"I had some terrific experiences in the wilderness since I wrote you last- overpowering, overwhelming. But then I am always being overwhelmed."

The last two days, it has snowed in Seattle. People (real employees at real jobs) have taken snow days as a result. There isn't enough snow on the ground though to consider sledding. Regardless, I honestly didn't think it snowed here but once or twice every other year. My lack of correspondence needs no explaining, mostly because I only have ten minutes left on this computer and I have to go to work soon. Tonight, I might get to dabble in waiting tables. I'm pretty sure it won't compare to the greatest of cooking the food (I throw the pie into the air to prepare the pizza dough now. I know you love that.) But enough of employment. Aside from getting significant burns on a couple fingers, leaving huge blisters, from boiling grease, and learning more and more sign everyday (if I picked it up, would I tell people, "I am fluent in sign" or "I know sign language well."?).
The main reason I'm typing is mostly to share some pictures from some places where I've been. Here you go.


This is a picture I took at the Grand Canyon while deciding whether or not I should hike out to the confluence of the Colorado and Little Colorado river. I decided against it after friendly advice from a few rangers and I regret the decision every time I think about it. I think this picture should be used as next years photo for National Parks pass. The grand canyon made me dizzy.






This is Bryce Canyon in Utah. It was pretty magical. I took a couple days off from hiking and sleeping in obscure places and spent them here imagining water erode the rocks so much forming what Utah-an's and Jack Mormons call Hoo Doos. This picture really doesn't show those formations well (bottom right of phot) but they will have to do for now.







The Grand Tetons. They blew my mind.













These next two pictures are a couple I took hiking in the back country at Yellowstone. I wish I were there right now even though Yellowstone is apparantly one huge caldera due to blow. Away from the tourists, yellowstone is nothing short of amazing. Here are some bull elk I ran into and there is a geyser (sulfur spring?) that was randomly displaced off the trail.


Alright, that's all I have for now. I'll share a couple more pictures later. Now I must go serve Seattle. Food. Have a day. Jameson

no subject

Abbondanza's is the Italian restaurant that I work at. It's taking me a four year degree, a healthy two and a half months of unemployment, and endless dreaming to land me a job making Italian food in Seattle, Washington. . . and it is amazing!
Now that I'm employed in honest work, I feel more at ease sharing my experience as far as work goes. Since being here, I've worked as a telemarketer for an online marketing business, a ticket taker at the Bumbershoot festival, an aspiring busker, and an Italian cook. Aspiring to get into busking has been a job in itself though I haven't seen any return (because I don't get my ass down into the city enough). The Bumbershoot gig only lasted a day but it involved a free t-shirt and free entrance for the day so I could see David Cross (Tobias Funke from Arrested Development), Tribe Called Quest, and a couple other bands. I got fired from the telemarketing company. I don't know if it was my lack of interest, my endless use of free internet at their expense, or my general punctuality in the work place. I took a three hour lunch one day, turned up late the next (traffic!ha), was not able to contact them about my absence the following day (I had an interview for something more interesting), and didn't fight them a whole lot when they said, "As a business, we're just going to have to let you go." I didn't see a big problem with what I was doing since I would stay over to work and did not leave my desk like a good lemming would throughout days that I did show up. Plus everyone just came and went as they pleased. It might have been just a vibe that I got. (I think Adam- he was the first man to walk the earth I believe- made a lot of excuses too and look where that got him). Anyways, I hope they made an example of my lack of interest, but let me tell you getting fired from a job is not as glorious as it is cut out to be. Much like "sticking it to the man". I did that once working for a We're-a-big-machine-like-wal-mart-esque store and I thought it would be fulfilling for some reason. Not so much.
Busking has been pretty much non-existent, though I prepare for it everytime I play music now. I really should get into it so I can add more to this blog because I know that you are incredibly interested.
Cooking though. Man, I love cooking at this place. It's this small authentic italian restaurant down the road from EZ Street records (I say the record store because that is the same store that Eddie Vedder frequents because he lives around here, which means that he comes into the restaurant a lot, which also means that I may or may not have made a pizza or calzone or whatever for Mr. Vedder. enough of that.). The owners and pretty much all the employees either speak in sign language or broken spanish. I am in the greatest environment. Ever. I won't go into anything about more about that. It's steady though and a good education.
There isn't much else to say. My truck is broke down, which is worthy of note. My schedule for the week is pretty fantastic. I get plenty of sleep. I get the chance to read more than you, I'm sure of it. I saw the top Ultimate Frisbee team in the nation warm up the other night. F-ing fantastic. Much like the Doors, I've grown to be annoyed by the Eagles, though I will not argue anyone if they say that Desperado is one of the greatest songs ever written. oh yeah,
here's my address. send me cookies or juice or your own mailing address...

3525 SW Webster Street
Seattle, WA 98126.

Yes. Cookies or Juice. I have to go. really, I have to GO.

Jim

"Where's your hommmme James?"

It's been a good month now since I've stopped wandering around. Since leaving San Antonio, about 7,000 miles were put on the black 93 Ford Ranger (that's a standard with no cruise control just to sugar coat the drive a little more). With all the driving that I did in Texas (not a lot) and my drive down from Ohio (1,696 miles) to Texas, I'm pretty sure that means I've driven well over 10,000 miles on my circle around this country. boo yah. i'm stopping and staying here in Seattle however. In light of several circumstances (breaking down unexpectedly in Idaho- big financial blow, a room in Denver falling through- not a huge concern, job opportunities here in Seattle- i'm broke, and my needing a rest from the road for a little bit), I've decided to find a place here and establish some connections. I have found a place. I live in the former room of one Joe Wallace whom most of you probably don't know. He's a legend and that's all you need to know.
As for connections; well, I play ultimate frisbee at least three times a week here in Seattle and Tacoma and I've only met a handful of people who play ultimate who don't generally enjoy life and others who live it so it hasn't been hard meeting people and finding things to do. Plus this is Seattle mind you and aside from ultimate, music is the big thing here. I've been able to go to the Bumbershoot Festival. Pretty magical. I actually got to work there one day so i didn't have to pay and I got a free t-shirt. my thoughts from that: everybody needs to see Zero 7 live, mewithout you is like watching a man with bipolar disorder who hasn't taken his medication in a week (it was one of the better shows i saw), mates of state may or may not give you chills by the end of their set, and there are other thoughts but i need wrap this up. oh, and i saw the Polyphonic Spree live and it was incredible for those who care.

my route up here was amazing. I drove through nine states, stayed at like 12 or 14 national parks (i have a couple pictures i took. maybe i'll post them sometime. they're pretty good), met a lot of great people, and learned to appreciate hot water, not showering for 9 straight days and then following that up with a 12 day streak of being dirty (i showered 6 times throughout the whole ordeal. YES!), the life of vagabonds, and being disconnected for a while though it was not long at all among other things.
seattle is amazing as well. i could be so bold as to call this place home. i won't do that so soon though.

now i need a job that will get the "Man" off my case.

bye. james

To whom it may concern

Thirty-five days or so. The man next to me (i'm the one on the left) worked like 35 days straight this summer. Let me put it into perspective. No weekends or days off. You wake up at 7 A.M and you go until 10:30 or 11:00 P.M. The work involves entertaining and taking care of kids who have been victimized by people of our world and in response are incredibly angry at that world. That's the gist of it. Jay worked 35 straight days. I've heard of a longer streak (60 days) but it didn't take place in a home of this capacity and there were less hours involved. Un-Fing-Real Jay. This blog is all for you. It's also a heads up to let you know that you need to be checking this thing constantly cuz i'm going to be posting constantly. alright. i'm done.
Jameson

So hitchhiking with a gun or knife is boosh! not cool...

If I were the king of the world, I would of course deal with issues of injustice but I would also go to all public restrooms in parks and rest areas and make scratchings on the bathroom stalls from, "James - the king of the world." I think I could enjoy something like that and it might encourage the support of all those crazies who do make the scratchings on bathroom stalls to let others know that "they were here." My second order of business would be to form a counsel to find my Ziggy Stardust album. I'm very concerned that I've lost it. VERY concerned.

That's the word from Shoshone, Idaho. I haven't really interacted with folks from around here but Idaho is hilarious. I truly think that if I lived here I would be forced to grow a mohawk because that is what I think would keep the spice in life around these parts. I've already seen one fellow with one and was extremely encouraged.

I'm several days away from my destination and I imagine there will be more when I get there. Until then, or if this is all I have left to say on this blogsite let me say that aside from all the politics, suburban vices, 'no child left behind' policies, and extreme consumerism that we all partake in, we live in an extremely beautiful country. There are sights that have made me curse because I wasn't ready for the magnificance of what my eyes have confronted. There are people who I have met that have altered my preconceived notions that are present no matter how much I repress. There is a sort of quiet that I've finally found that I need, that keeps my senses peaked, that gives me calm, and that makes me think that I may be doing something right for once.

And now I'm getting the boot from this computer.

Bull Elk are sweet!

Jameson

Say "Ponderosa Pine" with me friends. Don't you love the way it rolls off the tongue?

I'm in Phoenix, Arizona right now, chilling with my old baby-sitter. And it's pretty great. Like driving through fresh, cool air in the desert or something like that. I've finally gotten to a computer and so this is what has been going on. . .

Texas took a while to leave. Not because I love it (though there is some sort of appreciation for it), but because it's so flippin huge. I stayed at Big Bend National for a couple days. Here's a tip for making money when you don't have a job:
1. Take a hike to see the sunset regardless of how long it will take on the return journey.
2. Enjoy the moment once you arrive and then head back.
3. On the return journey, run real fast around the bends, kind of like a mountain lion, to get the attention of others.
4. When/If you do in fact run into other hikers let them know that they won't make it to the cliff and get back before it gets real dark and Jurassic park like.
4.5. Don't give the creepy stalker vibe (questions like 'where do you live?' is not a good question)
5. Once you've convinced them to try another day, lead them back to the camp.
6. By the time you return, it should be pretty dark and the folks you are taking back will hopefully be living it large in a big lodge a mile away so it's on you to give them a ride.
7. Do your duty to society and you will most likely make 5 bucks. And even though you insist that it was no hassle, they will demand you leave with money because gas is so darn expensive.


- Guadalupe Mountains was my next stop after Big Bend. Good couple of days. I met a handful of people from Austin, TX (the greatest city in the world at this point in my life) and camped around Guadalupe Peak. I made a wrong turn on the trail (carry a map, James) I was supposed to take and I didn't want to turn around so I ended up at the top of the mountain and the hike sucked but the time up there was amazing. William Least Heat-Moon would be so proud of me. I chilled with a couple from Austin, saw a mule deer, looked for a bottle of wine buried 14 years ago on that very peak, and talked about life with the first people I've met since leaving SA all on the highest point in Texas. The night was pretty much the coldest night I've ever slept in outside. Maybe I should have taken a sleeping bag to the top (You're an idiot aren't you James?). All in all a good time had by all.

Lately I've been doing a lot of driving. Some of the places I've stayed the last few days rival some previous places I've slept in regards to "stupid" and "unsafe", but my grandkids will be proud. Or at least somebody's grandkids will be proud and impressed (Hopefully, for the survival of my ego of course). I'm hoping to slow down a bit in the North of Arizona (Prescott, Sedona, Flagstaff, and all places that consist of Ponderosa Pine). We'll see how that goes because the South of Utah appeals and talks to me in my sleep for some reason. So that's where I'll be for those creepy stalker folks who have discovered this site. Catch me if you can.

Ok, I'm flirting with the possibility of being boring even to myself so I better get going. This blog is for el Capitan in the Guadalupe Mountains in West Texas (that's the second picture above. Muy impressivo!), for big business leaders who don't see a whole lot of problems with high gas prices, and Angie in the picture at the end of this blog just because I can do that kind of thing (I asked her to marry me but she didn't like the idea of that. I think we are too overly competitive for each other but that's me).
Honor the silence everybody. It's out there, it just takes a little bit to get to it.

James

It's wild that even God himself knew all this would be ever present.

I'm about done with my time in Texas here. At least for the time being. I've met some good people. I've also met the opposite. I've had some great laughs but as for stories to tell or anything like that, I have none because that, I suppose, was the nature of my work. It was a good education that I'm grateful for. I've learned that I can tuck people in better than most (There's a little bit of ego with that if you can't tell. Then again, I've probably never tucked you in have I?). A lot of people really shouldn't be having children whether they think they are responsible enough or not. Man, blood, sex, and booze seems to be good predictor of widows, orphans, and poverty. I've learned that too. And finally, I would have someone under the age of 13 pray for me anyday before I would have someone over the age of 13 pray for me. But that's just me.

I imagine there's more but this is not the appropriate venue. Have a day.

James

"Trust thyself, every heart vibrates to that iron string."

William Least Heat-Moon wrote:
"Again on the road, I drove up a lumpy, dry plateau, all the while thinking of the errors that had led me to Hat Creek. The word ERROR comes from a Middle English word, ERREN, which means 'to wander about,' as in the knight errant. The word evolved to mean 'going astray' and that evolved to mean 'mistake.' As for MISTAKE, it derives from Old Norse and once meant 'to take wrongly.' Yesterday, I had been mistaken and in error, taking one wrong road after another. As a result, I had come to a place of clear beauty and met a man who carried his philosophy on a cafe business card.
"The annals of scientific discovery are full of errors that opened new worlds; Bell was working on an apparatus to aid the deaf when he invented the telephone; Edison was tinkering with the telephone when he invented the phonograph. If a man can keep alert and imaginitive, an error is a possibility, a chance at something new; to him, wandering and wondering are part of the same process, and he is most mistaken, most in error, whenever he quits exploring."

Mr. Emerson, Mr. Heat-moon.. . that's good enough for me. Thank you.

Today, I will be heading to the Rio Grande for an indefinite amount of time. I've received word that there's a town where I'm going that is filled with dentists and they would take care of a cavity that I have had for sometime for 20 dollars or so. Plus I've never seen Mexico. This blog is dedicated to Shawn (She's hippie through and through. Plus she let me know about the great dentist on the Rio), Trey (the only person who reads this S), and Robin Lee Graham (The Loner of all Loner's).

Oh and for what it's worth to whom it may concern: STOP ABUSING YOUR CHILDREN!!!

JBD

Considering the circumstances, I feel it's a good time to update on happenings around the U.S. today. I found out yesterday dear old Sharon (that's my mom) spent Mother's day working. Will she ever get a break? I would think that things would get easier for mom but apparantly she can't even get a Sunday off from work. I would like to put a healthy amount of the blame on the three psychos to the right here. They are handsome devils aren't they? Haha. These three are not civil in any sense. They have problems with authority and the authority has problems with them. But man, I would say it's worth being around them to just see what they are going to do next.

The greeen gumba on the far right is my brother Garth. He had prom Saturday night so he had things going on and even though he's a farmer/mechanic/future army reserve, doesn't mean that he stayed up all night waking up northwest Ohio and then went straight to the fields the following morning to do chores, followed immediately by working on his truck before going to do 700 pushups in an hour. No the boy had to sleep and sleep he did. You get tired creating chaos like he does, give him a break.

The piece of work in the middle goes by the name of Scarlett Fever (no idea why). His real name is Zach. Zach is in the army. He made the spontaneous decision to join such a cause during his senior year in highschool. That very decision landed him in Germany for an extended period of time. However, this very day- the day after mother's day- he returns to the U.S. of A. to spend the next month or so staying up late reminiscing with friends, and nothing else but staying up all night waking up Northwest Ohio. It's just what you do in those parts. So while he's partying until he goes to his next post (remember "A party isn't a party if it happens every night."), I hope he shows some love to sharon because the confused, lanky wanderer on the left surely won't be doing his part.

That's me, James, and I'm currently out of the picture for the time being and will most likely be just that for a really long time. Regardless, I'm the oldest and should be setting the prescedent for showing love and respect and whatever to the mother. Am I wrong? I'm pretty off on that mark. If you would witness, Sharon, Garth, Scarlett Fever, and myself in a room together, you would understand that our respect and love for each other is very unspoken. Plus it's just something that we don't do well (express appreciation for one another, that is).

So given the events of the past day (it may as well be years), and the fact that our "mommy dearest" doesn't get the props that she deserves, allow me to express my unspoken love for the toughest woman I will probably ever know. She's the woman that has encouraged us to be independent even though she didn't approve of some of our decisions. Yet she remained. She never caged us. She looks after us when we don't look after her. She works her ass off and still has time to keep tabs when we never do. I'm pretty sure no other woman could handle us three and I don't think any of us realize that enough. Unless you consider my grandma but she's retired. Here is a song that I wish I wrote to finish this update. It brings things full circle...

God bless mom

Best of all

Spread your wings

Fly or fall

You'll see how hard it can be

To keep your side of the deal

And you'll see how hard it can be

To keep one foot in the real

God bless you

Strong and true

Stay at home

Good as gold

And you'll see how hard it can be

To keep your side of the deal

And you'll see how hard it can be

To keep one foot in the real

Even though she will probably never read this, God bless you mom.

Love, Your sons.

"When the Spirit moves you, let the music groove you."

Hey there,

how about a poorly edited update? Josh Ritter's new cd is out right now. it's called the animal years and you need to check it out.

life here on the ranch is fine. it's real dry so last weekend, every day involved the fire department trying to work their magic by keeping the fires away from buildings and young children.

my routine (that's the name of the game here. routine routine routine. something that i don't handle well) involves waking up at six thirty-something and realizing that my alarm has been going off for several minutes since 6:30. i then proceed to hit the snooze until my neighbor next to me demands that I get up. then i go to the house that i'm working at, wake the boys up, get them a cinnamon roll, keep them from fighting so early in the morning, and then getting them off to school.

after that i try to avoid people at all costs so i can go back to bed.

after a healthy nap, i wake up and go back to the cabin before the boys get home from school.

once everyone is home, there is an hour of quiet time in the rooms to refocus. obviously "quiet time", "in the rooms", and "refocus" rarely happens. these are teenage boys man, they don't want any of that. it's part of the routine though.

after that, we go outside, watch a movie, prevent fights, go fishing, go play football, go look for crawdads, and whatever else might come up.

then comes supper. wow, supper. first of all, 12 and 13 year olds are picky so you can imagine that food that doesn't get eaten and the peanut butter and jelly that gets vanquished. "It's Science." Second of all, provoking and fighting at the table is as routine as supper every night.

Gym time, outside with the water guns, following up on the supper time fights, a movie, or quiet time is the name of the game before bed depending on the mood.

then comes bed, then comes paper work, then comes the night staff to relieve the houseparents.

once i'm done, i'd like to go to bed but i took a sweet nap eight hours earlier so i'm not interested in sleep. i usually just hang out with some of the people i've met here and inhale their second hand smoke or practice music. then i fall asleep to do it all over again.

so that's that. it's all about routine here. i'm not sure if i'm ready for that kind of commitment but the boys here need some sort of consistency in their broken lives. i wonder if i can offer that despite my lack of commitment to routine. apparantly freedom might actually come from consistency. we''ll see.

anyways, life is good, there are good people here, and i am tired so i'm going to go enjoy a sweet nap and dream of what it's like to live in seattle. i hope.

james

Gatorade, Crackers, and little kids who want to kick my. . .

I've been in this area of texas for several days and I've got a little time to quickly update. I'm settling in well. I've met a couple of guys that I live with that are pretty cool and we've started playing music together on the weekends. It's been pretty sweet. That alone may convince me to stay longer than what I had planned (Aside from Austin and these little hole in the wall towns that consist of one or two buildings but happen to be the liveliest places on the earth on Sunday afternoons. All sorts of musicians come to these towns in the middle of nowhere, play their music, chill with the laid back country folk, and enjoy a Sunday barbeque. This is the only way I want to think of Texas. I won't tell you what kind of folks are notorious for showing up at these barbeques but it sounds pretty sweet.)

As for other business, the work here seems pretty fun. Last week was nuts just because there were so many orientation classes to go to. I didn't dig that and then we had to go work in the homes. It wasn't work though, it was just observing what goes on. That's what I'm doing this week but I'm also starting to adapt so these little buggers better be careful who they're threatening and throwing ketchup at, am I wrong? Actually I'm a pushover so the Heinz will continue to fly I'm sure.

So that's it. I'm not tired of gatorade and crackers yet but I'm getting there. Thank goodness for Oreos I suppose.

Go back to work. James.

And I resolve. . .

Austin, Texas: Oh my goodness!

James

South X Southwest and the Madness that is March

Dear World,

If you are looking for organizations or things like that to donate money to in the future, make it the libraries, and YMCA's out there so bums like me can check my email for free and get some excercise and a shower for free because i'm too cheap to pay for necessities like that. That's just me though. I'm in Kerrville, TX right now. there's not a whole lot to say about kerrville at this point. there's a small but sweet burger place that i found and i found a place where i could get a tb test so i can actually get a job. that's kerrville in a sentence. I was in San Antonio a few hours ago watching the NCAA tourney and planning on fleeing this area of the world when i was told to come here. I was close to not taking this job but i finally found a place that would entertain my requests. I guess monday morning, I start work but that's not important today. Tomorrow, I'm going to Austin, TX which apparantly is misplaced in this world due to it being a mecca for new music. South X Southwest is this weekend and I'm supposed to take part. So tomorrow and Saturday, I'm gonna chill with some good people I've met and discover new music and new other things, Lord willing. Pretty great. I'll let you know how it goes. For the time being, consider the bands Mogwai and Josh Ritter, who will both be there and let me know how you feel. and if you aren't interested in the music then definitely consider the whole Library/Y opportunities to give.

As for anything else:
-I haven't eaten this good since like 2005 (I've finally acquired a taste for the onion)
-I'm reading this book called A short history of nearly everything by Bill Bryson and it's officially blown my mind. First of all, thinking about how big the universe is as nuts as the eccentric scientists who have dedicated their lives to discovering things like that but I love them for it. And Second, Albert Einstein is the man to say the least even if he did waste the second half of his life.
-Frisbee in the dark among cactus plants isn't as bad as it sounds. It's not as fun as it sounds either.
-Happy St. Paddy's Day.

That's enough. Come fix my dying truck and never settle.

James

Natchez Trace me.

First of all, I wasn't interested in stopping after all the driving but now that I have, it's not so bad. Bandera, TX is nice. I don't know what kind of elevation it is but it's hilly and there are ranches everywhere. I need a cowboy hat. I'm here to take a job as a house parent for abused and neglected teens but that won't happen until next week sometime so I have days to wander around wondering about my vehicle and when I see my first rattlesnake. It should be great. To keep things brief, I'll approach these highlights like one of my friends would...

Good Vibes:
-hanging out with a friend at the Blind Lemon in Cincinatti and discovering a Micro Brew called Anchor Steam
-Driving through Mississippi using the Natchez Trace (you can't go over 50 mph on this road and you won't see a car for miles) to the tunes of Sigur Ros...there's really no other way to pass through Mississippi
-living with a couple who are not hippies but who definitely live in a hippie-esque house with their dog Joe who doesn't have any toes on one foot. their place is amazing and so is their toeless dog.
-experiencing hail for the first time during Texas' first rain storm in a long time under a roof covered in steel.
-fried rice

Bad Vibes:
-not knowing a thing about maintaining a vehicle but driving hundreds of miles anyway
-having to wear shoes in this warm weather to avoid the scorpions, cactus, and snakes
-the phone bill that my mom is gonna get for all my roaming. yeah, that probably won't be good.
-Not getting what I hoped with my first purchase of a Stevie Ray Vaughn record.

Enjoy your day and listen to the birds.
james

Bound to happen...

Giving this a go to celebrate a transition and avoid mass emails. I won't do all of my resolving here but I'll at least make an effort to update what's happening from time to time. I can't promise I'll be nice or appropriate but I'll avoid boring and dry at all costs. I hope it's worth the time for both of us. That's all.