Hot damn, that was a good rant!

Sometimes I like to see how far I can take something, you know? But yeah, that was a fine one.

I figured I'd better hop back on here and actually talk about my life for a few paragraphs, just in case anyone is still actually reading this thing.

So what is going on... spent half of August traveling in the northlands, that was great. First and last weekends in Southern Oregon staying with my friends Duward and Julie. They are hosts of the finest ilk, and that's a fact. Both times I arrived hot and sweaty after driving 7 hours, and was greeted by a tall glass of good beer from their kegerator and a delicious meal. How's that for hello? And the first weekend was a blast, Duward and I kayaked down the Rogue River with a big rafting group of people with developmental disabilities and their caretakers. Two tons of fun.

Then I went surfing with my buddy Joe, my first day in Seattle and then one of my last days, too. (I'm just this moment noticing the weird bookend quality of the trip). I've gone surfing once since getting back here, too, and actually bought my own wetsuit. I stood up three times on both my second and third trips. I've hooked up with a guy down here who's surfed all over the area, a good friend of Billy's who I hung out with several times a few years back when they visited Seattle. Last weekend, after going dancing on Friday night, I went over to his house and hung out by the pool with him and his girlfriend and Billy and a couple of their friends, drinking Tanqueray and tonic and bbq-ing; then stayed in their guest room that night; went surfing on Sunday; and then feasted on the most delicious oysters I've ever had in my life in the little town where we surfed. Not a bad weekend, eh?

The middle of the trip was defined mostly by hanging out with Glenn and Noreen; first at our folks' place on the Kitsap Peninsula, and then in Seattle most of the second week. As always, great times. Not really anyone I'd rather spend time with, when it comes down to it.

By the last weekend I was in a good spot; I was having a great time and could easily have stayed through at least the end of the month, but I was also ready to be home and have my own space and not be living out of my truck. Always nice when you could happily go either way. Also nice was that I had just enough grounding events happen during the trip to keep me from really getting burned out. Surfing is, as the cliché goes, quite Zen. And the rafting was a good energy burn, too. And I got to work with my yoga teacher in Seattle twice, too, which was really positive. She has a lot of background in dance, and she's just starting to bring that back into her lessons, which is a pretty perfect synchronicity to my own current situation, of course...

Oh yeah! Issue One of Conscious Dancer is officially printed. You can check out the .pdf here: http://www.consciousdancer.com. Give it a peep, any and all feedback is appreciated. I'm trying to get a presence going in the Seattle area, so any story ideas or anything else are welcome. Also, if anyone knows a good space in the city that might be willing to stack a pile of mags in their place, please let me know.

Otherwise, things are good. I am looking for another job or two, which will bring the grand total to 4, or 5, or 6, depending on how many I get and how many of my current jobs actually count. (I still haven't done anything for that essay writing service. My soul remains unsoiled.) I'm going to Yosemite again this weekend, really excited about that.

I guess that's about it... I was going to go on a rant about the Mariners, but I just don't have the energy. Suffice to say I feel like Michael Corleone at the end of Godfather III... "just when I think I'm out... they PULLLLL ME BACK IN!" God damn them.