OH no snakes!

I guess this farm I'm staying on is known for it's many rattlesnakes. I failed to mention that I saw one in a prairie dog hole warning me with it's handy rattle. I was temped to use my 22 on it but my logic set in when I invisioned him striking me after I undoubtedly missed.

But not to worry, I've been trained...wait a minute I haven't been trained!!! AHHHHHHH!

Tonight I'm going to the free meal at one of the Hugoton compressor manufacture shops.

Oh I should tell you my story of the nice latio's that picked me up yesterday after I ran out of gas on the scooter, but I only have a minute left. To tell you quickly, they still have my wallet, backpack and helmet. The lady got my number for some dance gig. Well see!

Not just muts; hunting dogs!

Yesterday I spent the day crawling around the pasture hunting prairie dogs (not 'prairie' looks completly wrong). But fear not I missed every time. But I got anxious and shot a rabbit. The dogs didn't even eat it. I know, I know I felt bad.

Then I tried to feed the gold fish in the horse tank but they didn't take to grasshoppers.

I finished watching the two DVD's of the Andy Griffith show. Some of those shows are pretty funny. Like the one where the hillbillies that play awesome bluegrass come to town, a one and a two and a yeeeeHAHHH!!! Oh yeah there's a tape of YEAHAH out at the house too but I'll have to be pretty bored to watch that. Yeah maybe tonight.

2 Dogs, 1 peacock, and a few dead mice.

Well I spent a couple days out on the farm and I only have one thing to say, "Ahhhhhhhhhhh." I miss the slow way of life. I reminds me of of home in Nebraska. I just took a ride on the scooter into town (10 miles down the road).

I got the grand tour of the area this weekend. A nice sheriff to watch the place, a library, a few stores downtown, the baptist church, and many places seeking young industrious kids like me to work for them. Hugoton is 10 miles from the house and Liberal is about 25 minites. Liberal is about 1/3 the size of Gillette. The exciting thing is it's 60% hispanic; so I guess I wont have to move to Mexico to practice my espanol.

My time is up on the computer! Miss you all!

U Turn in Portland

A sabbatical leave from my sabbatical leave. Without thinking it over and over and over, I decided to help a former employee and good friend from Gillette. His dad just recently died and he needs someone to house sit for him for the winter months. I guess I'm the man for the job. I left Portland on Tuesday and now I'm in Laramie (using Kolten's computer); I had a nice warm place to stay last night, oh yeah! Oh yes and the community shower was great at about 1 AM.

I think I will take this time to slowwwwwww down and read, write, paint, sit around, make a snow man, eat some cheese and watch T.V. I look forward to stopping everything to gain fresh perspective and plan for the future. I wonder if secluding yourself is a good idea if you want to get material for a stand up comedy ruitine. Oh well, we'll see.

BTW I did connect a bit with some film writer's. I hope to keep in touch with them as I am in southern Kansas sitting on a house.

Talk to you all later!

A sight of Gillette?

Yesterday I went to a preview of a seminary down the street. I didn't know the preview was happening that night so it was good timing. I was eating the free meal with 10 other prospective students when out of the blue a guy from Gillette came to my table! I met Paul this summer at a young adults group I was invited to in Gillette. He mentioned that day that he was moving to Portland. He has been attending the church that I visted the last 2 sundays here in Portland. That was crazy. It was also funny to hear that one of the profs was born in Hastings, NE; the very town that I was born in! I guess it's confirmation. So, I will now embark on my seminary adventure! Well...not quite yet. But the events are a bit strange.

I also ran into an interesting fellow named Christopher. I was standing by an overhead TV just for a moment as I was interested in a Larry King interview with the maker of the new movie, "Religulous" and Christopher asked, "Anything interesting?" I told him that this guy made a movie about how rediculous all the religions of the world are and has a fun time laughing at people of faith. Then he started to mention how arragant this man was and pointed to different reasons why he thought this, he then said that I have many of the same traits. I said, "Yes I am aware that I am very self absorbed and that I love myself so much that I hate myself." That all happened in about 2 minites or less. He then went on to say that he is autistic. I had a great talk with him and we went on our seperate ways. He did say that I should check out a free seminary in South Korea. I thought that I would share a bit of this strange conversation I had yesterday.

My Sabbatical Leave

Home cooked meals, showers, a warm sleeping bag, a bike friendly town, and an OmniMAX theatre down the street; who needs anything more? One thing I heard about Portland was that people move here to enjoy life. I have realized that enjoying life involves making the choice to enjoy it. Often I am extreme in one way or the other. But every now and then just for a season I am balanced on that tetter totter. Pizza and pop, has been a desire and of course IMAX, which I haven't gone yet, but I did sit in on a planatarium showing. My scooter is running great. The electronics are unreliable but if I am back before dark then the trip is a success. The lights were working today, but they stopped working halfway throught the ride.

The largest city park in the United States is here in Portland. It exeeded my expectations. There were no swings or slides, unless you wanted to slide down the side of a hill, which will probably end up being a tumble. The maze of trails can take you deep inside an old green forest with green vines and carpetlike green algae growing on the trees. Green, green, green! (When I wrote green over and over I started to think that I spelled it wrong.) The green that radiated from the forest reminded me of a fake exibit at a zoo my family went to on a vacation.

I'm keeping my eyes open for oversea jobs. I partly considered crabfishing but I have people in my life that care about my wellbeing and that would be far too rough on them (and me). I haven't made much progress in connecting with any filmmakers yet, but I did hear that there are a lot of indi film makers in town.

Kiasa is a daily reminder of my lack of love for dogs.

The house spider (cross spider) is actually more civilized than the dog. We've been feeding her. It's pretty cool actually.

Portland, OR

Well I made it!

OK now what? Haha. I surprised my friend Joe last night at his work. He couldn't believe I was in Portland. It was fun. I hung out with them at their fav. pool hall, ok bar. One of my goals for this trip is to see what my friend does here and he told me that I saw it all last night. He works til midnight, hangs out at a downtown bar, plays some PlayStation, then sleeps in til 12 to 12:30 and then goes to work til midnight.

Well that's checked off the list. Now I can pursue some connections with film makers. I've got some pics to post but I'll do that later. For some reason I've been influenced heavily by my last roommate in Gillette, I'm craving pizza and pop for the next 3 months. Oh and cheese burgers that are as big as dinner plates. Thanks James.