Year 23: NO FEAR

So here it is, 2008 is almost over. I have recently had the nicest birthday I have known, including lovely times with lovely friends and the best birthday cake of my life. By far. We're talking a ten-inch tall coconut-lemon-gingerbread volcano cake. I love my friends and I love this life. Lately the world has been a giant snowy and icy mess. I have had much time to think and to be alone, both at work and while snowed in. I have been formulating, discarding, reformulating, and obsessing over plans for 2009. It's time for me to drop out of some of my comfort zones. I think the term "comfort zone" succinctly defines much of my life to date; I've been going an easy route where I know what to expect and I can commit the smallest personal investment possible. It's an appropriate time to rethink this...
I'm heading to Florida soon, and to British Columbia soon after. The band is working on an album, and I'm very excited and proud of what we've done so far. I need to stop wasting time.
I will stop wasting time.
2009 is going to be epic, even if it kills me.

A note to a friend, 11/8/08

I have been neglecting this blog and several other areas of my life over the past few months. I am posting part of an email to my friend Chris which gives the interested reader a small peephole into what's going on lately.



Chris,

Linked dat.
I want to visit you and Shelly and the nascent, mysterious Mike sometime in the new year. I have so many plans that need to get underway, and it's so hard to make them all happen. Adventures are smart indeed. I have some big things rolling around in the ol' skull right now. Here's a brief list:
Get rid of most of my possessions
Give my car to my family
Quit my job
Acquire warm clothes for winter biking/walking
Finish the Points North record, hopefully being a major accomplishment of my life to date
Be shiftless, yet productive? Happy?
Be happier.
Dumpster more; eat more.
Not get eaten by alligators in the Everglades
Hitch/bike Phlorida Keez (see above)
Eurotrip (may-june?)
Start a collective house in Worcester (Reject Club?)
New tat. Soon.
I am doing well enough and am increasingly excited but at the same time I have a nagging and a longing that is hard to describe, let alone make subside. I find myself easily overwhelmed. I think forgoing my routines and stepping away from my comfort zone in these afore-mentioned major ways might allow me to find some more peace in my life.
--Personal life details omitted--

You are right. I have been neglecting my blog, and I think that exclusive "travel blogs" are hella bourgeois and lame. That's what Outside Magazine is for right? I'll try to stay on top of it. Keep in touch.

Your friend,
Dylan





See also:
http://721sandwiches.wordpress.com/
http://www.homestarrunner.com

Current reading: N/A.
Current listening: "Roman Candle" by Elliott Smith.
Current eating: I wish.
Current drinking: H2O.

Nantucket, 8/17-19/08

Jackie and I took a ferry to Nantucket Island to spend a few days staying at our new friend Ruth's garden shed. Neither of us had ever been to the island, and we did not exactly know what to expect. After a long and lovely boat ride from Hyannis, we landed in what one might consider a "quaint New England town," if one discounts the deluge of teeming cars with "ACK" bumper-stickers and people in ugly vacation clothes. Mercy me, mercy me. Ruth, our hostess, was indisposed until later in the evening, and we needed to escape this saturation of pink polo shirts and khaki shorts. So we, after being totally befuddled by the archaic local bus system, headed south on foot. The main town is on the north side of the island, and we navigated the maze of ancient windy roads and 19th-century architecture, making sure to take plenty of rests in the soft, dark green grass in between picket fences and the sidewalk. We made it to Surfside Beach after a leisurely two-hour walk. By now the sun was setting, and we climbed up a lifeguard tower and waited for Ruth to call. Eventually she did, and after some logistical wrangling she arrived with two Britons, an Argentine and a Bostonian. We spent all got to know one-another in the dark of the beach before heading home to eat the chocolate & coconut cream pie that Jackie had made for the trip.

The next day after sleeping-the-heck-in, Jackie and I went walking to try and find a bus, as Ruth was at work and we had no bicycles. For anyone who is thinking about or visiting the Cape or the Islands, BRING BICYCLES. We tramped through some interesting dilapidated house parts(roofs, walls, porches, etc) in a field, down some rural side roads all the way to Nantucket Memorial Airport, aka, ACK. We took the first bus that we came across, which brought us back into town. Unencumbered by the heavy backpacks that we left at Ruth's, we were able to actually enjoy walking about. I wrote some silly postcards, one to my own apartment, one to Ruth, one to my band, and one to my mum & dad. We hung out at the library, which was excellent. We saw some bunnies at a marsh outside of town, which was excellent as well. We met up with Ruth and headed over to a beach called The Steps for a picnic at sunset with a bunch of folks and a cool dog. Score.
The next day, Ruth and her friend Christina spent the whole day with us. We went to the farm where they both work and picked up some edible supplies for an adventure. We drove over to the Windswept [organic!]Cranberry Bog, and went for a walk. We sat in and around this amazing and giant tree, ate food, and had a lovely conversation about our teenage years and plans for the future. We spent what seemed like several hours, but no one knows for sure. It was very calm, relaxed, and zen. I'm not sure I'm using the word "zen" correctly, but that's how I think of the term. Mmm...zen.
After coffee drink at The Bean and some more zen-like time at the library, we said goodbye to Christina and headed over to the ferry station with Ruth to catch our boat. The weather was cool on our ride back, which felt quite nice. Overall, the Nantucket adventure was a success. If I ever go back, however, I AM BRINGING A BICYCLE.


See also:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nantucket
http://www.steamshipauthority.com/ssa/

Current reading: "The Day Four Towns Died" by J.R. Greene.

Current listening: "Carousel" by Victory at Sea.

Current eating: Seitan stroganoff.

Current drinking: Almond milk(plain).

Summer of Worcester 8/7/08

Today was a really great day. I got the chance to sleep the eff in, which felt great. Yes! We have been hosting a(really great!) guest from Wisconsin(Oshkosh, to be precise) for a few days, so we wanted to really live it up, Worcester-style. We took a quick drive over to Bancroft Tower, which is this replica of a small castle, complete with perimeter parapets and watch tower that was built in 1900. Anachronistic; awesome. Emily, Matt, Mary, and I had a long and satisfying conversation about collective living, sustainability, and the break-down of law and order and the ensuing social upheaval and anarchy, as well as our escape plans to hole up in the tower as our fortress against the hungry, teeming masses. Also, how similar to a zombie movie that seems. As we talked about a potentially frightening future, a huge crack of thunder jolted us from our stone seats and the rain began to come down in sheets. We would've waited out the storm, but one of us really had to urinate, so we hastily retreated to the van. Of course, my window was still open.

After hitting up the Bean Counter for some drying off over warm caffeinated goodness and more great talks, we went to the local junk shop, HBML, to part of a remaking of an episode of The Cosby Show, starring any and all store patrons. We parted ways with Matt, went home, and made dinner, a wondrous stir-fry featuring tofu, sprouts, bamboo, peppers, green onions, mushrooms, celery, carrots, snow peas, okra, and flat noodles. Super delicious. We then played a game of soccer(of sorts) with my roommates, an upstairs neighbor kid(who almost upstaged us all) and our landlord.

After dinner and soccer, we went over to local collective house Distant Castle for a basement show. Sloppy Worcester punk, sweaty-dance-groovin', and a gypsy-polka-punk band from Mexico. Possibly the most fun show I've been to this summer. 'Twas an unrelenting dance and mosh-fest. Covered in sweat and beer and surrounded by lovely local folks made for quite the splendid end to a pretty great day in the Summer of Worcester. I'm pretty happy, and about to zonk out.

See also:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bancroft_Tower
http://www.hbml.org/
http://www.myspace.com/madrecomezon




Current reading: "The Rise and Fall of the British Empire" by Lawrence James.
Current listening: "Warehouse: Songs and Stories" by Hüsker Dü.
Current eating: Nutritional yeast & maragarine on a sesame bagel.
Current drinking: H2O(tap).

Freedom, Maine 6/6-9/08

Obligatory Introduction

Hello! I am a young man from Massachusetts who is trying to lead a good life. This is all you really need to know, for now. Thank you for joining me! Basically, I am living in Worcester, MA currently and am having some nice adventures. Please don't mind the horrible MS Paint-edited maps, poor grammar, and other things that I have a hard time keeping under control. Let's have a good time with this and try not to let it get too painful , shall we?

Freedom, Maine, 6/6-9

A band that I play in, The Points North, and our close friends The Woodrow Wilsons spent a long a weekend in a trailer in Freedom, ME. We packed up lots of veggies, rice, tofu, coffee, guitars, drums, ukuleles, microphones and made the four or five hour drive from Boston after nightfall; when we arrived our surroundings were a still quite a mystery to five of the seven of us.

Freedom, ME, population 645, is a somewhat forested and somewhat flat little town on the western border of Waldo County. Chris, in my band, believes that the town was clear-cut sometime in the last fifty years or so; the trees are relatively short and thin. The place is quiet and peaceful, but ultimately not awe-inspiringly beautiful as us spoiled New Englanders typically spend time in while up in Maine. We went on some nice walks, both on the trail they've made in the rear of the property, and along the long road it's located on. We were barked at, by many dogs. Their ferocity is legendary.

When we actually got down to business, we had a good time recording songs together, building roaring fires, making food, cutting grass with hand tools, playing board games, reading a book of knock-knock jokes, and other such nonsense. We recorded three songs, the WW's four songs, and on the last day we did a last-minute, unrehearsed collaborative cover of a Woody Guthrie tune. Pretty sweet. A really nice weekend.

See also:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freedom%2C_ME

http://www.myspace.com/thewoodrowwilsons

http://www.myspace.com/thepointsnorth

Current reading: "Work Your Way Around the World" by Susan Griffith.

Current listening: "The Taxidermist" album by Tom Thumb.

Current eating: Oat bagel w/vegenaise, cayenne, dill, garlic, lettuce, and homemade seitan!

Current drinking: Mango Tango Odwalla(dumpstered).