Monday, August 16, 2010
Fish, Fur, and Family Feud - Canuck Chronicles day 34
“What is the gestation period of gray whales?”
“2 YEARS 1 MONTH!!”
“2 years 1 month gestation period for a 900 pound infant?! I hope not!”
And this was only the end of the week. I can’t say I worked very hard today as it was one of my last full work days and I haven’t slept much in the last few days, but at the same time I don’t feel too regretful based on our level of success the days prior. Two days ago we saw a bear, multiple eagles, a seal, and an entire family of four river otters who put a show on for my kayakers and myself not once but twice during the transect. It was probably the best field day of the trip, and I doubt I’ll have a chance (and I don’t know if I want one) to have a better field day with the three days I have left in Ahousaht. And after seeing all that, we spent the afternoon dunking the kids with the kayak and having a big day on the water, jumping off the top of Stardust (which at high tide was higher from the water than the pier) and swimming across the inlet. The water was cold, but the heat from the past few days made it worth it.
My group wasn’t quite as lucky yesterday (or today for that matter) but all of our luck apparently got transferred to Drifter (our whale-watching boat) who ran into a fishing boat that had just finished a catch of over 70 Coho salmon and were generous enough to give two to us (granted Tyler knew the fishermen). So that night the boys (including myself) built up a cedar fire, burned it down to coals, threw on some wet alder wood and slow cooked the heck out of both of those fish. Everyone loved it and the best part was I didn’t have to do dishes post-perfectly-cooked-salmon-dinner.
And the highlight of highlights (drum roll please)…we saw a bear within 50 feet today. Around five pm, one of the Moms was getting a little antsy from being cooped up inside on a beautiful day, and wanted to go on a hike. So Jeff (the super cool Earthwatch director) and I rallied together and got a couple others to come with us. We hiked up to the reservoir up in the hills behind the house, and once we got into the trail we started finding bear scat that was relatively fresh. We had seen bear scat on the trail before, but never that fresh, so needless to say (me being the only staff member) I was on my toes. But we made it to the reservoir just fine, and I was relaxing on a log about 2 minutes before we heard crashing across the water and a Jeff saying good and loud, “BEAR.”
It never got to a point where it was a threat, because the bear was a cub and there was like I said about fifty feet of water between us and it. Nevertheless I knew that seeing a cub is the worst type of bear because it means Mom isn’t far away. We had a good time talking loud to it, taking photos and videos and watching it pick berries. But after about twenty minutes of that, we finally saw Mama, and she was heading down to our end of the reservoir, and at that point I decided it was time to head back. It was a super exciting last night of the trip, and it made Jeff’s whole trip because he’d never seen a bear before. I think he got quite first taste of one tonight. And me…I just can’t get over the fact that I’ve seen three in the last two weeks, not to mention probably having one within staring contest distance while checking a camera.
Tonight has of course been a slightly bittersweet last night for the volunteers, because it’s my last group of volunteers before I leave on Friday. I’m excited to go home, and the first week of being back in civilization will still be awesome, being part of my best friend’s wedding. But then it’s back to REAL real life, and even though I’ve been working here and getting paid to do it, I’d gladly pay it all back to spend another six weeks up here in this great place with all these great people. I know that all good things come to an end (or at least take a break before the next good thing), I’m thankful for what I’ve learned and seen and been a part of here; I’m ready for yet another phase of life to end and another begin, but one thing’s for sure: I’m going out with a BANG.
Smooth sailing, happy trails, always throw your hooks out because you never know what you’ll catch, and don’t be afraid to jump because more often than not, the water’s just fine. Oh and don’t forget to double-foil wrap when you fire-cook salmon, because losing those delicious juices when the foil tears is an EPIC party foul.
Monday, August 9, 2010
Into The Wild
All of that venting aside, it was a pretty good week by the books. My team saw otters four days straight, which I find extremely abnormal, and I constantly reminded them how lucky and spoiled the were for getting to see so many. One lucky teen and I (if I could be so bold, the most normal teen in the group) saw a black bear (probably one of the best moments of this trip). To top it ALL off, while checking some video footage from one of my IR cameras in the field, we discovered that a cougar had been prowling by my camera not a day after I was there changing the battery (another awesome moment). Safe to say I am now a strong believer in all the dangers and excitement that this little island paradise, and the next time I feel stupid for talking to myself in a very loud and high-pitched Elmo voice while rifling through otter scat in the bush, I will think about that cougar and that bear.
And this segues into the not so great but definitely exciting aspects of this week. Out of the two big ones that I’ll mention, we’ll start with the least exciting. Today, Krystal and I were setting up a video camera at a new latrine site. It was a pretty tough camera to place because the location we chose for it is on a rock that’s partially submerged half the day by rising tides, not to mention we had to lie on our stomachs in order to fasten it to a branch. But, superstars that we are, placed it just fine, but as soon as we stood up to go, we heard a crack in the brush. Then we heard loud crashing in the bush that seemed to get louder and closer. Krystal promptly HISSED as loud as she could and made for the kayak, while I yelled “LOUD NOISES!” and had my bear mace out faster than a gunslinger in a quick draw. The crashing stopped, and both of us got into the kayaks quickly and headed out to the middle of the bay. Nothing came out to the rocks where we had been standing, but it was a scare all the same.
The more suspenseful moment of my week and likely the most suspenseful day for every staff member here was three days ago, when a girl in my group fell off of a downed tree about three feet, landing laterally on her hip and head on the tidal rocks below. I don’t want to make it more dramatic than it was, but it was pretty dramatic for me while it was happening, particularly because 1) this girl was my responsibility and 2) the girl can’t weigh more than 100 pounds, she’s a twig. And I was expecting that twig to be unconscious when I got to her. She wasn’t, but it’s definitely an experience I’ll never forget, having a tiny girl smashed on the rocks screaming and crying for me to help her. I made the cardinal mistake that would put my lifeguard training to shame, pulling her out of the rocks before checking for a head injury, but it went as smoothly as a situation like that could have gone. We managed to get her back in the kayak, paddled her to the house, she had a first responder there within the hour and in three she was on a ferry to the hospital. Amazingly, she was back at the house by dinner time, albeit with a cracked hip. I know not to feel responsible, and I don’t. It was an accident and everything turned out okay. Still, (following what seems to be the fabulous theme of this trip) it was another brand new experience for me that I’ll likely carry with me to my grave.
And if I never hear the words “Teen Week” back-to-back in the same sentence ever again, I’ll be okay with that.
Smooth sailing, good hunting, watch where you step, and always remember protection ;-)
Sunday, August 1, 2010
Man Day - Canuck Chronicles Day 17
I don’t know why I bother trying to think ahead or bother planning for anything specific around here if it isn’t research related. It gives a false sense of security. And the funny thing is, I’m not saying that in frustration. I’ve come to grips with it and on most occasions I actually enjoy the rush of it because I’m already abysmal at planning ahead for anything.
This morning was not exactly one of those moments. Here I was taking the words “four days off” after the volunteers leaving as nice slow time to catch up on my research data entry, organize my thoughts, and catch up on sleep. How naïve I was back then. Last night William (head researcher) asked if I’d come out to Tofino with him and our mechanical engineer on staff to help him try to fix up his truck. What time would we be leaving? Five in the morning. To be fair, I agreed to the whole thing, wanting to take every opportunity to go into town for free. I didn’t feel that way when five a.m. rolled around, however, but I woke up soon enough once we had the wind in our face flying the boat down the channel at 20 nauts.
We had to drop off another two members of our little family in town as they were headed north to do a whale transect for William, after which Will, Taylor (mech. Engineer) and I went out for a quick and early breakfast before setting out to fix the truck that William had parked in town. The problem (putting it lightly) was with the front left suspension. Now I don’t know much about cars at all, so I was trying to soak up as much as I could while acting as errand boy for the two who actually knew what they were doing. I won’t lie, I didn’t feel very useful, but I did what I could. We knew it should only be a two hour job replacing the parts we had to, but we estimated ahead knowing our own skills and planned for a five hour job. But with these kinds of things, as I said at the beginning of this entry, planning much of anything around here is a futile effort. We started work on the truck at 8ish and didn’t finish until about 5. The most impressive of our trials and tribulations was that once we finally worked around all the rusted screws, nuts and other crap just to get to the shock, we spent about two hours trying to make the new one fit before someone had the bright realization that we had the wrong shock entirely. The fact that we had successfully replaced other parts of that side suspension was the welcome reminder that the day wasn’t a total loss. We did some shopping (mostly for alcohol) and made it home by a well-earned 6:30 pm.
But of course that wasn’t the end of the day. Tyler and I have been planning a session with his semi-automatic shotgun for some time, and I was not going to let a long day under a busted truck stop me from seeing that plan through. Sure enough our timing was perfect since we were able to eat real quick and hit the trail up to the canyon by seven, gun, ammo and clays in tow. We made it a big staff event and there was plenty of daylight until seven pm so we had a blast (literally). I’d never shot anything else besides a boy scout b.b. gun or an airsoft gun, so I was a little anxious as to how it would go. Can I even shoot it? Can I shoot it accurately? Is the recoil going to break my nose? But surprisingly it came pretty easy. I followed Tyler’s safety lesson and stance as best as I knew how, and in the end I did pretty well. The recoil was pretty weak as the semi-automatic takes most of the energy from the recoil to load another round, and after only six rounds, I was already hitting flying targets. It was some of the most focused and serious fun I’ve ever had, and once again (as has been the norm since I arrived) was an experience that will no doubt have a deep impression for the rest of my days.
So all in all, today I rode in a boat, helped fix a truck, bought booze and meat, and had a damn good first shotgun session. I think I see a couple more hairs on my chest.
Smooth sailing, straight shooting, and always make sure you have the right parts for the job.
The Life Aquatic - Canuck Chronicles Day 16
First day without volunteers at the University of Victory Whale Lab in….two weeks exactly. It’s a surreal kind of feeling having the house so empty after it was practically alive for so long (seriously, the house moves…sways more like it). It was sad seeing them leave, since we had one group of five people who were here for the first two weeks and got pretty close with the staff. There’s one in particular that I’ll especially miss, but that’s the way it is. Tyler said it from the beginning: you learn a lot about a person when you live with them for a week, but as quickly as they grow on you, they leave again. It’s just the way things work in the eco-tourism business I suppose.
That said it was a pretty colossal last day for our campers, and a great morning for the staff and especially me. As soon as I walked out squinting into the foggy sunshine, I saw the whole group of volunteers heading down the peer, whispering frantically and waving me over, saying they had seen a river otter in the middle of the inlet. Just as a reminder, my research project down here is a study of river otter behavior, and in two weeks I have seen little more than two otters, so it’s easy to believe me when I say I was a little excited. Not only was this particular otter not so cleverly evasive as the others I’ve stumbled upon, but it put on a straight-up show for our volunteers. It dove down and came up a few seconds later with a fish and then swam with it right at us, under the pier and across to the other side, where it feasted on its breakfast under a floating wharf on the shore-side of the pier. It started playing peek-a-boo with us for a while from under that wharf, poking its head out of various cracks and gaps until we realized that unless the otter could move at lightning fast speed and pop its head out of two different places at once, there was actually MORE than one otter under that wharf. They didn’t play with us for very long and soon swam out to the central dock where they didn’t come out from under until they were out of range of us. I found it very interesting timing that I’ve been searching for river otters tirelessly for the last two weeks, and the day that our second batch of volunteers gears to leave, Two decide to pop out right from under my nose. I’m pretty sure they’re toying with me, but there’s no way of proving it.
The staff decided that our little furry entertainer shouldn’t be the only one who had a big breakfast, and we made ourselves a rancher-size breakfast (after the last of the volunteers were gone). I have to say we’ve been living a pretty impressive vegetarian lifestyle on account of it tends to be cheaper when buying in bulk for an average of 22 people, not to mention that half of our first week of volunteers were vegetarian. So needless to say, meat’s become something of a delicacy in the old house. But this morning we threw that little conservation rule right out the window when our head-researcher William pulled out his five POUND secret stash of bacon as well as leftover bratwurst. He cooked up all the meat and a giant brick of hash browns, after which I contributed some of my famous omelets (which I DID perfect in Scotland), and with a side of smoked salmon on top of all that, we ate until we couldn’t eat any more (which in my case took a loooong time).
We spent a good amount of time discussing plans for next week after we were all content with our food intake, which was very necessary as next week is Teen Week, and anybody who’s ever been a teenager at camp can imagine what kind of storm we have ahead of us. But the staff is doing a great job of taking advantage of the four-day calm before it. We worked the rest of the day on cleaning up the house, doing bulk laundry and taking inventory of all the food we have left in the house. I had some batteries that needed charging and data that needed organizing, so it became a simple but productive afternoon. And when that even started to slow down, I realized I had a camera in the field that I had to check, so I begged a couple of the staff to hit the 5pm mosquito-ridden water with me in the kayaks. And I’m glad they did, because I retrieved my first video feed that actually had an otter visible on it, albeit a thirty second video of its rear and tail before it disappeared. It was still more than I expected to see and was another nice reminder that maybe I could be possible almost close to doing something correct out here. Don’t worry, I won’t let it go to my head.
We had leftovers for dinner and had a lovely evening of sharing an unclaimed bottle of Jack Daniels and watching The Life Aquatic. I’d only ever seen the beginning of it when it first came out and I didn’t really get the humor at the time. But now after getting the full dose of it after spending nearly three weeks in an aquatic environment, I think I can safely say that it’s become one of my favorite movies (though that could slightly be the booze talking).
Smooth sailing, good hunting, and always get your boots wet.
Tuesday, July 27, 2010
Losing Screws
Journaling and keeping everything written down on this trip is impossible. I hate to say it, but honestly it’s outrageously difficult. I never imagined myself so busy and so happy to be so busy on this little addi-venture. The days are slowly getting shorter but my days keep getting longer with all the things around here that I try to fit into a 24-hour period. And part, if not all of it, is a sheer bewilderment at all the things that I’ve done since getting here Tuesday night and the things I continue to do each day. I’m more sore than I could ever describe and even now I’d rather be halfway through a REM-cycle, but if I want to get all my adventures of the day written down before my battery dies I’d better stop babbling and start writing.
This morning started with a 7 am cup of tea to-go and an otter scan: no otters. Yesterday’s scan started at 6:30 (ish) and went much better with two otters seen, but I don’t let it get me down. After coming back for a bigger breakfast (slightly let down by the lack of eggs in the house but still a good bowl of life :-P), I headed out to start work on Stardust (the bigger whale-research vessel that needed washing and painting). The majority of the team except William, Bree and I (Bree is volunteer number one who showed up yesterday afternoon a day ahead of the rest) went out on drifter for the weather-permitting daily whale transect, leaving the three of us on Stardust duty. I had the awesome job last night of helping to scrape and powerwash the hull of Stardust yesterday night (God my battery’s running low already). You may think I’m being my normal sarcastic self, but really I’m completely serious about how awesome it was. I of course have never done anything remotely similar to scraping and powerwashing a boat before, and I soaked up every minute of it. Through all the foul-smell scrubbing and getting little bits of mussle/barnacle shell in my eyes and mouth, and again today getting heavy-duty copper paint in the aforementioned body parts, I had a skipper-sized smile on my face. The painting took quite a while, first with the taping along the water-line (so we wouldn’t get the environmentally UN-friendly paint in places where we didn’t need it) and then with the actual painting. We probably started that round 11 am and didn’t finish until about three. Two hours longer than expected, but the important thing was getting it done right, which I can happily say that we did.
After taking a short change break and sorting out my laundry, Bree and I headed out to check one of the two cameras that I placed yesterday morning (the one closest to camp and a short hike away). We left around the exact time that 11 of the 12 other EarthWatch volunteers showed up, so it was just a wee bit stressful finding all my gear through their crashing about, but I was definitely happy to get her and I out of the house with all that going on. We successfully checked the camera’s memory card on the field computer IN the field (awesome) to verify that the camera’s angle was set right. We adjusted it and locked it securely back to the log and made it back to the house in all under 45 minutes. From there I threw all the gear down and went through the introduction meeting/safety briefing with the volleys, after-which it was right back to the Stardust with Ty and William.
With all the paint dry she was ready to get back in the water so we stressfully went through the process of getting the wey-cable to lower her down into the little bay. Turned her around and docked her on the other side of the small dock (me trying desperately to tie three pad-buoys to the starboard side at the right length all while not falling overboard) and immediately switched over to Drifter (much smaller whaling vessel) to move her into the wey for her powerwashing (no painting thank God) and oil change. The cleaning went without a hitch but it was when we started to change the oil that things began going wrong for me and Ty. The two bolts plugging the oil tank on both motors we so badly rounded that the socket wrench wouldn’t get them off. We tried for what felt like hours trying different size sockets to no avail. Eventually we used a paper towel in a size up socket and managed to work the garbage bolts loose. Surprisngly with Huey’s tools we were able to screw the garbage bolts back on and the successfully changed the oil. I spilled a ton of old oil onto the port motor when I took the can out too slow, but it was cleaned up easy enough.
It was here where the gem of the day took place. After we got Drifter released back into the water with Huey’s help, Tyler and I took Drifter out for a ride to make sure the motors were running smoothly. As soon as we got out of eyesight of the house, Tyler didn’t even ask, just stepped away from the wheel and said, “take it”. The ten minutes that followed I’ll NEVER FORGET. It was one of the most exhilarating yet peaceful experiences I’ve ever had, having complete control over that skiff, testing her turn-radius, zig-zagging in and out, playing chicken with a local (which you NEVER do according to Ty), all the while having a perfect view of dusk over the hills and mountains of Vancouver, Flores, and Cougar Islands. The satisfaction I got from those short moments is indefinable.
Far too tired to write anymore, my shoulder’s killing me and my eyes are drooping. So until next time, smooth sailing. I know I am.
Wednesday, July 14, 2010
The Canuck Chronicles Day 1
Woke up on a tiny island in British Columbia, Canada, this morning with the sun and a cool ocean breeze in my face and a hammock calling my name. It doesn’t sound like it, but this is all part of the job this summer. I’m interning for a professor and conducting research on river otter behavior in Ahousaht, B.C. I think I have to go ahead and say that I will probably deserve everything I get while I’m out here, good and bad, because I’ve harassed my professor to give me this research since I learned about it during May of last year.
Day one on the island was probably as action-packed as one could imagine, and it was more exciting than I ever expected. We rolled out of bed at a comfortable nine am after arriving at the island late last night, and we took our time making breakfast. We took the dime tour of our little neck of the (literally) woods from Tyler. Tyler’s a 25 yr-old smart-mouth employee of the University of Victoria Whale Research Lab, which is specifically where I’m located. After unloading the pounds and pounds of gear off our ferry last night, I first shook hands with the man after he helped our group move a multiple-hundred-pound crate off the ferry and onto the dock, and the first thing he said to me was, “Hi, I’m Tyler. Boy you all pack light, eh?” Needless to say I liked him immediately.
Back to the day. After finishing up the tour, the other two researchers with me from Redlands, Laura and Chandler who are both doing separate Grey Whale projects, and I changed into soak-able clothing and met up with another member of our jolly gang of staff, Crystal. Crystal will be my second-in command for my river-otter project, and she’s also our unofficial kayaking instructor. Our job for the morning was to learn how to successfully exit a kayak with a skirt on (kayak skirt) after the kayak has successfully capsized. We were in two-man kayaks and Crystal told us before we hit the water that our kayaks were very stable and difficult to roll. Well as anyone who knows me can guess, I took that as a challenge and managed to turn that sucker with one pull. I’ve never worn a kayak skirt before nor have I ever exited a capsized kayak, but I can confidently say from experience that it is easier than it sounds. It was a load of fun, a great way to wake up and start the day. But that wasn’t all. On our way back we were stopped by Tyler and asked to grab a 20 foot floating log and drag it across the beach, under two gangways and a pier and safely tie it to a floating wharf on the other side. Pulling your leg, you might ask? That’s exactly what I thought, but nay, he was plenty serious. So Crystal and I lashed that log to the end of the kayak and (tugboat-style) huffed and puffed and pulled that log under two gangways and a pier to the other side. To that event that I can confidently say from experience that it is not easier than it sounds. A twenty-foot long tree trunk floating in the water is still a twenty-foot long tree trunk, and it was heavy as hell to drag through the water in a kayak no less. I got my work out in for the day, but did we take a break there? Don’t count on it.
Breath, aaand….After we parked the kayaks and drained them, we walked back to the house to start lunch, but (again thanks to Tyler) had to postpone that lovely 2nd meal of the day so we could help him move another floating wharf across the beach between the dock and beach to another spot. Again, not easier than it sounds, but with two ropes attached to the far ends of the wharf, the tide coming in, and all seven of the staff working on it, we managed it fairly quickly and were able to get right back to lunch.
After lunch things slowed down. I worked on clearing the memory out of my video cameras while the others talked, read and slept. At three we congregated with Crystal again to have a go at locating one of the river otter latrine sites that she and the previous researcher had found last year. If you don’t know what a latrine site is, it’s exactly what it sounds like. Unfortunately we couldn’t get to it because the tide was in and the path to it was overgrown by some very friendly thimble-berry bushes. Thimble-berry bushes are a lot like raspberry bushes except with more and bigger thorns for petting us with. We cut the hike short and decided to try again tomorrow morning. We headed back to the house and spent the rest of the afternoon working on our respective projects. Crystal and I tested cameras, memory cards, and discussed logistics. It’s all the boring stuff so I’ll leave the details out.
After all the work that Tyler put us through on our first day, he came through for us at the end of it by cooking up a huge spaghetti dinner, and it was exactly what we needed.
Today was more than anything a day for living in the moment. While I stood on the dock coiling rope as we moved a floating wharf down the beach, I was happily awe-struck by the situation I successfully managed to get myself into. But I didn’t have much time to ponder my good fortune because we had to keep that floating pile of logs and nails from ramming into boats, rocks or metal gangways. I can only wait and see what six more weeks of this has in store for me.
Friday, January 8, 2010
Back in Cali-land
Before I left I was telling myself how much I missed California, and I'm still happy to be back, but I admit that I forgot about California traffic. In Scotland I never had to drive, and back in Oregon it was nothing like it is now. Once I hit the Bay area, I realized the return was a little bitter sweet. Yes I'm back in the land of Disney, back in the land of In-n-out, warm beaches and warmer weather... but I'm also back in the land of 6 lane freeways, carpool lanes, 80 mph traffic and drivers who can't keep a speed limit. I'd forgotten what it was like to drive here, but it all came rushing back when I began yelling at the first car that cut me off.
No doubt my frustrations will continue to rise, but I still can't deny how beautiful it is to sit here in the hills above Oakland and look out my window as I write this...before heading on the road again, this time inland to Manteca and my Uncle's family.
I miss Edinburgh (and the snowstorm that all my friends are getting to experience in full, sorry guys) but it's still good to be back.
Wednesday, January 6, 2010
Moving on....
Haven't updated this in a while. Apologies for the huge gap between my last post and this where a lot of juicy goodies have taken place, not the least of which includes my coming home. I suppose my only real excuse is laziness, which I've had in abundance since getting back on U.S. soil. Though to be a little more literate, I could make the argument that this blog is all about my ADVENTURES (hence the extremely creative title) and since I've been home I've tried to keep my activity level and adventuring to a minimum. A growing boy needs his beauty rest. I can, however, happily say that I failed at that effort, for adventure (the flighty temptress that she is) managed to find me.
On a few occasions she didn't just find me, she hunted me down and reminded me who was in charge. The most memorable of these accidental undertakings was my day trip to Mt. Hood. I expected an average day on the mountain, but I should have known better. Far from anything I could expect, my friends and I snowboarded for a grand total of 3 hours, in which time I busted my rental board on something I don’t even remember hitting, but by the look of the board it must have been HUGE (that’s my sarcasm talking, in case you missed it). This is where it gets good. My friends and I haggled over the price of the repairs I’d have to pay, soon after which we found out there was a freak blizzard in Portland. We decided to head down the mountain early to miss traffic, but I had the genius idea to stop for pizza. The pizza was delicious. The snowfall got worse and of course nobody was prepared for it because our extremely reliable meteorologists had insisted (RIGHT UP UNTIL THE SNOW STARTED FALLING) that there would not be any chance of snow in the greater metropolitan area. Oops. Back to little old me and my two-girl gang of ruffians, we actually made some pretty good distance in pretty good time considering the conditions, but once we made it to Gresham (about half way through our voyage) the traffic got to be too much to handle. We ended up parking the truck in a very shady part of town next to a MAX stop (for non-Portlanders, the MAX is Portland’s Metro). A long story short: 4 hours, 5 french-speaking children, 2 meth-heads, 1 pitstop at Carls Jr. and a partridge in a pear tree later…whew…we finally made it home.
Now it’s already January, and I’m just now starting to pack up (of course) two nights before I have to drive back down to southern California and the lovely UofR. I’m finding my packing process to be surprisingly difficult. I guess over the last three months I’ve been in another country with few possessions and always movin around. It’s slowly coming back to me, but it’s a strange feeling that I can’t place or describe. I get those a lot lately. It’s like leaving home to go home, and at the same time dusting away old habits and memories so that I can reuse them. My days in Scotland had their moments and it was definitely as fast as four months could possibly fly by, but maybe the trips made an even greater impact on me than I thought. I’ve discovered that my trip has made a bigger impact on the small things, the subtleties I didn’t think about before. Things that once seemed to be absolute necessities no longer have their old values, and other things have replaced them, the term “things” being used loosely to cover anything from stupid little souvenirs to ideas about who I am.
I still don’t have much of an idea who I am, but maybe the picture isn’t quite so fuzzy anymore. Every day it feels like I’m fine-tuning so that I can see the picture a little bit better than I could the day before.
But maybe I’m being over-dramatic. Maybe I’m making too much of the fact that I’m leaving behind my copy of “Animal House” for the first time. It’s a big step to say the least, but sometimes those things just have to happen, and you gotta... move on.
;-)