Snow In Whistler

My car had a few fresh inches of snow on it as I woke up this morning. Well, really I watched it accumulate periodically throughout the night. A night's sleep in the Element is more like a packed together sequence of hard earned naps, but all the same.

So what I've learned from exploring the Whistler job market: Canadians want to hire Canadians, a work visa is expensive and not guaranteed in today's economy, and living here is expensive. That said, I have little to no plans of what to do next, so for now, I think I'll be making my slow way home. I could go anywhere, do anything I want to. A strange feeling really I've never encountered before. Obviously, I want to make the most out of my time, whether it be filled with adventure or culture or people or hopeuflly a mix of everything, but I feel a pretty big responisibity to choose wisely, and unselfishly. I guess we'll see where things go from here, that's always fun.

From North of the Border

I'm sitting in a Vancouver public library. I spent the past week in Bellingham and drove across the border into Canada for the first time last evening. First impression: Vancouver's very clean, but I guess that should be expected with the Olympics coming.

Bellingham was pleasant, and I'll be returning this weekend for Halloween I expect. Last Thursday I borrowed my friend's bike and took the ferry to Orcas Island, which turned out to be larger than I expected. I rode his mountain bike 22 miles to the top of Mt. Constitution, and then enjoyed a single track hiking trail down from the top, killer climb but worth it for the view and the ride. I hopped into a few intramural soccer games Sunday night in the rain on the Western University Campus, it felt great to be out there. Today I'll be heading up the Sea to Sky Highway, from Vancouver up to Whistler, and hoping to possibly land a job in Whistler or Squamish for the winter, we'll see.

People continue to be the reason for my most memorable experiences. After cramping up on the bike on my return trip to the ferry and resting on the side of the road, I was offered a ride from a nice gal in a pick up. Then again once my chain came off for the umpteenth time and this time was bent and was unrepairable, another guy stopped, held up traffic, and gave me a ride all the way back to the ferry, in the dark and far out of his way. Then staying in a town for an extended amount of time allows meeting so many more people. Meeting friends and hanging with friends of friends and so on, hearing their stories and what they've done and where they've been always gives energy to keep going and meet even more. That coupled with the beautiful surroundings of changing leaves and evergreen hills and water everywhere, makes this whole thing pretty fun.

From Seattle

I drove into town on Thursday. Big towns, like here and Portland, take a day or two to feel comfortable in. To figure out the tricks around paying for parking, and understanding the workings of the public transit, and where the library is at and all the other essentials to a city. The first few days are spent exploring around the downtown area meeting people and asking for directions and advice on what to do and where to go, then you begin to spread out a bit and spend more time in the neighborhoods surrounding the city, where the real culture is and the interesting people hang and the places and pubs with character lie. I'm staying at a friend's house North of town near Fremont and Ballard now, and last night broke a ten night stretch of sleeping in my car. It's kinda incredible to notice the comfort that comes with where you sleep, even if it is your passenger seat. You get used to it, and begin to even prefer it, and many times at the end of the day I've really looked forward to returning to the comfort of my home on wheels.

Last night we went to the Combine at St. Mark's Cathedral, an old massive church that sits atop this hill where hundreds of people gather every Sunday night to listen to traditional chants and prayers. The inside of the church was incredible, and the service itself was moving and interesting to witness. But what really got me was the whole atmosphere. We got there about fifteen minutes early and the pews were already filled, and the crowd that consisted mostly of people my age had begun sitting against the walls and against the pillars, on the actual stage, and anywhere else there was open space. This wasn't just a trendy thing to do on a Sunday night either. The mood was very sincere, and people laid down, kneeled, or did whatever they felt necessary to experience this spiritual event in their own way. It got me thinking, what has caused this mass of youth to latch on to this extremely traditional service in a surprisingly authentic search for spirituality? And why was the sincerity within the crowd so refreshing when you would think that should go hand in hand with spirituality?

This morning I'm off to Bellingham, and have my ticket for a Ben Folds show there tonight. Woo hoo.

Greatness, from Port Angeles, WA

So summarizing where I've been and what I've been up to would be dull for me to recite in any length. In short, from my last post forward, I drove from Portland to Bend, from Bend to Salem, Salem to Newport, Newport up the Oregon coast to Tillamook (the home of the cheese), Tillamook to Astoria, and from Astoria across into Washington and up onto the Olympic Peninsula and around the Olympic National Park region, meeting friendly folk and driving through incredible scenery along the way.

But what is more interesting to write on would be an excerpt from my head regarding greatness. I went to the Portland Timbers (soccer team) last last Sunday, had a ball and thought I should quit everything (like what do I have to quit?) and attempt to make it as a competitive professional soccer player. I think the same thing every fall when I go watch a golf tournament in person, maybe if I lived off of my savings and practiced all day every day I could make money playing golf, and it would be worth it. Or the other night watching Harry Potter in a fun little theater in Astoria, it would be awesome to devote my life to acting and be really really good at it, then maybe I could even get a girlfriend like Emma Watson. Or writing after reading Donald Miller's last book. Is this life okay and worthy if I never end up great at anything? So far for twenty-two years I've gone from one hobby to the next, never really striving or succeeding to any extreme degree in any of them. Maybe that's my personality, maybe I just haven't found something to entrance me yet. What I think I'm really looking for is some sort of feeling of being called to something. I think what I desire is to feel overwhelming transcendance in this life. Until then I guess I'm waiting, or searching, or living out regardless.

Okay Sista, WAL-MART

:)

Here's to Wal-Mart...

Thank you Wal-Mart in Walla Walla, Washington. I appreciate you allowing people to spend the night in their cars in your parking lot. I appreciate you allowing me to wash my face, brush my teeth, and change my clothes in your restroom. And thank you Wal-Mart in Vancouver, WA, removed from Portland by two rivers and two bridges. Though your parking lot patrol did make me nervous and I didn't sleep well, I still appreciate your hospitality, and your open restroom for the morning necessities as well. See mom, I am keeping clean. But Wal-Marts, I'm still reluctant to spend a dollar in your stores. That's for people who are too lazy to go more than one place when they run errands, or who would rather save a few bucks here and there instead of supporting local businesses. Ouch. Hopefully the rumors about how you treat your employees isn't all true, or how when you show up in town and all the mom and pop stores go under isn't all your fault. Maybe those tales are exaggerated. I will continue to use your parking lots and restrooms when convenient and necessary, but that doesn't mean I have to like you.

I'm in Portland now, been here since Sunday. Traveling alone leaves only opportunity to make new friends, and the friends have been good, and so has Portland. I'll be staying here longer then expected, so my timeline in exploring the area has been slowed a bit which is nice. Cities and people in them are calling and when I out-stay my welcome here I'll be moving on. Portland is better than I expected. I expected to be disappointed, that the trendiness of this city from a Southern California perspective was overkill, but it isn't. There's great big tree forests surrounding the downtown. People are fresh and creative and unique and plentiful, which is intimidating at first after spending the summer in small towns in Alaska and Montana, but once immersed within the flow here it becomes the norm.

To maybe Corvalis, and maybe Bend, and maybe Astoria, and very likely Seattle, and very likely Bellingham, and who knows where in between and after, off in a few days I'll go.