Fall Working

As the fall semester starts, I feel time slipping through my fingers like that women's hand slipping from Stallone's in Cliffhanger. However, knowing that I am not hovering over a ravine strapped with nothing but a harness is a little relief. To catch up from the last blog, the rest of my summer went off without a hitch, even though not having a job to supplement freedom (through the trade of time for money), I made the best of the situation. With my trusty camera I filmed most of the city, walking through San Francisco's neighborhoods, from the thin streets of North Beach to the sprawling ocean views of the Sutro District. These long walks gave me a greater appreciation for just how beautiful San Francisco is and how jobs can interfere with finding that self-explorer in everyone. Not working gave me a chance that I never had before, last full summer off was eighteen years ago when I was twelve, to take my time and really enjoy the cold mornings by the beach watching the surfers start their days or the hot afternoons in Dolo Park when DJ's come out dueling for space and sound.
Now that the fall semester is upon me, starting my second year, I have found employment in the Creative Writing Department Office, got my books and classes in order, volunteering with VelRo a SFSU student lead reading series, and I find myself busy and excited for the busyness. Being jobless was not a venture for the weak, I had a lot of sitting around time, so filling that space while tiresome is allowing me to prepare myself for the greater time consumption of the working world.

From MN to CA

Starting this blog to help with my instant writing skills, and to process mems (or memories) in order to help with my recall.

Leaving MN in a few days for home (San Francisco) and I wanted to talk about my trip thus far, but old mems surfaced. First, my little brother just graduated from Northome High and is starting his freshmen year at Bemidji State this fall. How proud and old do I feel? It got me thinking about what I was up to when I graduated from high school, and that got me thinking about the summer Bridge program I did with Upward Bound and how the experience was a blast and lead me to now. In the summer of 1999, before UBL became a household name, I went to Eveleth Community College. The school sucked but the dorms rocked. Tastes of first freedoms always are sweeter mems. Each suite sized section of the dorms had four rooms and I had one of these suites all to myself. The others that lived in the dorms were a friend I graduated high school with and she lived in a adjoining building, two Jamaicans, and a seven year student that guzzled beer and wore sweat stained hats. Three short months of driving my 84 station wagon to clubs, being the only guy in human sexuality (I got yelled at two days a week and didn't say much), and lining the walls with Nati Ice boxes sum up the Bridge. At the end of the summer I found myself more hungover than educated so I joined the Marine Corps. It was a good fit. For my going away, to find real life, I went to Winnipeg, Canada before I left to San Diego. I don't remember most of it but what I do know is CBC ladies like to party, I never want to drink Kaluha or anything made with this coffee flavored alcohol again, and if you ever get to meet the fine women and men of the German Army, know they snort, drink, and bang like people wanting to be held back by the Geneva Convention. Random Canadian facts: Drinking age 18, Strip Club age 21; International hotel bars stay open later; breathalyzers are in some bars and make a fun lowest BAC buys next round game; bring American Cigs (even if you don't smoke) to trade the bartenders, looking for good smokes (like Marlboro Lights or Camel Wides), for drinks; Booze and beer off-sale are in different government ran facilities; and if Mounties ask you if you did anything always say no.