Yeah, I know I already posted once today...

...but guess what? I don't care; I got more to say! I know haters out there will be like, 'but dude, there's the edit post option!" Yeah, whatcha tryin' to say? That I should edit my posts? You sayin' my posts be flawed? You sayin' I make mistakes?

*calms down*

Seriously, a friend asked me about the average day and if I was happy, and when I was finished I thought I ought to share my musings with everyone else. Plus, it's pretty well written, if I do say so myself. So here 'tis...

As for the average day, this past trip was fairly consistent: Wake up at 6am, gather at 7am, hike along the trail until reaching a previously marked spot or a crew leader assigns me a task (like widen it with a pick/shovel, or dig a drainage pan for the water to leave the trail, or something similar). Then just keep going until about 5pm or so, with breaks around 10am, lunchtime, and 3pm. Then there's enough time to hike back to camp, eat dinner, and if the weather permits, have a fire as the light fades before crawling into the tent.

Of course, that summary leaves out all the wonderful vistas and wildlife sightings, not to mention the thrill of working outside doing manual labor. Am I happy? You bet your boots I'm happy. The biggest downer, among the wheezes of uphill climbing, aching muscles, muddy clothes and rainy nights, is that all this will come to an end in four short months. Now, that's not to say I didn't have the best shower/shave of my life (so far, anyway) after eight days of dirt and sweat. What I'm saying is that it's been less than five days since I arrived in civilization, and I can't wait to get back out there.

So there you have it. Two posts in one day. Savor the flavor, 'cause I'm departing the internet for nearly two weeks. Man, I'm feeling cocky today...

Brief update from Bozeman

Kinda hard to believe I've already spent a month here, but that's thanks to a busy schedule: general training and crew assignments for the first week, then training with chainsaws in Yellowstone, then working on a youth camp outside Bozeman followed by helping build a playground in town, then eight days south of the Tetons with trail work, and that brings us to the present! One thing's for sure, I'll have to be diligent with my time off; it's too easy just to sit around like I have the last few days waiting for the next hitch instead of enjoying the sights/sounds/opportunities I have all around me.

A nugget of news! I just learned that we can have guests with us while we're on a hitch, so long as we give at least a couple weeks' notice. Hopefully I can get more information in July about when and where we'll be the rest of the summer, but just in case you're jonesin' for working outside with me and my crew, we can make it happen! Let me know if you're interested, and maybe we'll throw something together.

New topic... my crew is pretty much the best. I can be nerdy, goofy, and punny without fear of death threats; in fact, it's encouraged out here! Plus I've been mandated by one of my crew leaders to learn Disney songs so I can perform them while we're out in the wilderness without access to CD players and iPods. What a relief! Instead of feeling like I have to shut up, I'm told to sing more!

Yes, life is good here. Fondest wishes to you all!

Thoughts from Bozeman...

Just a few things while I'm sitting here putting up pictures...

First, the South may have a reputation of being friendly, but here in Bozeman, the motorists are extremely courteous. I've already lost track of the number of times a driver has waved me across an intersection even though I'm a pedestrian and have a stop sign, no less!

The sun stays up soooo late here! It's now 9:30pm and just now getting dusky dark. Kinda crazy.

In the last week, I've visited caves and hot springs, watched the old Star Wars Trilogy, used chainsaws, circular saws, hammers, levels, shovels, wheelbarrows, pulaskis, buckets, axes, built fires and benches, climbed a fir tree about 50 feet tall, and danced a cachucha in my room. Just normal week.

Well, the pictures didn't work out... booooo. Guess I'll have to come back to the cafe this weekend, because Monday I'll be heading out for a ten-day hitch. Hope you're all doing well!

Internet addiction is hard to break

Hi, boys and girls! There's nothing like being on the internet! I thought I'd have access at my apartment, but there was a miscommunication between my roommate and his chosen internet provider, and then things got busy, and now I'm at a coffeeshop trying to post a bajillion things while talking to people and clearing out my inbox and acting on various causes and learning what's happening in the world and now I can't post the 100 photos I've already selected and written captions for and jiminy christmas I still have to buy groceries and do some prep work for tomorrow's meeting along with plan out what I want to do while I'm here and take care of some loose ends back in Winston-Salem and stay in touch with my friends and... and...

*collapse*

*deep breath*

*reboot*

I'm really enjoying my time out here - and I'm not being sarcastic; this trip has been great so far. Here are a couple of things I've written offline; first, from Monday, May 25:

Greetings from Bozeman!

After the usual frenzied packing on Saturday, I boarded a flight to Denver Sunday morning, enjoyed a leisurely four-hour layover in the Mile-High City, then endured a two-hour delay waiting for my flight to Bozeman. On the plus side, I ate my first meal from Panda Express – rather tasty – and discovered the fabulous photographs of Tom Mengelsen. His images of wildlife and landscapes stopped me in my tracks, and I couldn’t leave the store until I had seen every last one.

My room is a glorious mess without any furniture, and I can’t really justify getting anything for it since I’ll have to sell it in six months. Nothing like looking at a room and saying, “Wow, what this place needs is…” and then realizing that in six months that place will need emptying. L Oh well. I’ll only be living in the apartment for two of the six months, in one sense. In case I hadn’t told you earlier, I’ll be out working in the wilderness for 8-10 days at a time, followed by 3-5 days off in Bozeman, so I’ll be spending about one day off for every two days on. Oh, and my new roommate and I seem to get along all right, which is a relief. I’m definitely looking forward to making new friends and getting familiar with this town.

Well, that’s about it for now. Tomorrow morning I head out for training and orientation, getting back sometime Thursday and finding out who are the other four members of my mini-crew along with my crew leaders and our general location/focus for our time here. After that, it’s off to the races! I’ll be sure to keep this thing updated as best I can, along with pictures on facebook.

Until next time, valete!

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And now, from last weekend:

The training this week was great, featuring CPR and first aid, plus making some new friends. I found out who my crewmates are and what my schedule will be like yesterday, and I think it should be a great five months. We'll kick things off Monday when we head out to Yellowstone for some chainsaw training- yeah, that's right, I'm learning chainsaw skills from the fire crew at THE National Park. What up. Bring it.

Once I upgrade from n00b to bamf on the saw, I'll be traveling all over Montana hacking away at invasive species and clearing trails, pulling weeds and dodging bears with two extra trips into Yellowstone to help protect the historic buildings from wildfires and collect seeds. It's nice to know I'll be in bear country pretty much the whole time – one week I’ll even be hanging with the grizzlies. This trip is gonna be awesome.

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So, there you have it. Chainsaw training went well - we even saw a long bison 200 yards from where we were working - and I successfully used my new tent on the first try! And that was with rain, which mixed with snow early Tuesday morning! Work starts for real on Monday morning, when we'll head out to a youth camp for five days to clean it up for the summer kids.

Perhaps tomorrow I'll have better luck with the pictures... sigh.

If I walked to Montana...

Just a little fun fact I found: To walk from my apartment to the Montana Conservation Corps office in Bozeman, Google Maps suggests a route of 2,040 miles consisting of 562 turns, and it recommends a travel time of 27 days, 18 hours (dunno if that allows for sleeping). This route goes right by Chicago Mercy Hospital and Lake Michigan... and right through the South Side. *gulp* Too bad you can't click a button that says, "I'm a skinny pasty guy carrying all my possessions on my back."

As a side note, I've been hiking/weightlifting/running for the last week, and I'm already more fit than I've been in three years. I should go to Montana more often.

Big change... *gulp*

I'M GOING TO MONTANA WITH AMERICORPS FOR FIVE MONTHS!!! I START THREE WEEKS FROM TODAY!!!

Holy crap. After weeks of puttering away at my application, I finally had a phone interview with and was later hired by Montana Conservation Corps to do conservation work, help with research, restore natural habitats, and other awesome stuff. I'll be based in Bozeman, about an hour north of Yellowstone. From there, I'll head out with a small crew for about 10 days at a time, camp in the wilderness while working, then return to the metropolis of 30K people for four days to recharge. Repeat for five months.

Awesome. Now I have a reason to lift weights before going, because I'll be lugging around 50 pounds or more of equipment/supplies a good chunk of the time. Regardless of weather. O_o Speaking of which, I'll be hitting up the local parks these next couple of weeks (starting tomorrow morning) to build up my endurance.

I'm so psyched, exclamation points fail to convey my excitement.

Not only do I love the chance to do something new (hey, that's the name of this blog), but I have a glimmer of hope, something I lacked just three short months ago. Instead of banging my head against the brick walls of Wake, I can hurl my body into the elements for the sake of nature. Whee!!! Plus, I'd like to parlay this experience into a job/career of service, which would thrill me to no end.

Then there are the photo opportunities I'm hoping to find, though I don't know how much I'll be able to post while there.

So there you have it. I'll be running around with my hair on fire for the next three weeks, but honestly, I can't wait to get started. This chance, this change comes not a moment too soon. What stinks is that I'll have to leave all the friends I've made this semester and socially start from scratch. I guess I'll have to try keeping in touch as best I can. And yet, my gut tells me I can't stay around Wake much more, using it as a source of company. I just realized that a two whole classes of Latin majors have declared and graduated in the period since my last Latin class in the fall of 2005. Kinda crazy. All that to say, I need to stop clinging to Wake and make a new life for myself.

Here goes...

Unrelated events

I'm feeling low-key and reflective - well, more than usual, anyway - so here's a smattering of what's going on in my life.

On Sunday night/Monday morning we had a good bit of snow in Winston, which was fun to watch but not fun to drive in. I've driven in snow before, but somehow I managed to spin out on a highway ramp and do some significant damage to the rear driver's side. So now I have to deal with the crap of fixing it and all the joys that accompany responsibility: Find a place to get it fixed, the estimation, the rental car.... ugh.

Yesterday I was out taking care of the aforementioned crap when I saw a graveyard and went in on a whim. It was wonderful and peaceful: walking along in the midst of memories I'll never know. All the stories that lie in the dash between "Born on" and "Died on" - it's overwhelming and absorbing. Many stories are straightforward: So-and-so fought in Korea, married, had a child, died. This woman lived for 20 years after her husband died; that man survived a war but died soon after; and on the stories go. Sifting through Death's collection, though, it doesn't take long to find a story that prompts a question or reflection. There's the mother buried beside her then-six-year-old daughter who died in the same year... probably a car crash claimed both. There's the man who likely bought his thirtysomething younger brother a plot next to his own; the 22-year-old with an image of a VW bug on his gravestone; the woman with ceramic cats on hers.

Of course, it's hard to visit a graveyard without thinking of your own mortality. While most of the dead spent at least 60 years above the ground, others had their time cut short at 44, 37, 24, even 18. I've lived longer than the last two listed, and every breath seems to remind me that the next one isn't guaranteed. I recently told my counselor that not too long ago I saw death as a possible escape from life; now it scares me more than anything. I can't bear the thought of ending my story right now; I need to emerge from this mire first!

So, it's off to deal with the mire. I hope your respective "dashes" are going along well - just don't dash through them too fast!