johnjohn, you know this is to inspire you

even though the zoo won't allow frisbees during the live music, they will have the good be tanyas and that is reason enough to fly to seattle

My heart is calmer after listening to Patty. Always.

I have transitioned again.

SHHHHHHHHHHHHhhhhhhhhh...

I saw amiina live a week or so ago here in seattle. It was beautiful. Here's a visual idea of what i had the privelege to be a part of. ahh. so good.

What is happening?

Happy Easter!!!

Celebrate!

Happy Birthday Her

Hey, it's sharon's (mom's) birthday this week. call her- 419.553.6545, be calm, be inappropriate, and be straightforward and she'll know who put you up to it. that's all.

Sigur Rós - Glósóli

Welcome to today...

Well, our President has given his State of the Union Address, I've begun playing ultimate regularly again, we should all have our tax info in our possession summarizing the previous year, the Superbowl is over (Well Done Colts, you studs!), and Of Montreal has released their new album Hissing Fauna, Are You the Destroyer?, so what do you say we get this year started? I'm going to begin this year Seattle style (I say beginning of the year simply because I think it's those F-ing tax forms that really are the focus of the beginning of any year. First order of business, pay homage to the Man, get a return on your respects, and go about your business until we do it again next year). egrets are a must. . . I regret becoming nocturnal and not fighting it in any way this year, I regret eating too many subway cookies which have proceeded to make me believe that I'm on the verge of becoming diabetic (Those sugar highs, what a rush), I regret not getting into politics like I told myself I would last year (It's hard!), I regret not seeing more shows like Lovedrug, or the Decemberists, or the Rapture, or Rocky Votolato, or Old Crow Medicine Show when they were in Seattle (I really am sorry), I regret not going to church more, I regret not reading more, I regret not asking that chick Annie to just marry me when I met her instead of coming up here with that supposed mistake on my mind constantly, and I regret watching OSU lose to Florida (since when do we celebrate Tedd Ginn Jr. touchdowns? Not only is that how people get hurt, but Tedd Ginn Jr. held the team together let alone the whole free world- in some respects- and it is just sort of understood that he will win a game for you with his healthy, uninjured legs unless of course you decide to celebrate one of his magical moments by tackling him in the end zone and harm one of those said legs). But this is a new year, a time to recommit, a time to get off those subway cookies, and go to those shows, and try and figure out what our President and friends are up to, and read those books, and go to that church that you want to go to, and whatever else comes with the fleeting nostalgia of January. The truth is that I'm not interested in that much right now. Too much going on (HA!) I suppose I'll tell you all about it. I'm sorry. Here goes regardless. . .

Sorry for the absence Grandma, I've been looking for another job, which I've found, and my internet time is minimum. One day. As for the rest of you (trey, jay, and my politic buddies in Oracle, AZ), things have been going pretty great. I'm still cooking food. I cook pasta now (Pasticiatta, Amatriciana, Sicilian style, etc.) and I dig it and could go for some right now. There was one week, where an Italian chef from D.C. came to show us some stuff and the week was nothing short of fascinating. The way the man taught me to recycle all scrap vegetables and incorporate them somehow rather than throwing away good vegetables. Wow. If humanity treated the earth like Pansini treats the food in the kitchen, we would be doing pretty well at this point in our existence (in my opinion, of course). I also got another job working as a residential counselor downtown at a homeless shelter. It's a pretty good gig. I won't go into any thing about what it all entails but I'll tell, this agency may have my dream job waiting for me. After my trial half year with them, I may be eligible for it. More on that in six months.

Cigarettes have become unusually significant in my interactions lately. A kid on the street the other day asked me if I'd by him some smokes. First of all, I don't smoke and while I used to carry around cigarettes at one time for folks, I'm out of that business. Have been for a year or so. This new place I'm working at though, makes me think that I'll be getting back into it against my will. It's been on my mind, why people want to bum a smoke off me. I've never smoked cigarettes before and won't until i'm at least one hundred (the ideal time to start in my mind),and I don't encourage others to smoke. In fact, I make a point to discourage it when the opportunity presents itself. To each his own I suppose.

I have found a church that I frequent. It's called Mars Hill (not the graduate school!) and I think sometimes about becoming a member of their congregation. I've been out of the formal fellowship/small group/church thing for some time and I think it's time, despite my hesitancy, to join up with the church. Mars Hill draws in the protestors like no other. I actually got turned down for a job because I mentioned the name Mars Hill (the graduate school, which is not apart of the Mars Hill church in Seattle) and the interview ladies' demeanor changed at the voicing of those words. It was amazing! It's happened a couple other times in conversations but for different reasons. Even members of the Universal church are pretty shaken up by what's going on at the church. The Head Pastor is pretty outspoken on different issues (women's roles in the church, homosexuality, all the 'tough' topics) but he's also a very misunderstood individual by those who don't attend services. I won't go into anymore of that talk except that, knowing what I know of the head pastor and his church (they seem pretty Reformed) and my own convictions towards particular issues and the fact that he draws protestors for bizarre but understandable reasons, makes me want to follow him all the more. And if any of you think I'm being influenced by false doctrine, well, my phone is always on, though I don't always answer (the gnomes don't enjoy it).

Alright, that's enough for now. Just for kicks though, thank you for 2006 for making it something else. Here's who helped. . .

Josh Ritter, Bright Eyes, Cheap Trick, mewithoutyou, the Frames, Patty Griffin, Bruce Springsteen, the deaf community of Seattle, the month of July, the crazies in Texas, Austin, TX, Betty and Merle, Little Miss Sunshine, the Reimers, Mt. Rainier, the Three Sisters, the Oregon Coast, Annie in Flagstaff, Subway and your drugged cookies, reconnecting with important people from my past, the Stranger, the birds and their lessons, the groanings of creation, Liz, JC, Mike Look, Robbandanza, Jameson Brewered, books (good ones), that lady who threatened liz and I with a deadly virus and a sandwich, the Polyphonic Spree, everyone involved with Northwest Ultimate, Craig, Brent, NWP, Zach, John, Zac, my brothers who bring the laughs daily, and for you the reader. . . I couldn't have done it without you, which is false, but it feels good to type.

Welcome to today. Love the music, listen to the birds, recycle what you can, honor the silence, encourage justice, and stand in awe of the world we live in. Please! Our existence is, more or less, dependent on it. I go out with this thought from a master of the state of our earth and our union with it. . . .

"We have been wrong. We must change our lives, so that it will be possible to live by the contrary assumption that what is good for the world will be good for us. And that requires that we make the effort to know the world and to learn what is good for it. We must learn to cooperate in its processes, and to yeild to its limits. But even more important, we must learn to acknowledge that the creation is full of mystery; we will never understand it. We must abandon arrogance and stand in awe. We must recover the sense of the majesty of creation, and the ability to be worshipful in its presence. For I do not doubt that it is only on the condition of humility and reverence before the world that our species will be able to remain in it." (Wendel Berrey- Art of the Commonplace)

I love you. James

"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