Even after arriving in B’ham, I’ve been dead sure, just utterly convinced, that something horrible was going to happen. My stress level was spiraling out of control. The whole thing sort of climbed to a crescendo on Tuesday. Tuesday was a really dark day for me. My stress level had ramped up to Total Freakout mode and I thought, yep, this was it. Something horrible was going to happen today, maybe right here, maybe right this minute, and it was all going to fall to pieces around my head…

But nothing bad happened. I did my mountain of homework. I drove out to Lynden to watch the wind rip rainclouds across Mt Baker. I went downtown and kicked around the bookstores, then went out to Anthony’s-on-the-Bay with Classic Mike. Drank a microbrew. Ate a salad. Talked about sailing.

So yesterday, it’s like this finally, geniunely hit me: HOLY CRAP I’M IN BELLINGHAM. My favorite place on the planet. And nothing terrible’s happened. I actually made a plan that worked out okay. I’m fine, just fine.

So I guess I’m back down to threat level yellow. Breathing easier now.

Think happy thoughts.

~MK

My campus visit to B’ham & [WWU] faintly glowed with pulsating rays of radness. Chances are good that I’ll be able to dive right into classes this fall (they were impressed by my grades, to put it mildly), but I also got to speak with a counselor and develop a B plan (transfer my credits to [WC²], take a few classes, get what’s called a “Washington 2-year DTA degree”, and get admitted back into Western without actually losing much time. So I really can’t lose.). Now I just need to slide my app in before the deadline.

Also: I’ve just received a memo saying that I can take $12 off a friend’s lift ticket, every day until the end of the season. So if you still haven’t come up to hit the slopes with me, now’s the time yo. A freak tropical rain storm washed off all our powder, but we’ve still got 90 inches of base and more pow incoming…

ALSO: One of my favorite bands, [The Decemberists], are playing an outdoor concert in Bellingham! on May 5th! At Western! Right in the middle of Red Square! They were just putting up the posters the day I visited campus. OMG I AM SO GOING. WANNA COME?

Dear Everyone-I-Haven’t-Talked-To-In-Quite-Some-Time,

Here is the current situation:

For the past 4 weeks, I have been living in the Northern Cascades and working as the vault controller for Stevens Pass Ski Area near Skykomish WA, about 2 hours east of Seattle.

I applied on October 12th– online, at about midnight. That was a Thursday. I interviewed that Saturday, was hired the following Thursday (Oct 19), packed up and moved the following Tuesday (Oct 24) and was working the next morning (Oct 25), leaving behind a smal swirl of wind and unpaid bills in Bellingham. It was an opportunity to do something I’d never done before in a place unlike anywhere I’d ever been, and I jumped for it. It was a snap decision, but I’m not regretting it in the least.

My address: I currently do not have one. To explain why this is the case would take way more time than I have right now. If you *absolutely have to* get a piece of mail to me, you can mail it to the Stevens Pass Employee Mailbox by writing: Mike Kelley (Auditing) c/o Stevens Pass, PO Box 100, Skykomish WA 98288. Please keep in mind that this goes into a great big mailbag, which is sorted by the HR dept, into my boss’s mailbox, before finally getting to me. (Please *please* do not send anything large and/or potentially embarrassing.)

My house: As planned, I am living in employee housing which Stevens Pass leases from the National Park Service. It is a four-bedroom house on Lake Wenatchee, in the general vicinity of Coles Corner, WA. (This house does have a physical address and a mailbox, yet nobody seems to know what it is. I have no idea how this could possibly be, but there you have it. I’m working on it.) I currently have one roommate. During peak season I’ll have 3. It is warm, clean and comfortable. You do not need to worry about me.

My phone #: The number at my house is 509-763-3167. This goes to a wired, land-line phone right in the middle of the common room, so the potential for long private conversations is somewhat limited. I am working on getting an answering machine and a wireless phone, which should improve the situation. Right now, I’m generally available for calls only between 5pm and 8:30pm PST.

My cellphone: … is out-of-service. Everywhere. My voicemail is probably bouncing messages at this point, as I haven’t been able to check it in a month. I plan to buy a new cellphone, but it might be awhile due to my…

Financial situation: Dire, but slowly improving. I should be out of crisis mode in the next 2 or 3 weeks, but it’ll probably be 2007 before my savings get back to a comfortable level. Please *do not* send money. I am eternally grateful for all the monetary help everyone has given me. I am deeply indebted to you all (in some cases literally), but I chose to take this risk and I’d like to see it through on my own.

My web presence: Fairly un-wired. I don’t have internet access at the house right now, and probably won’t. I have full internet access at work, but very little time to use it due to constant interruption. This email address ( mwkelley@gmail.com) is always active, and I read it daily, though it may take me a looong time for me to send a reply. My website ( beyondmetamora.net ) may be going down for a little while for want of a $4 monthly hosting fee that I’ve yet to pay. Likewise, my Flickr account ( flickr.com/photos/roguepoet) expired at the end of October, so I’m down to greatly reduced capacity. Flickr assures me that all of my photos will still be there when I get around to renewing my subscription. I also haven’t logged into E2 in a month, and probably have a pile of /msgs.

Snow report: 30 inches of base, just in case you’re wondering. We opened for business Friday, w/ four chairlifts running, though the snow is pretty lousy at the moment due to freezing rain on Wednesday. These past few days I’ve barely been able to see a window, let alone the slopes, but hopefully I’ll get a chance to take a lesson or two in December.

In summary, I am extravagantly isolated from civilization at the moment, even by my usual standard of disconnectedness. I’m working to fix that, and will let you know when I do. Thank you for thinking of me. Or, if you haven’t been thinking of me, thanks I guess for your implicit trust and for reading this far. :)

I miss you all incredibly,
– Mike Kelley
mwkelley@gmail.com

Here’s “the facts on the ground”, as they say on NPR: I’m looking for a steady job for the winter. I’m looking to lower my expenses, while still enjoying my new locale. Specifically, I want to learn to ski, a not-inexpensive hobby. Most of all, I’d like to do something that’s intersting, something that’d be a big change of pace from my climate-controlled cube in Tempe. I wanted to something that’s uniquely Northwest, something that’ll validate this whole 2000-mile excursion as meaningful and necessary.

Put those facts together, and combine them with this morsel: Mt. Baker has the earliest ski season west of the Rockies. Mt. Baker has, in fact, a Guiness World Record for seaonal snowfall. Put it all together, luv, and what do you get?

Ski resorts, luv, SKI RESORTS. Between now and November, every one of ‘em is hiring, starting with Baker and working its way down the coast.

Ever since that fact clicked a couple days ago, I’ve been in a mad dash to get applications to all of these near and distant mountains, with the lofty (ahem, pun intended) idea of spending the winter in a ski loft at the top– working by day and skiing by night. If you know me for any length of time, you know I’m not given to half-measures. It’s the alpine life for me, mate. Let’s hope the gamble pays off.

Check it out, if you’re interested. He said to put it in my day-planner, but I thought it’d be a nice idea to put it here, to give the rest of you some idea of the scope of what I’m trying to do.

Sometimes I get the impression that some of my friends and family back home think that this move to Washington is just a sight-seeing endeavor or a quick jaunt to “sew my wild oats”, and that I’ll be back to Michigan and my old routine by winter. If this was your impression, I’m sorry if I’ve misled you. As you can see just from this list of five, I have some very large, very long-term goals that I hope to accomplish.

Five things I hope to accomplish in WA, in the next 5 years

• Make my living as a research scientist in the field of geology or astronomy
• Buy an ocean-going sailboat and learn to sail
• Pay my debt down to 0.
• Foster a wide circle of adventurous and creative friends, and a core group of 3 or 4 friends that stick together like family
• Walk the Pacific Crest Trail

Aside from short visits and vacations (which I hope will be frequent), I won’t be leaving Washington any time soon. I like it here. I’ll be 25 in December, and I don’t intend to move again until I’m 30, maybe later. Maybe (though improbably) I’ll put down permanent roots and decide to spend the rest of my life here.

In the past I’ve been pretty quiet about what I want out of life, and pretty confused about it too. But make no mistake: I dream BIG.

What you conceive and believe you will achieve
– DRK

So, bottomline: Until someone somewhere says “You’re hired”, there will be no real updates. You guys are just going to have to wait.

I predict you’ll be hearing much more about this breezy little town on Puget Sound, once I get my comp hooked up to the internet in a day or two. In my apartment. Because I got an apartment here. Yes.

After Portland, I almost decided to turn back, to go off the rails completely and give the state of Washington a pass. I’m glad I didn’t, Seattle is an excellent city, but… I don’t know, it just doesn’t speak to me. I guess I’m just more of a country mouse than a city mouse.

There just isn’t anything I want or need from a big city. I’d rather listen to a bluegrass trio than a symphony orchestra. I’d rather browse 5 shelves of books at a small town library than hunt among a million books I know I’ll never read.

It’s taken a lot of walking meditation– I pounded a lot of miles of sidewalk today, and the hills in Seattle are mighty steep– but I’ve come to decide that all I’m really looking for is a small town with upbeat creative people, rainy weather, and a fun geek community.

You can’t control the weather, you can’t swap out the population of a place, but everything else can be imported, avoided or done without.

So tomorrow I’m hittin’ the atlas and hittin’ the yellow brick road again. Next stop will probably be Port Townsend, on a long arc along the north coast back towards Corvalis, OR.