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.
Monday, November 14, 2011
Wednesday, October 5, 2011
Shake Yo BluegrASS
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| Epic Bike Parking |
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| Epic Beard |
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| Favorite T-shirt |
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| Air Guitar, with a real guitar... |
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| Ginger babies playing bluegrass on stage for thousands of people |
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| Rocking it. |
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| Gillian Welch, David Rawlings. Favorites. |
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| Festival picture! |
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| So much good in this picture. |
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| I believe this man's face sums up the entire Hardly Strictly experience. |
Monday, October 3, 2011
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.
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.
Tuesday, September 27, 2011
Twain Harte
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| Gates to the wilderness, somewhere between the foothills and Twain Harte |
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| Home for sale or rent! The lovely mountain home of the Williams family. Pond included. |
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| English Geese, owning the pond |
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| Elzy's Eagle, looking out over the pond from the deck |
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| Mallards mate for life Jon. |
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| Basement bikes in the woods |
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Can you name this plant? It was basically growing wild as a ground cover, smelled sweet and was sticky. |
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| Big sky. |
Monday, September 26, 2011
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?
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?
Sunday, September 18, 2011
Tuesday, September 13, 2011
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:
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.
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| (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)
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.
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