Trouble indeed

When I left Chicago, Katie's present to me was Ray Lamontagne's album "Trouble." She told me how he's got the most amazing and sexy voice, but I'd never heard of him before. Oh man, was she ever right! He immediately became one of my top five favorite artists ever. So imagine my pleasant surprise when I decided to look up his picture today...



*dreamy sigh* ;)

While the California redwoods may not exactly be the backcountry...

The more civilized man becomes, the more he needs and craves a great background of forest wildness, to which he may return like a contrite prodigal from the husks of an artificial life.
Ellen Burns Sherman

Waiting for Jason's photos, but here are some of mine:

Elk... and lots of laughing :)

Walking to the ocean




A little smelly and still very wet from the eleven mile hike the day before!

It was really a great trip. It rained almost nonstop and we nearly hit an elk, but it was beautiful, fun, and relaxing. We had a few hours to clean up and snooze in Seattle before heading to our respective flights...

I spent less than twenty-four hours in Chicago before heading to Indiana, but I got to see a surprising amount of people. It was what I'd been hoping for- I only wish I'd had more time to see more people (ahem, Katie). Walking into the old apartment, I felt like a weight was lifted off my shoulders. A surprising amount of my stuff is still there, so I had this feeling that I've only been on a long trip and was coming back home. Nabeel and Jill are the best roommates you could ever hope to have, and it was so great to sit on the couch catching up and then later individually. I slept so peacefully that night.

Home in Indiana was also perfect. It had been nearly ten months since I'd seen any immediate family or been home. Families are never without drama on some scale, but this visit was still good. Rudy the Rocket Dog is full grown and a funny creature; he and Chuck provide endless entertainment. Thanksgiving dinner was especially good. Mmm, food. With any luck I'll make it back for Nicholas's graduation...

Breaking news from Oakland

Bubb Rubb tells it like it is...

Decision time. Or not.

Ok, so Jason gets in tomorrow morning and then we tootle on down the highway to California. We've narrowed it down to two choices: the Jedediah Smith Redwoods State Park with excursions to the Smith River NRA (trout and salmon fishing!!) and Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park (with optional beach camping). We can have fires at both places and we're planning on rain for most of the weekend. We decided this afternoon that we'll put off the decision until closer to camp time. They're both on 199 anyway. What do you get when you send two thinkers on a no-think weekend? We'll find out.

Why am I telling you this? So that if we miss our flights on Monday morning to our respective states, you'll know where to look. Between us we have new sleeping bags, a trout rod, and an assortment of gear- we may not be back for quite a while!

I'd post some pictures from the trip Jess and I took in the aforementioned places, but I've been having trouble getting the pictures to post on Blogger. Then again, maybe it's just my computer acting up again.

Hooray! We're off!

The computer hasn't exploded yet, though funny whining sounds are coming from it

If I was the type of person who would be embarassed by the contents of my refrigerator, I wouldn't post any pictures. Thankfully, for your amusement, I'm not and I will.




Running low on batteries and bread, but I'm good on butter and Ensure. I've been told my fridge puts a bachelor's to shame. Mom, I hope you're not reading this.

A serious post for once

I'm excusing myself for not blogging the past few weeks. The computer is still down and this old relic is just limping along. I get my email (sometimes) and then turn it off (or just unplug it if it's feeling stubborn) and run away hoping it won't explode. Yeah, I have that effect on computers.

There's not been too much exciting going on anyway. The night shift is really, really starting to get to me. I didn't realize that when I posted I was feeling sad on Facebook that I'd get so many questions and responses! So there you have it- staying up all night and rarely getting outside = one sad Wendy. I haven't been sleeping well, if at all, and I'm just worn out. All I think about is sleeping and eating because I'm not getting enough of either!

Moving along, in an effort to get myself out of this slump, I hiked up Little Mount Si today with Rachel (who can make you laugh at your own mom's funeral). Despite the snow on the passes (and Whistler got 14 inches), it wasn't so much cold as it was windy- both from me sucking it and the impressive gusts that nearly blew us off the top! The pine trees swaying below looked like they were dancing at a ball. I'd totally dance with them with my mad DDR skillz. Whenever I get someplace like that, I'm overcome with this thought. It's hard to describe, but something about the fact that when we get back and go about our normal lives, those trees will still be dancing and the wind will still be howling. I find it sort of reassuring.

Speaking of trees, Jason answered my pathetic call/text to arms the other night. I need to fight this awful night beast, so off we go to the California redwoods! It's the only logical thing to do, you know? We'll be gone for a few days with the express purpose of admiring the trees, making up constellations, and eating lots of food (and many, many s'mores). You might still be asking, "No really, why the redwoods?" I'll leave you with these thoughts from John Steinbeck:

The redwoods, once seen, leave a mark or create a vision that stays with you always. No one has ever sucessfully painted or photographed a redwood tree. The feeling they produce is not transferable. From them comes silence and awe. It's not only their unbelievable stature, nor the color which seems to shift and vary under your eyes, no they are not like any trees we know, they are ambassadors from another time. They have the mystery of ferns that disappeared a million years ago into the coal of the carboniferous era. They carry their own light and shade. The vainest, most slap-happy and irreverent of men, in the presence of redwoods, goes under a spell of wonder and respect. Respect- that's the word. One feels the need to bow to unquestioned sovereigns. I have known these great ones since my earliest childhood, have lived mong them, camped and slept against their warm monster bodies, and no amount of association has bred contempt in me.

So I guess that's why. I need sleep, food, friendship, fresh air and awe. And then I'm flying into Chicago for more friends along the way home for Thanksgiving :)

Wow!

Terry Fader won America's Got Talent... as well he should have! Who knew ventriloquism could be so cool?

Shortly thereafter...

...a door dropped open and a little green man landed on my counter.

Rain or shine, I have rainbows in my apartment. Cool!

My computer won't even boot up. Not so cool. Things will be slow in coming until I get it up and running again. Obviously.

Wandering in thought

Sorry for the last post. I know it was kind of gross, but still true, no?

So I did two sixteen hour shifts in four days. Understandably I slept for eleven straight hours when I got home yesterday... and only because my alarm woke me up at 8:15pm. I think I remember rolling over once. After visiting my grandma and her new kitten (a two pound black kitten named Peanut), I went to a close friend's house to eat Chiangs (hooray!) and watch Firefly (double hooray!!). Sadly I fell asleep for several more hours. Good Lord, I'm turning into a sloth! Shortly moss will start growing on my body.

On my way home at three this morning, I saw the nearly full moon over the Olympics. The weather has been clear the past day and half, so the moon lit up that part of the sky. It was so pretty and I drove really slowly to try and take it in. I would have gone for a walk around Greenlake if anybody was awake to go with me. Then I remembered the pack I'd been lusting after for months is in the back of my car and got this incredible urge to take off into the Cascades. My dad told a story about stashing Spam and some other food in a hollow tree there once. We all know Spam will survive the nuclear holocaust, so I figured I'd go try to find it.

As John Steinbeck said, "In Spanish there is a word for which I can't find a counterword in English. It is the verb vacilar, present participle vacilando. It does not mean vacillating at all. If one is vacilando, he is going somewhere but doesn't greatly care whether or not he gets there, although he has direction. My friend Jack Wagner has often, in Mexico, assumed this state of being. Let us say we wanted to walk in the streets of Mexico City but not at random. We would choose some article almost certain not to exist there and then diligently try to find it."

Exactly. I've met some of my best friends this way and lived some pretty fun stories. Now, where is that Spam?

After the first twelve hours, it's all a blur...

I'm not sure I trust myself to say anything coherent after sixteen hours (even with the last seven hours of coma-sleep). I do have a question, though. Since when did "chemical peel" and "microderm abrasion" not send up red flags to consumers- especially in regards to their faces?

Let's peruse Google images, shall we? Exhibit one: chemical



Exhibit two: peel



Exhibit three: microderm (this one is fine)



Exhibit four: abrasion

Just kidding. Too gross. Skin *shudder*

I'm just sayin'...