red polka-dots

Many trails have been hiked but I have yet to encounter the elusive bear, many shifts have been worked and I am settling amongst my fellow workers, new acquaintances have been made and connections made based on same ideologies. Maybe my favorite connection so far is a girl who likes playing board-games and has agreed to start a book-club with me. I have found a wonderful hiking partner who will go to the woods with her beloved dog at the drop of a word. She is literally hours of enjoyment and a purer heart I have yet to find. Music festivals are an option this summer and I have plans to attend one that Johnny Winter and Dr. John are playing at. Free days from work are mostly taken up by extensive board game marathons or hiking the many mountains and trails. There is still a tinge of longing; a tinge of "oh yeah, I remember that painfully". This will always exist and I am happy for it for it brings a much needed sobering light. My abode that I have found in my new camper is bringing much shallow happiness. I can just sit in it and grin from ear to ear realizing the situation I am living in. I still have many steps to take as far as fixing it up goes, but I know they will be accomplished in time. Right now I am reading Karl Marx; The Communist Manifesto, and The Basil and Josephine Stories by F. Scott Fitzgerald. Time keeps on coming at me as I seem to fly through it and I apply my timeless skill of making the most of life and being content with little. Peace- Nat

paradise

Finally I have achieved the dream that has plaguing me since I had the mind sharp enough to dream it. I have bought a camper- a 20 footer pull-behind variety. I am amazed and wondered at the luck that has befallen me these last couple of weeks. I have went from nothing to a place to live a job and a scattering of friends. I call it luck but it might just be a lot easier to achieve these things then I thought it was. I picked up this camper for 200 bucks and while it needs some smoothing and finishing over it promises to be a keeper. After all I haven't found too many projects that I can't finish and improve on myself (except my ill-fated last apartment). I sit in this wreck of a trailer and the designs just jump at me I could not avoid them if I wanted to. Within a couple of weeks I plan to have it fully livable including fridge, stove, sink and full washroom.
I would still like to make some more like-minded friends and I know they are around lurking in whatever abode they find. It is just a matter of calling them out and making them interested in what I have to offer, something I have had a problem with in the past.I do however spend my free days hiking in the gorgeous mountains and swimming in there immense pools. Isn't this it? I know they have been wondering where the garden of Eden is forever and I am pretty sure I have discovered at least snippets of it in the mountains and in the middle of lakes. I have also discovered a wonderful pool-hall in Chilliwack (the neighbouring metropolis) where I plan to spend every other free day honing what little skills I have. There is even a house snooker champion who offers lessons and I might take that up. Sure things are unsettling ocassionally which is to be expected with such a significant life-break, and sure every now and then the thoughts and realities catch up tome and I feel overwhelmed and don't have enough personal strength to hold up the facade, but these moments are becoming fewer and further between. Fornow I just got to keep on doing what I know best- making people laugh at me! Peace- Nat