Me and my cousin were supposed to go rafting, but the weather was a bit on the autumn side, so we went to the mountains. It’s funny, I remember my cousin told a girl at the gym we were going rafting, she’s like “down the river?” he’s like “No, up a mountain…” lol. So yeah, we went up the mountain, without a raft tho. We lost that thing to the pages of broken dreams, mostly however, we just had to get the hell outta dodge. So we went to the mountains, to Grand ol’ Craig’s restaurant and had a great breakfast. I drew a surreal sketch and my cousin drew one of his own. It was like a cannon firing in the foreground with a giant planet that made me think of an egg in the background, very cool. My picture was just a result of a technique I thought of. You draw something, turn the page around and in relation to what the new image looks like, you draw another thing, flip the page around and continue. It was a lot like constant inspiration spikes. I can see how one might get addicted to such things…

Anyhow, after an awesome breakfast we went on our way back home. But my cousin and I both longed to explore a mountain. We saw a good looking one in the distance and just had to turn off and follow the road that went up. So we got to the top of that and there’s a parking space. To the right of us: a path leading into the forest, to the left of us: a path leading to a bunch of cabins. So we decided to go there first. The place was like a ghost town, and I was actually surprised when the door opened to the main building, but not surprised to see the place empty and deserted. 

The whole place seemed deserted when we first got there.

It was like some weird movie, at any second zombies would surround us and we’d have to use our bare hands and the chairs in the lobby to fight them off. But alas, no such luck. What we did do, however, was go to the basement in which there was a game room. Old arcade machines hugged the walls on one side while an extremely old-looking Toshiba tv and some book shelves with Reader’s Digest and puzzles were on the other. But the middle of this room was what interested me the most, it had pool tables and a ping-pong table off to the side. 

Looked more like an old-folks' home than a resort...

I looked around for the pool balls and sticks but found nothing. Then: a sound… two women were coming downstairs. One was leading the other >>

Anyhow, they were old and I guess I startled them because when I said “Hi” they jumped. “I didn’t know anyone was down here” the one said,
“Neither did I.” I responded. We talked of the resort:
“So, what is this place?” I asked.
They responded by explaining that the place was a ski resort, but the owners had put the slope on the wrong side of the mountain so it didn‘t catch any snow (at least, not enough for a ski hill), so the glory days ended abruptly and pathetically. Now it was just a time share “But you can rent too!” she offered.

I asked where I could get the pool equipment, and they directed me to the front desk. So we said goodbye and I sat down to read a very old looking book about the real estate market in the mountains >>

Poor fools, if only they had known that they wouldn’t be getting any snow. Course, you’d think they’d have researched and studied the ‘ideal location’ before labeling it as such, but I guess not…
Anyhow, when my cousin comes around the corner I ask if he wants to play pool, but says he’d rather play ping-pong. So we do. I go to the desk and get the stuff, and we play the game. What a blast. I’ve never played ping-pong but damn, what fun! We fooled around for a bit then Brandon tells me that he remembers some of the rules >>
So yeah, I lost both games after that, but it was still fun. Halfway through the game there’s this robotic cleaning girl going around cleaning things. She even used table cleaner on the seat cushions >>

Whatever, so we left and chuckled all the way back to the car. We got there and decided to climb the mountain. 

This was gonna be epic because the path in question had been closed due to the fact that it passed through Big-Horn Sheep country. There were warnings but they mentioned how the sheep were only around winter and spring and it was summer motherfuckas! So we entered the wild and took our climb. We passed some old couple that were on their way back which gave me a shot of confidence because if two old people could survive the vicious and evil nature of these primordial beasts then my cousin and I would be laughing all the way up the mountain. At any rate it was a great hike. At some point we’re talking about mountain bikes and as though the universe were listening to us, another older (though not as old as the first) couple came behind us on bikes. We say hi and ask them something and the guy says “we’ll see” or something like that as he trails his wife, and that’s the last we see of them until a few moments later. We turn the corner and see them going up a hill. They disappear and then re-emerge, on their way down.

“No good?” I ask.
“Too much like work.” the guy (who was in front this time) grunts.
“He’s not used to it.” his wife offers.

We chuckle. Life is funny when you can see it.

Anyhow, we continue up the mountain and I light a cigarette, taking extra care to put the ashes out on wet or rocky ground lest I start a fire and have to deal with Smokey the Bear. Puffing as we walk I am enjoying myself immensely. My cousin walks to the edge of a cliff and we look at the river below. Just epic.

We never got to the top because it got steep and we didn’t want to be gone too long. 

Cool view through the trees on the path.

So we head back and get to the car. On our way back to the highway we decide to stop and get water at a gas station. Well, we weren’t there for more than 15 minutes and we notice that (as we head back to the highway) the long-weekend campers are lined up and moving sluggishly back to the city. Fire trucks and ambulances roar towards the head of the line and when we finally get there, we see a truck and his towed camper flipped over on the side of the road. How he pulled that off is beyond me, but once past it it’s smooth sailing.

So, that's it for today! Incidentally I do apologize for the picture quality, I'll be getting a better camera soon  so bear with me in the mean time!

It Began on a Thursday...

So here it is... the blog... Always wanted to do this and I figured there would never be a perfect time to start. Sometimes you just gotta do it. Anyhow...

At work, the owner of the house (Les) came by once again (as he always does) to go over things that he's told us repeatedly. lol. I can understand though, it's his house after all. Then he mentions that it's gonna be the long weekend. See, I had no idea, so it caught me off guard and put the cherry on an already great morning.

He mentioned the landing we were building for his stairs and I figure it puts him in the top 20% of home owners, just for the landing. That thing is strong, much unlike most landings we do. It's not that the other landings are weak, it's just that Les's is overkill. See, if there's a shadow of a doubt in the guy's mind as to the strength of a portion of his house, he'll add something, just to make sure. "Then there's no headaches" he always says. I tell you, the man must have money coming out of his ears. He used to be a school teacher you know, and then one day some friend or acquaintance of his pitched him the idea of buying a house and flipping it. So that worked and he flipped another and another, went into building them and quit the teaching to become a home-builder. He says he would still teach if he could but has no time, so I guess he enjoyed it.

At the coffee-break I read my brother's blog. Records & Magazines it's called, and it's awesome. He talks of his passion for film and music, and it inspired me to start this blog.

After coffee, I enter the house and Les's wife is standing there like a vision. Must be about 40 or so years old, and looks good for her age. We talked about the house and she's excited about the down-town view. I tell her she should build a roof-top patio, though she mentions that they have a front patio on the second floor. They also have 4 kids. The 2 boys rooms are upstairs and the girls get the basement. "Everyone wants their own space" she mentions when the size of the house comes up in the convo. Then she mentions that she wants a wall moved because she has a piano (not a grand though, I asked) and I check the plan... yep, we put the wall in the wrong place. Whoever laid the walls out must have read the thing upside down. So anyhow, crisis averted. >>
She's the only one that plays the piano though, and seemed to like the idea that it might be an heirloom one day, though "nobody else plays it, so I don't know." she said.

At lunch I had no food, so I caught a ride with my cousin Shaun, and we went to a Wendy's. We talked and eventually Shaun told me about a time he had a tranny for a hairdresser. I wondered how he could tell, Adam's apple? But no, Shaun said the surgery was bad and was obvious. Sad. Anyhow, he mentioned how the whole time he tried to get the guy/girl to talk about the surgery and etc. I mean, what exactly goes on? Anyhow, Shaun wasn't bothered by it unlike a lot of his friends whom he told the story to. We talked of how people just need to accept themselves more, and often the people who blame others for not accepting them 'the way they are' are the most un-accepting of themselves. To me, if you have to declare something like "I'm fine with who I am!" it reeks of bullshit, honestly; and if you need ALL of society to 'tolerate' you, it's even more of a giveaway that you aren't comfortable with who you are. People who are 'real' don't need anyone to tell them they are 'o.k.' they just are, and don't need anyone else to think so.

So anyhow, after lunch we got back and I'm ready for the day to end though I'm having a blast. Haven't had fun living in a while but new perspectives tend to help in that regard. As we're putting down the floor Shaun mentions Les's hired-hand Robert. He says: "Yeah I was gonna clean up the site the other day but thought: no, Robert will end up doing that. Les needs to justify Robert's existence." Lmfao! 

At the end of the day before we went home my cousin Jesse comes over and gives us a safety orientation, I guess it's required for the company to be able to take bigger and better contracts. Whatever, I got an ice-cap out of it. So I head home and almost get hit twice on the road. Once was a bus that I just barely got ahead of when merging. The driver hits the horn and I wave to him. Nothing was gonna ruin my mood today. Anyhow I get home and have time enough to shower and eat a cup of peanuts before my cousin Brandon comes over and we head to the gym. He tells me he's been learning about accepting death in order to be able to fully live presently and fully, and I couldn't agree more. People are too afraid of death but like Shaun pointed out: Life increases your risk of death by 100%. Words to live by.

So at the gym we notice my old trainer Jason and his brother Matt and stop to talk to them. Their faces lit up when they saw us and we joked with them for a while... smiles the whole time from all, just great guys to hang around. They actually didn't want us to leave but we had to work out lol. At any rate, good seeing them again. Jason told me about his tire-flipping exercises. I guess the tire is 600lbs and he got it from one of his clients. What an awesome perk. I told Jason he's gotta get to the point where he can hold that tire in the Atlas pose, but that may be wishful thinking on my part.

Then I came home and wrote this blog and it's off to sleep.