The First Week

The First Week et. al.

After work on Friday I cooked dinner for the new room mates. We hung out on the patio, watched the sun set, swapped Maine jokes, and munched on smelly french cheese. Okay I swapped Maine humour as everyone politely pretended to listen. Y'all missed out on some bomb diggity lasagna.

Dinner.

Michelle, lasagna, and Stephen.

The roommates and their humans.

Us, and you.

_____________________________________________________________________

Day 209
Wednesday Sept. 24th

I suppose it is really day 1 now, not 209. Interesting. More thoughts to come once they get all unjumbled.




Day 208
Tuesday Sept. 23rd

I suppose you could say I am finally moved in. This whole house thing is kinda screwing with my head right now. I delayed and made excuses and dragged my feet but there is no turning back now. Dude I live in a house-- frikin' strange after all this time. It will take some getting used to.

Day 207
Monday Sept. 22nd
Bought a luffa today. Never saw that coming!

Day 206
Sunday Sept. 21st

Moving day. It happened. Ouch!



After 7 full months & change, any semblance of organization is a coincidental myth.


Moving; its really just relocating a bunch of smaller boxes from one big box to another big box.debatable. In this case though, "big" is debatable.




Day 205
Saturday Sept. 20th

I had an early breakfast (ie. strong French Roast) w/ Boyce on the front steps in Redondo Beach. It was very pastoral and went a long way to sweeping away the cob webs from the nights show. Before traffic could get crazy I was out and headed north on the coastal road by half past 8 in the AM. I made it back to Ventuckey just in time to catch a friend for brunch (ie. not very strong American coffee) at the Golden Egg. After the drive it hit the spot.

I went to the house to pick up a key but no one was home. Honestly I was a little releaved. First off when faced with moving back into four walls and a roof, I was a little chicken. As my time in the car comes to a temporary hiatus, it is easy to focus on the romantic aspects of it all. It is easy to block out the cold lonely nights, all the stress of being hassled by Johnny Law, the boredom, the hassle of living day to day without any thing to call home except the back of a small compact car. It is easy to focus instead on the amazing sunsets, the crazy characters I met along the way, the laissez- faire attitude coupled w/ a fair bit of je ne sais quio. Some days I never thought it would end, other days I hoped it wouldn't. Now here I am and all of a sudden its really over. So yah I was a tad bit timid and looing for any excuse to not have to follow through with the whole moving thing.

I was more then happy to find a nice shaddy spot under a tree in the drive way and crack open my new book. I am a huge fan of Neil Stephenson. though huge is an understatement. I had just received a prelease version of his latest novel Anathem and it was killing me that I hadn;t had time to really roll up the sleeves and dig in. As with any Stephenson tome, it takes a good four or five hundred pages for the story to really begin and the action to heat up. I was slowly plowing through one page after another wiating for the action to heat up. Yup yup yup I was more then happy to spend an afternoon in the sun finally able to read uninterupted for a bit. Ostensibly my excuse was that I was waiting for someone to show up with a key. Honestly though I could care a less about moving by now. I read until about 6ish then went down tot eh beach for a quick dip and dinner in the sand. Then off to a deserted industrial alley to read the night away. All told it was a very productive non-day!

Day 201, 202, 203, 204

Day 204
Friday Sept. 19th

Mother Hips in Hermosa Beach... 5 o’clock whistle, freedom comes; gas up-- Red Bull & cigarettes; hit the road south on 101; PCH ocean breeze blowing through my hair, Magu RockMalibuNeptune’s Net—behind a school bus, I can’t drive 55; Santa Monica hitting traffic, making good time; crank the radio, Whiskey Chimp Kisses the Crystal Flake; VEEEEEEeeeeeeeniiiice Beach come to a standstill—traffic JAM JAM JAM; four blocks in one hour; tick tock goes the clock, stop to pee, traffic doesn’t move; screw Lincoln—the street not the Prez; take the “screw this” route through the Bollona Swamp, clear sailing on to Marina del Rey; burgers & bikinis on the beaches; down the back side of LAX;

PlayadelReyElSegundoManhattan BeachHermosaBeachRedondoBeachTorrance— in a blur; brake brake brake eeeeerrrrgh!; lost crapski, back track lickety split, split split lickety; TorranceRedondoBeachHermosaBeachManhattanBeach— in a blur; brake brake brake eeeeerrrrgh!; lost crapski 2x’s now! back track licety split, split split lickety; ManhattanBeachHermosaBeach—in a blur; don’t cuss, call a friend; back on track, finally in Hermosa— scout it out, hit the pier; back to happiness; Sainte Rocke down the block; found the Rocke-- whaaaaaaaaaaat SOLD OUT!;

crash crash buuuuurn; excuse me excuse me, “keep on moving”, got a ticket? spare a ticket?, excuse me excuse me, (flash a smile); wait wait wait; there’s some boys I know, but I’m stuck on the sidewalk; 8 o’clock 9 o’clock, still no luck; 10 o’clock, 11 o’clock what the fuck; should I stay or should I go go?; “Yo yo yo” I hear, photo boy come on in; we’re in we’re in with a grin; sweaty bodies, mash mash mash, rock out bang bang bang; spilled drinks on the toes, I forgive, she’s cute, wearing a cuter sun dress; forget the bar, too packed, (lick my toes instead); WSB/WMB/Timewehad/NoNameDarrellDon’tGoSoFast wahoooo says the crowd; wicked says the photo monkey; sweaty bodies, swaying bodies, sweaty speakers, swaying speakers drip drip drop drip drap; poison oak> rich little girl hymns and waltzes in my head; LIGHTS smash UP siss bang boom; murmur murmur high five, ride the wave;

JJ & Jimmy Jam and the joint smoking merry merry jam band; where’s our hotel—hotel schmotel lets sleep in the grass!; rap rap rap with Matty Trails; big hand ticks ticks turns; bid adieu (Mississippi half-step) toodaloo; off to crash; choices choices-- sleep under construction or at the pad / beer on the coach or in the yard / pee in a bush on on my toe?; yes yes and thank your sirs; sweet dreams zoom zoom.

Waiting waiting waiting in line.

Hermosa boy blue

It was one of those nights...

after party of one

Decisions decision-- sleep in the construction site or crash on a friend's couch? It was not a difficult choice at all!

Day 203
Thursday Sept. 18th

Spent the evening down at the beach w/ JS watching the moon rise. It was fun but way too cold!

Day 202
Wednesday Sept. 17th

Pizza w/ Giggles

Day 201
Tuesday Sept. 16th

Went up to the Ojai hills, camping one last time on a school night. The full-ish moon kept me up all night. An ant bit me in the eye, again. There was construction on the way to work in the AM and I was late, again.

Day 200

The Last Ten Days, pt. 3

Day 200
Monday Sept. 15th

Hard to imagine it has been 200 days. It seems like a lifetime honestly and yet at times it seems like just a flicker in my memory. I kind of feel like celebrating. I feel like this should be some flavor of small victory, a stepping stone maybe, a minor personal victory of sorts. But in reality its just another Monday night camping out in the alley behind Target. I did allow myself a small bit of time to ruminate and reflect on the last seven months over a cup of herbal tea. It has most certainly been a learning experience and suffice to say one heck of journey of self-exploration (or maybe exploitation is a better word?). At the same time I can't really rest on a milestone. I have to be as diligent and motivated as ever.

The world doesn't care if it has been 2 days, 200 days, or 2000 thousand days. You gotta be on your toes when you are living out there on the streets. You never know when a bit of bad luck may come your way. When it does it comes often and in so many different forms. When it comes it can get ugly super fast if you are caught unawares. That is just the way things are out here.


Brewing up a spot o' tea on the sidewalk before bed.

The 'get.

The Jet Boil turned up to 11, tea in 38 seconds!

Days 194- 199

The Last Ten Days, pt. 2

Day 199
Sunday Sept 14th

Caught my first Patsies game of the seasona nd boy what an ugly win! It is going to be a long long season at this rate. Oh well, 2001 kid of started the same and included quite a bit of ugly football. It seemed to work out pretty well in the end as I recall. After the game I found a secluded spot in the sun for an afternoon naps. My how I miss my afternnon naps!

Later on after dinner I hit up the hot springs with Raspberry and Stutz. It was pretty chill for the first hour or so. Little did we know it was going to be the "in" spot for the full moon. It was like these dirty hippies wand frat boys were being dropped off by the bus load. By the time we left almost 30 people were crammed into the various pools in many assorted states of nakedness / drunkenness. We beat feet and left the insanity behind us.


I've never seen so many cars along the road for the springs.


At our camping spot, hanging in the living room. The full moon was SOOO bright, check out the shadows at midnight!




Day 198
Saturday Sept. 13th

So Giggles puts her arm around me and is like, "Hey lets walk down to the beach." Now as you read this you have to understand that you have to read that last passage with a sotto voce sorta voice, like a Eartha Kitt after 12 packs of cigarettes kinda voice. So of course I can't refuse. Off to the beach we went to check out the slackline. Little did we know that according to the state park police this is incredibly illegal and subversive activity. Did you know they carry guns? That was a surprise!

ps. sorry George Quarte, Ohio State got dominated! That had to hurt...



Slackline on the beach, totally illegal come to find out!


Giggles on the slackline (whats really noteable about this snap is that it is a four second handheld shot, pretty impressive I may say myself being handheld and all, even more impressive though is that Giggles refused to budge on the slackline for the entire four seconds. Crazy right.)


Johnny Law regulating.


Cinamon came a knockin' and we were busted again!




Day 197
Friday Sept. 12th

I had intended to catch up on all the work I missed out on the afternoon before. Unfortunately even though the tech problmes from yesterday had been resolved it was still not to be. I spent all night in this crazy text marathon with an old friend. By the time it was done and over with daylight was long gone and filming would have to wait.



text balls

Day 196
Thursday Sept. 11th

Swung by the SurfShak tonight to get caught on on some filming and voice overs. Unfortunately I struggled through the evening with technical problems and didn't really get much of anything done. Sometimes that is just the way it rolls.

Fidelito?

Si senor, hasta la victoria siempre! On y va!

Day 195
Wednesday Sept. 10th

I was up for another lazy afternoon. Sometimes it is hard to get motivated and start the ball rolling or continue the ball rolling. Today was one of those days. I really had no interest in doing anything. I have tons of loose ends that need to be wrapped up but today had no interest in pursuing any of them. Instead I hit up the beach. Then I walked around town for a bit before stopping to catch the last part of the BoSox game. I couldn't believe the game was still on. It took15 innings for the outcome to be decided. Unfortunately it was another Sawx lose. They closed out the series with the D-Rays by losing 2 straight at Fenway. Two games they absolutely needed if they had any thoughts of redeeming the penant race. Oh well, there is still a lot of baseball to be played. Hopefully those dang Yankees can help chip away at the lead when they play the D-Rays over the weekend. one can only hope.




Day 194
Tuesday Sept. 9th

I have to be honest, I was still a little spooked from the weekend. I spent most of the day Monday & Tuesday looking over my shoulder wondering when Johnny Law was gonna come kicked down doors and busting heads. I really needed to get some sleep, so I headed up to the Matilija where chances of being bothered are slim. I found a nice shaded spot overlooking the river and spent the remainder of the day finishing off the Wiseman book. A quick dip in the spring and it was time for bed. I slept like a rock, finally. Uneventfulness is bliss!

Days 191, 192, 193

The Last Ten Days, pt. 1

Day 193
Monday Sept. 8th

To say I had a miserable day at work is an understatement. I was dead tired, stressed out about this whole car thing, seriously having second thoughts about all this, swamped in paperwork, and confused about what to do next-- life-wise, career-wise, project-wise, day-wise, etc. you get the point. I am not exactly sure what I hung on to to get through the day but ten hours later I was doneski with the office. The only thought on my mind was sleep-- a good night's sleep, and I don't mean in the back of my car either. I headed out to this abandoned camp ground outside of town. I had spent a few nights there and many afternoons without actually spending the night. Only once had I been bothered by the park rangers or other assorted 5-0 in the area. (Granted once they sent a helicopter after me but that was just a misunderstanding and is an entirely different story!)

There is this great little spot to park at totally obscured from the road and any nosy aircraft if you don't mind doing a gnarly uphill off-road spat. The jeeper would of loved it but the Focus is none too pleased when I inch her up the hillside. its not really a trail, just a section of hill with shrubbery about knee high you can get through it you dont mind a little white knuckle driving. Once you are there it is grand, super private and if you have a computer you can cart around you get wireless internet. From where who knows but pirating it is easy enough. Unfortunately it was not a marriage that was meant to be. In six minutes walking from one abandoned tent site to the other I saw THREE black widows. No thank ou kindly! I am deathly afraid of little tiny things that can kill me. There is no way in crap I was going to spend the night in the midst of a horde of poisonous spiders. No thank you very much again! So off for one more sleepless night in an alley way cramped in the back seat of the Focus. At least I didn't have to worry about ravenous venomous blood sucking spiders!



Funky abandonment, we fit perfectly.


It looked perfect, this is why I didn't stay! Just the first of many...




Day 192
Sunday Sept. 7th

With the blog updated, emails returned (okay maybe not all of them, not even half of them. its been more then a month, gimme a break!), Facebook updated, a few job leads tackled, the Albania proposal updated, and a few hours spent reviewing video tape it was time to pack it all up and move on. I ran over to the storage unit super quick and dump off the 'puter and other miscellaneous items. By then it was time for a quick sunset and then off to find a place to crash for the night. That's when the unwelcome drama began.

I went to this old abandoned office space/warehouse that I had been checking out for quite some time now. It looks pretty decent during the day-- no rats, lite security, in the morning shade, on the quiet side, a spot to hide the car, super close to the office, no other homeless folks around to steal me stuff. It looked promising so off I went. I dumped the car and was about to settle in for the night when Johnny Law came a knocking. It really was not too big of a deal. I explained what I was doing and he was chill but made me move on. As it was getting a little late I headed to a spot I have used fairly regularly thinking it was a safe bet. It has been for 7 months now.

Yup you guessed, no more then five minutes after I pulled up had the spot lights on me again. I went through the whole process all over again. I tried to smile and relax but the annoyance was building. After about 30 minutes ensuring I wasn't a wife beater or hooligan on parol I was off again. By this time it was pushing midnight and I was just a little spooked. I really just wanted to go to bed. I didn't want to drive all the way across town. I had no other leads over on the east end. Driving around I saw this church with a huge dark dark parking lot. I pulled in behind some well manicured shrubbery. What is safer then a church right. Historically for thousands of years churches have stood for as sanctuary in times of need, unless of course that is if you are Thomas à Becket.

I found a nice little patch of freshly mowed grass to lay my bed roll out on. Overall it was looking promising. I stated getting ready for the night worry free. I was pretty happy with my self despite everything. I was there for well over an hour getting ready for the night. Then as soon as my eyes closed to seek out that blissful sleep, BooYahKaShah! Not one, not two, but THREE frikin cruisers all with their dang spot lights turned on my peaceful repose. This time there was no easy way to talk myself of it. This one old copper just didn't get it. We went around in circles for almost an hour. He could not understand I was homeless more or less by choice. He kept asking if I was on parole or suppose to be in a half way house, or kicked out by my old lady or on the run or whatever. Finally my eyes bloodshot and patience way past thing I told him I had had too much to drink with friends for dinner after church. I told him I thought it best to take a nap before driving home, let the wine or schnapps or whatever it is church people drink wear off before driving.

Immediately the light inside his head went off. He got it! All he wanted was a reason that would comply with his mediocre world view. Just like that he jumped into action and gave me a field sobriety test. I passed (no surprise there). He then gave me an overblown lecture on drunken driving that could have been from a third grade film strip. Not too mock drunk drivers, but I hadn't had a drink in many days. The whole dog and pony show was a little unnecessary in my book and it was keeping me from much needed sleep. Eventually he decided to let me walk, quite literally. He told me I could have friends pick me and the car up or just me and leave the car for the night. I told him no prob dude! Thanks for understanding Johnny Law.

I walked around the block, took a nap under a pine tree in a city park, then once he had finally left (he sat there for almost tow hours after I walked!!!), I hoped back in the Focus and drove off. I finally ended up in an alley off of Main Street behind a dumpster at about 4am. Yah, and I had to be at work at 7 in the A-bloody-M! I was not a happy camper to say the least.

If you can guess where this is, ten points and a well earned at on the back. Cheerio!

Sometimes the nights can get lonely.

Day 191
Saturday Sept. 6th

Still blogging, that is when the cats allow me a bit of free time.



"Where is my cat nip? I just woke up and I need my cat nip. Bring it to me NOW human!"


Taking a break to check out Wes Anderson's Darjeeling Limited. Chester's not much of a fan of trains.


Sid on a mission.

Days 187- 190

Day 190
Friday Sept. 5th

We blog. For the first time in a little over a month we have both computer access & internet access at the same time. Oh and we sleep indoors, not in a bed, but indoors for the first time in what seems like forever. And I can put my beer in a fridge, a real for honest to goodness fridge to keep in cold. Ahhhh this is the life!

Day 189
Thursday Sept. 4th

Met up with SAron & Michelle at the Deer Lodge. Bick's parent s were in town from Long Island and they all went out for a little Southern style chicken fry at the Lodge. Funny thing though, there is no mo' southern style chicken fry at the Lodge on Thursdays-- despite the fact that there are still huge advertisements for it ont he back on their menus. So this is the third time I have hit up the Lodge on a Thursday for this infamous chicken fry without atually getting a chicken fry. I was not impressed. However they did have liberal piles of jalapeno corn bread and Sierra on tap. Bick's 'rents were awesome and we shared a great conversation highly saturated with much laughter. Event hought here was no chicken fry it was still a pretty darn good afternoon. The music was pretty good too, cortesy of the Iron Mountain Boys. I mean who can't like a band who leads off the night with a song about turning off the light (wink, wink).

Iron Mountain Boys live at the Deer Lodge.

"This new CD was deemed best album of the year by a bunch of vagrants and street people that we paid to say so near a convenience store in LA." I was one of those vagrants I am proud to say!

Day 188
Wednesday Sept. 3rd

Did laundry today. Suck thing about doing laundry in my present, ummm, situation is that it takes so bloody long. Normally you can toss in a load if you are at home and walk away to do whatever. When it suits you you toss that load in the dryer and call it good, go back to doing whatever. When I do laundry I am at the mercy of the coin-op. I can't really go anywhere, who knows what would happen if you left everything unwatched for a bit. So you sit and wait and people watch. And you try to make things fun, you take really dumb self-portraits and catch up on your soaps on the 12 inch tv in the corner next to the bulletin board filled up with for sale posters and for rent posters and babysitter for hire posters and VTA County wanted posters.

Fear

and Loathing...

Day 187
Tuesday Sept. 2nd

Hung out at the beach all day. Had it all to myself. It was pretty rad. Then the fog rolled in and spoiled my sunset. Oh well, you can't win 'em all. With the fog came the drizzle and with the drizzle came the cold. I bounced and headed up to Ojai w/ Stutzman and the rookie. We hit up the hot springs for a bit and chit-chatted well through the night. Then we crashed out on a bluff by the river and called it a day. Pretty simple really...

The World Without Us by Alex Wiseman, interesting exercise in thought if nothing else.

The entire beach from Ventuckey to Carp, pretty much all to myself!

Hello old friend, you are looking a little down...?

Days 185 & 186

Day 186
Monday Sept. 1st

Something was off. I could feel it boring into my psyche. Something was just off. I new it had to be early cause it was still super cold.. I didn't want to wake up but I couldn't shake this feeling. Reluctantly I opened my eyes and crawled out of the sleeping bag. Holy crapskis, the sight that greeted these cobwebbed eyes was immaculate!!! The sun was just beginning to rise over the mountains. The sky was bloody blood red and crimson along the horizon. the early morning sky above it was this violent purple. It was harsh yet amazingly beautiful. I was transfixed. The marine layer had settled along the mountains in a fluffy carpet of whispery clouds. All I could see for an entire 180 panoramic was the cloud ceiling below me painted by the rising sun. I didn't move for the longest time. I was straining to soak in every last detail of this amaziness in front of me. I was paralyzed by awe.

Then a small voice inside my head whispered quietly "Black 33...", no just kidding that's a whole other story. Actually it whispered "Ummm dude, you should be shooting this..." I really didn't want to but I knew I had to. Unfortunately I had waited until the show was on the down swing before busting out the cameras. But we snapped to it and set everything up and captured the last pieces of night falling into the eastern horizon. It will work, but trust me the memory of what really happened is so much better then the pics.

The most awe-inspiring sunrise I have ever been fortunate enough to witness. The photos do not come close to doing it justice.

The Focus drinking it all in.

Okay already, I am awake.

Once I was up, I was up. The one downside of crashing on top of the water tower for the night was that it is higher then everything else out on the mountain. Being higher means no shade, no shade means that it is impossible to sleep once the sun is up. I was a little perturbed by that minor oversight. it is a huge pet peeve of mine to try and sleep in when the bright bright sun is burning into the back of your head and you get stifling hot hiding in your sleeping bag. Yup, its a major pet peeve. so I acquiesced to the new day, brewed up a spot of tea, went for a walk to limber up and went over to Lizard's Mouth to bang out a morning ses'.

Can I just say my 2nd day of climbing was much worse then the first? Well it was. I climbed like a drunken chinaman, not that I have any idea how a drunken chinaman would do anything, or a sober one for that matter. One high lite though, I found I have mastered the art of falling and have gotten pretty darn good at it too. Let's just say I have had lots of practice! All I seemed to do was fall today. Oh well, it was a beautiful day despite the overwhelming laws of gravity.

In the back of my mind I am thinking this is gonna hurt (and I don't mean just the shoes-- though they did hurt too).

Yup I was right, this frakin' hurts.

Day 185
Sunday August 31st

Spent the holiday weekend up in Santa Barbara. It has been quite some time now since I have given this whole climbing thing a shot (if you remember the last time didn't work out so well). Up until April last year we were climbing pretty solid usually 4- 5 times each week. Weekends were spent traveling to epic climbing spots on the West Coast like J-Tree, Bishop, Black Mountain and many many others. Then life kinda caught up and slowly but surely and little by little climbing fell by the wayside. So now here we are. Its been probably 17 or 18 months since I climbed regularly. I dabbled a bit last summer but nothing too serious. So time to motivate and get back on the rock. That's where this weekend in Santa Barbara fits in. Rolled on up an did some climbing.

I started with a quick ses' on Sunday afternoon just to get limbered up. It went I suppose as all things do. Stopped just before sunset to enjoy the show. Man what an amazing sunset it was! Super rad, totally gonzo! I wanted to head back early-ish to town to get cleaned up, grab a bite to eat, and get some shooting done down on State Street. I got a little derail, no surprise really. Everyone knows how much I love a good tangent. I saw this water tower on the way down into town. Actually I have seen this water tower probably 200 times driving past it on the way to the Brickyard and Lizard's Mouth. But tonight I really SAW it in all its philosophical metaphysical beauty. So I stopped and of course climbed on up. What a view, with the sun setting it was even better. I hung out until the last drop of daylight had been squeegeed from the heavens. It got me all worked up, one of the coolest sunsets I have since certainly in a long long time.

Sunset on top of the water tower.

Looking over Goleta & UCSB.

It took me a while to leave the top of that water tower. I really didn't want the experience to end. But it had to, as it does each night. And with that down the hill I went to State Street, Santa Barbara for the show. Blue Turtle Seduction was in town along with Poor Man's Whiskey. I am not sure I have ever seen a blue turtle in SoCal but I can definately relate to poor man's whiskey. The show was amazing, filled with high-energy jams and strawberry noodling, fuzzy feedback rollovers, quantum electronica, free-will rejections, and all sorts of nonsense and debauchery. Ahhh in a way it was just like the old days. You know when people went to hear a good band for the the music, not as an opportunity to get stoned or get laid or act like an imbecile. So yah it was a blast from the past, even danced with a hippie chick in a sundress, unshaved arm pits and all. It was a cool night. It has been a long time since I have seen that many long haired hippy freaks with hula hoops in one spot. I fit right in. I smiled.

Blue Turtle Seduction live at the Soho on State Street.

Blue Turtle keeping Tahoe SEXY!

Once the show was over I climbed back into the dusty old Focus and went back up into the mountains. I hit up the old water tower again and set up camp for the night. Reading this you may get some sort of nostalgia or romantic feelings about setting up camp under the stars, it wasn't like that. When I say "setting up camp", I really mean tossing the sleeping bag down on the ground and crawling in. Sometimes it may entail popping open a luke warm adult beverage but not usually. regardless night up on the old water tower is pretty cool too. The marine layer was slightly lower then the ridge line so the city lights reflect under it and through it. It is a cool kinda ghostly feeling looking out over the cities as they sleep, kinda like Batman but not really.

Time for bed: Santa Barbara & Carp down to the left, Goleta & Point Conception to the righ, and me the monkey in the middle.




*Quick note: So after all this I got some amazing pics, believe you me. I come back to town, plug in the 'puter, snap in the CF card, and voila CF Error. Over 200 shots somehow got currupted, I hope its not ebola or gingivitis. Virutally all the shots from Sunday including all but 12 of the BTS concert. If I am ever able to resuraect that dang card I will repost, unfortunately I do not have high hopes.

Days 180- 184

Day 184
Saturday August 30th

I visited the hot springs real quick en route to snap some shots of the moonless sky. Its project I started last year around ummm June or July I think. It is still going, not necessarily strongly but going nonetheless. So far in a little over a year I have taken 18 exposures. I have probably hiked about 150 or so miles just to get to a spot to take those 18 exposures. I have probably driven three or four times that just to get to the trail heads. I have probably spent between 70 & 80 hours just waiting around for the exposures to finish. I have not seen a single frame through all of this and have no idea if I even loaded the camera right or if my math is way off (probably is). I probably have another 3- 4 months to go before developing this roll. You gotta love film!

I finally found a pleasant use for this stupid cell phone-- light painting!

Day 183
Friday August 29th

Headed over tot he Surfshack for the night. I had not been there for a while so it was cool to have a quick six and catch up w/ PonyBoy. His new Fantasy Football (Americano) league is starting up in a few and per usual he was stoked to get into the Fantasy nitty gritty. What had originally been intended as a quick six turned into a drawn out 12. It was well worth it!

Day 182
Thursday August 28th

???

I forgot what goes here...

Day 181
Wednesday August 27th

Went on a date, kinda sorta. I mean I think it was a date but without any of the drama a first date usually entails. There is definately a story here. I will let you know when I figure out just how it all ends.

El Rey Cantinia-- half wild west saloon, half Parisian tequila bar; a little bit of the Folsom Johnny Cash, a little bit of coked out Johnny Ramon!

Canon shooter, we will get along great me thinks...

Day 180
Tuesday August 26th

Drove up into Rose Valley with Cason for the night. We planned on making camp next to this chill little stream in the the tall grass. Then we were joined for the evening by a legion of bloody thirsty annoying bugs. Disappointed we retreated up into the valley for more accomodating accommodations. We settled down at a site just below the waterfall which seemed to work. We chatted for a bit and then got to work chopping up some wood for kindling. Out of no where this bearded old man starts bellowing us with this bassoon of a voice that the helicopters were gonna come get us. Once we got him calmed down we realized that he was trying to say the park ranger's air station for the fire lookouts was just above our campsite about half a mile. If they saw the smoke they would send the helicopter down to investigate and we would all be in deep poo. He insisted that the minimum fine for a fire right now would be at least $1012. YIKES! I guess we are not having any warmth for the night, which is a shame cause it gets dang chilly up in the valley after sunset. Its even colder in the morn, trust me, and a fire is just the thing to shake off the cobwebs by as you pull on a hot cup o' joe. Maybe tomorrow...

34.1 degrees American an hour after sunrise-- brutal to wake up to let me tell you!