Sept 16, 99 – things are getting increasingly flatter
well, for the last 2 weeks i've had no access to the internet..
it was sort of nice, only had the cold shakes for a couple nights.
;) i've gone from fort smith, arkansas to elgin, illinois..
a suburb of chicago.
texahomasas
well, arkansas went off and destroyed my preconceptions of what arkansas
was about. i thought it would be hot and nasty and full of rednecks..
it turned out to be hot and tolerqable and green and
beautiful and full of nice people.. i'm sure there were some
rednecks (the bulletholes and secondary supports on stopsigns were the
first clue). fort smith is the proudest owner of 2, count them, yes
2 wal-marts.. one of which is the largest wal-mart in the whole dag
durned country. mmmmm.. wal-martians.. i went caving
in a place called devils den state park. first time was labor day,
it was packed.. and we forgot flashlights, but we went in anyway :)
the other people were kind enough (smart enough?) to bring light sources,
which we greedily used.. we went back the next day with lights and
explored more of the first cave we went in and i went a bit (100 - 150
ft) back into the devils icebox. it's a cave that is a couple feet
wide at the widest points, many time just barely wide enough for me to
squeeze through. what other pointlessness can i depart on you poor
souls.. the drive to arkansas took about 14 hours or so.. the
one to illinois took about 12. both were done at night, which, although
you miss the scenery (in states with scenery, like missouri) you avoid
the law.. I think we didn't see a but 2 or 3 cop cars on both car
trips.. (and I think they all passed us while we were going 10 or
so over the speed limit.. except the ones around that overturned
semi in texass.) oh yeah, when we got out of colorado and into kansas
we had 2 radio stations. country and jazz.. bad jazz at that..
and when we got into texass we lost the jazz station.. the country
station was playing the lovely selection 'god bless texass'
well, that's it.. it's been a blast. i'd like to thank ragon and thomas for putting all 5 of us up (3 smelly humans and 2 good little kittens)
oct 1, 99 – growin old in the farm
well.. i've left illinois.. the land of fast food restraunts
that sit directly on top of an interstate,
not on the side, where normal fast food belongs. The land of
a million tollbooths.. the land of psychopathic drivers..
i've entered michigan.. and altho i have a rather limited experience
of it i've seen 2 blank billboards
within a mile of each other. i saw the largest shoe store in
my life, in a town of probably about 10,000 (as estimated by dru)
while i was in illinois i saw 3 forest areas.. and whenever all
of them are wonderfully beautiful, the leaves are beginnignto change, so
there are subtle hints of red and yellow int he landscape. and as
I returned to the things that mark civilization (smelly air, noisy noise,
big structures of steel, glass and concrete) i would think to myself..
damn beautiful land they have here, too bad they had to put a city on it..
i read a book a week or so ago entitled "Cat's Cradle" by kurt vonnegutt
jr. and there is a fabricated (thanks for the word eric) religion called
bokonism. it is based on the words and writings of a crazy forest
monk.. that's only a piece of the book, but it's one of the more
humorous pieces.. (the truth is in the old jokes.. especially
the bad ones) I also read a book called "the tao of pooh" and altho
I forget the author i enjoyed it's childlike simplicity thoroughly.
there was a second book written called "the te of piglet".. i will
leave it at this.. i put it down after 50 pages of hoping it
would get better. i began to read another book while waiting for
the bus in Elgin, Il, entitled "the doors of perception heaven and hell"
evedently it is the composite of 2
books by aldous huxley.. so far the doors of perception is about
him tripping mescaline.. but it is early, and has quite a bit of
potential... it did bring up one interesting point of his experience
of the drug and that was it's effect of his ideas of spacial relations..
instead of seeing something in terms of its physical relation to himself,
he saw it in terms of its importance to himself, its relevance to himself...
i had just read that as the time for the bus approached, so my idea of
it is as of yet foggy.. i think it'll clear up as i read, expect a full
update. speaking of books.. i splurged today at a store called
books abound.. it is a welly good store and i found 3 books that
were worth purchasing for myself at this point in time.. those being,
the pink copy of the "principia discordia".. (it contains a preface
by omar khayyam ravenhurst.. its a bit lengthy, but worth every drop
of ink and scrap of tree. i also picked up jack kerouac's "the dharma
bums".. this was inspired by a homeless couple i met in chicago..
i taught the woman some chainmail skills, and she told me about living
on the streets in san fransisco.. she is 18 and says she enjoys the
lifestyle, despite the trials and tribulations (for lack of a better cliche)
of not having a steady.. well.. anything really. she didn't
suggest the book to me, i sought out kerouac, but of the selection of his
books they carried that stuck out it's thumb.. I also picked up a
book called "lucifer's lexicon" it was in the loompanics section
and has had me laughing more than any book since.. well....
hmm.. let's just say it's neat. 'book burning - cencorship
in the 451st degree' 'deprogramming - reprogramming.
fighting brainwashing with brainwashing' 'prejudice - ... a great
time saver you can form opinions without having to get the facts'
'sacred cow - food for freethought' i'll stop now, you do get the
point tho. oh yeah, after i got to southfield michigan and called
dru's dad , the change i was carrying at the time totalled 23 cents in
my pocket composed of 2 dimes and 3 pennies... just thought i should
mention that..
subsidy - government aid to a private commercial enterprise deemed beneficial to the public, but not by the public.. government aid to the plunderpriveleged
ok i'm really done now bye
oct 13, 99 – Oooooohhhhh hi….. oh
well, i'm here in the flatness that is ohio. I suppose it's neat,
considering the thunder storm that i was in the middle of today..
and all of the excellent food that i've eaten in the last 2 weeks.
I suppose i should start from the beginning. and when I get to the
end, stop. while i was in farmington michigan i ventured to a place
called greenfield village. this is where henry ford made his people
mover. (it's also right next to the ford museum and a couple of plants..
i found that test driving cars isn't as much fun as you'd think it would
be.. the one guy i saw was driving about 10 or so miles an hour in
tight turns.. i guess i invisioned someone flying around a race track..
so much for assumptions) that webster guy lived there too.. the dictionary
fellow.. (this is sort of neat, even if the american heritage dictionary
is better) i saw a blacksmith working there as well, and decided
to find someone to apprentice myself to next summer.. it looked like
a lot of fun, and as easy as chainmail. (just involving different techniques).
there was a glass blower there too, but i missed hir. (it started raining
and the younger animal was getting wet, cold and cranky.. sorry sara).
i met a lot of kids in michigan, and it blows my mind how smart most of
them were.. maybe i've just been away from the junior high kids for
too long. i went to a forested area 'heritage park' and meandered
around. we found some, what in alaska wouod be called, bear bread.
and dru and i climbed up the steepest hill i've seen so far in michigan.
then came the rolly hill.. it was a wonderful grassy hill that was
made for barrelling down, in a bouncing "i think i'm gonna be sick" sort
of way.. i suggest running back up a hill after it gives you this
feeling, as falling on your face can be quite an interesting experience.
i can't wait to return.. i just have to remember to give it a couple
minutes before i go a second time.. that evening i ate the meal that
set the precedent for the next 2 weeks.. i won't go into everything
i was fed, cause i don't want to receive any death threats from jealousy,
but i'll leave it at, "it was quite tasty." i was taken from farmington
to rotchester, michigan. (taking no left turns, mind you) i
met sean's dad and step mom there. and learned many an interesting thing..
for example.. i didn't know that men could lactate. my life
there was much more subdued that life in farmington, but it contained a
good deal more conversation. i made a little chainmail change pouch
thing.. and it made me want to make a chainmail hat.. a beret
sort of thing. I think that's what they're called.. sort of
like your orange hat, sara.. well, it's half done, or there abouts.
for sean's birthday we went to the detroit zoo. without a doubt the
most interesting thing there was the butterfly exibit. it was a large
room, with a ton of plants that was just filled with butterflies.
there were 20-30 species in there and about 2 or 3 hundred bugs. (depending
on the season i suppose) we saw a lot of animals, as one would expect in
a zoo.. but i won't go into any of them. except the giant groundhog..
it was the size of a large dog, and is hte largest rodent on earth..
remember the princess bride? well.. i think that was animatronics,
but still.. speaking of animatronics i saw the new version of animal
farm. it had cool effects, but overall i thought it was weak and
lacking emotion.. they were so caught up in the visual they forgot
to keep the soul of the work. but it gave me a bit of drive to find
the book and read it. the drive from rotchester to dayton took 3.5
hours or thereabouts.. much less than i expected. i saw something
that caught my eye.. a semi was pulling 3 other semis.. just
the front truck part, but still, it looked silly. oh yeah, sean finally
got his music recorded.. we used a kroakieoakie machine, so the sound
quality is wretched, but i have a portable sean, now. :) i plan to
head off to maine about november 1, or so.. well, i'm running out of things
to say, so i'll let you folks get back to your lives.. oh yeah.
i have been hounded to write about all the swell things that i've encountered
in my travels. i found this poem that was written by a student (it
was in a book i read in rotchester, ironically)
you can't change me
you can't change me so why would you try
you think popularity is your alibi
grinning at me and talking behind my back
walking around like you're all that
down's me, but smiles in my face
because all the time you want to take my place
you think you're all that, because you drive a lincoln
but in this society you don't get paid for thinking
envy me because i deal with no one else
do what i have to do and stay to myself
i got my head in the right direction
reaching for my goals and stiving for perfection
i'm not going to follow your road as you see
so stop trying because you can't change me
-tracy soloman
farmington alternative academy
i include this poem for a couple reasons, it was one of the better ones in the book ( a compilation of poems from all of the nearby alternative academies) I really like the use of the word alibi, and the line 'down's me, but smile's in my face' it's neat. it's also a message to those public schoolers in farmington. those are normal kids, just like you..... that's a relative statement i suppose.
now i have to say this. i have been asked to let you all know what i'm up to. i expect you to do the same... every time i send you one of these, write back and tell me about some of the interesting things you've done, seen, heard, coughed up, etc.. fair's fair after all.
talk to you in a couple weeks
peace
oct 28, 99 – I sungged a song
i thought it was noot, so it was sunt there will be a full update when
i arrive in maine, probably the seccond or third of november.. the
third is more likely.
chao523: a heffalump sat on a railroad spike
chao523: it hurted his bum muchly
chao523: it made him cry and it make him hollar
chao523: and he stomped around till he made a messly
chao523: now an itsy bitsy finch
chao523: heard this heffalump wailin'
chao523: and it fluttered by to see
chao523: the mungus stumpin beast make his mess
chao523: and the little finch did tweedle
chao523: 'hey there mr heffulump
ShadoSingr3: lol tweedle
chao523: don't cry about like that
chao523: i'm sure things could be worse
chao523: go play in the mud'
chao523: and the heffalump paid no mind
chao523: ho hollar hey stump
chao523: the little finch went to find
chao523: a larger animal of similar mind
chao523: to get the heffalump to stomp his rompin
chao523: and he found a pig
chao523: the pig was willin'
chao523: and went to waller
chao523: in the mucky beside the heffalump
chao523: and he snarted,
chao523: 'hey mr heffalump
chao523: don't cry about like that
chao523: go play in the mud'
chao523: the heffalump paid him no mind
chao523: the finch was worried
chao523: the pig was wallerin'
chao523: and the heffalump was wailin away
chao523: the finch went out
chao523: to find an animal
chao523: who could stop the ruckus
chao523: for a wild heffalump ruckus can make quite a mess
chao523: and nobody wants that
chao523: the finch found himself a plastic spoon salesman
chao523: and he drugged him over to the mudpit
chao523: the salesman took one look at the situation
chao523: and began to formulate one of those plans that sound really
outlandish, but for some physics defying reason they work
chao523: he got his stockpile of plastic spoons
chao523: and gave one to animal each
chao523: "take these spoons and cover yonder railroad spike!
and the problem will be solved in a mite"
chao523: so they glopped the mud
chao523: and they covered the spike
chao523: so they couldn't see it at all
chao523: the heffalump, not seeing the spike anymore, and having forgotten
his slight injury, stopped crying
chao523: unfortunately he likes his wild rumpusing
chao523: and decided to go back to mucking messily
chao523: TOOOT TOOOT TOOT TOOOT
chao523: the train bellowed as it barreled
ShadoSingr3: lol
chao523: when it it the pile of mud it slippy slopped off it's track
chao523: and all of the coal spilled out of the cars, into the mud
chao523: burrying the heffalump, the finch, the pi and the salesman
chao523: thus the world was saved from utter destruction by ridding
one of the main propagators of a non renewable resource
chao523: (riddbng the world of)
chao523: and that's why there's coal in them thar hills
chao523: shoo doo be doo
chao523: boop
ShadoSingr3: lol
ShadoSingr3: you kill me
chao523: any questions?
Nov 3, 99 – I’m surrounded by mainiacs
well, i'm in maine... after i caught my first bus I hd doubts
as to whether or not i'd actually get here.. the first 3 busses i got on
weren't the busses i was supposed to get on according to their plan.
i was rerouted to toledo, where i met in interesting individual..
(bokonon says that if someone invites you to go somewhere, go.. i
had no choice to go to toledo, but i think this is why i went) then
instead of going to new york on the new york bus i went to cleveland on
the cleveland bus.. the driver of the NY bus said i should just leave
my bag on the ny bus and i'd get it when i got to cleveland.. ha!
i'm glad I ignored his advice, cause i saw hide nor hair of him when i
got to cleveland.. i got on the ny bus, which was the most crowded
bus i'd riden on yet.. but it wasn't that crowded.. i sat next
to some guy that didn't want to be one of the few people with only one
seat.. oh well, bummer for him. we rode through ohio
and pennsylvnia, and in some part of pennsylvania it was rather foggy.
not as foggy as it'd get in juneau, but foggy none the less. i was
so happy when they stopped at 4am and i got to run around and use my legs..
it just made my morning.. i had difficulty sleeping ont he bus..
i got maybe an hour. We finally arrived in ny.. it is the filthiest
city i've ever seen.. the second filthiest is newark, NJ...
which, ironically is right next to nyc.. i went through the lincoln
tunnel.. i was unimpressed.. it's just that a plain and boring
tunnel.. not nearly as cool as the tunnels i saw on the blue ridge
parkway in north carolina. we get into nyc.. and every 20 ft
there's a sign that says, 'no standing 8am - 10pm' or 'no standing 4am-7pm'
or 'no standing anytime' makes me wonder if the city is so crowded
that people have to stand around as a thing to do.. weirdness.
The nyc bus station was endless.. i asked for directions to the gate
i was supposed to go to. "downt hat hll, up the stairs, take a left,
down that hall, take a left, down that hall, down the stairs, take a right,
down that hall, take a right, down that hall, and there you are.'
i left frm gate 84.. and i suppose that there are about 127 or so..
at least that's what i saw signs for. there's only 24 gates in the
chicago bus station. busy busy busy. the ride from ny to boston
was visually stimulating.. vibrant reds, rusty oranges, brilliant
yellows and lush greens (for lack of better cliches)were constant through
those new england states. i couldn't tell you what the maine
landscape looks like, it was dark... very dark.. and being
blinded every 30 seconds by oncoming traffic
doens't help your eyes adjust. so i arrived in maine 9:15 pm.
and went to watch bad movies and a good one at some people's house..
we watched some bad jean claude van dam movies.. (oh so realistic,
treating a prison like a caged hotel) and i saw the majority of the
directors cut of 'the abyss'. i highly uggest
seeing the directors cut.. they cut out about 28 mins of film
in the theater version. those sea creatures
weren't so nice at the end as they'd like you to think..... they
were about to destroy the humans.. see it.. be jolly..
also, see 'they live' it's a great film too.
i forgot to mention one of my misadventures in illinois.. erich and i were walking through some woods and we got to this waterfall, by a paved road bridge thing.. and i found a butterfly on the road.. it's wings were ragged nd tattered and it was in generally poor condition, but stilll alive.. i picked it up and carried it back to the wild hemp plant that resides on the trail and left the poor guy there.. cause, well, if i were a mangled butterfly, that's where i'd want to be.
ohio was pretty laid back while i was there.. it was good to be
around the lively energy of a 4 year old.. even though i must admit
that it got tiresome after awhile.. i did my best to perk back up
as often as possible, but i just can't keep up with the wild youngins'
intense energy anymore. kids need to have
energetic people to play with, perhaps i could start an energetic person
rental company.. i'd be bankin'.. i tromped around in a few
woody areas there, and played at a local playground.. the slide was
made out
of a durable plastic and every time you slid down you got shocked..
bzzt. i was turned on to a band called 'local h' while i was there..
i really dig their music.. it's intense sometimes, and slow others..
they use a lot of interesting musical techniques, such as seamless
blending of tracks... and putting a cats' meow into a keyboard, and
using it in a song.. they're also great all around musicians.
i wrapped the best bottle that i've wrapped there.. it was neat and
i have no picture of it, but i hope to get the person i sent it to to get
a digital picture to me eventually. it was too hot in ohio..
that is my major grief wth it.. and it didn't rain enough..
it's raiing right now, here in maine.. isn't that just wonderful?
i'm hoping for some snow while i'm here.. and while i'm in NJ too.
k.. that's not my only major grief wth ohio.. they go trick
or treating on saturday.. regardless of when halloween is..
that's just plain blasphemy.. silly heathens. Oh yeah.. the
person sent that cool bottle to is the vocalist of "natasha's ghost"..
she sent me their last 2 cds in return.. i listened tot hem for the
first time today, and they are just diggable.. i will return to a
musically endowed place soon to hear them again.. check them out
at natashasghost.com they have realplayer files of their stull online.
i finished adolous huxley's heaven and hell.. and the
doors of perception.. good books, but you have to
read around his abuse of difficult language.. i
started writing don the words i didn't know in my
notebook, so hen i got to a place with a dictionary i
could lookt hem up.. i got 3 pages of words (leaving
2 blank lines between words) in 40 pages of book.. i
suggest reading those books (more like long essays)
they talk about why there are few philosophers in our
western culture these days.. and presents good
reasons.. incorporating both cultural and biological
reasons.
i started on jack kerouac's book the dharma bums.. i
love it.. i'm enamored with its simple poetic
language and the way he can hold your interest with
the simplest thing.. read it, then directly
afterwards, climb a mountain. it'll do your soul
good.
well.... if i get it into my head to write more
later, i will..
oh yeah, one more thing.. i got to play wiht a taser
last night.. the battery was dead, so it wasn't as
rapid as it could have ben, but i experimented with
sending electricity from arm to arm, from leg to arm,
having it arc fromt he taser to my finger.. shocking
my stomache and my leg.. it was an interesting
experience.. i think i'll do it again sometime.
ok.. i'll be leaving now.. have a peaceful
morning/day/afternoon/evening/night
nov 16, 99 – shore stink in the garden state
(subject by jake)
i left bangor maine yesterday at 6am and arrived in
atlantic city new jersey at 7:30 pm.. i think it got
to my friends' house at 9 or so at night.. perhap a
bit later. on my journey i saw the coolest trucking
company i've ever seen. NBS Trucking. they had a
circle with a line through it, and inside of that was
a bull squatting. their slogan is, "we take care of
your load". i thought it was great. the trip was
generally uneventful, except that i felt slightly
naseaus for a good part of it. oh well, it happens.
what cool stuff i did in bangor. i saw a 30 ft tall
staue of paul bunyon. no ox, but i'm sure i'll
surivive. i saw stephen king's house. it's huge.
it
has a large hedge surrounding the property, as well as
a cast iron fence, with gargoyles on some of the
fenceposts. and the gate of the fence is a large
spider and a spider web. makes me wonder who did the
metalwork for it.. someone talented, that's for sure.
i got to see people go at each other with swords. now
when i see choreographed fights on movies and the like
it just doesn't look good. fakeness isn't goodness.
the church that the livesteel practice was held at has
a steeple with a clock tower in it. well, ex church,
i think it belongs to someone else now. i got to
climb up to where the bell is. and i got to set one
of the clocks.. i didn't set it to the right time,
cause it's not a functioning clock, but i got to set
it none the less. the way you set a clock tower clock
is sort of interesting. you unscrew a screw that
holds it tight to one of the shaftsa that are
connected to the gears, which are connected to the
pendulum and the counterweight. then the hands rotate
freely. a lot more frely than one would expect. then
you take out a piece of the clock face, that sits
right above where the hands connect to the tower, and
stick your head out of the hole, turn the bar, set the
time and tighten the screw that connects it to the
rest of the mechanism. rather simple.
hmm.. remember the movie graveyard shift? the
stephen king flick. well at one point there's some
rats going through a trenchlike thing in a room. i
got to go there and stand in the trench. i got to see
the rest of the building too. interesting place, the
old waterworks building.
i found some good music there. a local band called
empty head, as well as a few other cds fromt he
clearance rack. i paid 8$ for the empty heead cd..
and 8$ for the other 5 cds i got. clearance racks are
good.
i started amking a bit of tweezer chainmail. it's
insy winsy and soft and takes a really long time.
i've decided to start making 3d representations of
fables, myths and old stories. this will be much fun
to make.. as well as being a great challenge.
in maine i went to a place called acadia national
park, and climbed cadillac mountain. i also went to
'sand beach' and tasted the atlantic ocean for the
first time in my memory. it doens't seem as salty as
the juneau waters. i guess i'll know when i get to
alaska for a comparison. there was a bit of snow on
the ground, but only half an inch or so, nothing too
intense.. ugh. i miss snow.. i was hoping for a
storm in maine, but nothing. bah!
oh yess, if you're ever int eh bangor area listen to
93.something. whsn. it's the college station for
husson college. best radio station i've come in
contact with in my travels. they introduced me to
empty head on a rare and local rock show.
and casper.. casper is a cocataeu. he's friendly and
will hold your finger. i was unaware that birds have
a powder on their feathers. he would say a few
things."hello" "hello casper" "whats that" "goodnight"
"i love you" "good bird" he'd bark like their dog and
mumble to himself too. sometimes he'd say "good boy"
thewn let out an ear piercing screech and say "bad" i
tried to teach him to say "i'm a bozo" but he didn't
take well to it. (remember that phrase uncle kent?)
there are plenty of craqzy kids in bangor, it's a
place i could see myself living in if it got more
snow.. well, i thi8nk i grow as tired of writing this
as you grow of reading this. good day to you all.
November 23 – ode to joisey
well, i had a most pleasant time in jersey. a small
town called little egg harbor, right outside of mystic
island. which, ironically, is landlocked. my days
were spent rather in laziness. i made chianmail. and
a couple of baked goodies.. hobbit bread and sweet
potato biscuits. i was introduced to, what i believe
to be the best form of parenting that i've seen in my
limited time ont his planet.. it's called attachment
parenting. here are some things i heard a mother
saying to her 4 month old daughter. "ohh, a wet diap.
you're such a good peer." "oop, baby puke. you're
so good at that freya." "nice shot, girl." (this was
after overturning a cup of tea onto the table that
contains the computer. the tea almost nailed a zip
drive. it got some asorted papers.) this is so
wonderful. and the baby cries much less than most
kids that age cry, causze when she cries, mom is off
tot he rescue right away, day or night.. and they
sleep in the same bed, so the baby can nurse at will
at night. none of that crying herself to sleep in a
lonely cold crib crap. beautiful.. freakin'
beautiful. and mom uses a sling to carry the baby
around. sort of how the mothers in many aborigani
tribes carry their babies.and both the mother and baby
look more comfortable thant he mothers using the "baby
buckets" those little baby carrier things. and check
this funky groove. child led learning. when the kid
is interested in something, such as, "why are the
trees green?" you teach teh kid about it, clorophyl
and all, and if they show more interest go more
indepth.. if this causes you to do some research too,
then by golly the kid just learned you a thing or
three.. this is what i've been looking for all of my
life.. when i was in a public school environment i
scraped by, no work.. cause i was uninterested. now
that i'm on my own i'm looking things up int eh
dictionary. reading books and learnign tfrom them
rather than just reading scifi and fantasy. ok i'm
don with that rant now. learny learny.
i learned this. soap operas are about people lying to
each other... that is it.
ok on to other things. i arrived in asheville at 9:30
this morning. we went out for breakfast. we came
back to the house.. we left again. i went to a third
world market store where my grandma volunteers.. this
non profit store buys third world crafts at a fair
trade price and sells them here in america. i got to
lick some stamps and tape flyers shut for a few
hours.. and arrange a few display things.. i got
this bronze bowl that is you take this certain stick
and rub it around the outside of the bowl is makes a
harmonic noise.. it's noot. i also played a variety
of drums and whistles. i also suggested a way for a
fellow to read the silmarillion. it is this (for
those of you silmarillion readers in training out
there, liek myself) open the book in the middle..
read one story.. shut the book. open the book a week
or two later, read a different story.. repeat till
you've read it all.. then read it front to back.
(thanks jake, obscure reference man to the
referenscue!) damn fine literature.
i am tired. i am going to sleep now.
buhbi all you crazy cats
k s c
oh yes the following is provided for your baking
pleasure.. it is verbatim from the druish one
himself, with a couple of critical errors fixed.
peace
i recently received a bread recipe from my friend dru
for hobbit bread. it's more like lempn poppyseed
cake, but i enjoyed it immensely none the less. i
dind't make the glaze, i dont think it needed it..
(you may repeat this vocally, but only in a julia
child voice)
3 cups all-porpoise flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 1/2 cups vegetable oil
2 1/4 cups granulated sugar (woo!)
2 tablespoons poppy seeds
Zest of 2 lemons (god save the skin of your fingers..)
3 large (chicken or some such) eggs
1 1/2 cups milk
1 teaspoon almond extract (i used almond "flavoring")
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 tablespoon unsalted buter, melted and cool (i'm
gunna salt butter one
day.. just you wait..)
Da Glaze:
1/2 teaspoon almond extract
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 cup lemon juice (squeeze those zested things)
3/4 cup granulated sugar (maybe go easy on it..)
1 teaspoon human blood (just to show off)
grease and flour 2 medum loaf pans, or mini bundlette pans.
preheat oven of love to 350
combine ingredients and pour into pans
bake for a frickin' hour (shorter if you're using smaller pans)
stab those suckers with a toothpick to test for
doneness (naught should stick on the pick, of course)
meanwhile, combine glaze ingredients in small bowl
while laughing maniacly
or singing any hobbitish song that comes to mind.
prick the bread some more
with the toothpick and brush on the glaze. let it hang
out for 15 minutes or so before munching.
and of course, let it cool before slicing, unless
you're hungry. Then you
can just eat it... makes no matter to hobbits..
December 5
hi.. me again. i made it to colorado safely. it
feel s good to be in a place i've seen before. i left
north carolina at 9:30am on thurdsay and arrived in
colorado spings at 12:30 or 1am sat morning. my butt
hurt after 40 hours of travelling. i attempted to
fast for the busride, but i found that my stomache
didn't feel good after 35 hours. last meal i ate was
at 2pm wed aftneron, and i ate again at 1am friday
morning. that's the first time i've fasted.. it was
a good experience, it comes highly recommended.. but
it would be perferable to do int eh woods with nowhere
to go and nothing to do.
lesse.. what all did i do in NC. i had thanksgiving
at the church my grandparents attend. there was a lot
of good food there. i made a lot of chianmail (that's
pretty standard, though) i went to church service for
the first time since i was in horth carolina 14 or 15
months earlier. at the thanksgiving meal i met a
fellow who works for lark books. it is a company that
makes and sells craft books (www.larkbooks.com) i got
a book on wire jewelry (that has chainmail stuff in it
as well as braiding techniques) and a metal textiles
book (with knitting, weaving and so forth). i got
another wire book that i didn't think wasquite as
cool, b ut it was damaged (discolored a smidgeon on
teh spine) so i got it for free.
i foune a lot of things that i want to make that i saw
at the third world market store.. since it was almost
all handmade stuff it was like a library of ideas.
when i forst got to nc i asked if there were any woods
around and i was told that thre weren't to their
knowledge.. well the last day i was there i found
some with what appeared to be a 1.5 mile loop and a
pond (appearantly manmade) and several other trails
going throughout the loop. i guess i know for the
future times i go there.
oh yeah i heard some kickin folk music and african
music and soundtracks from things like the king and i
and fiddler on teh roof.. i hadn't head eaither of
them before.
while i'm here in colorado springs i'm going to try to
learn to macreme a little and get a pace to carry my
work.
i saw some wirework at a store in manitou today that
is by a local guy who works at that particular store
and i'm gonna try to hook up with him and talk shop..
oh yeah.....the drama. yesterday morning we were
sitting arund and we heard a banging crash noise.. the
dogs were barking and generally making noise. jill
went to see what was going on and there was a guy on
the corner of the street having what he thought wasa
heart attack. he overdosed on crystal meth. jill had
palyn call 911. the bang crash we heard was a couple
other kids who saw the guy in trouble who stopped to
help him they were knocking ont eh upstairs door to
use the phone.. thay called 911 from a payphone. so,
tweak is bad, but we all already knew that.
i saw the movie harold and maude last night.. watch
it, it's one of the best movies i've seen.
stay fluffy
ksc
December 25
here i am. new mexico. dandy place.. and snow
abounding. ok i'll start in colorado. i met some cool
kids. a guy named nick who is travelling, and came to
NM with us. he is doing exactly what i'd like to
eventually do.. he's staying up in the mountains
outside of santa fe now, in a few inches of snow, lovin it.
(we went to check on him today and he's still havin a
great time) i made some chainmail in colorado...
der. as usual. i made barbie a chainmail bra, at the
request of jill, the lovely individual who put my sister
and i up for a couple weeks. i got some of my work
displayed at a shop in a prime location in colorado
springs, on consignment. i'm hoping it works out, if
it does, then i can keep selling my work thru that
store until i get enough business directly to me to
not need to sell there.. i have found the coolest jewelry
wholesaler, in santa fe.. i got some silver wire and
a ton of stuff.. i could easily spend a few thousand in
there.. and a few hundred without picking up any
machines.. mmm mmm mmm. well, i'll let you all off
easy today, and keep it short.
have fun in all your ventures and be sedulous
peace
ksc ksc
Jan 6, 2000 - oy the new year is apon us. repent! repent!
well, i was here in new mexico for the new year. it
was cold. i stayed up in santa fe national forest
near a city called abiquiu, actually more near a
monastary 12 miles out into the forest. it was cold
on my toes. my sister, our friend nick and i went up.
i wussed out after 5 days and they're still up
there.. it'll be 10 or so when they come down.
christmas eve we walked around santa fe. the fireltos
and luminarios are something to be seen. firelitos
are little votive candles that are put in a paper bag
with dirt in the bottom.. there are a bazillion put
out lining houses and streets.. it's far more
beautiful than any christmas lights i've ever seen.
and there are little fires on teh street corners for
warmth. what a way to celebrate. they are intended
to light the way for the christ child.
i went to a bookstrore and picked up a few things, an
oxford dictionary, the new rage against the machine cd
and a book by jrr tolkien called 'roverandom'. it's a
story about a dog who gets lost. he wrote it when his
son lost his dog on the beach and was quite upset with
teh situation. i'd never seen this before, and i
jumped on it cause i love tolkien's work. i'm only on
chapter 3 but it's worth the buy, even if it works out
to 8 or so cents a page. on another note, they
rereleased the lord of the rings books in a 6 book
set. marketing, you gotta love it.
i'll leave with a bit of lyric.. (words, not the
infant, mind you)
'love yourself then love another freak like you'
-prophet7;13
it wasn't intended in a good way in the music, but i
think it's good advice.
peaceksckscpa
Janurary 22 - as to the goodly noot and apples in one way or another
well, it's been awhile, so here i am. here's the
skinny. my mom is closing on a house a the end of the
month. the house (which i haven't seen yet but i will
today) has a storage shed, with power, big enoughfor
my sister and i to both set up shop. i've been doing
a lot of work in sterling silver. it's actually not
that expensive.. i thought making silver stuff would
cosy an arm and a leg, but i can make a really nice
necklace for $15. and earrings and braceelts are
almost nothing.. i buy by weight.. 8.50$ an ounce.
i am going to invest the money into stainless steel
wire and tools (pretty much just a pair of high carbon
steel dykes or end nippers. my work is good enough to
replace my galvanized with stainless steel. on a
different note, my friend in michigan wnt to talk to a
jewelry teacher int he school he goes to.. she
teaches chainmail.. she had already been to my site.
another art teacher had shown her. that feels pretty
good to have a lot of people know about your website.
i went on a chainmail discussion boar and there was a
guy advertising my site there. ok, enough gloating
and talk of work.
the sun is just now rising, and if any of you have
been to new mexico for any length of time, you've seen
the most beautiful sun rises ans sunsets in the
nation. this one isn't as spectacular as some, but
it's more than most i've seen elsewhere.
my sister is at the college dorm being studious.
she's near to her glass workshop, which will be good
for her. well it appear i'm goign to have to cut this
a smidge short.. grama just showed up and i think the
housely things are taking place.
enjoy yourselves.
be sedulous.
Ksc
Janurary 22 - well i guess i should have waited
i should have written tat email tonight rather rthan
this morning. we went to shidoni, a bronze foundry
today. there's a glass workshop right next to it, so
we stopped in to see who wqas blowing what. and the
owner was making a big plate, about 1.5 or so across.
he was a dork. he was rude to the assistantshelping
him.. he was rude to me, and all i asked him was 'how
long have you been working in glass?' i can proudly
say that he will never get any of my money.. if i
want some glass i'll buy directly form one of the
other artists. while i was there a woman saw my snake
belt (which i had worn on random inspiration). she
asked about it.. i went and got the tam i made and
the purse wiht the k and a hood i've started.. she
saw the 3/32" 22ga necklace that i wear too.. she
asked about price and i told her about 250$ for a
silver piece same size and design of the one i'm
wearing. "well, i takes 20 or so hours, so i have to
charge accordingly" she responded with "you're an
artist.. you work with your hands and you work with
your heart." it's good to recieve this sort of
validation for my work. she also said that i knew
what i was doing.. not in making chainmail, but
persuing it as a form of enployment.. ok, so tht's not
all that happened.
we went to the foundry and saw them pour.. we asked
when they were pouring.. the guy said "about 30
seconds" so that was perfect timing. we were late to
go meet my uncle at the new community center in santa
fe, who was playing with some other friends of ours,
so we didn't get to peruse the art in the fields..
but we will go back some day..
the community center is quite strange. it has a
waterslide (inside.. and a curvy pool.. and one for
laps.. a room dedicated to break dancing.. an ice
skating rink.. a basketball court, a track, and a
fitness center. oh and racketball courts.. quite the
thing, i think.
we proceeded to eat dinner and go home..
oh yea, the reason i had the tam with me was i went to
get some cloth to line it with.. it's a neat piece of
chain, but it's painful towear.. so i got some black
fleece that i'm gonna line it with.. warm and cool at
the same time. <does the electric slide> i also got
some fabric to try to make a shirt.. i dislike
shopping at stores, except craft stores.. so, i
shou7ld do all my shopping at craft stores and bypass
retail outlets.. and grocery stores too.. (as much a
craft store as any)
k.. just had to be gleeful to all of you.
be sedulous in your endeavours
k s c
march 12 - no mans land
things have happened.. as they always do.. back
during the beginning of february i helped my mom paint
her new house and move into her new house.. then i
went off to arkansas to visit my friends sean and
shanna.. i had a grand time.. taught some rednecks
to make chainmail. went to the woods several times.
and made chainmail. yay for chainmail. well, when i
was about to leave arkansas to go back to new mexico i
find out that my grandparents were moving sort of soon
so i take off to virginia to visit some goodly noot
people, so i could help the grandparents move. so
here i am in virginia. last nght we went to an
ethopian restraunt.. and for those of you who've not
eaten ethopian, it's interesting.. you take a floppy
bread and pick up food between it (with fingers) and
eat it.. the food is in a community dish wiht more
bread ont he bottom which is eaten at the end of the
meal.. great stuff.. tomight i saw my.. oh
goodness.. i knew this at one point.. well h's my
cousin.. there are some seconds and some removeds in
there.. he even told me tonight, but i've gone and
forgotten already.. it was a good meal followed by
blackberry cobbler and ice cream.. and i'm a sucker
for anything berry. hmm.. on the bus.. in little
rock arkansas i saw silver fire hydrants.. and in
memphis tennessee i saw a silver pyramid.. so i know
now that this is the promised land. i know i'm
forgetting many an adventure.. oh yea.. they lost my
luggage onteh way to washington dc.. but i got it
back the next day. good for them.. my chainmail was
in there and there's no knowing what i'd do if they
lost my chainmail. i'm thankful for the cold weather
right now, cause i just had 2 weeks of hotness.. bah.
so yay cold.. well i'll try to keep up more onthe
milings cause i knwo i leave out lots of uninteresting
stuff when i wait for 2 months to write.. peace to
all of ye. and make chianmail sedulously.
ksc
march 28 – “as long as i in da carolinas i cun git home”
well i made it to north carolina safely. the bus
broke down on the last leg of the journey. the driver
shut down the computer.. waited 6 minutes, started it
back up and went to the next town where we sat for a
couple hours. another bnus was dispatched. it broke
down so they sent it back and got a third bus which
made it to asheville. after that. <shrug> it looks
like my time here will be as full of things ot do as
my time in virginia was. busy busy busy. i did much
there. i met many goodly people, many of whom i'm
related to. i went to the national art gallery. saw
some cool paintings.. and some cool wirework. and
meg and i saw a drawing from the 1500s that showed a
village of people..and men carrying big heavy sacks.
and piles of rocks. and other men were being operated
on by women. the caption read "women tried to cure
mens' simplemindedness by cutting loose stones from
their heads" some things never change. i got to see
the cherry blossoms around the tidal basin in bloom.
and a week later the winds had blown almost all the
flowers off the trees. i was told it looked like it
was snowing. unfortunately there was no snow. i
found it sort of ironic that the cherry blossom trees
were given to us by japan in 1958 to commemmorate a
100 year old peace treaty. i also helped to install a
hot tub. how odd that i show up and 30 pounds of
copper wire is dropped in megs lap. i was able to
help meg do gardenly things as well. which is
educational, fun, and messy all at the same time. yay
for dirt. i made much chainmail. i taught many
people to make much chainmail too. i taught some kids
at the local elementary school to make mobius balls.
i got applause for just showing up.. twice! i should
go to school more often. ;) i heard the coolest
rendition of the carmina burana that i've heard so
far. and hmm.. idunnowhatelse. rain is good.
oh
yes and i made applesauce. i actually did more
domestic things than i've done in quite awhile.. it
was fun.
well it is time for my after the bus nap. enjoy
yourselves as much as you can stand to.
oh yea and i saw the guy who gave me the skateboard
deck in knoxville, tn in chatlotte, nc it was pretty
strange.
fnord
peace
ksckscpa
march 29 - nice to be comfy. nice to be nice. (of all the
things i've lost)
well i left out many many things.
for example.. i went to oatlands plantation and
perused a garden of much gardenliness. and i went
into maryland and visited a chainmail friend and
learned how to enamel glass onto copper. i
experienced some thai food, and watched
koyanisquatsi.. it's a movie with music by phillip
glass. it's cotitled "life out of balance" no
dialouge just music and imagery. some diggable stuff
like traffic heading twards and away from the camera..
it makes it look like blood.. veins and arteries.
and some sped up marketplaces and so forth.. it looks
pretty crazy. but then again.. it is pretty crazy.
oh yes and i didn't rave about megs' wonderful kids
yet. raveraveraveraverave. i shall have to plot to
steal them. and put them in an irish nunnery. just
to get megs' ire of course.
alas i believe that is all. now for a lovely passage
from dylan thomas' "under milkwood" 'a play for
voices'
mrs dai bread one
--------
me, mrs dai bread one, capped and shawled and no old
corset, nice to be comfy, nice to be nice, clogging on
the cobbles to stir up a neighbor. oh, mrs sarah, can
you spare a loaf, love? dai bread forgot the bread.
there's a lovely morning! how's your boils this
morning? isn't that good news now, it's a change to
sit down. ta, mrs sarah
peacesksckscpa
april 2 - moving onward
well the move is over. the computer is hooked up.
(unless i can plug my finger into a phone jack to
write emails..) it was eventful in it's own little
way. i saw a performance called "spirit of the dance"
which is sort of modern dance stuff.. a lot of
celtic sounding music that was computer composed.
some of it was pretty cool, and other parts of it
seemed like rehashes of the earlier stuff.. put there
to take up space. i learned to knit. it's really
easy.. 2 stitches.. well i turned 2 stitches into 4
stitches. first thing i did was started breaking
rules. there is now a 'kim stitch'. it looks a lot
like braiding.. well more like a braid than the normal
'stockingette stitch' i believe it is called. so yea,
knitting is really easy, and quicker than crochet if
you get a rhythm down using the european method of
knitting. (which i managed to get into from the get go
with no instruction.) i highly suggest it. oh yea and
knitting techniques can be incorporated into
chainmail, except perhaps moreso, cause there are more
weaves in chainmail than there are stitches in
knitting.
well that's about it for the life of me. i get on a
bus at 9:30 in teh morning to go to arkansas. i'll be
ther for a week or a week in a half, after which i go
to new mexico, and i turn around almost right away and
go to colorado.. so those of you in colorado i'll be
there in about 2 weeks. as laid back as my life is it
sure is hectic.
oh yea and i'm now a part of the census. i filled out
the long form.. those of you who got the long form..
don't they ask you a bunch of stuff that isn't any of
their business. i should have answered everything
with the number 5 or noybsfu. or fnord. fnord.
pfenaocred
well enjoy yourselves
and check out my website if you haven't seen pictures
of my chainmail house. r the dandy carpet i made for it.
April 15 - the snow. it mocks me.
well i was in arkansas. things happened. there was a
guy with long hair. it was hot and muggy.
i got on a bus. i went along i40. i made a friend.
and saw a hippy. my friend chilled here in espanola
for a few hours, took a shower and got on a bus to
california. i slept. i woke up.
we drove to colorado springs.. started at 6am. got
there at 10. left the springs at 2pm and got here at
6:15. so i spent 12 hours driving from point A to
point A. oh yeah and it snowed almost the whole time
i was in the springs, which was nice but it wasn't
sticking. i guess i complain about the lack of snow
no matter what it's doing.
there was a time when i was asked to write shorter
emails. it was about 5 months ago and she doens't get
these anymore, but i hope she's happy with my brevity.
be an inspirator
peace
ksc
may 1 - if he had a feather in his butt, we'd both be tickled.
(take 3)
well, i made it to juneau, but i find it is best to
start at the beginning and when you get to the end,
stop. i left espanola nm at 1:30 wednesday
afternoon.. we ipcked up a couple of hippies in taos,
and so i made a couple friends. i went up through
colorado, wyoming, and into montana. i met a couple
of kids between wyoming and montana, very cool kids,
we had a good lunch in billings. i met many many
people ont he bus, i won't describe them all cause i'm
sort of tired in an awake sort of way.. i met people
i'd be with ont eh ferry as well, as early as wyoming.
between colorado springs, and denver i sat next to a
guy who graduated from palmer HS (where i graduated
from) and he went to school with elvira, mistress of
the dark. when i got to seattle they made me take 20
lbs ut of my pack so it wasn't overweight.. and it
had gone from NM to WA with that amount of weight in
it.. oh well, i just had to take out a shirt and it
was ok. we made it to bellingham and we had a few
hours to blow so a guy, a girl and i went off to
explore the city after we dropped our luggage off at
the ferry terminal. it's a nice little town.. we
just explored a small subrubish place called
fairhaven. we sat ont eh beach for a bit and tasted
seawater.. we even went to the tiny little public
library to use the internet.. i had 2 lines written
ad i was asked to get off, i should have sent it, but
as i am the slackmaster, i didn't. ok, so i'm off the
bus in this little town. (which i could see myself
living in more than most places).. i'm going to
emphasize the off the bus part, cause i was so pleased
to be walking around at this point.
we get ont he ferry.. well, it's not really that
easy.. we stand in line for the ferry.. then we get
on and clain our benches in the solarium.. this was
going to be our homes for the next 2.5 days.. i have
made a decision. i will not take a plane into juneau
anymore.. the ferry is just too cool not to ride.. i
love the motion of the boat, the chance to get to know
peopel well.. ti's all just ideal. there were
probably 15-20 people travelling around just like i
am.. we all became friends, and exchanged email
addresses.. the first coupel of nights everything was
pretty calm, but last night we were up till 2am being
obnoxious.. we probably should have let people sleep,
but we were not to see eachother again for quite
awhile. i woke up and here i was pullign into
juneau.. i got picked up brought back and fed
breakfast and talked for awhile.. and her ei am,
still awake?! i only got 3 or 4 hours of sleep
lastnight, but i feel energetic. yay for ferries!
AND there's even some sort of slushy snow stuff
falling fromt eh sky! how can you beat that.. well
i'm gonna go prepare for my grand visit (altho it'll
be hard to top the last 5 days).. enjoy yourselves.
i just had to restart the computer.. ack.. i hope
this will actually be sent now.. peaceksckscpa
peace
ksckscpa
may 6 - kickin back sippin on juneau sunshine
well, it's clearly cloudy today. hmm.. you can see
blue, but it is 70 or 80 percent overcast.. this is
wonderful.. we've had warm sunny days since i got
here.. well, there was a bit of rather high humidity
on monday. (the sort you can feel falling on your
head if you concentrate). i have to say these last
few days are the single best experience of alaska i've
had in all my years of living here.. i've made a
bundle of friends, hiked around a smidge, made my legs
overwhelmingly sore.. (to train for my washington
hike). i've been playing a lot of hack, and now i can
usually hit it a couple of times and get it away form
me without being too foolish about it (altho the
moments of foolishness are wonderful). i went and
helped them cook at the glory hole the other day (sort
of a soup kitchen deal) they have pretty good food
there, and it's got an even better price. ;) i always
told myself that if i ate at that sort of place i'd
help out, and it was fun.. i enjoy cutting veggies
and so forth.. reminds me a bit of a rainbow
gathering. juneau hasn't really changed from when i
lived here.. i just never came out of the woodwork to
see all the people.. t r a n s c i e n t people. oh
yea. well, i have 5 minutes of email use time left.
hmm, i think i'll wrote another short mail.. have fun
you all, enjoy your places where you are.
peaceksc
June 9 - leaving at lastka
doings doings.. juneau's reign of rainlessness is
over, but before it went i was able to get swanky tan
lines on my feet from my sandals, jump in the channel
(cold, but you can swim around for a minute and a half
or two minutes before you feel the overwhelming desire
to get out), jump in gold creek (cold, no.. freezing
ass cold. you jump in and you want to not be in the
water any more as it was snow several hours before),
walk in woods and be generally youthful and
irresponsible.
i taught some poeple to make chianmail, not many kept
at it, but a couple did. my friend hill made armor
for that atrocious taco bell rat.
my sister came up here, and i got to stay an extra
week to hang out with her before continuing on my
journey.
remarkably i have done very little in these last 2 or
3 weeks but jump in cold water, walk in woods, see
friends knew and new and make chainmail. huzzah!
i bought my ferry ticket today. hopefully this ferry
makes it to bellingham in one uncharred piece. this
last week, one of the ferries that runs the route i'm
about to take caught on fire, but as we all know
"that'll never happen to me".
enjoy yourselves
kickspa
july 5 - gather and disperse
well, i'm sitting in a university library in dillon,
montana. the gatyhering was more than words can
garble so i'll tell stories in person. the ferry down
from juneau was fun, we left juneau late and were
stuck in sitka for several hours, we got free food
from the cafeteria, the6y wouldn't tell us how much we
cost them. we went on a hiek in sitka, very beautiful
and many similar plants to juneau. af6ter ketichikan
i met a fellow named vince who gave us a ride from
bellingham to the yaak valley in montana (NW corner of
the state.. beautiful rainforest). people who live
there are yaakers. from yaak (the town consists of a
mercantile, 2 bars, and a yaak-o-mat)vince drove us to
the gathering. outside of jackson and wisdom montana.
both rinky dink towns. the gathering brought a lot
of capital to the local market and saveed it from
going under. well, that's the skinny, now i'm 3 weeks
with no shower (other than various rivers, lakes and
streams) from here who knows. there are 2 tentative
plans, one is go to boulder, co then to fayetteville,
ar then to kalamazoo (nifty primus rift). in
kalamazoo there is some land that some hippiwes are
building a house on, then they7'll build boats on the
land and will, one of the hippies, wants to take the
boats to juneau, (go figure) and sell them there. the
other is galavant around western USwith a couple other
friends i met at the gathering.. either way i leave
today or tomorrow. i think i need a laundramat, i'm
quite fragrantly out of place in this sterile
environment. well, that's all folks. oh yeah, there
is a regional rainbow gathering in colorado coming up
within the next month or two, if you've never been to
one and are near, go.. cause why not.
i'l write again when i know more about what's going on
in my life in the future (ha.... ha..
hahahahHAHHAHAHAH.) hmm, i had the best oatmeal this
morning, by the way. blueberry. mmm mmm mmm.
oh yeah.. the yaak is absolutely beautiful! it is a
little rainforest tucked away in montana, the people i
was staying with are al about alternative energy and
sustainable living. so is will. sustainable on
boats. yay for life and stuff and things. and lack
of things as well.
peace, love, unity, inity, and of courtse apples,
cause where would we be without the winds of chaos.
reverend kim s chatfield ksc pa
july 10 - boy, ze days are hot
well, the die is cast i suppose. i left the gathering
july 6, with a couple of texan city girls and headed
for yellowstone. we did the touristy thing with old
faithful and the bubbly mud stuff. the first night we
slept in a parking lot, the second night we decided to
look for national forest to stay in. we chose the
teton national forest, as we were headed for the south
enterance in the morning. we found a spot that has
more mosquitoes per square inch than any other place
i've ever been to. i was regularly killing 4 with one
swat. we left that night and found a more suitable
spot inthe same for4est. the next day we went
swimming in teh snake river and left wyoming. i got
to drive on the highway for the first time. i
confirmed things that i already knew. i have no
business behind the wheel, everyone was scared out of
their wits (me too), but we're still alive. we drove
through idaho that night and slept just over the
oregon border, in the morning we went to ontario,
oregon. it may seem quaint, but it is really a trap.
sop we depart6ed and backtracked to boise, where i am
now. boise is a swanky town, full of things and
concrete and kids. it's about 300,000 people, and has
a fountain you can play in (much to my enjoyment) and
a river i can wallow in. it appears that we'll be
staying here for a few days, and then going to crater
lake NP and redwood NP, then on to san francisco.
that is the tentative plan (we were going to go to
portland before we realized we had nothing to do in
portland.
see yall in sanfran
peace ksckscpa
july 19 - Eureka! Bisquick!
well, things have happened. still. we left boise,
and went to crater lake. we dropped of a texan girl
in trade fro a hippy. (i appologize for the typos,
i'm standing in a eureka university) the hippy got
out before we started camping and went in search for
his other hippies he left. we went to crater lake.
it was swanky. it was a crater and a lake and not
really that cold.. i got about 15-20 people to go
swimming. huzzah! we went to mount shasta, ca the
next day. there is a swimming hole called smiling
buddah, it was chilly waters. refreshing in a watery
sort of way. last night we went to a string cheese
incident show at the mount shasta ski resort. "take
something, leave something, it's the finest game in
the woods" ok, can someone tell me why the california
mountains smell like bisquick?the foresyts here are
really dense, and unhappy to meander around off the
trails (especially since there's guerrilla growers
with guns up in them thar hills) well i have to use
the facilities so i'll be going now.. enjoy
yourselves. peace ksckscpa
july 22 - feelin not so friscy
well, we made it to san fransisco. it's a city. i'm
realizing i'm not too into it.. i feel like an alien.
oh well, i'll make the best of it. or leave. <shrug>
i find it interesting that they let you over the
bridge wiht no toll, and it costs you to leave the
city. also, it's illegal to sleep in a car?!?
lawmakers.. bah. it'll seem more worth it if i sell
some chain. i can tell myself over and over.. it's
only a week... it's only a week... hmm, now this may
seem irrational to some people, but i've never slept
in a city liek this, or at least nmot in the recent
past.. or the middle past. hmm, and i suppose i'm
not really in san fran, i'm in bezerkly. and this
nice fellow kevin is letting me use his internet and
shower. (it's been a week.. a humid week.. full of
garlicy soup.) well, i should shower and go before
his roomie becomes unhappy.
oh yea, and please no more forwards, i have very
little time to be on the net, and i dislike having to
delete them. thank you.
bah.. i'm narky today.
peace
kickspa
july 26 - out with the sic in with the new
well, i got fed up and left. i called greyhound the
night before i left.. they tell me 85$. so i go buy
groceries the next morning, and go to the terminal..
(they said that there wasn't a closer terminal when
there was as well.. bah.. incompetance) i get up to
the counter and they tell me 122$. i was 15 short of
that. (being told 85 and all) so i try to sell some
of my silver earrings for bus fare. you will never
know the frustration of being generous when others are
in need and then when i'm in need of help, and tryign
to trade for it, people just blowing you off.
everyone just thought i was panhandling. bah.. i
would never panhandle. well, one woman gave me 5$,
and i thought she had given me more, so without
looking i gave her a pair of earrings.. she'd have
gotten something else for 5, for sure. oh well.. i
ended up getting a tiucket to albequerque. (it was
85$.. people on the phone suck) i figured i'd just
wing it when i got to NM. i got on the bus, met a
cool film maker from toronto, canada. in LA i had a
run in with a stupid bus driver.. it's so satisfying
to tell bastard drivers that they're bastards. i
ended up getting on the backup bus.. i'm so glad i
did. the fellow who drove me to flagstaff, al, was
really nice. in flagstaff i asked about a ticket from
abq to espanola. it was 20$. will someone explain
for 85$ + 20$ = 122$ ? so i bought the ticket. the
driver who took me from flagstaff to albequerque was
extremely nice.. we talked for 8 hours. he was a
southern baptist, but he studied science. he educated
me a lot about various animals, plants, landforms and
historical spots in the area. he gave me the secret
to capturing snowflakes, forever.. i just need 2
chemicals. we talked about books and guns and sidecar
motorcycles and government. overall i'd not trade
that bus ride for anything. i love being proven
wrong. i'd always been brought to berlieve that
southern baptists were unaccepting assholes. this was
however one of the nicest people i'd met since leaving
the gathering. (in the top 10 at least). i gave him
the last pair of earrings i had, as his wife collects
such things. i felt that pair went to a better home
than the other one. albequerque has to be the single
worst bus station i've ever been to. every time i go
through it it never fails to aggrevate me. i was
stuck there for 6 hours (that's fine, i expected it)
the woman behind the counter wanted to not talk to
anyone but her friends.. i was asking questions (as i
do.. you have to ask questions to learn) and she
doens't like doing her job i guess. what a bitch. "a
pain a pain" was her response when i asked for my
water bottle from my pack. she just took my pack
after tagging it.. some stations take the pack, some
ask you to deal with it. oh well, anyway, i was able
to contact my mom, and she said she'd meet me in
santa fe. oh yeah i should explain why i didn't go to
espanola.. the next espanola bus left abq at 6am. 14
hours in that sucky town would have been less than
desirable. so i just caught the next bus to santafe..
and i slept in a bed for the first time since the
beginning of june.. mmmm... blessed. ok i'm done
ranting now.
oh yea, after i test the snowflake thing i'll tell
everyone how you do it. now, if you'd like to test it
on your own, i'll tell you the chemicals, but i dont
knwo if it's worthwhile to spend the money ont he
chemicals yet.
peace
kickspa
august 4 - new things, and the future
well, it's hot in the desert.. and the almost nightly
rains we're getting just makes it hot and humid. i
built a solar oven for the first time the other day.
i baked some potatoes today and i'm baking some bread
as i type this. i'm mostly done sewing a shirt i've
been putting off for awhile now. (went and spent a
bunch of money on fabric and let it sit there.) i've
put a lkot of work into my chain house, and its coming
along (slowly but surely.) i have my plan for the
rest of the year set up now. in a few (2.5 or 3)
weeks i'm going to head to arkansas to visit all of my
friends there.. i probably won't stay too long cause
it'll be dreadfully hot.. (even with air
conditioning.. i'll be staying in a trailer) then
i'm heading to kalamazoo, michigan. i'm attaching an
email that i just recieved today. it will explain
what will be happening in michigan better than i
could. i hope you all enjoy it as much as i did.
peace & love
ksckscpaaf
______________________________________________
Do you go by Kim? What is up Eric Melanie and all who
by grace receive
this
Greetings nonetheless,
Well it would appear that we still "are" and we are
getting the house
fixed
up with the goal of creating more bedrooms and
comfort. Bigger
gardens, and
more recreation. We had an after-hours last night and
this cool cat
named
Jim came up with the idea of passing out sandwiches on
the street
tonight.
The house seems to be going in the direction of this
becoming a Rainbow
registry house. There are folks in Kalamazoo
expressing interest in
our
mission...but at present we are a long time and
distance from
Portland...quite probably years...but it depends
entirely on how fast
the
community wants to get there.
I think we should bring Nic-at-Nite to the streets of
Kalamazoo:
You need a cigarette? We got a cigarette!
You Got a cigarette? We need a cigarette!
Cause there is no Nation like DoNation
No City like GenerousCity
So Get down with the kickdown!
We Jones so you don't have to
We don't smoke so you can
Here is you cigarette!
What we give away will come back to us on the order of
sevenfold
We can create the reality that we believe in
Live in the world, as we want it to be
That is the purpose of our community
As happy as we can be everyday
Giving and creating
Changing the world moment by moment
Thought by thought
one life at a time, one lifetime lived for the future
one day at a time
Improve lives beginning with our own!
It will spread like a social disease
Only let the good things into our reality
Watch Babylon crumble and fall under the weight of our
love
We will be the homeless caring for the homeless, by
attending to
ourselves
We will be the example that demonstrates a better way
to live
Building castles and feasts out of the waste that
society throws away
We will build boats from trash
Richness thru Poverty and environmental stewardship
Waterworld
But In the mean time we are here, and we Simply are.
Kalamazoo is an
awesome community, The neohippe social
scene/underworld of parties til
dawn
is a blast. This is what we have to offer. A place
to live where you
can
find your own way to contribute in which it is
effortless for you while
edifying for the community. the focus on all of us
staying as happy as
possible while naturally making the world a better
place as a
consequence of
the peace, happiness, and love within us.
I truly feel the Source that governs the universe is
gathering us
together
to accomplish great things.
A few years ago I owned a construction business
trimming and remodeling
million dollar homes. I lost interest in it after my
divorce but there
is a
tremendous amount of tools, equipment, and material
left over from that
endeavor, dare I say all we will need. We are
completing a shop area
in the
basement at present, all these resources are available
for community
use.
Eventually we will need to build a small garage and we
can put
temporary
additions on it using lightweight panels that we
construct. This will
be
shop space for building boats and other projects. The
temporary
addition
could be moved to Portland so we instantly have a shop
when we arrive
there.
We have a big Step van in good condition. We have
appliances to
install
in it and can convert it quickly for travel to shows
and gatherings.
We
plan to paint it up rainbow style. a more subtle
rainbow color scheme
has
been thought of for the house as well. There is much
work to be done,
and I
cannot give the house/boat/truck/tools to the
community because
ultimately
they are not all paid for, in the sense that my net
asset value is
likely a
negative number. But we have the tools and the
knowledge. I am
certain we
can get more boats for free. You fix up your boat and
it is your craft
to
steward. The boats that belong to the community will
come out of the
community. By faith agreement and effort nothing is
impossible.
Believe in
making a blissfully wonderful and free community on
water and we will
succeed. Others will follow our lead and this will
happen wherever
there is
water. I have several good books on floating
communities and building
houseboats. They have chapters on dealing with the
legal issues of
squatting on water in the northeast.
The meals here are communal and so far we are having a
great time.
Bring
your happiness and positive energy and join us. We
will figure out the
life
that the Source wants us to live together while
maintaining maximum
bliss
and productivity in the mean time. Tomorrow we are
having a fire out
back
and some people over. The yard here is very pleasant
and we are minutes
away
by foot to several universities and downtown. This is
a great town to
live
in though not the best place to winter.
For now my concentration is on repaying my debts and
creating mobile
housing. Then I will be free and the things I own will
cease to own me.
I
have a good paying job in the trades that enables me
to work a few
months
and then draw unemployment up to half of the year. It
is a phat life
and
fun work I can guide others with interest in the
trades towards that
end.
The boat is a twenty-eight footer. I have invested
about eight months
of my
life and $12,000 into it. It is about half-complete.
It will make a
good
floating kitchen, and the majority of the materials
are already
purchased.
It is designed for the intercoastal passages of the
northeast. It is a
start. We will need more boats and probably another
tow vehicle.
Whatever
we truly need the Source will provide in abundance...I
believe that.
There is a second small sailboat that some people i
know will probably
kick
down to us for doing some painting. This could be the
first official
community boat and it would make an excellent shuttle
boat, we could
tow it
out with a small car.
The possibility of us buying land or having some
donated to us for use
on
the water in Portland seems very real to me. Come and
we will BE...the
future will bring us what we need if we all learn to
make the most of
everyday.
For now, we have a bedroom here that is used as a
computer/laundry
room.
The laundry is being moved to the basement and the
computer can go in
the
dining room. Several people could share this bedroom
when it is fixed
up.
Additionally there is a good-sized attic in the
process of being
finished
into a bedroom. Padre has eeked out a meager but
private bedroom in
the
front porch and the other half of the porch could
serve the same
purpose for
some one else. My long time friend and roommate Josh
is ready to marry
and
buy his own house soon. He has had his fill of acid
trips and dead
shows
for awhile. His room is the largest in the house and
may be available
in a
few months.
It occurs to me that to be successful as a
pseudo-utopia all we need is
a
sanctuary of our own, respect for one another and
total freedom. This
is
our home and it already exists as such we can keep it
a social heaven
on
earth. We need not fill it with drainbows and those
who wish to steal
and
squander community resources and waste them on two
hours of a personal
crack
high. Yet these are the ones that we want to reach
out to...the lost
and
unhappy...I want to help people learn to give up
survival and start
living.
I am so elated that I am finding others who want to do
the same. I
suspect
we will never succeed unless our leadership is by
agreement with no
individual in charge. Yet we must have rules to
maintain order,
probably an
unwritten ever changing constitution of love and
respect which keeps in
pace
with our ideas and maintains the peace and joy within
us.
Kim...I long for your contribution of quality and
artistry...and
whatever
else you bring. Eric and Melanie, bring us your
happiness and
squatting
skills, we need your enthusiasm. Please forward this
to Joe, Drie, and
Blaze if you know where they are at. Send us your
love, faith, and
ideas,
We Will become what We Create. We will get what we
give.
Much love,
Will
-------------------
Life's Voyage
Sail straight into life not away from death
Let the sweet wind transport your soul and fear not
the coming storm
Harness the exultation of the gusts and extract
triumph and elation
from the
gales
Find peace in the calm
Let the sun warm your skin and take comfort that the
shadows from the
clouds
will soon pass
Know that both torrent waters and pleasing warm summer
rains absorb and
carry the nutrients of hope, ambition, dreams…
Enriched water that will fertilize the seeds of
endeavor and give root
to
your fulfillment
Sailing upon the last uncharted sea your spirit will
spy the sun
setting
against your final horizon
It will be sublime
For you have utilized every square inch of canvas to
the best of your
ability
You have sailed the good race
The sun will reflect off the waters you have journeyed
Images of wonders you have experienced borne of risk
With God speed you found the ports thought to exist
only in dreams; the
harbors of your being
Though your hull will be battered and your sails torn
to rags…there
will be
no regret as your mast is thrust in the direction of
the abyss
The focus will not be the unsuccessful course that
became doom, but the
number of times prior that you righted and bailed
Others received encouragement from your daring and
believe tranquillity
can
be harvested from life’s blows
When that concluding dusk has passed and your vessel
has sunk to the
bottom
There will be no doubt…you have lived!
Copyright September 18, 1998 3:56 AM William J. Locher
IV
Sorry, I just got a little inspired by you postscript
God sometimes I think I should have majored in English
=)
Dream imagine become…overcome
If we can think it we can do it!
That is the substance of faith
If we manifest our sublime bliss
We are the portals through which others can escape the
absence of hope