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December 30, 2004
no home but where i lay my head
so i'm back in sf. while many friends here said that time spend home with family was difficult, i had a really good time in reno. i spent a ton of time editing this industrial video with owen in order to make some last minute cash, and the rest of the time was passed with owen, daveo, carter, maggie, drewish, slack, other friends, and of course my folks. found myself bike geeking out really hard at daveo's, carter is championship mechanic and has like 18 bikes in his garage, we debated the merits of brakeless track bikes and drank whiskey till way too late in the morning. the reno bars drew me back in, here in sf i was always content to drink malt liquor in the backyard, but reno necessitates choking in a smokey dingy old man bar, surrounded by people you probably went to h.s. with.
it started raining the day before i got back here, many thanks to owen for driving me both down to reno with my stuff and back up here so he could fly away to europe for a few weeks. sf is the same as it was, that is to say amazing, and though i fell sick on arriving, i'm better now, and taking a break from bike riding downtown to check out ipod holsters in the apple store. the messengers till give me the head nod, and i miss that job.
staying at nessa's, it's good, we watched 2 gangster films yesterday, and made quinoa, the earth grain. i'm not fired up for new years, had too much fun in reno, but i leave the country in 7 days, and it hasn't hardly hit me. soon enough.
this year is almost over, i have to say that since april it's been amazing, i'm done tons of things i wanted to do, i'm happier then ever, and i'm about to leave on an amazing trip. megan and i were talking about a while ago how when life is going so well, how you sometimes wonder when it will turn towards the bad end of the scale, but then you realize it's better not to think about it.
i'll be writing on this more once i'm on the other side of the equator.
Posted by bendan at 02:01 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
December 15, 2004
this is everything up to now ending
so i quit my job yesterday, which has left me feeling jumpy today for lack of the accustomed exercise. i cleaned out my room today, going through all that i've accumulated in my more then 8 months in this house. it's a very weird feeling, when i bought my plane ticket it didn't seem real that i was going to leave this city. now the new roommate is bringing stuff into my room and i have to put my computer into boxes and get ready to go. strange days.
nessa got doored by a car two days ago, we went to the emergency room and they said her hand and knee were just sprained, but then yesterday her neck started hurting. i hope she feels better.
my going away party is friday. then i leave the city saturday. only now is it starting to seem real.
Posted by bendan at 08:29 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
December 05, 2004
things are about to change
so i know it's been a while since i wrote in here. i was considering not continuing to do this, since i'll soon be traveling and it's difficult to get to computers on the road, and also because i was feeling like i need to spend more energy being present in where i am and not also thinking about documenting my experiences. at the same time, i realize that this is good way for my parents and friends to know that i'm not dead in a ditch in columbia, so i'm sure i'll keep it up.
going to reno for thanksgiving was good in that i got to see my friends and spend a lot of time with my family. on the other hand, i think i should have left a day earlier, because for some reason being there got me down a little. no bother.
so my excellent friend megan takes very nice photos, and since i have a propensity for jumping in front of her camera i end up in some of said photos. if you scroll down you will see me at a party at megan and fuzzy dave's house, both in regular clothes and in a baby doll dress, and you will see a shot of me and my brother steve before he left for chile.
i have 10 more days of work. it's a good feeling. i am enjoying my job right now i must admit, but perhaps that's tempered by the fact that i think i'll be sneaking out just before the rainy season hits. cross your fingers.
here's what aaron wrote me about plans for when i get down there:
"you fly into quito, come down and meet us just as we are about
to leave the farm. we all, you me and kristy, go
hiking through podocarpus national park over the
continental divide and down into the amazon basin. we
take buses through crazy jungle towns north. go
rafting at this place airielle told me about. meet up
with matt and denise. all of us hire a guide and
canoes and go on a ten day trip to THE amazon to the
jungle city of iquitos, peru. take a cargo boat five
days to the nearest road. back up through ecuador to
columbia. matt and denise split. to the north coast
and the most amazing beaches in the world. lots of
time here. maybe venezuela if we have time. then,
kristy and i pay a guy with a boat to take us from
cartagena to panama. we board the boat and you stand
on the dock waving to us. this would be late march or
early april. you turn and continue on south to
wherever the fuck you want for however long you want."
not bad, eh? i've got travel dreams.
Posted by bendan at 09:30 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack