August 2010 Archives

i was challenged by a friend this afternoon to write in a voice other than my own, a voice besides jessica dunlap's which i thought would be easy but now that i have sat down to do it am finding it difficult to begin...and i would like feedback please, from those of you who have become familiar with my "voice." 

Dan Brown would make anyone who attempted to use Leonardo DaVinci as a title or subject of a contemporary work look a little foolish with the success of his novel The DaVinci Code.  This is irksome for a writer because DaVinci is such a prolific figure and forgive me for this Beatles-esque comment but just as worthy as God as a subject of inspiration and awe. The Museum of the Rockies is playing host to a DaVinci exhibit at this very second which is scheduled to leave in a matter of days. Bozeman is one of the only cities in the United States to host DaVinci's "Machines in Motion," therefore the privilege of attending was enhanced by the exclusivity of the event.  No matter what your occupation, your background, your age, your IQ, your sex, your race, etc, this exhibit will intrigue any human being that has the capacity to be inspired. Yesterday was such a dreary afternoon as I wandered into the Museum of the Rockies.  I was going not out of an active interest but more of a way to pass the time, to keep my mind occupied. I was down in the dumps because the weather had once again kept me out of an airplane, I had been terribly homesick for weeks, and the girl I loved broke my heart over the weekend. Here I walk into this world-reknowned dinosaur museum where "Big Mike" stands outside to greet you and lo and behold I walk straight into an exhibit hall full of all things Leonardo DaVinci.  The first thing I noticed was DaVinci's famous quote regarding flight, "Una vez que has experimentado el vuelo, siempre caminarás por la tierra con tu vista hacia el cielo, porque ya has estado ahí, y siempre desearás volver," and immediately the pity party I had been throwing for myself began to end.  This quote made me remember my passion for flying, consider the long evolution of flight and laugh at myself for despairing over a few days' weather.  I became increasingly light-hearted walking through the exhibit, watching kids learn from the hands-on machines and gaining insight from the many quotes from the man himself, especially when he talks about how fire changes the composition of a thing forever.  I related to that quote on a metaphorical level in regards to my heart enduring what I considered to be Hell this past weekend.  All in all, DaVinci, one of my heroes, was able to pleasasntly surprise and uplift me over 8000 kilometers and 500 years distance, and while I have nowhere near the mental capacity that man had, I hope one day I can make someone's day the way he made mine yesterday afternoon.   

i finally did my cc solo today!  after 3 times having to re-schedule it, janine nunes calls me this morning basically saying," get your butt up here, the weather should hold til 2pm!!!" so i jump out of bed, into the shower and zooooom over to summit.  my flight plan was already made but it toko me about an hours worth of recalculating for the current day's winds aloft to get it ready for my flight.  after that, i got into the plane and took off...i haven't flown in over a week so it felt weird to be flying and it felt especially weird to be flying without an instructor.  

i'm finishing up stage III tonight with three more landings, that's all i require for my night stuff--there was a huge SNAFU the night i flew with Dugan where the airport closed early to have the runway painted and neither one of us was aware of it.  they were waiting for us to get in and luckily had not started painting or we would have been stuck at three forks airport waiting on dugna's wife to get out of bed and come pick us up.  anyway, so i didn't get to do my landings that night but will finish them up tonight!

i left out vegas details AGAIN! there was this bum selling botled water out of a cooler between caesar's and the bellagio, i mean in the most half-hearted way a person could ever sell water and butch asked him, is there any alcohol in that water, and the guy replied, "all the alcohol you wish was in here is in here."  whatever that means.  i almost bought some though. 

so my face has been all broken out since i got to bozeman, like the worse it's ever been in my adult life, almost, which i'm not over a greasy grill so i don't get it, but i have been drinking a lot of coffee so i'm gonna lay off the coffee and just go to tea...it's cheaper and i think i like it more?

i went to the museum of the rockies yesterday afternoon--what a treat BUT i really think i shoulda gone in the morning bc my brain just works better in the AM.  they had a davinci exhibit and i'm really glad i went yesterday bc my rockford coffee house friend britnee harper whose bf is from alabama, told me this is the only place in the US getting the exhibit AND it is leaving in the next day or so.

alright, i'm going to research tattoo artists b/c the one i got introduced to yesterday hit me wrong.  she may have been having a bad day, i don't care...my gut says "no," and after the latest crap i went through, i am never doubting my gut feeling ever again...xo

so, i realized i left out a bunch of vegas details...

After a hectic night cross country flight with dugan to billings the night of august23rd, i got in the car and started driving toward las vegas, nevada.  being almost a full moon, the montana mountains were hauntingly illuminated but the eeriness was offset by the sheer beauty of what i was seeing glide by my window.  I got to see the sunrise over the uinta mountains in salt lake city, she was a sleepy sun, it's hard to rise over those mountains i guess...but it was GORGEOUS!  the great salt lake was exceptionally stinky that morning, like charleston pluff mud to the nth degree!  the virgin river canyon was amazing to see, i can't even explain how all the rock features were slanted at crazy angles--it made me feel like i wasn't in straight and level flight, like i was cockeyed because of the orientation of the landscape--wild!  after descending through the canyon, i got to the flattest, hottest, dryest area i've ever seen in my life.  i could see vegas from miles and miles out.  i texted wendy mckoy to tell her tht taking her son rowan all over the world is so awesome because i couldn't believe i was seeing the desert for the first time in my life at 29 years of age!!!  we were booked at the rio and i'm pretty sure i was close to tackling nancy daves when i saw her in the lobby, then we grabbed a cocktail and started puttin oney into machines and being silly.  It was all about La Bala de Plata--the silver bullet--and Black Jack!!!  it took me a few hours to realize i was on pacific time...almost went to pick maxine up early, noticed just in the nick of time.  steve and i went to scoop her up from the airport.  we hungout in the room for a few minutes where i was like, " listen, max, i have this CRAZY notion that wendy is hooking up with my friend rachels friend bianca, but it's SO ludicrous and so improbable that this is totally just my imagination running away with me, right? i need to use my fiction factory for economical gain, right??? how silly i can be, sheeeeeeeeesh."  i don't know if i convinced max, but i convinced myself that i was crazy and needed to chill the flip out...3 days later...turns out i wasn't so crazy after all...never go against your guts, kids, NEVER.  anyway, so max and i go to supper with the york gang and butch tells me tim roy is in town who i've never gotten to hang out with more than to serve him a couple of beers at the coal yard but whose brother and nephew are some of the most intensely fun characters in existence so i got excited about tim being there.  turns out mama and daddy joe partied with tim in vegas like 20 years ago--ha!  during supper nancy looks up from her meal, suddenly, first at maxine and gives her some good advice and then she looks at me and does the same.  it was so out-of-the-blue, like she was hit with a lightning bolt of information that was pertinent to our lives and needed to be shared without delay.  what she had to say, i definitely needed to hear.  thanks, nance! so then we return to the black jack table where the dealer was a bee eye tee see 8ch, for real, which sucked because the dealers we had earlier were AWESOME.  max and i were nearly comatose at this point and  retired after we almost face-planted into the table--they don't allow cell phones or face-planting at the table.  after breakfast max and i hit the town with tim roy, butch, and steve.  our first stop was margaritaville, which i would normally turn my nose up toward, BUT i was in vegas doing the whole tacky as helll tourist thing anyway so i felt ok with doing it to an exponential degree; however, we didn't get any hookers or drugs this trip, but there's always next time, and there WILL be a next time!  i kinda understand the hangover a little better now, and I DEFINITELY understand fear and loathing better.  so i had a lone palm amber at jimmy buffet's ridiculous bar which has an equally ridiculous blender sitting on the counter.  we moseyed through the extravagant shopping mall in caesar's palace and out to their pool-side bar where i noticed the BLACKJACK TABLES IN THE POOL!!!!!!!  they have "cocktail goddesses" too!  then we jump around some more drikin, got a free million dollar spin at planet hollywood, i got to hear great stories the whole way from these amazing fellas we were hanging with...stories about going to the beach too broke to even buy food, someone answering the door wearing nothing but a lamp shade on his head...i had to go back to casear's to play cards in the pool...the dealer was smokin hot, with a, come to find out, bulgarian accent. her name was teodora and i was pretty much in love with ehr for the 15 minutes max and i were there...when she took 180 dollars from me in that short a time period, i knew i had to go or she'd own my house by the end of the day--well, caesar's would have, but you get the picture.  so max and i gorged ourselves on indian--truthfully, it was just me that gorged myself.  i haven't had good indian in a longtime and this place called gaylord's is all over the world apparently and i ate everything i could fit in me!  that makes me think, i cannot WAIT to go to jai's new indian fusion place in huntersville when i get back.  so then we drove around the town to see everything...wild stuff in vegas, i tell ya, extravagant and WILD.  i cannot wait to go back because i will have more time and no one 800 miles away pretending to be my girlfriend. 

first of all, daddy joe, don't forget your dancing shoes for the drive to SC from Bozeman, kthxbai...

does anyone have any idea what it would cost to get a my motorcycle to europe with me for when i go for two weeks in dec?...whoa, when i am looking at that question typed out it sounds ludicrous b/c...hello--europe...in winter...on a motorcycle...i think i just solved my own problem here.

I went to see EAT, PRAY, LOVE...which are the priorities of the movie, in that respective order.  the italian smorgasborg of food (even gelato had a cameo appearance!) made me ready for france NAO! i can haz saucisson?! yes.  hoh hoh hoh--stereotypical french laugh sound, put some hard nasal into it, and if you still can't get it, watch the little mermaid.  anyway, i heard one critic say that EPL, should have been called, ME, ME, ME...i didn't find this to be true.  first of all how can AYTHING be ME, ME, ME anymore than our ridiculous social networking sights (to which I am severely addicted, i admit, freely) on the web these days?  ps--there is a movie coming out about the creation of facebook that i cannot wait to see!  anyway, i took a lot of nuggets of insight from this movie from the fat italian luka saying liz needed to learn, "the pleasure of doing nothing," to the idea of self-forgiveness toiled over at the temple in india(which by the way, the thought of some time at a hindu temple is SO SO SO intriguing to me-don't be surprised if i end up at one within the nex year.  as a girl who grew up wanting to be a nun until i found out it is supposed to be a lifetime commitment, the temple feels like it would be a good compromise and you get to eat indian food every day!).  also, i may be going to a hindu wedding in march of '11, if jai's brother ends up getting hitched.  i sure hope so--every time i see a hindu wedding, it just makes me happy and i sure hope i get to experience one in my lifetime.  the polynesian medicine man told liz to smile when she meditated--"even smile from liver," which a) made ME smile and b) made me wanna meditate.  mama just told me the other day that i need to meditate,  she so smart--like medicine man in movie.  I <3 Julia Roberts and i thought she did a great job with this movie, i enjoyed the story line, the cinematography, the supporting actors, everything.  i did something i havent in a long time while watching EPL which is take notes.  it made the whole process less passive (a lot of times i cannot even sit through a movie without falling asleep or just having to get up and go do something else) so i didn't get bored with it, and i remembered everything i wanted to mention about it, the things that stuck out for me.  i take notes about life all the time so why not movies too b/c i LOVE movies thanks to miss lindsey richardson! 

i'm supposed to ride my bike to the park today BUT the weather is craptasic--rainy AND cold (like european winter--ha! i should ride for acclimatization!).  xoxoxo!!!

so katie has some great tales from the land of debt collections.  my favorite one is a guy, who told her he was sittin' on the shitter and that his wife had left him and had ripped his heart out through his asshole...well, sir, your debt is still owed replies the amazingly stoic kathryn gail.  I'm relating to this sittin on the shitter guy right now because i myself had my heart ripped out through my asshole friday night--emotional hemmorhoids, ouch!  what REALLY sucks is it was done by someone who didnt deserve my affection in the first place...look, when your gut and ALL your friends say something, fuckin listen to them...or don't and learn the hard way...i always have to learn the hard way AND because i loved this girl so much, i had all the faith in the world in every single word she told me--a la my sassy gay friend, "you stupid bitch..."  so i got played like a fiddle but not just any fiddle..oh, HELL,.speaking of fiddles, i bought that bitch a fiddle, dammit--DAMMIT, i just thought about that...eff.  anyway, so i got played and in a majorly sick and sadistic way (it was such a fucked up ordeal that i had to stand back and ask myself, "girl, did you run over kittens with a lawnmower FOR FUN in a past life or something--WTF???!!!"). however, the situtation empowered me to get rid of this toxic asshole...britney spears made toxic sound so cool but trust me, it is NOT cool, and if you are involved with a toxic individual, get rid of them--STAT.  i'm still trying to figure out where i thought there was room in my life for a monstrously toxic asshole sadistic loser alcoholic.  this awesome wizard has no time for trolls...what a four month waste of life energy.  BUT i'm better off for having endured it--like when gandalf got pitched into the pit with the balrog and he came out more powerful, i am already a different wizard from this experience...i always thought i was a hobbit but maxine has informed me that i am indeed a wizard and i think she is right. 

either way, i am ready for some shire time.  monfuckingtana has been amazing, i have loved every minute of it and i have disassociated the negative BS from this beautiful place that i love, but this kid is ready to come home for a minute. 

OH, so i went to the berkeley pit yesterday to occupy some of my time and keep my mind off lowdown dirty shameful bitches...mary had told me about it thursday and it is a crazy place--it's in butte, montana, which is less than two hours west of me.  look up the berkeley pit, it is interesting to say the least.

  coming up we have willie nelson in big sky, alaska by RV, then york, sc!!! 

i put off vegas til my 29th year of existence because i just didn't think it would be my bag--boy was i ever wrong!  it IS my bag, and HOW! it's gonna be an achilles heel, i can see it now.  i enjoyed the heck out of seeing my friends, gambling a bit (especially in the pool at caesar's with the lovely teodora from bulgaria who could take every last dime of mine), and seeing the sights.  i didn't have much time, but we crammed in a good bit for the less than two days maxine and i were there...already schemin' another couple of trips out there...

visited zion on the way back--need to revisit that also with more time to spare

can i just say that in typical steve bolin fashion he comes out over breakfast with the absurd remark of , "let this place DIE." 

 oh, god, i couldn't stop laughing even though he was dead serious...oh, wow, love hat man!

um, did you mean john deere, annaliese?  heehee, that tickled the heck out of me.

anyway, so the homeopathic doctor is gonna see me august 31st.  but NOT for ADD, because pilots do not have that. 

before my doctor's visit on the 31st, i have another obgyn visit tomorrow, oh fun, right after my first solo cross country flight.  cross country is just a mileage term, it doesn't actually mean i'm flying across the country.  anyway, that is tomorrow morning, weather permitting (which when i filed my flight plan a little while ago, it didn't sound too promising) and tomorrow night i have a night cross country to billings which is class C airspace. THEN i go to vegas for a couple of days THEN i go to chico hot springs friday night. theni fly more and read flying books more and get licensed and stuff.

i went to the park friday afternoon and bianca, wendy and i harrassed rachel at the firehole all night after visiting moose falls.  bianca described for us the process of developing film and at one point she used the term, "covered in chemistry," which gave me the most vivid image of her in a dark room developing pictures.  awesome phrase.  

we went up toward livingston saturday to hike the pine creek trail which is strenuous but worth the trek.  it's the longest 5 miles ever, we all decided.  the weather was craptastic all night, major winds, intermittent rain, i just knew my backpack was gonna be floating in the lake when i got out of my tent this morning, but it wasn't, it was just blown a few feet away from where it had been hanging.  i did lose wendy's stuff sack for her sleeping bag though--whoops.  we got up late because there wasn't really any point in trying to get up eary to see the sunrise when the sky was overcast and the wind was howling so much that we couldn't have cooked really.  saturday's sunset was amaing though, and the moon rising up over the tarn behind our campsite was gorgeous.  we got us some good mexican in livingston when we got off the trail and now ive been sitting here all evening trying to figure out my flight plan to helena for in the morning. 

so the next solid week is crazy. i am going backpacking to pine creek lake between livingston and gardiner sat and sun, monday i am doing my first SOLO cross country, over to helena--it'll be the same route i took today with sam, hoever i have to create a whole new flight plan that takes into account the weather for that particular time.  the weather affects everything to do with aviation.  even the trip we did today couldn't just be inverted on paper because the winds combined with our various directions, the weight of us in the plane, the amount of fuel, the air pressure, etc, ALL are variables in flight.  it's crazy the amount of time sam and i spent planning this hour and a half trip.  it was over in a heartbeat after all that effort.  we didn't stop in helena, for the sake of time, but hopefully i will get to for a little bit when i go on MONDAY MORNING!!! 

then after a whole bunch of flying and what-not, i will be headed to las vegas where i will pick up maxine and we will hang out with lewis nancy steve and butch for a hot minute then i will be headed to chico hot springs with wendy, rachel, and bianca friday and saturday next week.  saturday evening marks the return to school and very seriously at that, i only have a matter of days before i have to be finished with my private pilot's license because i am leaving for alaska sept 11th with mama, daddy joe, and grandma fred.  daddy joe is flying back to bozeman with me and we are heading back to SC via all kinds of fun places!  i have loved being out here.  there is nothing like the wild west.  however, this hobbit is adventured out and more than ready to return to the shire for a few months.  justin said i can sling drinks or whatever at the coal yard.  i'll be making y'all some vegan craziness and pouring some SC beers--can't wait to drink a son of a peach!!!  gah, i really cannot wait to drink some peach shine--now, THAT will be when i know i'm home!

so, i am still waiting to see the homeopathic doctor in town about some focusing (read: ADD) treatments--the situation has actually much improved just in the last couple of days with my awareness of it and trying to control my impulses and moods and concentration on my own.  i'm good at concentrating in the morning but by the afternoon, this brain is on the crazy side of life and needs serious stimulation from a numerous and varied amount of stimuli all at once...i like overload, serious overload...otherwise, ask anyone i've ever dated what happens when this crazy brain gets bored and starts to think...oooh, she get crazy CRAZY crazy, like an LOL cat...starts fights with people i love for no good reason, complete instigator, all just to stimulate the overactive gray matter.  then after i've gotten the person i'm dating all ticked off FOR NO GOOD REASON, i'm like...oops...sowwy, don't know why i did that...WELL, now i know why i do that and i am making every effort NOT to do it anymore. 

anyway, so monday we figured out my school schedule for the week...i started planning a cross country with sam to helena for thursday afternoon.  there's a lot that goes into making a flight plan...you have to consider the weight and balance of the plan, the weather, the route and there are all these calculations that go along with those things.  it's nuts--just for a 45 minute plane ride!  i wanted to fly myself to las vegas to meet up with nancy, lewis, steve, and butch but the cost of the flight versus the benefit made it an impractical move right now.  i gotta have some money to get home! so, i'm gonna take the most energy efficient means of transportation i own which is my harley and i am gonna meet maxine at the las vegas airport next tuesday and we are gonna roll into town harry and lloyd style to hang with some of york's finest in the den of iniquity known as las vegas.

oh, i skipped tuesday...after class,i picked up new friend bianca who is rachel moan's best friend.  bianca just graduated from art school in san fran.  she's a photographer and from the description she gave of her work, i am DYING to see it.  we ran to the co-op to get her some grub for the two weeks that she will be staying with rachel in the park and then headed to old filthy.  i stayed around to go with these cats to the pub party which had a theme initially but then changed then changed again to nothing...so i just wore my new red bear bottom butt flap onesie...it's uber comfy, that onesie, i recommend it to everyone.  Wendy got on one of her germany story kicks last night and the girl has got fascinating tales which i really wish she would just write down rather than tryin to tell us when she's lit because she usually loses the point halfway through and/or just stops telling it and starts talking about something else entirely and if she doesn't write them down they'll be gone one day which is always a sad thought to me--anyone's story being lost to the world. i woke up with one of those alcohol over-consumption headaches, cuz i mean, i don't drink like i used to...spend too much money on flight school to be going in there half-cocked.

so,i  diagnosed myself last week as add (something i used to think was made up by bad parents to excuse the bad behaviour of their bad kids) and figured getting on some adderall would fix my problem of not being able to study.  i'm like text book so it would help all of my smyptoms, not just focusing, i'm just saying, and i think it would improve my life 1000% to be able to treat it, HOWEVER, if you are diagnosed as add (by a doctor, not self), you hang up your flying career.  you cannot take any medications and fly...also, if you are ever diagnosed as add, you cannot pursue a pilot's license of any variety.  what a catch 22...treating what i think could be add in myself would totally make me a better pilot,AND a better person too.  anyway, this deal aside, i'm getting closer and closer to having my private pilot's license. cross country stuff starts this week which will be super cool.

so yesterday we got a late start and we went to west shopping and eating taco bus before heading to old filthy to watch it blow.  we had some drinks at the bear pit then went to midway geyser basin to see grand prismatic from the hill, which is about a 30 minute round-trip.  then we moseyed back to west where my buddy ashlie is a bartender. erin played one of the touch machines as she is so fond of doing while we had a couple of drinks. next was visiting greg at half moon saloon in big sky where we met the bobber, sippy, nancy, harry, and captain hook.  then we got back to bozeman pretty late and were all pooped out and crashed AFTER harrassing the taco bell employee who was way too excited about her job..."i need one person to speak at a time."

this morning, i ran out to rockford coffee to snag some breakfast and caffeine so we could get our day started right.  we went to the madison buffalo jump.  i have accompanying pictures on facebook, and if you google it, you can get a lot of info about the history of the buffalo jumps, pretty much an engineering marvel by native americans, resourceful as hell.  so we hiked around the buffalo jump for a while then headed downtown for late lunch and sh-sh-sh-shoppin. i got a new pair of chacos b/c mine are worn slap out and susan found a very cool store right off the main drag called cello owned by a lady named nelda who said her home land was in the baltics. we picked up some neat handcrafted gifts for folks at cello--seriously handcrafted, amazing stuff. after shopping all up and down main, we did some geocaches that erin pulled up on her iphone.  the best part of this was i got to see some new parts of bozeman, a couple of fun new spots.  we were going to try to eat at gallatin river lodge where one of my instructors sam works. grr is supposed to be great eats, but they closed at 9pm, which was too late for our purposes b/c none of us were even remotely hungry at 830pm.  about 915pm, erin and i ran out to over the tapas, an awesome app place in dtown that bratender friend ashlie introduced me to.  we re-stuffed ourselves and are now all going to bed b/c the girls have to catch a 6am flight to GTFO.  i've had a blast with Erin, Susan, and new friend Chris this week.  now it's back to the serious world of flight school (haha)

so, my friends are here visiting and they're all three intelligent, women of the world.  at some point, however, erin's book smarts overtook her common sense, jessica simpson style.  i'm sure it was at a young age because she's been like that since i've known her which is about ten years now.  so, as we were driving from yellowstone lake tuesday evening toward old faithful, i was describing the snow lodge's dinner menu which included scallops and some other seafood dishes to which erin inquired, "does the seafood come from the lake?" and to which i could only respond with riotous laughter. 

we toured all over the park tuesday, the boiling river and the canyon being the highlights, then managed to snag a cabin at lake last minute bc the park was completely sold out.  there were only 3 spots for sleeping in the cabin so i stayed with wendy. the girls met me at old faithful the next morning and we headed out for the tetons.  the tetons are just beyond words...we drove around for a while then did an hour hike in lupine meadows at the base of the grand.  amazing!  then we sped through the tourist trap called jackson and got back here to bozeman around sundown so i could go to class and do my first night flight--which was awesome, btw, just lights, not much landscape to discern.

i met erin and chris at bacchus last night where we met bartender JC Windmueller who works at the haufbrau and we are supposed to go see him tonight?  the perseid meteor shower is peaking around midnight so we can't visit him too much if we are gonna climb sacajawea and watch the perseids...lest we fall off the mountain like human meteors. 

First of all, Wendy stayed with me in Bozeman this weekend.  This is a great photographic representation of our time together:

We hiked Sacajawea, the highest peak on the Bridgers and ate our faces off all over town.  We saw INCEPTION and I bought a ridiculous amount of BOOKS at Borders. For lunch Sunday, we went to an asian bistro and i ordered my pad thai as hot as you can make it:

It burned twice as much coming out as going in and it effin BURNED going in. 

I had supper with Kester Kester Sunday night and met Rachel Moan's brother MAtt and his gf Tess and hung out with all the yellowstoners at the bear pit afterwards.

Today, Erin, Susan, and Chris got here.  Chris got in first so she and i went and had margaritas while we waited on Erin and Susan to get in.  We went to Makenzie River Pizza for supper and then to Montana Ale Works for post-supper drinks We have an action-packed week in store which i will update as it unfolds...

ever since i moved out of the park, i have made exponential progress with flight school.  i'm retaining information--whoa!  and i don't drink everyday here in bozeman which there is a propensity for at old faithful among nearly all the employees because i have goals once again, keeping me on track and off the booze.  i reckon sometimes i need to be off track to see the bigger picture and understand why it's good to be on track, if i don't have purpose i just sorta spiral.  i think a lot of people do, actually, and that the park suits people without a life purpose because there, purpose is not required.  xanterra would rather you not have purpose because that interferes with their own purpose of keeping employees feeling trapped/secure (however one views it).  you don't have to leave your village for ANYTHING...they feed you, house you, and have an employee pub where they will gladly take back the money you have earned from them in exchange for some beer and/or pub food (which is a step above employee dining room food in quality and that is not saying much).  since i moved to bozeman july 14th, i've lost the weight i gained in the park and then some, am hiking more frequently and seeing my park friends more often.  i don't know what the heck they put in that EDR food, but i was trying my best to be vegan and GAINING weight in the process (i'm sure it had a lot to do with alcohol consumption too).  anyway, glad to be out of there--love yellowstone, but cant stand xanterra...

anyway, i had an awesome time in the sky this morning with dugan. we did some short field landings and takeoffs and flew down to three forks to use their runway so it was new maneuvers and a new place to practice.  dugan said i did really well.  i'll be back with lance tomorrow so we will see what he thinks.  i'm eatin me some black beans and grits for lunch.  sounds gross maybe but everything is good eatin with some grits in it.  thomas gave me some hot sauce for my birthday that he picked up in gettysburg called black mamba...i tried it the day he gave it to me and it burned my face off--i love, love, LOVE hot stuff but this was CRAZY--i wanted to put a few drops in my lunch but i don't think my stomach/lips can handle it today.  tapatio is the hottest we're doin'.  i'm trying to figure out what route daddy joe and i are going to take home from bozeman.  i have figured outwith certainty when i'm coming home as of last week--i'm flying to meet mama, daddy joe, grandma fred and aunt m in AK on sept 11th then daddy joe is gonna fly back to the bozone with me sept 18th and we will make our way home in the land cruiser, slowly but surely.  i should be done with my private pilot's license by that time--gah, if not, i just need to give it up!  studyin today cuz i got all my dirty clothes washed yesterday, and boy there were a pile of them.  i've been practicing guitar at night--i lvoeit, it's a great release.  i pretty much suck but i have fun doing it.

we went to the imax movie about yellowstone after mauwing down on taco bus in west saturday night.  it stormed pretty big and as i had just had a weather lesson at school that morning, i was trying to figure out the front coming in and the reult of it, blah, blah, blah. when we got back to the hotel, wendy flipped channels so much between 48 hours, sons of anarchy, and 5 other shows that it came together in my mind as tigers riding motorcycles and killing people at a wrestling match 20 years ago.  gah.  anyway, so we had a fun, chill night in west and went to bed early because rachel met us around 645am with our new friend nick to go on a hellacious hike called the sky rim trail.  twenty miles, seven peaks, one day...wtf?!  anyway, we got started at 815 and not even a mile into the hike saw a bear.  he was not concerned with us at all, and there were four of us, some bear spray and a medium caliber gun so...we were pretty safe.  this is just off hwy 191, and everytime i travel that road, i see a bear.  this hike took us until late in the afternoon to complete.  it was super-challenging and had amazing views

and even though my dogs were give out afterwards, i'm totally glad i went along with wendy, rachel, and new-friend nick. new-friend nick also inspired me to "ski" on the patch of snow we came across, but unlike nick, when my feet hit, they immediately flew out from underneath me and i went arse over teakettles eatin snow until i slid into the mud, all of which rachel managed to catch on film!

we came out at a location a little north of where we started so we had to hitch a ride back to rachel's car to get home.  i managed to get a sister from california named paige to stop and pick me up for this purpose.  she was headed to visit her sister who does fishing tours in idaho.  thanks, paige, where ever you are!  we went to sidney's bistro for supper and ate outside with some live music going on.  sidney's is super-good if you're ever in west yellowstone and wanting something besides the pizza at wild west saloon (which is awesome) or the taco bus (which is awesome but doesn't serve alcohol).  then we had to part ways as i had to go back to bozeman for early monday orning class and the others had to go back to the park to tell carolyn bye, which i wish i could have done too but i had a stage check this morning for flight school which is something i couldn't reschedule by the time i found out about carolyn's going away campfire.  anyway, my drive home on the bike was miserable.  i should have left WAY earlier because a0 it was COLD, b) i forgot the clear lenses for my glasses to protect my eyes, c) i have terrible night vision which combined with wearing sunglasses, the intrinsic hazard that the gallatin hwy is and the impatience of the drivers behind me, made me a friggin nervous wreck all the way to bozeman.  i had to stop in big sky to buy some clear glasses, the style of which made me look like an albino hippy p.diddy.  the one thing that was awesome on the trip home was the sunset as i entered the gallatin canyon--BEAUTIFUL beyond words.  hope everyone at home is well!!! xo