letting heart strings grow long

today i found myself doing the backstroke in the pond.  i closed my eyes, felt my body float in the top, warm layer of the water, and watched the light of the setting sun fill my world with light.  i thought about my life.

in a little over a month, i’ll be 25 – a quarter of a century – and, now that i think about it, i’m excited for the next year.  i guess that i’m excited about what all will happen in my life.  there was a time that i didn’t have a whole lot of faith that i was getting to where i needed to be – there are times that i still feel that way.  but mostly, my life has move in the direction of damn-near overwhelming for everything that is to come.  i think about the moment in american beauty (sorry, another movie quote – deal with it) where ricky is talking about the plastic bag video:

“it was one of those days when it’s a minute away from snowing and there’s this electricity in the air, you can almost hear it. and this bag was, like, dancing with me. like a little kid begging me to play with it. for fifteen minutes. and that’s the day i knew there was this entire life behind things, and… this incredibly benevolent force, that wanted me to know there was no reason to be afraid, ever. video’s a poor excuse, i know. but it helps me remember… and i need to remember… sometimes there’s so much beauty in the world i feel like i can’t take it, like my heart’s going to cave in.”

that’s how i feel – like there is so much and my body can barely contain it.  there is so much out there and i can relax about wanting it all right now – it will all come right when it’s suppose to.  this 24th year has been very interesting.  i’ve mostly come to appreciate the randomness and the perfection in life.  i thought about the beginning of my relationships and where they are presently while i felt my toes dip below the thermocline of the pond.  i had no idea that the people  i love (if you’re reading this, most likely this includes you) would be what they are today when i first met them.  there are those that i loved, lost, and learned to love again.  there are those that i’ve always loved.  there are those that i’ve let to learn to love.  then i thought about where it would go from here and smiled as the flowers from the trees along the ponds blew in to the water and floated quietly past me.

wine bottles and my stars

everyday i think of a few things that i try to remember for these increasingly infrequent postings.  like i’ve already said, i don’t hang out with technology a lot these days.  so if i’ve been bad about e-mailing or calling or anything that involves me using something with buttons, i apologize.  here are a few things that i have remembered to write about.

since almost a year ago, i’ve been wanting to have my star charts read.  i can’t really say why – i suppose the best answer is that have good people in my life that have suggested it.  so when i norcal, do as the norcal do.  i had my “reading” done by a friend of a friend – an amazing woman named mary.  first of all, it was super informal.  no dark room with candles and silk curtains draped in dramatic ways.  mary and i just talked on the phone.  i have to say, it was awesome.  we talked about the connection between when and where i was born in relation to the celestial bodies and how that connects with my personality and experiences.  i don’t really want to type it out here – partially because it’s late and partially because i don’t want to dilute it’s meaning.  i suppose i want to say that my expectations were blown out of the water and i would recommend it to everyone.  i suppose that the moon controls the tides of the ocean and the cycles of women, why shouldn’t it and the other planets have profound effect on my trends and personality.  i tried to come into it in search of perspective, rather than in search of something to lean on.  i think that it’s dangerous to take what someone like mary says and run with it as truth.  it just sheds light on what you already knew.

i think the other great highlight recently was bottling wine.  for the last three months, my friend erik has been threating to have us up to his friend’s vineyard to help with some bottling.  i have been stoked since the beginning to do this and yesterday night was the night.  we helped for four hours at Le Vin Organic Mountaintop Vineyard.  last night was the bottling of a 2002 merlot (which means almost nothing to me – it all tastes like alcohol).  but it was a riot.  we jumped right in and all of us took a station.  some put nitrogen into the bottles, others filled the bottles with wine, others (me) put corks in, other applied labels and the foil cap, and finally others packed and loaded finished cases.  there was great music and amazing views from the vineyard.  everything was done by hand and each person had a small job that was critical.  i just thought it was cool that we each touched the bottle along the way and tried to stay focused (i was pretending i was a bootlegger the whole time since we were doing the bottling at night and in a barn way out in the country).  the owners made us really good food and filled our arms with wine as payment.  word on the street is that there is a pinot noir that needs bottling soon and we might be paid in more wine, olive oil, or money.  norcal is pretty fun.

there is heaps more, but i have sleep to catch.  tomorrow is a class all about wind power and i can’t wait!  love you all – i promise i’ll be in touch soon.

luna moth

i’m back in indiana for my brother’s wedding.  i’ve been here since tuesday morning and i’ll be here until july 3rd.  so far, it’s been strange.  good – but strange.

i’ve found that i recently have had moments of profound disorientation.  normally i wouldn’t notice these, but i also have recently had moments of profound inspiration and clarity.  it’s hard to know what sparks the former.  sometimes it’s just thinking about it all too much – how much has changed is such a short amount of time – the people that i’ve lost and/or met along the way – the sense of having so much out there but not knowing where any one path will lead.  i suppose life and it’s purpose isn’t meant to be fully grasped by a mind.  it’s somewhat like thinking about the universe – how there is no edge, yet there is also no center.  it is always expanding while deepening it’s connections to itself.  to try to understand these connections and make patterns of them would be futile and maddening.  hence the mantra of living in the moment and seeking happiness in being present.  i’m working on this, but it’s hard.

as for the latter, those sparks are easy to identify  – the way that the mendocino hills look at sunset (with the golden grass holding the sunlight like prisms on the coastal ranges) – the smell of an indiana summer night after a day of rain – the incredible opportunities that i experience each day – the humble appreciation for the simple things, like becoming really good at making my niece laugh hard and for teaching her to say my name – the luna moth that floated like a ghost around the work light tonight as i helped kevin upholster a seat for the wedding.

i’m assuming that these opposite experiences of connection and disconnection are normal.  but it’s certainly hard to have the latter these days of so much change – it makes you question a lot.  but i suppose the benefit is appreciating that we really don’t know anything about the world, about all which it contains, and about our role within it.  this is all most likely dreadfully boring – it was on my mind because i was feeling that disconnect.  but now it’s time for tea and bed.

making good on good promises.

as my garbanzo beans softly simmer and run d.m.c. bounces in my headphones, i once again appreciate the gmail notifier. it chimes that i have a new e-mail – and not just any e-mail: a BLOG comment! from who? eli – even better! as my counter nears 3,000 he reminded me about a practice that i tried to get started for each time my blogcounter rolled over the thousand mark. the deal was this: if you’re the 1000th person, i’d write an entire post about you and how great you were. the only requirement was that you let me know who YOU are. at 1,000 – the winner must of missed the counter because i didn’t get an e-mail. at 2,000, it was my dear friend ashley schaeffer that hit the nail on the head. so, even though i was planning on reading tonight, this post is for you ashley.

where oh where do i start with a person like ashley? this should be relatively easy considering that we only met in august. despite those short seven months (in which we’ve only been face-to-face friends for around seven weeks), ashley has become a spectacular and close friend. for all intensive purposes, she is a personification of northern california, which made me a little barfy at first and continues to do so to this day (insert vomit face and a smile here). she’s always talking about crystals, moon cycles, and yoga while eating something organic and green. being from the midwest, this is both hilarious and very interesting. i have learned an immense amount from ashley by just “living open”: that i like bikram yoga; what a green drink tastes like; how to eat more kale than is socially appropriate; that my bare feet are the best way to see the world; how to be more connected to those whom i love; and, most importantly, how to let go and be present in life. mostly, she’s been working hard to make me into a goddamn hippy (impossible i say). i still have to laugh at how she matches all the notions of a northern californian. but each laugh is out of appreciation for someone that is so new and interesting. i have never been pushed (in a good way) by a person before to cut the bullshit and drop the walls that surround me. for this i will be forever grateful for being allowed to know ashley. even when we weren’t sure what we were suppose to be to each other, i feel that we knew whatever it was would be around for a long, long time.

you can read about our swim across walden pond in a past post (All Along the Jamaican Plain i think). since then it was has been a tumbling of adventures that have spanned from indiana to northern california. there has been a lot of bread baking, kombucha drinking, and increasingly better snuggling. it’s hard to write a post about someone that has been such an awesome friend. so i guess i’ll just express it in the simpliest terms. she is one of the reasons the world is a radiant and beautiful place and i love her dearly. i know that no post can properly sum up a friendship, but i hope that this one came close. thank you ashley, for being such an amazing presence in my life. here’s to our friendship and my future adventure into the your world.

as for eli’s question about what happens for the 3,000th person, here’s the scoop. the person who is the 3,000th and claims it will be allowed to choose from the following options: a flattering post all about them a la this one; a snail mail surprise (contents at my discretion); or something i bake (raw crackers, granola bars, bread) that can be mailed. sounds tempting, yeah? and this is all on the honor system, so don’t be a jerk and just keep reloading the page until you hit 3,000 – it takes the fun out of the whole thing.

poop

it’s nice to have an opportunity to do something new. today i changed my first dirty diaper in history. not a big deal to some, but a big deal to me. wednesdays are yoga night for my mom and kelly, so – if eric is out of town – it’s up to my dad and i to occupy dorothy for two hours. d day is the first baby i’ve ever really interacted with and i’ve been happy to find myself excited to hang out with her more and more each wednesday. today we had a bit of a melt down. the words “bye-bye mommy” came out of our mouths when d day asked about kelly. for the record, those words were the wrong answer to a twelve month old. it was about the most pitiful crying while leaning on the front door you could imagine. so we took evasive action. we played the tape player and danced – we got out the juice bottle – we even tried the old banana cookie/flashlight double whammy. nothing. when i picked d day up for a little uncle comfort, i realized that my worst fear had come true – a wet diaper on a crying child with only myself to look to for a solution. so i went for it and it was gross. but i was proud that i only slightly gagged at baby poo and i was impressed that d day actually stopped crying and started laughing, presumably at my bumblings with a hippy cloth diaper. i was also way impressed by kids clothes and wondered why we wear what we wear. i’ve had to put on enough dress shirts to want to swear them off forever. so i’m proposing a reversion to kid style clothes. for example, dorothy had a sleep suit (ya know – with the feet built in) and had a zipper that ran from just above the right ankle, up the leg, up the chest and ended at the neck with a snap. all i’m saying is that such ideas shouldn’t be limited to people, like babies, who can’t really appreciate the convenience of the all-in-one garment – shoes, pants, and a shirt all together with one zipper. anywho, back to the point. dirty diapers weren’t all that bad and the whole experience made me feel like i could actually have children and not kill them.

p.s. so do you think they’re going to find a bunch of gas on the island for hurley’s van to run on? that whole part of the story was crap. i mean, a van…c’mon. poor episode.

he has all these souls, but he has not my number…

the last post got me thinking: i have a lot of recipes that are just floating around. some are in books that i have – others are scribbled on notecards – the rest are lost forever. in an effort to get more organized, as well as cut down on what i am hauling west, i downloaded a program for mac called measuring cup and have begun the painstaking process of organizing my recipes. it seems pretty straightforward and easy to use (freeware to boot!). you can search, categorize, and print/PDF recipes for others. let’s see how it pans out.

so as i go into this culinary masochism, i ask that you post up your best of the best recipes as comments. i would love to pack your favorite foods into my collection and give them a whirl. not veggie or vegan? no worries – i’m pretty good at subbing animal products out of a recipe. no fooling on this one – i wanna see your stuff! i hope to keep a running list of my recipes on here so that you can browse – i’m happy to share what i got.

four recipes with love

i wanted to write something really meaningful tonight. unfortunately, it’s simply not there at the moment. in the past, i would have forced myself to do it just even when it didn’t feel right. but no longer. things these days have been hallmarked by that approach. if i don’t feel something – i mean really “feel” it – i just leave it be and move on to something else. this has been true for romance, jobs, and – well – blogs. so i’ll pacify your burning desire for a slice of my life with four recipes that i have really been loving recently: hummus, lentils, quick spelt bread, and raw crackers. i just guessed with a lot of the ingredient amounts – i believe in cooking from the hip. put in more or less of what you like or don’t like. it’s all about trying it and then making it your own – open source recipes if you will. hope you love them as much as i do!

– hummus:

* 1.5 cups of dried chick peas (if gutless and using canned, just use one can of drained and rinsed peas)
* 1 tbsp olive oil
* 2 tbsp tahini
* 2 tbsp lemon juice (fresh if you can)
* 1 tbsp plain rice milk or plain soy yogurt
* 1 clove garlic (more if you’re a decent human being)
* 1 tsp tamari or braggs
* 1 tsp cumin
* 1/2 tsp paprika
* 1/2 tsp coriander (optional)
* 1/4 tsp onion powder (or roast a half+ of onion with the garlic!)
* 1/2 tbsp flax oil (optional)
* salt and pepper to taste (add this at the end!!!)

the night before, soak the chick peas in enough water to cover them by about an inch. when they are well hydrated, drain them and put them in a pot with fresh water – again, enough to cover them by about an inch. bring to a boil, reduce to a simmer, and cover for about an hour (add more water if necessary). once they are good ‘n soft, drain them (reserve the water to thin the hummus if you’d like). the next step is optional but is worth it if you have time and don’t mind washing another dish. put the clove(s) of garlic, the cumin, a bit of the salt, and the olive oil in a oven-worthy dish (i use a little metal bowl). make sure the cloves are covered with oil, cumin, and salt and roast at low temperature for as long as it takes. let it cook and slam all ingredients in the food processor until smooth. you can use more of the milk, a bit or water, or the reserved juice to thin it down. warm a pita in a skillet with some olive oil, cumin, and garlic salt and go to town. nice.

– lentils (thanks to ms. schaeffer for the hook up!)

* 1⁄2 cups green lentils, sorted and rinsed
* 3 cups water
* 3 cups veggie stock
* 1 onion, finely diced
* 2+ garlic cloves, finely diced (again, up the ante and go for about 3-4)
* 2 bay leaves
* 1 carrot, finely diced
* 1 celery rib, finely diced
* no more than 1 cup of whatever rice is lying around (wild is best)
* salt and freshly milled pepper
* 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil, roasted walnut oil or butter
* red wine vinegar
* chopped parsley (optional, but nice if you have it lying around)

put the lentils in a soup pot, cover with water & veggie stock, and bring to a boil. watch for boil over (i.e. use a big pot). then add the onion, garlic, bay leaves, carrot, celery, rice, and 1 1⁄2 teaspoons salt. lower the heat and simmer until tender but still a little firm – they shouldn’t be mushy – about 25 min or until most of the water is cooked off. i leave it a little “stewlike” – it’ll thicken up more than you think. remove the bay leaves, taste for salt, and season with pepper (i add quite a bit more of both, but be careful not to add too much – you can always add more, but can’t take out what you’ve put in). stir in the oil and vinegar to taste to bring up the flavor. throw in some parsley and rock that goodness!

– quick spelt bread

* 3 cups of spelt flour
* 2 packets of organic yeast (1 packet of non-organic)
* 1/2 tsp of salt
* no more than 1 cup of whatever you want in the bread (i use a combination of quinoa, sunflower seeds, flax meal/seeds, walnuts, pumpkin seeds, steel cut oats, polenta, corn meal and almonds. be adventurous – we’ve put in seedweed, garlic, fresh dill, and fresh rosemary for a dinner bread)
* 1 3/4 cups of warm water (around 90 degrees)
* 1/4 cup of sweetener (i use a combination of agave nectar, maple syrup, and molasses)

preheat oven to 375 degrees. using butter (i use earth balance) and your fingers, grease a large loaf pan (the process will be a lot easier later if you do this now). combine water, sweetener, 2 cups of flour, and yeast in a bowl and mix until the flour and yeast are moistened (i recommend mixing the yeast and flour together before adding water – i also recommend using a 2 cup liquid measuring cup for the water and sweetener. that way you can dissolve the sweetener in the water before adding to the flour and yeast). cover with a towel and place in a warm location (next to a wood stove or on top of the oven). in the mean time, mix the remaining flour, the salt, and the various seeds, nuts, or whatever you’re adding in a large bowl. make sure you combine it all really well. when the yeast mixture has grown a bit and is smelling very “yeasty,” add it to the dry ingredients and combine well (don’t over mix though – it works all the CO2 the yeast has given off out of the dough). the dough will be very wet – don’t worry! pour into the loaf pan and spread evenly. i do a kind of dance with the pan – shaking it from side to side to even the dough out and then banging it on the counter to force any air pockets out. sprinkle some seeds and nuts on the top and pat down so that they’ll stick. pop in the oven for 45 minutes or until a tooth pick comes out clean. let it cool a bit and gorge. mosh.

– flax and oat raw crackers

* 4 cups oat groats (soaked for 48 hours)
* 1 cup flax seeds (soaked 4 hours)
* 3-5 cloves of garlic
* 1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
* 1/2 tsp salt
* 1/2 onion
* whatever flavor you’re into (cumin, chili powder, seaweed, whatever) to taste

so most of this recipe is tied up in soaking the oats & flax, as well as dehydrating the crackers. if you’ve got some down time, then go for it. if you’re busy, it might be a hassle. basically, when the oats & flax are soaked (they’ll be really gooey), combine the ingredients with them in a food processor with a little ass behind it and process them until they mixture is well blended (mine usually turns white-ish). on a cookie sheet covered with parchment paper (push down the corners!) or one of those fancy silicone mats ($19.99 at linens and things and well worth it if you’re doing a lot of dehydrating and don’t want to keep thowing out parchment paper) pour the mixture and spread evenly to a thickness of around a 1/4 inch. in an oven heated to 105 degrees (if it goes that low – mine goes to 170 so i use an in-oven thermometer and crack the door open far enough to drop it down to 105), dehydrate the mixture for 4-5 hours (yes – HOURS. i start mine 4-5 hours before i am going to bed). flip the crackers – best achieved by flipped the sheet over onto another piece of cookie sheet – and put break lines in them (so when they are finished you’ll be able to break them apart in uniform pieces). put back in the oven for another 4-5 hours (i go to bed and then flip them when i get up for work or to go to the bathroom). break them and love on the hummus with them.

try these and drop your variations in a comment. i’d love to hear how they work out and try new approaches.

gross…

and it’s been well over a month since any significant posting.  here it is and it will be disappointing most likely.  i’m back in noblesville for a bit – reveling in the zero degree weather.  the last month was a whirlwind tour of the west coast.  seattle, san francisco – both amazing.  so amazing that i think that my home will be in northern california from april to october.  i think (fingers crossed) that i scored a gig at the solar living institute.  many thanks to ms. schaeffer in this regard – i know i’m pretty cool, but i think my chances of getting an internship wouldn’t have been nearly as good without her good words.  many thanks to you crunchy.

so yes – hopland, california.  a bit small but positively bursting with opportunities.  not only will i be learning heaps and moving closer to my goal of an off the grid farm in an intentional village, but i’ll be exploring all that is northern california.  in no particular order, i want to: work at a bakery; learn how to pick grapes and make wine; celebrate a solstice; grow my hair and beard (can i call it that?) long; learn how to surf; sleep under the stars of yosemite for at least two weeks; eat 90% of my food from an organic garden; and learn to be a more present and emotionally aware person.

post hopland is under the “who knows?” category.  there is a lot floating around – antarctica; off-grid business ventures; graduate school; yada yada yada.  i feel pretty good at the moment by just living in the moment.  i’m working at my dad’s place to make some money before heading west.  i’d like to make my way by one of five ways, in descending order by desirability:  1.) convert a diesel to greasel/biodiesel; 2.) ride my bike; 3.) ship my stuff and hitchhike; 4.) take a train; 5.) fly.  the first two are going to require quite a bit of money and time to get ready by april.  i am short on both.  the third is exciting but uncertain.  i’ve never really hitchhiked and think it might be a bit scary.  i would probably have to carry some kind of protection and i’m not sure how i feel about that.  the fourth would be rad but again expensive – a quick check showed $240 as the approximate fare one-way.  flying is lame:  it makes my head hurt, it’s horrible for the environment, and it’s not really traveling.  but it’s cheap – a second quick check showed $89 one-way.  it’s hard to pass that up.  but i have some time to think.  i’m looking for a cheap diesel truck if you know anyone around indy that is trying to get rid of one.

to sum up the bulk of my travels, i’ll leave it at this:  seattle = wonderful to see old friends in new places + fly hotbox honeys + precious kittens and pups + solid air hockey and pinball + righteous snowshoe adventure with two amazing people + good vegan food/junk food + crazy weather + fun seattle sightseeing.  san fran/berkeley = solid introductions to amazing people + mass transit adventures + breathtaking redwoods + spiritual oranges with j. muir + wearing tread of shoes from miles and miles of san fran streets + delicious raw foods + wonderful bread + lost in the woods at night + hopland splendor + solar living anticipation + zen chased with yoga + deeper friendships.

love you all.  i’m in noblesville and would love to see as many folks as possible.  i’ve got several secret projects going right now and would dig some buddies.  until next time…

oh, my flickr is doing strange things so i’m holding off on uploading the rest of my travel photos.  eli, if you read this – it’s uploading all my photos at a very small size and with crap resolution.  mystery: i set my preferences to “do no resize” and my camera has been taking photos at the same resolution as it did before all of this jargon happened.  i’ll call you back soon and we can noodle it.

the things that we say.

last night had me thinking about the things that we share with people and when we choose to share them. i think that it’s interesting that people tend to share the most important information in a friendship, relationship, etc. at the least appropriate times. for instance, drunk at new years. the cell phone lines were positively jammed last night as i tried to call as many people as possible. as i walked out into the room, i saw that everyone was on their phone pouring out well-wishes and love to someone far away. i wondered if last night was just another night that everyone was sharing their feelings and that it just happened to be new years eve. it would be silly to think this because i know that’s not the case in my life. new years is the world series of drunk dialing. people say things that they mean, but would probably never say as easily on other nights under lesser levels of intoxication.

but why is it so easy to say such important things on holidays or under the influence or both? is it because it’s scary to put yourself out there – a fear ofembarassment or rejection? or is it because everyone is somehow different on the holidays – a bit happier and open to sentiment?

then i thought a bit deeper. i thought first about how i, like a lot of people, can be very self-conscious of saying things like this in the day to day because i am scared of the other persons response. albeit lonely, it is easier to not take risks on telling other people how you really feel. i then thought about how this doesn’t apply when taking to other people about how you feel about one particular person. in fact, most people will talk about sentiment to anyone BUT the person who really needs to hear it.

not that i want everything to be completely mushy all the time. i just thought that relationships probably suffer because people are scared of airing their true thoughts and feelings. usually, feelings are pretty straight forward. but being tight-lipped, in my opinion, most likely compounds the self-consciousness of everyone. we don’t know how others feel, so we ourselves are less likely to share our feelings. our failure to overcome this fear makes it less likely for others to remain emotionally isolated. eventually, i think that relationships with people can hit a level that is nearly emotionally void. this level is easy because it allows for self gratification – you have a minimal bond with those around you and only engage enough to satisfy your basic social needs. it is a relationship of convenience.

all of this thinking made me appreciate those people in my life that constantly fight relationships of convenience. they provide affirmations of their feelings all the time. at first, i thought that this was really uncomfortable – someone would tell me that i was important to them and, rather that feeling drawn closer to them, i found myself repelled because i did know what to say and felt that people were trying to trick me into revealing vulnerable feelings. it’s completely fucked up that this was the case. i could go into a number of explanations to tie a web of background, but that is useless because that reaction is no longer the case. although still slow to respond, i have found that those in my life that share freely and without fear have reduced the fear i have to share openly. as a side benefit, these people have helped me see the true nature of my other relationships. once i had the comfort of a more open relationship, i found all others as lacking.

so i made another new years resolution last night – to no longer hold back how i feel with people that i care about. again, not going all mushy, but definitely not missing opportunities to let those in my life know how important they are.

but the miracle is in motion – finding new places where we belong.

it’s funny that when i’m not feeling particularly inspired to write something that i can be motivated by reading other’s posts.  case in point, i read eli’s most recent post about working all the time and realized that i haven’t really been working at all these days.  it’s amazing to me how easy to do absolutely nothing when you don’t have to worry about paying rent or buying food.  though it is troubling to be so stagnant and dependent – even if just for a few days.  i’ve spent the last five years pretty much running full speed with projects, school, and personal goals while pretty much providing for myself.  i know that this is just temporary and that i should appreciate this as time off.  but i’m already growing restless for more after just five days.

not that i want another job nor do i want to go back to school.  i feel that these are just easy options that people go after because they help fill the day and forget about what truly brings happiness.  yes, they bring money and that is necessary.  but we only NEED so much money.  i’m looking into both for the future, but i’m looking into a lot of other things.  Approximately 15 to be exact:

1.) Going to Cuba this summer

2.) Hiking the Knobstone Trail in Southern Indiana this winter

3.) Making a chair

4.) Applying for a bunch of cool jobs in the environmental field

5.) Being a substitute teacher

6.) Working at my brother’s gear shop

7.) Learning to weld for fun and to help me get a job in at the south pole

8.) Fixing my bike, which is hurting

9.) Learning to knit

10.) Learning to play a stringed instrument or the piano

11.) Starting a photo project and learning Photoshop/Illustrator

12.) Learning Spanish

13.) Make plans to visit Seattle in the late spring/early summer

14.) Making plans to thru-hike the AT or the PCT

15.) Read at least three books a month, starting with The Long Emergency

All of this is motivated by the general sickness that I feel from just sitting around all day and watching movies.  It kills passion for life.  So as I said in the last post – come along if you’d like.