victory my friends! i finally got out here and i did it without going down in flames in some seizure-induced car wreck. i had a friend tell me about some martial artist that stopped fighting people because he could kill them too easily. instead he snaps the necks of raging bulls with his bare hands. i'm pretty sure with this under my belt that mr. martial artist ain't got nothin on me. boo ya.
therefore...
life. is. good.
(skip the big rambly part to the dotted line if you're just reading to see how my heart is...)
my first adventure, mere hours after arrival, was to get in the car (again!) and set off on a quest to conquer not one, but four 14ers. oh buddy. just to clarify, that's four monstrous 14,000 ft + mountains. can you say hoss?
okay, before you get your undies all in a twist, i didn't actually climb the mountains. a few friends, who will remain unnamed, threatened my life if i dared to do anything so interesting while in colorado. instead, i stayed in the highest hotel in the united states while dano (father dearest), beckster (stepmom) and a group of other crazies went and conquered the mountains. but don't be fooled, i still had adventures all of my own... because i was, well, all on my own.
my day began by waking up and completely forgetting where i was or who i was supposed to be with. this confusion was not aided by the fact that i woke up on the floor, under the sink in a horridly victorian, 15x15 hotel room with no other living souls in sight. (i had unfortunately decided to continue my new dancing fad in a restaurant the night before and consequently was thoroughly drugged.) however, after mumbling unintelligible things to myself and cracking every possible joint in my body, i gained my bearings and called dano. he just so happened to still get cell phone service on his mountainous trek and told me to go downstairs and get food. i knew my father was a doctor for a reason... pure genius.
after a breakfast of soggy waffles and a hard boiled egg, i figured i ought to do something with myself, so i took a gander around the town. the hotel is in leadville, a town just about as interesting as its namesake. its one of those places that's awkwardly stuck in its "glorious" past and thus never quite got a hold on the present. (un)fortunately for me, the glory days of leadville were in my least favorite portion of american history... the late 1800s. the only thing that saves this era is the movie tombstone and that's because val kilmer makes one heck of a doc holliday. (doc, not val, just so happened to kill his last man right there in the town of leadville. he now has a bar and grill in commemoration of this great event.) sigh.
it gets better, because i happened to be stranded in leadville during its most magnanimous celebration: boomdays. leadville, like a lot of places in the rockies, was a boom town on account of various mined goodies. the first was gold. then that fizzled. then silver. then some 17 syllable mineral which is probably in everything i use but am too ignorant to acknowledge. the result of this celebration is the collection of drunken bikers, ladies in brightly colored bustiers (pronounced boost-ee-ay), and lots and lots of old people. i actually found this to be glorious. for an avid people watcher, this was a serious gold mine (no pun intended).
only downer: the people watching extravaganza was really of no entertainment until the flocks came around 4 o'clock. to entertain myself meanwhile i drooled over jewelry i can't afford, wandered around the surrounded neighborhoods, tried unsuccessfully to make friends with the locals (being from windsor doesn't help and apparently i look like it since someone eyed me cautiously and said "now you're from the city aren'tcha"), finished the dark night on my spiffy new ipod touch my brother gave me, and napped for 3 hours. the only 2 points of interest during this time were lunch at the local chinese food place where there were two pony-tailed mountain men discussing the finer points of various denominational theology, and the overly friendly old man who tried very valiantly to get me to go and down a beer with him (it was barely past noon). to his credit, he gave me one of the best compliments i've ever received from a complete stranger.
man, do i sound cynical. it was actually a heck of a lot of fun. plus the day ended with the return of the mountaineers, complete with awesome stories, and the consumption of copious amounts of pizza.
i say it again, life is good.
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despite the risk of waxing verbose, i suppose i'll update on heavier things as well.
this move wasn't nearly as hard as i thought it would be. for various reasons, i didn't see my love before i left. that was probably one of the hardest, but clearest decisions i've made yet. there are still times when everything gets caught in my chest and i don't know what to do next, but the pain, though still as potent, doesn't seem to paralyze me as long as it used to. i guess i'm learning to fight back by holding on to truth "with not a transient hold, but an eternal grasp." i'm pretty sure its faux pas to quote your own writing, but it was something written from the heart so i don't really care.
i don't have the perception to know of whether i'm doing better or not. the seizures are still there, but not as violent... not yet anyway. i'm looking for a job. probably in a book store or a coffee shop because i'm a nerd. i don't even drink caffeine but i like the atmosphere. a friend told me to work in a comicbook store because i would quickly find friends, but he didn't quite... word it in that way...
who knows though. i want a new challenge, but i'm reminded daily of how hindering my limits can be. thank goodness i'm also reminded daily, hourly, secondly(?), that i've a God with no limits. what can man do to me?
i say it yet again, life is good.
"to live is Christ... " philippians something or another
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