Doomed to succeed.
Just sent this out as an email to some friends in Oregon. I’d been planning a long weekend trip to OR later this month, and had to scratch those plans. The explanation as to why makes for a good update on my latest mundane news, so a quick cc to my blog for wide-angle dispersal seems like a real time-saver:
Hi friends,
Bad news: my plans for that 3rd weekend in February have become doomed. Doooooomed! Wait, no, that’s overly dramatic; what’s happened is that I’ve switched to a new job and a new work schedule since last month, and chiseling out a 4-day weekend in Feb is no longer going to be possible.
The upside is that I’m enjoying my work for this new employer, a B.C.-based organic tea & oil company called Flora (http://florahealth.com) w/ a States-side production facility and an herb farm(!) here in Lynden. Even though I’m still a temp, they’ve given me a regular full-time schedule from day one and every indication that they’d like to hire me onto their permanent payroll, once I learn the ins-and-out of operating all of the cool machines they use to mix & package dry tea and brew & bottle the liquid version.
I’ve just switched to the afternoon shift (3:30pm – midnight, M-F) starting yesterday, in order to do just that. A 2nd-shift worker named Jaskaranji is teaching me her job so that she can move to 1st-shift in March. If all goes well, I’ll be hired in and inherit her position by the end of the month.
It’ll likely mean moving into a new apartment around the end of February (which I hadn’t planned on) here in Lynden (which I *definitely* hadn’t planned on) and scrubbing my plans to go back east this summer so that I can instead stick around here for another year or 3 or 5 and see where this all goes. Classic case of getting what I need instead of what I want, I suppose.
It’ll also mean having to manage a finite number of vacation days again. Since there are weddings and things I’d very much like to go to this summer, I’ll have to hold off on requesting any long weekends away until I know how many I’ll have to go around.
If you’re curious: long-term outlook is still the same. Still saving towards launching my own business by age 35. Maybe this’ll be the means of getting there. At the least, a groomed path heading that direction.
Still hoping to come south and visit your fine state again within the next few months, on a quick weekend trip or two. No idea if that’ll actually be possible, but aside from this job Lynden is a boring town, so getting as far away from it as often as possible is going to rank high among my weekend priorities.
Stay sharp and be well. I apologize again for the constant revisions to my itinerary.
– Mike K
a Jenga moment
You know that moment when you’re playing Jenga, when the tower is getting kind of tilty, and you just placed another brick on the top of the stack, and you think it was a solid play, but now you’re holding your breath to see if the tower will collapse and slowly drawing back your hands like a mentalist trying to bend a spoon through concentrated power of spooky action at a distance? This week has been like that.
Got a new job at a place where I might like to stay for awhile. “Awhile” meaning perhaps more than a year, throwing my previous idea about heading back east this summer into already obvious disarray. It’s a company here in Lynden that makes organic herbs and oils, similar to the company in Eugene that I courted a few months ago. And it is within walking distance of Classic Mike’s house, which is wildly improbable. Nothing is walking distance in Lynden. I’m maybe the only person in this town who walks to work in the morning.
So, I’m doing that. I’m still a temp worker and on a week-to-week contract, but chances are good that I’ll land a permanent gig at this business, which would mean finding a more permanent place to live in Lynden as well. Since doing that is going to signify, if not a 180, at least an abrupt 90 degree turn from where I’d been planning to go just two weeks ago, I’m keeping somewhat quiet on it until the Jenga tower stops swaying on this one.
Other news: The case fan in my Thinkpad is starting to go out. It’s not something I want to tinker with right now, and that means I’m only able to use my own laptop for brief bursts, moving around and off-loading files before its innards begin threatening to overheat. Considering the big extent that I rely on that thing as a communications tool, this coming month might be a quiet one for me.
Still wanting to get back into the routine of sending physical mail, still haven’t yet. This includes birthday & holiday thank-you cards, now 6 or 7 weeks delayed. Maybe less time on the machine will free up more time at the writing desk. Makes sense, but I’m surrounded all the time by such fun distractions that it’s not a sure thing. I just need to make time for it, and I will. Just needing to find my balance here.
Still to be continued
Still finding it rather tough to focus on writing anything right now. Work is tough but doable, so long as I shut out everything else on the days that I’m working and focus entirely on getting through the day. On my days off, I have a hard time being sociable. All I want to do is lay around the house, take naps, play games, watch the snow fall, and read.
I still haven’t mailed out thank-you cards for some very kind gifts my family sent to me in December; I worry that they consider me ingrateful.
I say all this as a preface to an apology. I’m sorry for not taking the time to communicate better. I would still love to hear more about what’s been going on in your lives. If you’re reading this there’s a great chance that I miss spending time with you, having conversations, playing games, and maybe even figuring out new things that we can work together towards.
I still don’t have the time and energy tonight to write everything I’d like to, but let me blurt a few things out before I head off to bed:
#1: I don’t particularly like this job I’m doing now, but it’s temporary. I’m doing it purely for the income. I’m saving money towards at least three different projects already: a food preservation business (which is my primary idea for that future “serious business” I announced last month and plan to found in 2017), a cohousing/goat-herding collective (Laurel’s current brainstorm, more of an uncertainty but something I’d truly love to see happen) and, though I’ve been debating for months now, I still want to buy a van.
#2: I’ll be leaving the West Coast this year (but not, by any means, forever). I’m planning to leave Washington by mid-May, spend another month doing temp-work in Oregon, then take a meandering road-trip in July, leaving from L.A. shortly after Independence Day and ending up in Maryland around August 5th for my friend Emily’s wedding.
#3: If I’m able– in other words, if I can find another temporary job– I’d like to return to Michigan from there and spend the next few months in my old ‘hood [the rural/suburban sprawl of Oakland County, north of Detroit].
#4: In December, I’d like to head down to Florida and visit my family. Not sure for how long exactly– December is the extent of my itinerary so far– but I’d like to spend at least a month there.
All told, my ambition is to visit 20 states this year– with the important caveat that I intend not to go broke doing it. I am in fact hoping to continue adding to my savings accounts each month in 2012, even while travelling, by living lightly and continuing to do temp work. As I keep promising, I have more I’d like to write about this. Soon.
Falling back to my favorite spot on Earth
The first real gusts of winter blew into Southern Oregon on Thursday afternoon. On Friday I bundled up in four layers of wool & astronaut fabric, dusted the snow off my bike, and wheeled down the valley into town. Still no van. The interview at Mountain Rose Herbs in Eugene that I [talked about last month] went well I thought, but hasn’t turned into a job. Massive disappointment.
I’ve been pushing on with my fall-back plans, searching around Medford for a suitable automobile that’d allow me to carry on here in Ashland, but at this point I’m not sure if I truly want to carry on w/ it.
Things in Ashland just are not working out. My job is numbing and tedious. The spot where I live is just a mile or two beyond a practical, enjoyable bike-commuting distance. I’ve made a few acquaintances here, but no real friendships as yet. And getting *anywhere* from Ashland without a car, even 15mi north to Medford, is proving to be annoyingly challenging.
The temperature’s hovering in the mid-30s today. I spent it pacing the short length of my RV or huddling besides my electric radiator, watching the wind blow the last leaves off the oak trees and considering my options.
I could buy a car, go deeper into debt, and continue on here in Ashland, trying to make things work. I’ve been trying to convince myself for weeks that this is the safest bet. Stay put, nose down, grow where you’re planted. “Yes it sucks but you got yourself into this mess and there are a lot of people worse off out there than you so just keep your head down and deal with it, kid.” That’s my Midwestern work-ethic talking. It’s not a voice I always trust, not in this instance. I’m at a point where nothing & no one is dependent on me. The only debts I owe are to faceless institutions. I’m willing to accept some risk and hardship by jumping into the unknown again rather than stick with a boring, frustrating known-quantity…
Option #2 I could fall forward towards California or somewhere else warm, keep looking for a place in the sun as I’d originally wanted to. I have friends in the Bay Area and LA. I have family in Florida and Phoenix. But Florida and Cali are foreign territory for me, and Phoenix is high on my list of places where I don’t want live again. Unless I was extremely lucky I’d likely go broke before I could set-up a new job & home, and I don’t want to be a burden on anyone…
Option #3 I could fall back to a place that’s familiar ground, regroup, and make another go of it next year…
Pace, pace… pace, pace…
I’m liking the sound of Option #3 more and more. I think it is time that I cut my loses and return to Bellingham for the winter.
Thanksgiving is coming up and Robert T will be driving my old Honda down from B’ham to visit our mutual friends in Eugene for the holiday. Our initial plan was for him to ferry the few boxes I still have in Bellingham down to me. Thinking about it more, it occurred to me that I could instead ask him to ferry me to the boxes. Back north to Washington, to my second home, the City of Subdued Excitement. (reminder: still my favorite city anywhere.)
This isn’t the definitive announcement. Just sharing a thought process here, more or less as it comes to me. I still want to sleep on this decision tonight. Tomorrow, if I’m still feeling it, I’ll need to start in on all the phone calls and logistics. As much as I love Bellingham, turning back after I’ve put so much effort into leaving is a hard, hard decision to make, and it brings along a whole jar of mixed emotions.
And a footnote to friends in Michigan: I really really miss you all too, and when I said “familiar ground” a return to the Midwest was also on my mind. It is soooo much farther away from me though, with far dicier prospects of finding suitable work & a place to live right away, that I had to cross it off the list for now. I’ll be back, hopefully for an extended stay, just as soon as I’m able.
Back-tracking is not the same as giving up.
~MWK/RP
Ashland, a work-in-progress
Wow, hey, so. I try to post an update here every month. I didn’t have much of a proper update in August, nothing in September, and now I seem to be running out of October.
The last couple months have been very work-in-progress. Generally I dislike talking about works-in-progress; rather, I’ve learned to distrust the impulse. It’s far too tempting to flesh out all the details of a plan and then take credit for having a good idea without actually accomplishing anything.
Let’s backtrack though. Before I get to where I’m going, here’s very briefly where I’ve been: Spent about 10 days in Leavenworth WA all told, hiking & camping, getting a feel for the town again. You may recall that one of my ideas for the winter was to work another season at Stevens Pass Ski Area near Leavenworth. I decided against it; I was only in Leavenworth a few days before it’s tourist-focused culture and fake-German shtick began to irritate me all over again.
I spent a fun weekend in Seattle. Saw the Nirvana and BSG exhibits at the EMP. Played Galaxy Truckers at Cafe Mox with Kelly O’Hara. Took in a block party w/ Ariel & Lambert and their pleasant neighbors. Had a pint of stout with Jack C before he took off for Black Rock City.
Caught a train to Portland and spent most of a week there, camping out in the back garden at Saladhouse and catching up with friends. Met baby Chase and Lettie Jane, hung-out with Riley Starr for the first time in years. Got a tour of the new Monster Palace. Rode the MAX to Hillsboro on a lark. Strolled the Last Thursday Alberta street-fair with Laurel hauling a satchel of sweet corn, on our way to Lettie’s [Best Summer Ever] art-opening/barbecue. Many small meetings, many good conversations.
Spent another couple weeks in Eugene, visiting Jen & Steve, exploring the town as a potential place to relocate and house-sitting while they were away in New York. Saw their daughter Caitlin off on her first day of kindergarten; that was pretty rad. This was late August/early September. My savings and the summer weather were both receding faster than I would’ve liked, and I was getting anxious to end the vacation portion of the summer and get back to work somewhere.
I took the Greyhound to Ashland in mid-September, planning to camp out in the Siskiyou National Forest near Mt Ashland while exploring the town. This was the one big, show-stopping goof of the summer: I didn’t discover until I got there that camping wasn’t allowed anywhere in the Ashland watershed– an 8-mile radius swath around and above town. Fortunately, I also discovered that I liked the place generally, so I abruptly changed plans, checked myself into a motel, and started looking for a job. Two weeks later, I got offered a production spot at [MaraNatha Natural Foods] in Ashland, makers of my favorite organic peanut butter.
This is where the work-in-progress problem starts to kick in. Things aren’t going as well as I’d like in Ashland. It’s taken a lot of focus and conviction not to get stuck in a work-in-progress morass. The job is easy enough, but it’s often dull. The studio I was renting is very cool but too expensive and a little too far from town (3-4 miles) for easy bike-commuting. I’ve since convinced the owner of the studio to let me move into her RV on the same five-acre property (a kind of upscale hobby-farm in the beautiful rolling hills outside of town, with 11 sheep, 2 horses, some chickens, dogs, etc). This is working out fine, but the RV has it’s own quirks and mechanical faults and that commute is still not ideal.
October has been a challenging month because of all this, working full-time at a new job, in an unfamiliar place, with little money. Trying to stay organized and keep moving forward while fighting down a daily to-do list of little miscues and glitches. There was also a [Horace Phair] in there too– which was great from start to finish and a nice break from the new grind. Folks at Horace Phair mentioned that it seemed as if my summer of vagabonding ended pretty abruptly, and it did, and all of this is why.
Fortunately– and I don’t ever use the word “fortunately” lightly; I am endlessly sickeningly thankful for the incredible run of good fortune I’ve had in this life– fortunately, I have been staying organized and moving forward, so I have some options. I’ll be going up to Eugene tomorrow. I have a job interview on Monday with an organic herb & tea distributor there called [Mountain Rose Herbs]. Excited about it, because it seems like a great company, and moving to Eugene would give me another chance to shift gears and take another pass at making this work.
The “this” in that sentence, the work-in-progress dream that I’ve been working towards, is to embrace the spirit of minimalism that I’m always preaching and get myself off the grid. Take the travel-light approach of this summer– “my continuing life of untrammeled adventure”, to claim Jenn’s adroit phrase– and carry it through the winter months. For that, I’m going to need a space that’s big enough to lie down in and insulated enough to heat. I could also use a long-distance winter vehicle, something that burns biodiesel maybe. Put the two together, and you’ve got a diesel van. I’ve had my eye on a [Volkswagen MV] for quite awhile now. Now that I’ll be working full-time for at least 6 months of so, in Ashland or Eugene– but hopefully in Eugene– there’s not much stopping me. Like Captain Mal, I’ve even got a name all picked out.
I’m hoping to get all of this wrapped-up and underway by Thanksgiving, and I’ll tell you all about it then. In fact, I was hoping to have all of this settled by the end of October, but it’s been quite an October.
‘Til then, [updates on Twitter] per usual, and occasional photos on [Flickr] (I haven’t been using my camera this fall as much as I’d like either). Also, now that I have my laptop back (thank you again, Rolo) I’ve been getting massive use out of the free music-on-demand service Spotify, and recently started up a Tumblr stream devoted to the once-declining art of listening-to-the-whole-album. Those updates go up late at night Mon-Fri, check it out if you’d like: [iwillnowsellfivecopiesof.tumblr.com]
~MK
