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| Thread: Contradiction in terms... | |
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violent_flower
Promising
Supreme Hero
Almost there.
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posted February 20, 2007 02:54 AM |
bonus applied. |
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Contradiction in terms...
My secret advertised journal…
OK so boredom here at HC should not justify me thinking you actually want to read about my life, but what the hell.. You don’t have to post or comment or even read it, it is just here mass taking up unused space.
So there are few things in my life that I had on my dusty list of to do’s before, well you know, I kick over the big bucket of cow dung. There are still several things that I have not done, some that I don’t even know I want to do, and things that I have done that regret has followed.
I wanted to have all of children before I was 25… Done…
I wanted to be in the military… Well I was a military wife for four years, close enough for me to know what a crock.. Mind you Air force that is..
AirForcehumor.com
There are glaring language differences between the services that protect our nation. Here is an example:
When the Navy secures a building, they turn out the lights and lock the hatches.
When the Army secures a building, they post sentries and check I.D. cards.
When the Marines secure a building, they call in air strikes and assault through the objective using fire and close combat.
When the Air Force secures a building, they get a 4 year lease with the option for 4 more years.
I wanted to get married and have the wedding that everyone would come to on a beach with nothing fancy. Just some cheap wine and lots of warm sand between my toes was all I wanted…. So it was the Hitching Post in Coeur D’Alene Idaho, yes it really is a place… www.hitchingpostweddings.com/about.htm
I dreamt of a long cabin right next to mountain Rainier in my home state of Washington…I wanted to feed the deer from my back porch and hold the one I love on the swing every night… I got a trailer five doors down from my mother in lovely shades of puke green and wonderful browns, a 1972 Lamplighter. 
This is not the exact one but same quality..
I really desired to travel somewhere beautiful and adventurous. I thought scuba diving off the island of Hawaii…. Well almost got this one nailed; I got divorced from the trailer park king and had to get a job. That is when I discovered Icicle Seafood’s of Seattle in all its glory. I went on an Alaskan fishing boat in the Bearing Sea and Juneau for six months. Getting ready to post another day soon in my thread.
I wanted to have a hobby that gave me an adrenaline rush every time I did it… I did a lot of cliff diving while in Washington and loved it… This hobby ended with me missing a jump called that Mambo and landing in a sitting position. This landed me in traction for six months and unable to function for a while.
Most of all this happened to me before the age of nineteen and pretty eventful for those reading it. It would seem as though I have done quite a bit and lived life. I feel as though I have accomplished very little and have set very high expectations for myself.
The fact is that I’m tired of starting over in my life and would really like to just get on track. At least this is what I thought up until having a talk with someone very close to me the other night. I have decided to add everything that I have done, or haven’t done, to my already long chapter of life instead of always starting a new one. This approach may lead my mind into a more positive direction and allow for more of a free spirit in this already shortened life.
I wonder when I depart this place of inconsistencies, if I will be leaving or just heading home?
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Learn how to duck and weave because I will throw truth at you all day!
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Trogdor
Legendary Hero
Words in a custom title
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posted February 20, 2007 11:26 AM |
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Quote:
I always thought the whole time a schooner was another term for a glass of beer.
Now I know.
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"Through the power of the dollar you can communicate with the dead." - Artu
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Binabik
Responsible
Legendary Hero
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posted February 20, 2007 02:37 PM |
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Edited by Binabik at 15:21, 20 Feb 2007.
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I had an adventure in Seattle once. Well, it was really more of a sub-adventure, part of a larger adventure. I was 17 at the time. We (my friend Matt and I) had just graduated from high school and were 3000 miles from home. Originally there were three of us, but we dumped Steve down in California....he wasn't much fun. The thing about Steve though, he was the one with the car. But we discovered pretty quickly that hitch-hiking made for a better adventure anyway.
<<<It would seem as though I have done quite a bit and lived life. I feel as though I have accomplished very little and have set very high expectations for myself.>>>
The thing is about adventures, there's always a story that goes along with them. When I was about 35-36 years old and framing houses, apparently I had told a few stories to my co-workers. I don't really remember telling stories, but maybe I mentioned some things in passing.
Now framing houses is a young man's sport, so I was the old guy on the crew. One guy was 27 and the rest were 22-23. One day I made a comment about how my life wasn't going anywhere, about how I hadn't really accomplished much in my life.
One of the young guys turned and looked right at me. He had an odd look on his face, kind of a cross between quizzical and a little anger. He said "I wish I had done a quarter of the things you've done." I realized he was envious of the things I had done and couldn't figure out why I thought I hadn't accomplished anything in my life.
I didn't say anything to him, because I was a tad bit confused. What he didn't know was that I was envious of HIM. I had always been kind of a rolling stone. He was married, had a really cool son. He lived in the town where he grew up and knew lots of people and had lots of lifelong friends. As a matter of fact, his life was pretty much what I felt was missing from my own life. He was envious of my life and I was envious of his.
Anyway, back to Seattle. We were supposed to meet a couple people in Seattle, but when we called, they weren't there. We weren't sure what to do because we really didn't know those guys very well. Well, we had only known them for a couple days actually. They just kind of got rolled into the adventure down in California. When we were with the girls from San Bernardino, the guys from Seattle were just a couple more people we had picked up hitch-hiking.
At one point there were 11 of us in the van. Everyone but the girls from San Bernardino were hitch-hikers. It was one of those big delivery vans like the UPS trucks, only older. Well, it was a 1949 Willys step van to be precise.
We bought the van because the owner wanted his stolen car back. The stolen car was an early 60's Impala. No, no, no, *WE* didn't steal the car, the girls from San Bernardino stole the car. We didn't even know it was stolen until the owner saw it and cut us off the road wanting his car back. And the only reason they stole it was because the transmission went out on the little Opal Cadet they were driving when they picked us up hitch-hiking.
They had picked us up further down the coast a few days earlier. That was the place where we met the little kid. We were waiting for a ride and there was this long gravel road that went back into the hills. We noticed this little kid emerge from around the bend. He couldn't have been more than 6-7 years old. There wasn't anybody else in sight and he walked straight toward us with complete confidence.
There must have been some adults that we couldn't see because they saw us out there hitch-hiking. They had sent the kid to come out and see if we wanted to join their commune. It sounded kind of interesting, but we didn't do it. I mean we had just dumped Steve and started hitch-hiking earlier that day. I guess we wanted to see how the hitch-hiking adventure played out before we started a commune adventure.
So the kid walks back down the gravel road and disappears around the bend. We would never know what was around that bend between the hills. We had chosen a different path. Life is kind of like that. One big adventure and always wondering what's around the next bend, and never knowing what was around bend that we didn't take.
Finally. A ride. A couple girls and a guy in an overloaded Opal Cadet. Mat and I were new at the hitch-hiking game and we had way more stuff than any rightful hitch-hiker should have. And the girls were moving from San Bernardino to Eugene Oregon, so they had a lot of stuff too. It turned out the girls were sisters. The other guy was another hitch-hiker they had picked up several days earlier.
So we piled everything on top of the car and cramed ourselves inside. We were piled in like sardines and the poor little Opal was practically dragging the ground. We couldn't go very fast, but we didn't care, we were having an adventure.
Well, the Opal didn't make it very far before the transmission overheated and started smoking. Finally it gave out completely. So we barely managed to make it to some old motel out in the middle of nowhere. It turned out the girls had some money and bought us a motel room. They were going to hitch-hike to the next town up the coast and get a car. So we spent the next day swimming in the nearby river and jumping off the cliffs.
They finally returned late in the day with the Impala. We all approved. It was big and Impalas made great party-mobiles. So we all piled in.
We had some more adventures over the next couple days and were about to leave town when the guy wanted his car back. So the girls bought the van (they ran out of money, but had an uncle wire transfer more to them). So for the second time in just a few days, we move everything from one vehicle to another. We are on our way once more.
Now this was more like it. The van was huge. It had a living room couch and a double mattress in the back. We could fit all kinds of people in there. So we started picking up every hitch-hiker we saw. Smoke was pouring out of that van....only we were making our own smoke this time. This is how we met the guys from Seattle. I think they were with us for a couple days before they left to head back to Seattle. They knew we were heading north and gave us their phone number.
Wouldn't you know it, the van breaks too....cracked block. Everyone but the original 5 of us scatter in different directions. After some talk, the girls decide to hitch-hike up to Eugene on their own. They gave the first guy who was with them some money to fix the van. We were all supposed to meet them in Eugene whenever we could. It turned out the guy wasn't a very nice guy. After the girls left he told us he wasn't going to fix the van and just keep the money. There was nothing we could do. He was the only one who knew where we were supposed to meet the girls. So we all start hitch-hiking again.
Three is too many to hitch-hike together, so we split up when we got to the highway. The guy was almost out of sight when we saw the cops stopping to harass him. Cops always harassed hitch-hikers. Just then a car stops and off we go. We had been with the girls for 5 days, but time to move on.
We got dropped off near the California-Oregon border. It was late, so we slept in a field by the road. The next morning we got a ride all the way to Seattle.
So now what do we do? We must have beaten the guys to Seattle. Should we just move on, or wait for them? We didn't even know how long it would take them to get there....hitch-hiking is pretty unpredictable. We didn't even know if they were serious about meeting us.
It was late afternoon so we decide to at least wait until the next day. We were on foot and carrying way too much stuff. We saw an abandoned parking lot and threw our stuff in some bushes and went out to explore the town.
We saw a theater playing Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. What the heck, there was nothing else to do, so we went to the movie.
Afterwards it was getting late enough that we needed to start figuring out where the heck we were going to sleep. When we got to the parking lot, all of our stuff was gone. That's just freaking great. We were in a big city, had very little money, all our stuff was gone including our sleeping bags, and it was already starting to get dark and cold.
So we start walking....how about this direction, it's as good as any other. We were both getting hungry and happen to see a McDonalds. We were on a low budget, but we sprang for some fries. We sat inside the warm building while we ate.
After leaving we notice a house next to the McDonalds. It looks abandoned, so we check it out. Sure enough, we found a place to spend the night. We found an old piece of carpet in the basement and both manage to get partly under it for a little warmth. It was still a cold night with little sleep.
The next day we call the guys again. They are home now and on their way to pick us up. Cool! We told them about losing our stuff and they insist on looking for it again now that there is more daylight. They pick us up at McDonalds and we head toward the parking lot. It was like a reunion of old buddies. We had a blast in that old van. So first thing we do is light up for old times sake. Again there is smoke pouring out the window.
Ah man, a cop behind us with the lights flashing. Damn! Some cops are cool, but the ones who aren't are usually on a power trip and treat you like you're a murderer.
So we pull over and the cop walks up to the car. He looks in the back seat where Matt and I are sitting. "Did you guys lose some camping equipment yesterday?" Totally confused and not sure where this is leading we answer "yea". "Well, someone called us and said there was some stuff in the parking lot and were worried it might get stolen". "So we came and picked it up. I'll call the station and let them know you're on the way to pick it up." "Just show them some identification and identify what's in the bags and you'll be on your way".
YEA!!! We got our stuff back and not a mention of the smoke pouring out the windows.
So how the heck did the cop know it was our stuff anyway? Because Matt and I hiked to the bottom of the Grand Canyon a week before we dumped Steve.
It's pretty easy to get to the bottom of the canyon. The hard part is climbing back out. One thing about the Grand Canyon, it gets HOT down there. So before hiking back out we hang out at Phantom Ranch until late in the afternoon. We can't put it off any longer, so off we go to climb a mountain in reverse.
The sun is burning us up so we take a lot of breaks. On one break we stop to play with a baby rattlesnake, pushing it around with a stick. Then a couple chicks with no tops and smoking a joint come along. Of course back then etiquette required them to stop and offer the joint to us. So here I am, a 17 year old guy fresh out of high school trying to act like everything is normal. Oh yea, playing with a baby rattlesnake in the Grand Canyon and smoking a joint with a couple topless chicks....just normal everyday stuff.....
Of course none of that has anything to do with Seattle, but neither does any of the rest of this. It's just an adventure, and I guess all adventures are linked somehow.
So by the time we get out of the canyon we are burning up. We are dehydrated and our heads and necks are sunburned. The first thing we do is head for the lodge where it's a bit cooler. As we are browsing through the gift shop we see some cowboy hats. That's just what we need, a hat to keep the sun off. So we each buy a cowboy hat.
Now cowboys are where the term redneck came from. They are out working in the sun all day and their neck gets sunburned. Us being hippies and cowboys being rednecks who love kidnapping hippies and shaving their heads with sheep sheers, we didn't really want to be associated with them. So we did some modifications to the cowboy hats to turn them into hippie hats.
Well, when we dropped off our stuff in the parking lot in Seattle, apparently somebody saw us and gave the police a description....a couple young guys wearing floppy black hats. So when the cop saw two guys in the car wearing floppy black hats, he pulled us over.
Anyway, fast forward. We got our stuff back. We stayed in Seattle a while and moved on. We were out adventuring for a total of six weeks and this was just a 24 hour slice of time in Seattle. We both had our freshman year of college coming up.
I got home and a week later hopped on a bus to Arizona. The dorm wasn't open yet when I got there, so I stayed in a motel the first night. It was sure a long and eventful summer. But now it's time for school (and as it turns out even more adventures).
So I spend my 18th birthday in a motel room in Flagstaff, Arizona. I light up and pull out the Lord of the Rings and continue reading as I had been doing all summer....quite appropriate reading while you're on an adventure.
<<<The fact is that I’m tired of starting over in my life and would really like to just get on track. At least this is what I thought up until having a talk with someone very close to me the other night. I have decided to add everything that I have done, or haven’t done, to my already long chapter of life instead of always starting a new one.>>>
There was this guy who once said to me "I wish I had done a quarter of the things you've done."
Not long after he said that, my knee collapsed out from under me three times in one morning. I knew my time in construction was limited. Frustration had been building for quite some time because of injuries and age. When I started that job I knew it would be my last job in construction. That morning was the last straw. I had been through the same thing with my other knee and I just couldn't do it again, I just couldn't. So I walked off the job. There I was, 36 years old and starting over.
So I started over. It's more than 14 years later now and everything is running smoothly. At least as smoothly as it ever did.
The thing is about adventures is that they always have a story to go with them. Just a few weeks ago it suddenly hit me that all my stories are old. But that's OK, I'm not sure if I have the energy for a good adventure anyway. Maybe I've finally learned the meaning of "stop and smell the roses". Roses don't make for a very good story, but they do smell nice. I've come to appreciate all the little things in life. Because when it comes right down to it, that's mostly what life is all about.
So I lost my stuff in Seattle. So what? By itself that's no big deal. It's only when you put a lot of things together that it becomes an adventure. I think sometimes we simply fail to recognize the big adventure when we are busy focusing on the present.
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violent_flower
Promising
Supreme Hero
Almost there.
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posted February 20, 2007 07:06 PM |
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I have so many things that I want to do in my life and so many different ways that I can take to accomplish those things. Smelling the roses is nice but sometimes it is equally enjoyable to plant them. I love your story and the meaning behind it, thanks for sharing.. 
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Learn how to duck and weave because I will throw truth at you all day!
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Consis
Honorable
Legendary Hero
Of Ruby
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posted February 20, 2007 10:17 PM |
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LoL
Quote:
Of course none of that has anything to do with Seattle, but neither does any of the rest of this. It's just an adventure, and I guess all adventures are linked somehow.
Man that's funny stuff Binabik. Good story/(ies) . . . LoL Right on about the roses. But the hitch hiking thing man you've got to be nuts. There's some real sickos out there who'd love nothing better than to do harm to those who fall between the cracks in a society.
I have a couple to tell of myself. I'll get to it later. Quick summary: Albaquerque,NewMexico Dormmate/roommate/buddy and I had both come from SanAntonio. I had family and history back there and so did he. Many a trip we did take to and from SanAntonio & Albaquerque (pronounced 'Alba - Kerkee').
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Roses Are Red And So Am I
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Vlaad
Admirable
Legendary Hero
ghost of the past
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posted February 20, 2007 10:32 PM |
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Edited by Vlaad at 22:32, 20 Feb 2007.
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Quote:
Albaquerque (pronounced 'Alba - Kerkee')
and spelled Albuquerque? 
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TitaniumAlloy
Honorable
Legendary Hero
Professional
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posted February 21, 2007 12:30 PM |
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the photos out on that fishing boat look like my worst nightmare
(or up there anyway)
respect for that
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John says to live above hell.
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violent_flower
Promising
Supreme Hero
Almost there.
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posted February 21, 2007 06:12 PM |
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What you are seeing in those pics are the trolleys that bring the crab or salmon back to the processors. I was on both and did two seasons, one with king crab and one with king salmon. It was sixteen hour days and being the only girl on the boat I felt out of place at first.
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Learn how to duck and weave because I will throw truth at you all day!
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Consis
Honorable
Legendary Hero
Of Ruby
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posted February 21, 2007 10:47 PM |
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Edited by Consis at 22:48, 21 Feb 2007.
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Eh . . .
I got one letter wrong in my entire post! Either someone is a perfectionist or they woke up on the wrong side of the bed this morning. In any event I am inescably not bothered by the actions of one nit-picky school teacher! Forsooth! School is out! On to more important matters . . .
. . . such as the question of why any self-respecting woman would decide to take a topless stroll through the grand canyon while smokin a joint. Strutting, walking, and enjoying the basking glow of that ubiquitous irradiating Arizona sun while glancing over her shoulder at the occasional stick-poking high school grad off in the shadows beneath the canyon walls amidst the dust, vermin, and rising sweltering heat. Leave no stone unturned! Ah yes those were the good old days when hitch-hiking was something of a forlorn hope. I dare say, I think I'm frightened by the mere thought of it! *shudders* You know what I call that Binabik? I call it taking a risk! Oh dear I need something pleasant to think about. Was there ever anything romantic or awe inspiring that happened in your days as a carpet bagger?
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Roses Are RedAnd So Am I
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violent_flower
Promising
Supreme Hero
Almost there.
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posted March 07, 2007 07:06 PM |
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I want pics Consis, share pic with me of some of your adventures..
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Learn how to duck and weave because I will throw truth at you all day!
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violent_flower
Promising
Supreme Hero
Almost there.
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posted March 13, 2007 02:28 AM |
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Well the pain of giving birth comes with rewards but my latest inconvenient situation comes with no reward, just maybe a lesson. A CAT scan has reveled two masses on my left lung and the fact that I have already had cancer plays a role in the severity of this. I don’t complain about being in pain to often and have just dealt with this crap for along time.
They will probably put this huge needle in my chest to see what it is then they may remove them all together. I’m not concerned for me but for my children. The point of this was not for any kind of pity, but to those that smoke, as I did for years before quitting, that you are not to young to have serious problems from this nasty habit. For yourself consider getting help in quitting and take the repercussions of this habit serious.
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Learn how to duck and weave because I will throw truth at you all day!
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