Tuesday, June 26th, 2018
Hello class, for the first segment of our new series on how to properly set and install guard rails properly while following all the mandatory requirements that are not optional to follow, we will be watching a six and a half hour instructional video of how NOT to do it, and point out what should have been down instead as we go along. Wait, what's that? Our VHS is out of commission? Well in that case, go ahead and read this summary, it should prepare you well enough for the quiz at the start of next week's class. Take one and pass it on!
Once upon a time, in a land not so far away for some, but far far away to others, there dwelt a pad devoid of any grass, mushroom, or flowering plant. Actually, there was only one flowering plant, and that's because there was a tank battery (a miniature plant, technically (not the biological use of the word though (#explainingapun))) in the process of being built (flowering). There also dwelt near this place a person who was driving to work. It was morning. 6:17 to be exact. When he got there, he and two others were sent to install five pieces of guard rails around some electrical panels, and they were told to make it pretty. That meant that all of the pieces should be in a straight line, and the corners should be square, and also in a straight line. Simple. Easy peasy. Except... only half the holes could b dug with the augur of the skidsteer, the others had to be dug by hand using frost bars and post-hole diggers. One person would break up the ground with the seven-foot-long fifteen-pound iron bar, and the other would take the dirt away with the diggers. By and by, three of the five guards were set. Things were looking up.
[Switching to first-person now... ahhahahae]
But then, everything changed when the measuring tape attacked. Only the foreman, master of all four guard rail placement methods, could fix it. But then, when we needed him most, he vanished and left to the new pad. Fifteen minutes passed and my coworkers and I discovered a new way to contact the foreman; a cellular phone from AT&T. (Although its coverage is great, it's got a long way to go before it's going to be used by anyone.) But I believe that the foreman can solve anything.
You see, we had a problem. Between each of our corner pieces there was twenty-six feet, in which we had to fit two ten-foot guard rails, with three feet of space between each one. And the measuring tape doesn't lie. You do the math. Yeah... that wasn't happening. We looked around site to see if maybe there was a five-foot guard rail or something, but no luck. Perhaps we could just use one guard and split the difference between the corners...? But that wouldn't work either, for you mustn't have more than a five-foot gap between guards. After calling the foreman to see what he had to say, we were less than ecstatic. We had to tear out the ones we had placed and simply push them down an extra couple feet past the electrical box to give us enough distance. Annoying, yes, but a simple plan to execute.
Or so it would seem. After we pulled them all out and had re-dug the holes for the first one, I had an idea: "How about we just put enough dirt back in to make sure it doesn't move, then go on to the next one till we get them all lined up. That way if we have to change one it won't be too hard." The answer was no. "We already have a plan that will work, let's get on with it." Being the newest and youngest hand there, I had no choice but to comply. Eventually, after much more digging and setting, and after compacting the dirt around the posts nice and tight so they wouldn't budge, we came to the last corner piece. When we put it in place... it was not square. Like at all. There was no smudgin the lines with this baby, it was WAY out of line. So... we had to pull a few more out and redo them. And then redo a few more, all the way until we had pulled them all out, except one, and reset them again. (One corner was out of line, but despite my saying otherwise, they said it was good. Which.. it wasn't. Oh well.) This was also a fairly hot day, and with a dry wind to boot. And a lot of frost bar work. That thing gets tiring after a while, once you've been digging and compacting with it for a few hours. But anyways, our third try at getting them proved a failure, as our line wasn't straight, and the only way to make it straight would put our final guard rail three feet away from the electrical box, when it was supposed to be five feet away.
We were just about to pull them out again when the foreman showed up. He didn't like that it was slightly crooked, but he didn't want us to have to go do it all over again, so we compromised and made it work. And that's how we managed to string out a simple project over the course of several hours. Oh, and did I mention that setting guards is my least favorite part of my job? Well it is. And that's what we did all day long. Hahae, near the end I could hardly keep from laughing at the whole situation, it really was unique. Well, I guess that's just how it goes sometimes. Hopefully tomorrow will be better!
Tuesday, June 26, 2018
Thursday, June 21, 2018
Snapshots
From the past couple weeks:
1. It was hot. Even for me. The day dragged on as we worked out in the sun. We decided to go to the truck real quick to get some human fuel. We were all burning up with barely any energy left, and were all slightly dehydrated. It was kinda miserable. As I was drinking some water, Kylie grabbed his 8-pack of uncooked hotdogs. He took one out and started to eat it just as Lupe walked up.
Kylie: Want a hotdog?
Lupe: [long sigh] I guess so. [Lupe took it and paused a moment before taking an unsavored bite.]
Me: Yes, we've reached that point in the day.
All: [laugh at the trueness and funnyness of it, but mainly because we're silently dying inside.
2. Kylie and Kyle and I looked up at the sky. There was a savage break in the sky where it was all of a sudden clear, with dark clouds all around. You could see the clouds moving in a circle and coming back around... funny.
-several hours later-
A quintessential bolt of thunder struck some blade of grass or leaf of tree far off in the distance. It was a straight bolt of lightning, very thick, and it stayed there for a couple seconds before flashing away. It was the type of lightning skilled photographer take pictures of and post online. There were numerous other flashes of lightning off in the distance, where the wind was coming from. In a little bit the storm would really be upon us.
-twentyish minutes later-
"Roll up, let's go!" Everybody dashed around putting all our tools and materials away as the rain came down ever stronger and stronger. We were all joking around while sparkys were hooping and hollering. Then we drove over to the job trailer to drop off the last of it, and then it really came. In a matter of moments we were all soaked through! Nothing quite like a good thunderstorm. Smiles abounded.
3. Kylie, Lupe, and Kenny and I were driving back after another good day of work. As is not uncommon when we're not working, we were instead busy messing around and whatnot. Kenny and Kylie were up front hitting each other, but for some reason Kenny kept hitting Kylie's elbow, which seemed to cause him pain for some reason, as evidenced by his intermittent slight outbursts. This confused me, because it didn't even look like a hard smack.
Me: Why do you care so much about getting hit in the elbow?
Kylie: He's not hitting my elbow, he's pinching my triceps! That stuff hurts!
Me: Hmm, I've never gotten pinched in the triceps before.
Kylie: What!? You haven't?
Me: Nope.
Kylie: Well you should give it a try.
Me: Hahae, ok.
Kenny turned around as I proffered my arm, and he gave it a good pinch. I mean, it was a pinch, but it wasn't like bad or anything. I didn't say anything, either in word or in facial expression.
Me: Hmm.
Kylie: What!? That didn't hurt? [a look of incredulosity washed over his wash]
Me: Well maybe if you had real triceps that wouldn't be an issue.
Kenny: Ooooohhh...
Kylie: Wow. That was... You know, you're getting meaner as time goes on.
Kenny and I: [just laugh and chuckle]
Kylie: [scrinches up eyes and nose in that face you make when you got burned but can't think up a good response]
4. Another time on the way back from work. This time Kenny and Lupe were going at it, insulting each other and vocally wishing they could hit the other person.
Kenny: Hey, we're off site now, you wanna go?
Lupe: Yeah, let's do it.
Kenny: Kylie, stop the car!
Both Kenny and Lupe jumped out and sprinted around the corner of the truck and started going at it... except they were just moving their hands up and down rapidly slapping each other in a very weird manner. Kylie and I were just watching and laughing at the strange sight before us. Soon they called it quits and returned to their seats and we got going again. The funny thing was, Lupe almost slipped on the mud running around the truck and almost fell into the mire! I think we all would've laughed pretty hard at that.
5. Jex and I were running some errands on my day off. She had a big bright smile on her face and wouldn't stop looking at me. She was so happy to be out and doing stuff! Then we approached the house; I was going to drop something off and then go get one more thing. Jex's smile fell. She sulked and pouted, sad that we were back at the house already. But after I dropped off the stuff and jumped in the truck and started driving, she was happy and smiling again! hahahae, she's so funny. I'm just glad I get to have her with me!
Note: I'll probably be adding a few more things here as they happen. Check back later and you might just find a few more 'snapshots.'
6. I was walking along the catwalks up on the tanks, when I noticed that Kylie and Nate were down below bolting up a piece of pipe. "heh heh, oh this is just perfect." I thought to myself. So I leaned over the railing and made a loud 'hou-ick' sound. You know, the sound people make when they're about to hack up and spit out a big ole lougy, ball of snot, spit, etc. Kylie snapped his head up and stared up at me. "Don't you you dare! I'll go up there and whup your ass!" I just started laughing and laughing. I never actually spat anything, but the effect was still quite impressive.
7. Nate and Kylie were bolting up two pieces of pipe one day. They were both very similar, but one was a little longer than the other. It was pretty hot out and our foremen, Kenny and Kyle, were sitting in the truck. Nate and Kylie and I came up with a great plan though that would be super hilarious, a plan to get Kenny to come out of the truck and over to us for no reason at all. We were all laughing about how great the plan was, and by and by we put it into action. I walked over to the truck with a no-nonsense we-got-stuff-to-do face, and informed Kenny and Kyle that the piece was too big to go in the spot between our two water tanks. Kenny started to explain how it should go, and I said, "Yeah, they've tried and tried though and it won't fit." Then with a sigh of exasperation Kenny said, "Ah, fine, I'll just go out there and show you." So we both walked around the tanks and low and behold, both pieces were already in! "What..." Kenny began to say, before he was drowned out by all three of ours laughter. Kyle came over just then too and joined in the laughter. It was pretty great. A flawless plan, and a flawless execution.
1. It was hot. Even for me. The day dragged on as we worked out in the sun. We decided to go to the truck real quick to get some human fuel. We were all burning up with barely any energy left, and were all slightly dehydrated. It was kinda miserable. As I was drinking some water, Kylie grabbed his 8-pack of uncooked hotdogs. He took one out and started to eat it just as Lupe walked up.
Kylie: Want a hotdog?
Lupe: [long sigh] I guess so. [Lupe took it and paused a moment before taking an unsavored bite.]
Me: Yes, we've reached that point in the day.
All: [laugh at the trueness and funnyness of it, but mainly because we're silently dying inside.
2. Kylie and Kyle and I looked up at the sky. There was a savage break in the sky where it was all of a sudden clear, with dark clouds all around. You could see the clouds moving in a circle and coming back around... funny.
-several hours later-
A quintessential bolt of thunder struck some blade of grass or leaf of tree far off in the distance. It was a straight bolt of lightning, very thick, and it stayed there for a couple seconds before flashing away. It was the type of lightning skilled photographer take pictures of and post online. There were numerous other flashes of lightning off in the distance, where the wind was coming from. In a little bit the storm would really be upon us.
-twentyish minutes later-
"Roll up, let's go!" Everybody dashed around putting all our tools and materials away as the rain came down ever stronger and stronger. We were all joking around while sparkys were hooping and hollering. Then we drove over to the job trailer to drop off the last of it, and then it really came. In a matter of moments we were all soaked through! Nothing quite like a good thunderstorm. Smiles abounded.
3. Kylie, Lupe, and Kenny and I were driving back after another good day of work. As is not uncommon when we're not working, we were instead busy messing around and whatnot. Kenny and Kylie were up front hitting each other, but for some reason Kenny kept hitting Kylie's elbow, which seemed to cause him pain for some reason, as evidenced by his intermittent slight outbursts. This confused me, because it didn't even look like a hard smack.
Me: Why do you care so much about getting hit in the elbow?
Kylie: He's not hitting my elbow, he's pinching my triceps! That stuff hurts!
Me: Hmm, I've never gotten pinched in the triceps before.
Kylie: What!? You haven't?
Me: Nope.
Kylie: Well you should give it a try.
Me: Hahae, ok.
Kenny turned around as I proffered my arm, and he gave it a good pinch. I mean, it was a pinch, but it wasn't like bad or anything. I didn't say anything, either in word or in facial expression.
Me: Hmm.
Kylie: What!? That didn't hurt? [a look of incredulosity washed over his wash]
Me: Well maybe if you had real triceps that wouldn't be an issue.
Kenny: Ooooohhh...
Kylie: Wow. That was... You know, you're getting meaner as time goes on.
Kenny and I: [just laugh and chuckle]
Kylie: [scrinches up eyes and nose in that face you make when you got burned but can't think up a good response]
4. Another time on the way back from work. This time Kenny and Lupe were going at it, insulting each other and vocally wishing they could hit the other person.
Kenny: Hey, we're off site now, you wanna go?
Lupe: Yeah, let's do it.
Kenny: Kylie, stop the car!
Both Kenny and Lupe jumped out and sprinted around the corner of the truck and started going at it... except they were just moving their hands up and down rapidly slapping each other in a very weird manner. Kylie and I were just watching and laughing at the strange sight before us. Soon they called it quits and returned to their seats and we got going again. The funny thing was, Lupe almost slipped on the mud running around the truck and almost fell into the mire! I think we all would've laughed pretty hard at that.
5. Jex and I were running some errands on my day off. She had a big bright smile on her face and wouldn't stop looking at me. She was so happy to be out and doing stuff! Then we approached the house; I was going to drop something off and then go get one more thing. Jex's smile fell. She sulked and pouted, sad that we were back at the house already. But after I dropped off the stuff and jumped in the truck and started driving, she was happy and smiling again! hahahae, she's so funny. I'm just glad I get to have her with me!
Note: I'll probably be adding a few more things here as they happen. Check back later and you might just find a few more 'snapshots.'
6. I was walking along the catwalks up on the tanks, when I noticed that Kylie and Nate were down below bolting up a piece of pipe. "heh heh, oh this is just perfect." I thought to myself. So I leaned over the railing and made a loud 'hou-ick' sound. You know, the sound people make when they're about to hack up and spit out a big ole lougy, ball of snot, spit, etc. Kylie snapped his head up and stared up at me. "Don't you you dare! I'll go up there and whup your ass!" I just started laughing and laughing. I never actually spat anything, but the effect was still quite impressive.
7. Nate and Kylie were bolting up two pieces of pipe one day. They were both very similar, but one was a little longer than the other. It was pretty hot out and our foremen, Kenny and Kyle, were sitting in the truck. Nate and Kylie and I came up with a great plan though that would be super hilarious, a plan to get Kenny to come out of the truck and over to us for no reason at all. We were all laughing about how great the plan was, and by and by we put it into action. I walked over to the truck with a no-nonsense we-got-stuff-to-do face, and informed Kenny and Kyle that the piece was too big to go in the spot between our two water tanks. Kenny started to explain how it should go, and I said, "Yeah, they've tried and tried though and it won't fit." Then with a sigh of exasperation Kenny said, "Ah, fine, I'll just go out there and show you." So we both walked around the tanks and low and behold, both pieces were already in! "What..." Kenny began to say, before he was drowned out by all three of ours laughter. Kyle came over just then too and joined in the laughter. It was pretty great. A flawless plan, and a flawless execution.
Saturday, June 16, 2018
PC: Who Cares?
You know what burns me up? PC. Not a computer, not political correctness, (not that these things don't burn me up, but that's just not what I'm talking about right now) but rather picture credits. Particularly, referring to adding 'pc: John Doe' at the top of a picture that you posted on facebook. First off, I want to say that this isn't an inherently bad practice. Sometimes moms end up taking a lot of pictures and not being in them, and it's nice to know where they were in that family picture. If it's a particularly pretty picture, it can also be a way of showing where the true praise for the picture should be directed to. Alright, this is all fine and well, but where does it start going awry? The quintessential example is when someone inevitably comments, "picture credits?" or something like that on your post. Maybe if you're a professional photographer trying to safeguard their material, or the picture is particularly outstanding, say, a chameleon with its tongue out just about to catch a fly, this is understandable and acceptable to comment.
But by and large, it seems like people are thinking far too much of themselves. A pithy saying comes to mind: Humility isn't thinking less of yourself, it's thinking of yourself less. Come on guys, let's be real. Nobody cares who took the picture. That picture you took of your two friends? They could've just as easily asked a random stranger to take it for them, and nobody would've been the wiser. The point of that picture and that facebook post wasn't to highlight the awesome photography skillz of the picture taker, it was to highlight the two people's friendship. (Or maybe they just wanted a picture for the heck of it, is that too much to ask!?) If you're really that concerned about getting picture creds for some random, everyday photo, you should probably reconsider your motives. Or maybe just consider your motives; perhaps you never thought about why you're asking for photo creds in the first place. Don't be tooting your own horn, nobody likes that kind of guy. 'That guy' is oftentimes a proud, obnoxious braggart who only thinks and talks of how awesome he is. Don't be 'that guy.'
One last thing to leave you with: good deeds, good work, and just goodness in general, don't stay hidden forever. If you're worried about not getting the recognition you think you deserve, don't. It all works out in the end. Do the good things you do for the right reason: don't do them to get praise from your friends, do them because they are GOOD. Trust that God will take care of the rest.
But by and large, it seems like people are thinking far too much of themselves. A pithy saying comes to mind: Humility isn't thinking less of yourself, it's thinking of yourself less. Come on guys, let's be real. Nobody cares who took the picture. That picture you took of your two friends? They could've just as easily asked a random stranger to take it for them, and nobody would've been the wiser. The point of that picture and that facebook post wasn't to highlight the awesome photography skillz of the picture taker, it was to highlight the two people's friendship. (Or maybe they just wanted a picture for the heck of it, is that too much to ask!?) If you're really that concerned about getting picture creds for some random, everyday photo, you should probably reconsider your motives. Or maybe just consider your motives; perhaps you never thought about why you're asking for photo creds in the first place. Don't be tooting your own horn, nobody likes that kind of guy. 'That guy' is oftentimes a proud, obnoxious braggart who only thinks and talks of how awesome he is. Don't be 'that guy.'
One last thing to leave you with: good deeds, good work, and just goodness in general, don't stay hidden forever. If you're worried about not getting the recognition you think you deserve, don't. It all works out in the end. Do the good things you do for the right reason: don't do them to get praise from your friends, do them because they are GOOD. Trust that God will take care of the rest.
Tuesday, June 12, 2018
How To Apple
Tuesday, June 12th, 2018
Lunchbreak. It's perhaps the single best thirty minutes I am glad to call my own each day. It's that time when legs think of sitting down, stomachs thin of eating, and sweat glands get a break thanks to the truc's AC. Except I was delayed by having to change the orientation of a flange for the electricians, so it was twenty minutes. But that's besides the point; first things first, my apple! Such sage advice as probably comes to mind when you realize I eat an apple each day at the start of my lunchbreak is totally true, and bears no repeating: you already know what it is! Anyways, I bit into my apple with all the gusto a hungry panda has for bamboo, but something wasn't quite right. Hmm. I kept on eating, but slower. Then, with my next bite, it hit me... I opened up the door and, "Pfbth!!" spat out my half chewed bite of apple: it was rotten! Ughh, nasty. My foreman, Kenny, happened to be in our truck this lunchbreak, and he said, "Close the door, you're letting the AC out!" I closed the door, and explained my rotten apple. Kylie ruminated, "Well why are you eating it then? Just throw it away, we have a trash bag up here you know." "Ughh, yeah, I'm not gonna eat that." There was a plastic bag with some stuff in it on the center between the two up front seats, so I tossed my half eaten rotten apple in there and then leaned back in my seat. (Brief addendum: all of us guys here have a tendency to joke around with each other a lot, and we really get a kick out of it and have a lot of fun. I wasn't prepared for what was going to happen next...) Kenny turned his head around and looked right at me with a straight face and declared, "You little shit." I diddn't now how to respond, so said simply, "What, it's not my fault the apple was rotten!" Then Kylie started laughing. I didn't understand what was going on until Kylie said, "That's his lunch bag, the trash bag is up here!" And then I realized what I'd done: I threw my rotten apple in the bossman's lunch bag!! I burst into laughter, and together Kylie and I beset Kenny with our hearty laughs. I pulled the apple out and tossed it in the real trash, and then we went back to eating our lunches. And that, my friends, is some of the fun stuff we find ourselves getting into around here.
Thursday, June 7, 2018
Mountain Mischievousness
Hmm. It was too perfect. Something had just struck me: I had a blue bike and a blue helmet, Zach had a green bike and helmet, Trey had orange, and Johanna had black and pink. It just seemed to fit, and I inwardly laughed to myself. (I would hope it was to myself... the alternatives aren't very attractive, hahahae.) Anyways, we were all set for a nice ride through the mountains; it was my first time going dirt biking for real! (There was a fake first time two years ago, but it was much less glamorous and hardly counted in the first place.) We all sat on our bikes and surveyed the path ahead; yup, it'll be great! Ten minutes later I finally got my back started and going after dozens of previous attempts ending in a pathetic stallout even before I'd moved an inch. I wasn't very used to the... well, anything really. It was all strange and new territory for me. A dozen or two yards down the way I stole a look back and saw everybody staring up themselves. We were off! I turned left at the road, only to find out we were going right. So I tried to turn around, but stalled out. Ugh. Nine minutes later I got it going again, and I puttered away. This was Johanna's second time biking, so she wasn't super confidant herself in terms of going fast, so she and I went slow down the road while Zach and Trey went off the road and cruised amongst the trees and went up the hills a little ways and came back and so forth. Eventually I got bored of just going slow along the main road and went off into a little baby clearing. I navigated between the trees and bushes and rocks, but stalled it again. Eventually I got it going again, only to stall it promptly again. Everybody else stayed in the general area, and kind of more or less drove super sloppy circles around me while I tried to start it again. It was slightly frustrating. Johanna said a word of encouragement whilst puttering by, and Zach gave me another tip for starting it. After getting going again, we went back out on the road so I could get used to driving around and not stalling out before reentering the woods. So off we went.
By and by I found myself a little ways up front, Zach and Trey a bit behind going off the road for a bit, and Johanna trailing not too far behind me. All of a sudden I broke out from the trees and found myself amidst a large grassy area with loping hills and no rocks. Then I got excited: here was a nice spot to finally drive around not in a straight line without trees to get in the way and make me stallout! So I started driving wherever I fancied in this grassy mountaintop fieldy area. And then, it clicked. I got it. At once, everything made sense and it was as if I had been seeing through a mirror darkly, but now it was clear! Now I didn't take the easiest, clearest route, I instead went wherever my heart longed to. At one point I came across a sudden rise in the ground (i.e. a hill or bump) and gave the throttle a good burst and did a little baby jump! Both wheels got off the ground maybe twelve inches or so; it wasn't much, but I was stoked! Then Zach arrived, and together we drove around in a seemingly random fashion going up hills and through ditches and so forth. It was amazing!
After that everything was fun. I didn't have to think near so hard about what I was doing, and I could go wheresoever I pleased. Eventually Zach and I found ourselves ahead of the others a little ways. There was a cute little rectangle of tall grass off to the left that ran alongside the road for a good long ways, so we turned off. Down further to the left ran a a beautiful stream, and we both puttered slowly along the better to get a good look at it. Zach even stopped altogether to gaze at it and take it all in. I puttered past him, and then he started pointing straight ahead to where I was heading; evidently we weren't turning around here but were going to continue along down the road. A moment later I turned my gaze back from the stream to where I was going, and noticed something funny: the grass up ahead didn't look like grass. It was much coarser and... huh, that's funny, it looked almost like the top of trees. All at once my mind became undeceived and I deciphered what I was looking at: it was a gorge! It was too late to turn around now, I was only a few feet away from the edge. "Here goes nothing!" I said to myself, "Guess we'll just have to try and ride it out and make it up the other side." I crashed and ripped through the brush and little trees, reached the bottom without dying, and then a grin creeped across my face. "Heh heh, I got this." I added more throttle as I started up the other side, and halfway up, the brush and little trees were too thick and the throttle not enough, and all at once I just stopped where I was. The bike didn't even fall over, and I was still sitting down when I took my helmet off and started laughing. Meanwhile, Zach didn't know how deep the gorge was, for all he knew it was a veritable mountainside cliff. He ran over quick as he could, and when he reached the top and saw me on the other side, he too burst into laughter. By this time Trey and Johanna pulled up and also got their fill of comedy. I started beating down the brush so I could push the bike out, and then Zach and Trey came and helped me, and together we got it up the other side of the gorge.
We all decided to take a quick break and laugh about what happened and recount it back in detail. Had I gone about a foot and a half more to the left, I would've ran straight into a boulder at the bottom of that gorge, and it'd've been a whole different sort of story. Handily, I walked away with only a handful of scratches on my hands. Anyways, I ran down to the stream to slake my thirst, and upon my return we set off again. The rest of the day was loads of fun, (Trey did a lot of cool tricksy stuff on his bike, like riding up in a semi-circle along a super steep sheer rock cliff, among other things) and on the way back I got into fifth gear going some fifty odd miles an hour. It was exhilarating and left you wanting to keep going on forever, but darkness has a way of convincing one it's time to call it quits, and so we packed up and left. So ended my first trip to the mountains for bike riding. Hopefully there'll be more to come!
By and by I found myself a little ways up front, Zach and Trey a bit behind going off the road for a bit, and Johanna trailing not too far behind me. All of a sudden I broke out from the trees and found myself amidst a large grassy area with loping hills and no rocks. Then I got excited: here was a nice spot to finally drive around not in a straight line without trees to get in the way and make me stallout! So I started driving wherever I fancied in this grassy mountaintop fieldy area. And then, it clicked. I got it. At once, everything made sense and it was as if I had been seeing through a mirror darkly, but now it was clear! Now I didn't take the easiest, clearest route, I instead went wherever my heart longed to. At one point I came across a sudden rise in the ground (i.e. a hill or bump) and gave the throttle a good burst and did a little baby jump! Both wheels got off the ground maybe twelve inches or so; it wasn't much, but I was stoked! Then Zach arrived, and together we drove around in a seemingly random fashion going up hills and through ditches and so forth. It was amazing!
After that everything was fun. I didn't have to think near so hard about what I was doing, and I could go wheresoever I pleased. Eventually Zach and I found ourselves ahead of the others a little ways. There was a cute little rectangle of tall grass off to the left that ran alongside the road for a good long ways, so we turned off. Down further to the left ran a a beautiful stream, and we both puttered slowly along the better to get a good look at it. Zach even stopped altogether to gaze at it and take it all in. I puttered past him, and then he started pointing straight ahead to where I was heading; evidently we weren't turning around here but were going to continue along down the road. A moment later I turned my gaze back from the stream to where I was going, and noticed something funny: the grass up ahead didn't look like grass. It was much coarser and... huh, that's funny, it looked almost like the top of trees. All at once my mind became undeceived and I deciphered what I was looking at: it was a gorge! It was too late to turn around now, I was only a few feet away from the edge. "Here goes nothing!" I said to myself, "Guess we'll just have to try and ride it out and make it up the other side." I crashed and ripped through the brush and little trees, reached the bottom without dying, and then a grin creeped across my face. "Heh heh, I got this." I added more throttle as I started up the other side, and halfway up, the brush and little trees were too thick and the throttle not enough, and all at once I just stopped where I was. The bike didn't even fall over, and I was still sitting down when I took my helmet off and started laughing. Meanwhile, Zach didn't know how deep the gorge was, for all he knew it was a veritable mountainside cliff. He ran over quick as he could, and when he reached the top and saw me on the other side, he too burst into laughter. By this time Trey and Johanna pulled up and also got their fill of comedy. I started beating down the brush so I could push the bike out, and then Zach and Trey came and helped me, and together we got it up the other side of the gorge.
We all decided to take a quick break and laugh about what happened and recount it back in detail. Had I gone about a foot and a half more to the left, I would've ran straight into a boulder at the bottom of that gorge, and it'd've been a whole different sort of story. Handily, I walked away with only a handful of scratches on my hands. Anyways, I ran down to the stream to slake my thirst, and upon my return we set off again. The rest of the day was loads of fun, (Trey did a lot of cool tricksy stuff on his bike, like riding up in a semi-circle along a super steep sheer rock cliff, among other things) and on the way back I got into fifth gear going some fifty odd miles an hour. It was exhilarating and left you wanting to keep going on forever, but darkness has a way of convincing one it's time to call it quits, and so we packed up and left. So ended my first trip to the mountains for bike riding. Hopefully there'll be more to come!
Sunday, May 20, 2018
Hotsprings + Diving
Friday, March 9th, 2018
Sometimes I wonder how I manage to survive. Whether it's by accident, on purpose, or a little of both, it always seems to work out in the end. That being said, all my more significant injuries could have been easily prevented by a little dose of prudence, good judgment, and just all round common sense. Perhaps running around barefoot in the dark in the desert in a large backyard you've never been in before might not be such a good idea after all. Maybe jumping off a roof onto the open back door of a suburban wasn't the best decision either. And maybe, just maybe, getting a good running start down a narrow icy path laden with rocks wasn't quite the amazing plan I thought it was. One day I'll learn from all my mistakes and not hurt myself in such remarkably preventable ways. One day, yes, maybe so, but not today. No, not today. Let's start it way back where all good stories start: the beginning.
It all began years ago when I was seven years old. I had just gotten a new pair of shoes when I... hahae, no, not that far back. Let's just go to the beginning of the day, sound good? Good. Let's go. Well, today was the day! It was the second day of being done with finals, which, to digress a little bit as I am wont to do, was quite the action-packed week. It was both short and, with the exception of furnishing the worst translation in the history of Latin translations, sweet. It even ended with a bang as I raced the clock to finish my screenwriting assignment. It was due at 11:59pm on Wednesday, and at 10pm of that night I decided it'd be a fine time to rework my entire screenplay. I worked fast and furious the entire duration of those two hours, culminating with me blasting out the last few changes as I listened to the song 'Indian Outlaw', and I even pressed the submit button as the line, "...so proud to live, so proud to die..." sang out. Gulp. It was 12:01am, a full two minutes after the deadline. I was exhausted, and fairly surprised when I looked up to see that the whole gang had gathered around my little cubicle in the UI library. None of them were in the screenwriting class, so I like to think that's why they were afforded this luxury. In reality though, most of the other had already finished and submitted their screenplays by this time anyways, and it was only by means of my procrastination that I was there typing away shortly before the deadline. Oh well, I suppose that's how it works sometimes, eh? Brooke and Anna decided to be reasonable and go to bed, but Benjamin and Caleb and I decided to celebrate and go to Taco Bell. Or at least, I was celebrating because I was done with all my finals, they still had one or two left. It was a great ending to a decent finals week.
Anyways, Friday rolled around, and with it the desire to get out of town and do something, and what better way than to go swimming? Well, we weren't going swimming exactly, our destination was more of a natural hotsprings, but doubtless there'd be water there to enjoy. Froh and I made it down to the meeting place at the appointed time, only to find we were the first there. Except Bobby was there too, still trying to put the finishing touches on an assignment that should've been turned in already but hadn't been due to sickness. I preached to him about all the reasons why he should still come with us, and by and by he was convinced; he finished it enough to submit it, dropped the rest, and came along. Everybody was glad of it too. Eventually everybody else showed up and we got on our way; Froh, John, Bobby, Joelle with Christy in her car, and Handerson, Charli, and myself with Mandy in her (borrowed) car. And we were off! All the people in our car brought a ton of snacks for the road, everything from apples, to cookies, to cheezits and chocolate-covered cranberries(?). When we had about crested the large hill outside Lewiston, Handerson and I told Mandy to take the fun way down, which involved getting off the main road and taking the scenic route called The Spiral Highway. This is a road that twists and winds all the way down the grade, and is super fun to drive on. Part way down we opened the sunroof to let in the sun and the wind, and, heh heh, an idea flew into my funnel. I unbuckled my seatbelt and stood up through the sunroof! It was sooo much fun! I turned and waved at the other car in the convoy behind us, and tried to hit them with some almonds I think it was. I was unsuccessful, but it was fun nonetheless. Then Handerson pressed a certain button, and the sunroof started to close, pinching me in place. We all laughed and I climbed back inside.
Eventually we made it to the bottom of the grade and started driving along the highway beside the river. We followed this for a long time, and eventually stopped by the side of the road at a pulloff. There was a nice little rivulet running down from the hills and under the road feeding into the river, so I took it upon myself to crawl through the pipe under the road all the way to the other side. Upon emerging, it was plainly evident my hair had caught at least a pound of spiders' web on the way. Heh heh, the cost of fun I guess. We all then roamed along the rocky shoreline, jumping from rock to rock to log and enjoying ourselves, but eventually we had to go back to the cars and get on with it.
An hour or two later, we finally arrived at the place: a little parking lot at the start of something like a mile long trail. And the best part? Over here it was snowy! Bobby and I quickly ran to this huge mound of snow, both trying to get to the top first, each pulling the other down and trying to shove him out of the way, and more often than not getting snow in his face or falling over backwards. It was great. And then I spotted something that I'd always wanted to do: there was a little tiny bathhouse with a roof totally full of snow, perfect for creating an artificial snow slide. A moment later I was clambering up and trying to get all the snow to fall off the roof, but no matter how hard I tried, it wouldn't budge. Eventually I had to let it be, for everybody had already started down the trail and I would be left behind. It was a nice trail, not very wide, and the snow was hard packed and offered but little traction. It meandered along the side of the hill with a fairly steep climb on the one side, and an equally steep drop on the other. Along the bottom of this hill ran a nice stream, not so small as a rivulet or creek, nor so large as a small river. This stream playfully produced pleasant sounds of laughter as it skipped over the rocks and bumped into the frozen banks: it rivaled even some of the most beautiful of bird choirs.
By and by, after walking a bit further and talking along the way, we arrived. There it was, a nice little hotspring nestled among the rocks above the stream. All the rock face was free of snow because of the water running down from the spring which collected in a pool partway down. If you didn't already know, water from a hotspring is hot. That's why they call it a hotspring, because it's hot. Why don't we have coldsprings? I don't know. But I do know that many springs produce cold water. But that's besides the point: this spring was hot, and that's why the rocks were free of snow. At any rate, we were soon all getting into the pool created by the hotspring. Well, except for me. I had a funner idea to do first. I clambered down the rocks and logs down to the streamside. Froh called out, "What are you do-ing!" and I just laughed and carried on. I was now at the stream itself, and I looked around for a deep enough spot, where I waded in. It was cold. Most of the water do doubt came from snowmelt which is notorious for being cold, and today was no exception. The spot I had chosen was perfect; I submerged beneath the water and delighted in the coldness of it all, and the current was pretty nice too, bringing an unending trail of fresh cold water in its train. I resurfaced, then went under again, and then decided that was enough and began making my way up the rocks again toward the hotspring. Now that my hands were like little frozen ice mallets, I found that the rocks were harder and sharper on the way up than they had been on the way down. Funny how that works. But by and by I made it to the top.
The hotspring was a warm relief to the falling temperature of my hands and feet, it was so great! There's nothing quite like it. If you ever get the chance to go to one, you should. When I got there, Handerson, Mandy, and Charli decided they'd go down to the stream proper as well, so they took off. The rest of us, meanwhile, talked and laughed and just generally had a good time. Eventually the three girls who'd gone down to the stream returned, but only Charli had followed through with the idea of going swimming down there. Perhaps the other two didn't actually plan on going into the water in the first place, but oh well. By this time I was well warmed up and ready to go do something cold and fun again, and I had an idea. I jumped out of the water and ran to the trail again where there was snow, and found a nice little snowbank. Heh heh. It's always fun to dive into a snowbank. And so I did.
Let's take a little intermission here. This is the part that I had actually intended on writing when I started writing this post. For some reason I feel necessitated to include everything that lead up to it even though it actually had no bearing on what was about to occur. Oh well. Perhaps I should get better at writing hare posts, not mammoth ones. Anyways, I'd also like to point out that if you take the 'v' out of 'dive' you get 'die'. Coincidence? I think not. Also, did you notice that I hadn't depth checked the snowbank to make sure it was deep enough? I hadn't. You should always do this. I also said it's 'always' fun to dive into a snowbank. This is demonstrably false. With that said, let's continue.
So I jumped up and dove into the snowbank. It wasn't a shallow dive either, it was a full on swan dive. I was really getting into the spirit of pretending the snow was water, which it was clearly not. My arms, head, and tips of my shoulders made it into the bank before my hands struck the hillside rather forcefully, sending pain racing up my central nervous system. You've never seen a wave of depolarization so fast. The rest of my body not in the snow that flopped over down the hill, leaving my head and arms in the snow. Discombobulated, I pulled my head out of the bank and assessed the situation. There was a little bit of pain here and there, but an uncanny amount centered on my left hand and ring finger. My hand did not wish to move. So I walked back to the spring and rested it. I found out later that I'd fractured the carpals of my hand, and it was a full six weeks before it would fully heal. All that from one decision to go swimming in a snowbank that was far too shallow.
After that we continued sitting in the spring, and eventually it started getting dark, so we packed up and headed back to the cars. It was much more interesting making our way back in the dark, but we got there eventually and were fortified at the end by Christy's banana bread. The drive back was uneventful, except that we ended up taking a very roundabout way of getting back and ended up on a lonely country road. We stopped at the crest of a hill and told the other car that we wanted to look at the stars, which we did for a couple minutes before getting cold and carrying on. And so ended the day. Each went make to their respective homes and we called it a day.
Sometimes I wonder how I manage to survive. Whether it's by accident, on purpose, or a little of both, it always seems to work out in the end. That being said, all my more significant injuries could have been easily prevented by a little dose of prudence, good judgment, and just all round common sense. Perhaps running around barefoot in the dark in the desert in a large backyard you've never been in before might not be such a good idea after all. Maybe jumping off a roof onto the open back door of a suburban wasn't the best decision either. And maybe, just maybe, getting a good running start down a narrow icy path laden with rocks wasn't quite the amazing plan I thought it was. One day I'll learn from all my mistakes and not hurt myself in such remarkably preventable ways. One day, yes, maybe so, but not today. No, not today. Let's start it way back where all good stories start: the beginning.
It all began years ago when I was seven years old. I had just gotten a new pair of shoes when I... hahae, no, not that far back. Let's just go to the beginning of the day, sound good? Good. Let's go. Well, today was the day! It was the second day of being done with finals, which, to digress a little bit as I am wont to do, was quite the action-packed week. It was both short and, with the exception of furnishing the worst translation in the history of Latin translations, sweet. It even ended with a bang as I raced the clock to finish my screenwriting assignment. It was due at 11:59pm on Wednesday, and at 10pm of that night I decided it'd be a fine time to rework my entire screenplay. I worked fast and furious the entire duration of those two hours, culminating with me blasting out the last few changes as I listened to the song 'Indian Outlaw', and I even pressed the submit button as the line, "...so proud to live, so proud to die..." sang out. Gulp. It was 12:01am, a full two minutes after the deadline. I was exhausted, and fairly surprised when I looked up to see that the whole gang had gathered around my little cubicle in the UI library. None of them were in the screenwriting class, so I like to think that's why they were afforded this luxury. In reality though, most of the other had already finished and submitted their screenplays by this time anyways, and it was only by means of my procrastination that I was there typing away shortly before the deadline. Oh well, I suppose that's how it works sometimes, eh? Brooke and Anna decided to be reasonable and go to bed, but Benjamin and Caleb and I decided to celebrate and go to Taco Bell. Or at least, I was celebrating because I was done with all my finals, they still had one or two left. It was a great ending to a decent finals week.
Anyways, Friday rolled around, and with it the desire to get out of town and do something, and what better way than to go swimming? Well, we weren't going swimming exactly, our destination was more of a natural hotsprings, but doubtless there'd be water there to enjoy. Froh and I made it down to the meeting place at the appointed time, only to find we were the first there. Except Bobby was there too, still trying to put the finishing touches on an assignment that should've been turned in already but hadn't been due to sickness. I preached to him about all the reasons why he should still come with us, and by and by he was convinced; he finished it enough to submit it, dropped the rest, and came along. Everybody was glad of it too. Eventually everybody else showed up and we got on our way; Froh, John, Bobby, Joelle with Christy in her car, and Handerson, Charli, and myself with Mandy in her (borrowed) car. And we were off! All the people in our car brought a ton of snacks for the road, everything from apples, to cookies, to cheezits and chocolate-covered cranberries(?). When we had about crested the large hill outside Lewiston, Handerson and I told Mandy to take the fun way down, which involved getting off the main road and taking the scenic route called The Spiral Highway. This is a road that twists and winds all the way down the grade, and is super fun to drive on. Part way down we opened the sunroof to let in the sun and the wind, and, heh heh, an idea flew into my funnel. I unbuckled my seatbelt and stood up through the sunroof! It was sooo much fun! I turned and waved at the other car in the convoy behind us, and tried to hit them with some almonds I think it was. I was unsuccessful, but it was fun nonetheless. Then Handerson pressed a certain button, and the sunroof started to close, pinching me in place. We all laughed and I climbed back inside.
Eventually we made it to the bottom of the grade and started driving along the highway beside the river. We followed this for a long time, and eventually stopped by the side of the road at a pulloff. There was a nice little rivulet running down from the hills and under the road feeding into the river, so I took it upon myself to crawl through the pipe under the road all the way to the other side. Upon emerging, it was plainly evident my hair had caught at least a pound of spiders' web on the way. Heh heh, the cost of fun I guess. We all then roamed along the rocky shoreline, jumping from rock to rock to log and enjoying ourselves, but eventually we had to go back to the cars and get on with it.
An hour or two later, we finally arrived at the place: a little parking lot at the start of something like a mile long trail. And the best part? Over here it was snowy! Bobby and I quickly ran to this huge mound of snow, both trying to get to the top first, each pulling the other down and trying to shove him out of the way, and more often than not getting snow in his face or falling over backwards. It was great. And then I spotted something that I'd always wanted to do: there was a little tiny bathhouse with a roof totally full of snow, perfect for creating an artificial snow slide. A moment later I was clambering up and trying to get all the snow to fall off the roof, but no matter how hard I tried, it wouldn't budge. Eventually I had to let it be, for everybody had already started down the trail and I would be left behind. It was a nice trail, not very wide, and the snow was hard packed and offered but little traction. It meandered along the side of the hill with a fairly steep climb on the one side, and an equally steep drop on the other. Along the bottom of this hill ran a nice stream, not so small as a rivulet or creek, nor so large as a small river. This stream playfully produced pleasant sounds of laughter as it skipped over the rocks and bumped into the frozen banks: it rivaled even some of the most beautiful of bird choirs.
By and by, after walking a bit further and talking along the way, we arrived. There it was, a nice little hotspring nestled among the rocks above the stream. All the rock face was free of snow because of the water running down from the spring which collected in a pool partway down. If you didn't already know, water from a hotspring is hot. That's why they call it a hotspring, because it's hot. Why don't we have coldsprings? I don't know. But I do know that many springs produce cold water. But that's besides the point: this spring was hot, and that's why the rocks were free of snow. At any rate, we were soon all getting into the pool created by the hotspring. Well, except for me. I had a funner idea to do first. I clambered down the rocks and logs down to the streamside. Froh called out, "What are you do-ing!" and I just laughed and carried on. I was now at the stream itself, and I looked around for a deep enough spot, where I waded in. It was cold. Most of the water do doubt came from snowmelt which is notorious for being cold, and today was no exception. The spot I had chosen was perfect; I submerged beneath the water and delighted in the coldness of it all, and the current was pretty nice too, bringing an unending trail of fresh cold water in its train. I resurfaced, then went under again, and then decided that was enough and began making my way up the rocks again toward the hotspring. Now that my hands were like little frozen ice mallets, I found that the rocks were harder and sharper on the way up than they had been on the way down. Funny how that works. But by and by I made it to the top.
The hotspring was a warm relief to the falling temperature of my hands and feet, it was so great! There's nothing quite like it. If you ever get the chance to go to one, you should. When I got there, Handerson, Mandy, and Charli decided they'd go down to the stream proper as well, so they took off. The rest of us, meanwhile, talked and laughed and just generally had a good time. Eventually the three girls who'd gone down to the stream returned, but only Charli had followed through with the idea of going swimming down there. Perhaps the other two didn't actually plan on going into the water in the first place, but oh well. By this time I was well warmed up and ready to go do something cold and fun again, and I had an idea. I jumped out of the water and ran to the trail again where there was snow, and found a nice little snowbank. Heh heh. It's always fun to dive into a snowbank. And so I did.
Let's take a little intermission here. This is the part that I had actually intended on writing when I started writing this post. For some reason I feel necessitated to include everything that lead up to it even though it actually had no bearing on what was about to occur. Oh well. Perhaps I should get better at writing hare posts, not mammoth ones. Anyways, I'd also like to point out that if you take the 'v' out of 'dive' you get 'die'. Coincidence? I think not. Also, did you notice that I hadn't depth checked the snowbank to make sure it was deep enough? I hadn't. You should always do this. I also said it's 'always' fun to dive into a snowbank. This is demonstrably false. With that said, let's continue.
So I jumped up and dove into the snowbank. It wasn't a shallow dive either, it was a full on swan dive. I was really getting into the spirit of pretending the snow was water, which it was clearly not. My arms, head, and tips of my shoulders made it into the bank before my hands struck the hillside rather forcefully, sending pain racing up my central nervous system. You've never seen a wave of depolarization so fast. The rest of my body not in the snow that flopped over down the hill, leaving my head and arms in the snow. Discombobulated, I pulled my head out of the bank and assessed the situation. There was a little bit of pain here and there, but an uncanny amount centered on my left hand and ring finger. My hand did not wish to move. So I walked back to the spring and rested it. I found out later that I'd fractured the carpals of my hand, and it was a full six weeks before it would fully heal. All that from one decision to go swimming in a snowbank that was far too shallow.
After that we continued sitting in the spring, and eventually it started getting dark, so we packed up and headed back to the cars. It was much more interesting making our way back in the dark, but we got there eventually and were fortified at the end by Christy's banana bread. The drive back was uneventful, except that we ended up taking a very roundabout way of getting back and ended up on a lonely country road. We stopped at the crest of a hill and told the other car that we wanted to look at the stars, which we did for a couple minutes before getting cold and carrying on. And so ended the day. Each went make to their respective homes and we called it a day.
Friday, April 20, 2018
How To Wave At People The Fun Way
Wednesday, April 18th, 2018
It was just another average day cleaning at the Stormcellar. Nothing too exciting. I was vacuuming some rugs near the back of the store, when who should walk by but Karis. I waved, and she waved back, and that was that. I see people I know walk by all the time, and I almost always wave if I happen to notice them, so I thought nothing of it and went back to work. A couple minutes later she came back again, and, since she knew I was still there, she evidently thought it would be a great idea to wave excitedly at me over and over again whilst smiling and walking backwards along the sidewalk. This seemed perhaps a little strange, but I went along with it nonetheless and waved back with exaggerated arm movements until she was out of sight. I laughed about it and went back to work.
Several hours later a thought occurred to me, so I decided to message Karis... and I found out that she hadn't seen me at the Stormcellar at all today. Which means that... who was I was waving to!? I don't know. Some random person evidently. Awkward. It would appear that I have an affinity for strange interactions with random strangers, but oh well. Nothing to do about it but laugh and move on I guess!
It was just another average day cleaning at the Stormcellar. Nothing too exciting. I was vacuuming some rugs near the back of the store, when who should walk by but Karis. I waved, and she waved back, and that was that. I see people I know walk by all the time, and I almost always wave if I happen to notice them, so I thought nothing of it and went back to work. A couple minutes later she came back again, and, since she knew I was still there, she evidently thought it would be a great idea to wave excitedly at me over and over again whilst smiling and walking backwards along the sidewalk. This seemed perhaps a little strange, but I went along with it nonetheless and waved back with exaggerated arm movements until she was out of sight. I laughed about it and went back to work.
Several hours later a thought occurred to me, so I decided to message Karis... and I found out that she hadn't seen me at the Stormcellar at all today. Which means that... who was I was waving to!? I don't know. Some random person evidently. Awkward. It would appear that I have an affinity for strange interactions with random strangers, but oh well. Nothing to do about it but laugh and move on I guess!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)