My Mom talking about my Grandpa.

Someday, when I get where I'm going, we're gonna have a good little reunion.

"When he was younger, he was always making or mending or trying to fix things around the house. He loved to drive down town and as he put it "park and watch the funny people go by". If he was running errands he would sit in the car for ten minutes just watching the people on Main Street before he got out of the car.

Always with Pithy things to say, m like, "That lady should have washedthat bad taste out of her mouth before she came to town" or one of my favorites when he saw a really fat guy " He gonna be a big boy when he grows up.

Or sitting at a stop sign. "Just because I stopped here, they shouldn't have called the whole town to pass in review""

Heading to California tomorrow with my sisters, Lois and Lynn (I'm trying to get used to calling her Lynn because thats what all her friends call her, but to me I think she will always be Lyndee) I'm so happy about this trip. Can't wait to be by the ocean and in California again. We're going to see Wicked while we're there and I'm excited about that. I think Lyndee is going to be one of those girls who gets obsessed with this show, she'll love it so much. And Lois, my wise and always cool older sister, will appreciate it I'm sure.

After Wicked, my plan is to go work for Rand Paul's senate campaign in Kentucky. I may be picking up a few fellow campaign volunteers on my way across the country. Hopefully thats the case, as it would be a good opportunity to meet some cool new people as well as split the difference on gas money.

Speaking of gas, I don't think I've ever mentioned my sweet new car. Its a Blue Chevy Cavalier that runs on both compressed natural gas and conventional gasoline. That means driving is extra cheap around Utah (93 cents per gallon) and in many other places. Robbie and I recently went all the way across Wyoming and down to Colorado on about a buck per gallon.

I love this new car. It was a big decision for me, as I had to finance it through a loan, and I hate being tied down to obligations like that, financial or otherwise. But I guess some obligations are necessary and helpful in life. In this case, I feel so much freer with a car, even if I have to make a monthly payment. No more being tied down to bus schedules (it was taking me about an hour each way to get to and from work - a little over 3 miles away...which was fine to longboard or even walk to until it started snowing..) Now my schedule is freed up and I have the means to leave the state, or even the country if I wish out of my own volition. What a nice feeling.

The car has about 21,000 miles on it now. It started with 16,000 in December. I also had a new sound system and speakers installed inside as the first radio head unit was very limited in function and quality, and my back speakers (the factory installed set) were torn and made a horrible noise. The day I had all that installed, and every day after since, I've felt like there are no other material things I really want in life. I mean, I can always think of things that would be nice, but I also think I could be happy the rest of my life with a roof over my head, a bed, access to learning...and my 2003 Chevy Cavalier with a working radio and ipod hookup. What a feeling to be driving and listening to music.

After the Rand Paul campaign, I conjecture that the future will branch out into three optional paths. Even then, I think two of the paths will curve around and eventually meet the first. The first path is the military. The second path leads to more politics and campaigning as an actual paid job until the end of the 2010 campaign season in November, and the third takes a detour to South America or some other place for a while until I feel like my life is so void of structure that I simply have to get into the military or I find something else to do or die trying.

I love life today. Love my family, love how perf

Have you ever seen Doogie Howser? Josh got me started watching it recently. I love this show. Its so wholesome and has such great messages and characters. And it reminds me of the fun, cool, fascinating, embarrassing, and innocent parts of being in middle and high school. I'm on episode 12 of 97 so far and I intend to watch all of them.

Also, watch Undercover Boss. The 7-Eleven episode with Igor. I love that guy.

A shout out to Jessica. Glad you came to visit Robbie and I and glad you watched year of the dog and then ate a bunch of meat at taco bell with us afterwards in a show of solidarity against obsessed animal lovers. And glad we got to go to the Bombay House too, because that place is so damn good. As is The Chocolate. Man, that was so much amazing food. And glad you are just you, striving to do whats right with a good heart.

As a final note, this last weekend I dressed up (with help from the Hale Center Theater costume department) as the Mad Hatter and went to the premiere of Alice in Wonderland with just a few of the best people I know. My costume was incredible, I played up the character, put on an accent, did the lazy/queer Jonny Depp walk, and won the costume contest. And my friends sure do know how to make me feel like a big deal. Thanks, friends.

Can't sleep.

Josh left. He's in China now. Makes me a little sad. Why can't I just be happy about it? Don't know.

And just feeling more and more tied down to here and this place and this job and these dollars. AGAIN.

Almost all ready to join the army, but having second thoughts. Took the ASVAB and DLAB and got very good scores. They'll pay me to learn whatever language I want - not just Arabic - which is nice. Strangely I'm sort of excited about boot camp. Sounds like a fun challenge. But apprehensive about being tied down to the establishment for the rest of the 4 to 6 years... No extensive traveling...No study abroad...no spur of the moment do whatever I feel, move where I want to be kind of things. I know it sounds like not much to some people, but for me thats everything. I especially want to be free to be where Josh is when he's done with China. Or hell, maybe even move to China. I've seen plenty of the States, and after just one email from Josh which I've read about 4 times over, China is sounding pretty good.

An education and structure and a paycheck are important, I know. But I just can't bring myself to care about them.

Jonny and Lisa came to see me at work today. That was nice. I love the Peay's. I wish I had time to tutor Jonny still instead of wait tables. That kid makes me really happy.

Maybe its time to put some miles on my car? Gotta sleep on it.

Felt like writing something tonight.

I'm back in Utah, finally.

I've probably left out more of what has happened in my life this past year than I ever have since starting this blog. Just too much personal stuff and too many people who know who I am that read this blog. It doesn't quite feel like my own little corner of the internet anymore. Maybe another blog is in order...or just a journal.

Suffice it to say, this summer had some of the worst and best moments of my life in it...times when I wanted disappear completely, but also times when the world felt like my playground again. Someday, perhaps I'll write more about things that happened, but right now isn't the time.

Being back has been a lot of crazy and a lot of wonderful. A few of the highlights:

1. Snow Patrol concert with Robbie and Meg. Such cool music and videos. I want to go to Belfast, Ireland. And who knew you could create the entire universe out of Origami?
2. Hitchiking failure with Robbie and Evan that turned into a documentary success. This is why these guys are two of my best pals. Video on facebook forthcoming.
3. A date with Dawn up the Canyon. It actually turned out to be a date almost to Vernal, because I took a wrong turn and didn't notice for about 90 miles. We drove over 200 miles in all, but I think we were both where we wanted to be. Dawn is the best. And dinner and gelatto in Heber was pretty nice too.
4. Climbed upon my sister's roof to think and scope out the view. Also climbed on Robbie's roof.
5. Mom accused me of doing drugs (one of the few things I actually HAVEN'T ever done aside from inhaling pot smoke hitchiking back from Ohio)
6. Lots of "serious" talks with a whole bunch of different people.
6. Got to see Josh in TWO plays. And even got INTO a play with Josh - A Christmas Carol at the Orem Hale. I'm Fred. Don't know crap about acting and only very little about singing, but if it means getting to do something with Josh, I'll just have to do my damnedest :)
7. Two interviews for jobs down here. One at the In-N-Out opening in Orem, (I used to work at In-N-Out Burger in high school, and as lame as it may sound to work at a burger place, In-N-Out is one of the finest companies I've ever worked for. They pay well and treat you right and its fun) and another at Telos, a residential treatment facility for teenagers which would be a great job for someone who hopes to be a teacher. With any luck I'll get at least one of those.
8. Constantly working on a top secret project. I can't tell you about that.
9. Went to Park City with Robbie and Andy and Caitie and Laura. Beautiful canyon views, learned about "shabby chic" and how that should be my style. Also, Caitie and Laura are two of the funniest and most genuinely good people on the planet. I wish more humans were like them.

All in all, I'm trying to make the best out of life. And usually that works.

A Skagway Farewell to the last cruise ship of the season

This whole night was so much fun:



Couldn't miss out on the opportunity to do this:





Incidentally, the last cruise ship of the season was bought out by Olivia Cruises (read a horde of lesbians) and they were LOVING it. They all started singing "Nah nah nah nah, hey hey hey, goodbye!" and even chanting "Skagway! SKagway!". Happy times. :)

Throwing Rocks into Mead Glacier

The night I first rode a motorcycle.

My buddy Canyon came to visit me in Skagway on his way back from riding his motorcycle to the Arctic Ocean. He started in Utah, so thats a lot of riding a motorcycle and I'm thoroughly impressed. I want to pull a Motorcycle Diaries with this kid someday. Learn more about Canyon here.

Riding out to Dyea. Beautiful and awesome.

The next day, I somehow got Canyon to let me ride his bike for the first time in downtown Skagway.



After this one, I tipped the bike after trying to turn a corner too fast. I didn't really have "stopping" down yet. We later learned that I bent the rim on Canyon's bike which caused a slow air leak in the tire. Oops. I felt pretty bad, but fortunately Canyon was very very cool about it all and his first priority (after making sure I was okay) was making sure I got back on the bike to conquer any doubts I might have about my ability to ride. And thats a testament to what a stud Canyon is. And no worries, he got the rim fixed and made it back to Utah in one piece (if you haven't checked out his blog already.)

Busted a hole in my jeans, as well as in my shoe and lost a shoelace.

But I still want to own a motorcycle...