I can do to make them happen, other than to keep my cell phone connected for as long as I can. I have a handful of quarters for doing laundry along the way, and I've packed a nice shirt.

I'm starting in the bay area, and I'm heading towards Tahoe. Do you know bands on tour I can hitch a ride with? Do you know couches I could sleep on? Do you know cooks I could eat with? Let me know!

Here is what I have to offer in exchange for any of these things (You can tell your friend this when you tell them what I'm doing and why I need their help):

I will sing a song
I will cook a meal
I will do your least favorite chore for you
I will do the driving
I will make something
I will walk the dog
I will organize something
I will be a roadie
I will take your picture or the picture of a loved one, to be printed and sent to you after I have a job. (I will take your picture anyways, for the blog, but this offering will be a special picture just for you.)
I will watch your kids for a day, so you can go on a date with your spouse, or take a nap.

I'm sure I will think of more as I go along, but this is what I have for now.

Much love to you Bay Area, and especially you, Oakland. It's been rocky and beautiful and hard and lovely. I will surely miss all of your faces.

Mind: Blown

Ok. So I love Lady Gaga. I think she's pretty damn brilliant. She has some talent that one. I've just had my mind blown by her twice in the last 6 hours. First by this:



Yeah. Country. Fuck Yeah Gaga.

Then by this:






Whoa. That's her by the way. In case you didn't know. The dude, the one on top of the piano getting wasted? Yeah. And still country. I'm feeling so confused and thrilled all at the same time. (BTW: She's totally hot as a guy.)

Harry Potter Sticks

So, yesterday I found a Harry Potter wand. I'll admit that it's a little long, but I'm pretty sure it could "stupify" an elephant. Of course I picked it up and carried it home, using it as a strut cane through the worst neighborhoods along 27th and San Pablo (in Oakland, you gotta look tough, and carry a big stick.) I was prepared to whoop some butt, if it got too close.

What I really wanted to do with this post is tell the story of my amazing day Wednesday, since yesterday was just ok, I mean, outside of finding a Harry Potter stick. (And yes, I went from an exciting day to a day where finding a stick was the highlight of my day)

Wednesday started off with a dog walk. I would just like to take this moment to say I hate dog leashes. Dogs like to sniff things, people like to get places with out stopping. Leashes do not equal fun for either party in this equation.

I had a job interview that went really well, and then had some amazing sushi in celebration, and from there, went to Berkeley to hang out with some people I hadn't hung out with in a while.

We went to Venus where one of them works, and by the way, Venus is lovely and the head chef Kevin is a super nice guy. They also make beautiful cocktails. Well, specifically, Lauren, who is one of the servers there and happens to be my friend, makes beautiful cocktails. On our walk back to the Ashby heaven that is James and Lauren's apartment, we were gently accosted by a small quiet asian girl, asking for donations for world peace. Yes. Give a dollar for world peace. None of us had any cash on us, so we politely declined. As we walked, she followed us, and ended up coming across one of the addicts that sells the addict newspaper for a dollar on the street. In a serendipitous moment, they happened to ask each other for a dollar at the same time. It was picture worthy, and is still making me giggle.

After the Tahoe crew drank lots of whiskey, and I took over the kitchen to make dinner, and many things were discussed on the porch, (including near dead languages, obscure middle eastern countries, and other things I don't necessarily remember) we retired to the dining room to play a Russian card game called Durok (and of course in Russian it's spelled differently), and it was fun, and complicated, and really hard, and did I mention fun? Because it was. Then somehow I ended up on an air mattress in the empty room of the neighbor's house to sleep. The next morning we took a breakfast walk, hustled me to my JFK session, and finally the finding of the Harry Potter stick before taking a shower and a nap.

So what's the point? The law of attraction, if you must know. Because for a minute there, it felt like I was just manifesting all the things I wanted in life, coziness, food, Tahoe friends, ice cream. All I had to do was mention it and like magic it was there. I wasted at least one of my manifests on ice cream. So what happened yesterday? Yesterday I did not get hired. Though really in the grand scheme of things, maybe manifesting ice cream is not the same as manifesting a job offer.

Not that this is all that different from the rest of my days this summer. I've spent an entire summer not getting hired! Only this time, my references got called, and said they gave me good reviews, but still, I did not get hired.

Law of attraction says I want something more than these jobs. Or, perhaps that something wants me more than these jobs do. Logic (at least mine) follows that this must be mutual. If that's the case than the mutual pull is warping the universe and keeping me really poor. And I wish I knew what that something was. Suspense and me don't get along very well. Dear something! Reveal yourself to me!

(Here is where I was going to insert a hand drawn picture by me, of the universe warping, but it turned out very poor and nothing like what I had envisioned. Instead I give you this:)

(image was found on Quest.)


I think the G on the left is the mystery something, and the g on the right is me? That's how I'm choosing to interpret this. Regardless, I'm no closer today than I was yesterday to figuring out what that "something" is. I see my role in this whole law of attraction thing as the choice maker. I choose where to apply, each being something I would like to do or am qualified to do, in places I would like to live. The universe decides which one of these places is right for me. In the mean time, all my money exists somewhere between the up vector and the down vector. Or something. Either way it's not in my pocket. Or my wallet. Or my bank account.

Love Letter to the World

I wish I knew where this came from, because I like it.

My Recipe for Happy

Spend time at the ocean, so you remember that you are small and wild
Spend time in the mountains, so that you remember that you are strong, and that life is short.
Spend time with people who truly love you, they will help you heal.
Avoid people who judge you.
Spend time with people who annoy you, you will learn patience and remember how to laugh
Create things, even if the seams are uneven, the paint is gloopy, and your instrument is not in tune.
Cook for yourself and others.
Hug people tight. A limp hug is as bad as a limp handshake.
Tell people what helps.
Cry, when you need to, but don't let it drown you.
Laugh when you feel like it, and laugh loud and hard.
Look people in the eyes, even if it is scary.
Tell people you love them, tell them you'll miss them when they are leaving.
Write love letters.
Indulge in quiet moments.
Indulge in loud moments.
Dance and sing, a lot.
Sleep outside.
Exercise.
Make time to read books.
Hang a hammock, and use it.


What is your recipe for happy?

No Plans, Only Ideas

Hold your body strong against these winds of life.




I had a rough morning. So the news is this: Tahoe called me back and said "Not this season...I don't think." The catch is that if someone drops out or doesn't come, or they need an extra hand around the place, there might be space for me. Fingers crossed, but conflict rages in my bones from not wanting my friend to have to stress about someone not showing up, and having my home back. Mostly, in truth, I want to go home. Neither of my parents think I should be here. I don't want to say goodbye, but I know I need to if I'm going to survive.

In the mean time I'm looking outward with my sights on other places. Point Reyes, Big Sur are both in my sights, a spot in Texas is on my radar, and two outdoor schools in Big Bear and Santa Barbara have programs I'm interested in, respectively. I've also put my name on the crew list for the Baja Ha Ha to get down to Mexico and stay mid peninsula January through March... There's piles of paper work to be filled and a severe lack of funds to make this happen, but I could call upon some magic.

Food, I Miss You.

So I'm not usually a double poster, or at least I haven't been so far, but seeing as how my mouth hurts so bad that I've had nothing but ice cream, yogurt, and water the last two days, (after a painful attempt to chew some bread last night) I'm feeling pretty inspired by food. My stomach rumbles agreement.

First, a salad brought to my attention via faceybook: Spinach, walnuts, goat cheese, blue berries, honey, olive oil, and salt. Holy moly. Spinach, walnuts, goat cheese and strawberries, dressed with a little olive oil and balsamic vinegar, and a crank or two of pepper is one of my personal favorite salads, so I'm eager to try this version with blue berries, and dressed with honey (one of my most favorite things in life is a good honey). My mouth is watering thinking about it, and it's not because of the hole in my gums from my removed tooth. (photo from Emily's Kitchen, where you can also find a recipe for this salad.)




Second, a cast iron skillet pizza. I've often wondered if this would work, and it turns out, Chicago style pizzas are made in cast iron pans. We have a pizzeria here in the Bay Area by the name of Zachary's (worker owned) which makes the most delicious and filling Chicago Style pizzas ever created on land. As their website says, over 150 awards have been given to them for their pizza. It's that good. Loads of Mozza and other toppings, topped with a tasty tomato sauce and a sprinkle of basil, really, it's heaven, if a little on the expensive side. But it's so worth it. (photo from Biggestmenu.com)

So, I've decided to have a dinner night for a couple of friends when my tooth is better, making a cast iron skillet pizza and this spinach salad. Who wants to be the lucky friends? (Sorry Vegans, I'm going for full on real cheese for this one.)

On Being a Loud Creature

Someone told me a while back that when I sing loudly in social situations it bothers other people. This was not a nice thing to say, especially since I had revealed to this person that I'd been having panic attacks this year, and he knew I'd been having trouble working with music this year. I ended up deciding that generally, I don't think it's true and that I trust people to tell me to shut up if I'm making them unhappy with my music.

The other thing is that I've decided to own my loudness. It's a part of who I am, and something that came as a direct result of that loudness is Bike Party, and that is far more powerful than one person telling me I'm annoying for being too loud. I'm wicked proud of Bike Party, it has it's faults, but the east bay has not seen anything it's equal and it's changing this town. Critical Mass in Berkeley only ever reached a couple hundred people, and we had over 500 riders the last few months. It's something special and I am not sure it would have the same vibe if I wasn't obnoxiously outgoing and loud about it.

Now, this part of the blog has nothing to do really about being loud, but I want to post it anyways. About two months ago I had listened to some music by an artist by the name of Ben Howard, a surfer from the UK gone to music, along the lines of Jack Johnson, but with that perpetual UK foggy feel to his work. I didn't give it much thought, I think I liked it but didn't really explore it much more than listening to the one song. Today there's a video going around of Danny Macaskill riding around an abandoned industrial complex:



He uses Ben Howard's song, The Wolves, which is just lovely. So I wandered around YouTube watching the best of his videos, and needless to say, I'm kind of in love. Here, you listen. It's reminding me of Big Sur.

The Laughing Heart

By Charles Bukowski


your life is your life
don’t let it be clubbed into dank submission.
be on the watch.
there are ways out.
there is a light somewhere.
it may not be much light but
it beats the darkness.
be on the watch.
the gods will offer you chances.
know them.
take them.
you can’t beat death but
you can beat death in life, sometimes.
and the more often you learn to do it,
the more light there will be.
your life is your life.
know it while you have it.
you are marvelous
the gods wait to delight
in you.

Tom Waits reading it:

Spiders Guarding Buffalo (Utah)