It's sad how this blog was the first to get tossed to the curb when I was busy. Even now that I have a bit more free time (ok, a LOT more free time), it's been hard to get the motivation to sit down and really process things. But here's my attempt at getting back on the horse.
So let's see... I went to Denver, CO on July 29th and today is August 8th, so it's been a little more than a week that I've been sleeping around at people's apartments waiting for our apartment to open up (Aug 15th). I'm not gonna lie, although it was fun at first getting to be at people's places, it quickly got old as I felt my body rebelling at having to sleep on hard floors and flat pillows. Even though I typically don't sleep that well on a bed anyways, my back and neck are always stiff for the first couple hours of consciousness.
Most importantly though, there's that very subtle unsettled feeling lurking at the back of your heart when you want to do something (like cook a dinner), until you realize that:
a) you don't have any food at the place
or
b) you don't actually know where any of your cooking utensils are.
It's that feeling that quietly whispers, "You don't have a home, you don't belong here, you're being a parasite!" After a while, you start believing it. Home is the place where you can be completely comfortable. It's where you store your dirty laundry, where you can comfortably drop a deuce and fart, where you can walk around in only your boxers because it's disgustingly hot. As close as you might feel with the person you're living with, you can't ever really be at ease since this you're at their home with a different set of norms than your own.
The first couple days I stay at a place, I'm always hyper aware of how they do things. Do they do dishes immediately after eating or are they more relaxed about it? When they use something, is there a certain place they like to return it to? I keep a mental checklist of preferences and I try to honor it as best as I can. In the situations where the hosts aren't too worried about things (like cleanliness), I try my best to go above and beyond to help them. But learning the unspoken norms are always a stressful time.
But enough about the negatives. I recently came back from a trip w/ old college buddies in Denver, CO. That entire state is gorgeous. The moment we walked outside you can see the Rocky Mountains on the horizon of every direction. Breath-taking for real. While we were there, we signed up to go white water rafting. For those unfamiliar, imagine going into an inflatable raft with 6 other people (and a guide) and trying to steer down a rampaging river filled with sharp turns and jutting rocks. AWESOME! We signed up for class 3-5 rapids (levels go up to 6, which are "so dangerous as to be unnavigable on a reliable basis" wikipedia) and went out and conquered it!
Our guide told us that the water was fed by melted snow from the Rockies, but we could have figured that out the moment the water hit our faces. I finally understand what people mean when they said "bone-chilling"; the coldness sucks your breath away and leaves a numb ache in your bones. Thankfully the afternoon heated up and we were able to warm up in the calmer areas.
I realize that my body is no longer as young as I keep thinking it is... because of that, I feel more of an urgency to take care of all the "dangerous" things on my bucket list. If you want to do any of these, lemme know!!
List of Goals:
- Rock climb on a real mountain (belaying now acceptable)
- sky dive
- surf
- scuba dive
- base jump
