by the sea, by the smell

Ahoy,

I love a good California coast. Not many things are more breathtaking than the cliffs, the rocks, the waves on this here west coast. It'll sure be a shame when it all falls into the ocean, seeing as how we sit on many massive fault lines that is due to pop like an aneurysm any day now. But hey, I'll take it while I can. 

 I found it puzzling that the rocket scientist was so eager to go to the beach when he had been complaining of the cold for the past month. And then! We walked onto the sand! And then! We took our shoes and socks off! And then! We continued walking on the cold, wet sand! So strange, these folks of the west. And he told me that this was the warmest day he had been to the beach in Carmel! Shortly after walking on the beach, I could no longer feel my toes, sure enough, by the end we had no feeling in both our sets of feet. I'm not sure if Californians have a different idea of the beach than midwesterners, but I'm pretty sure your feet shouldn't be numb by the end of a beach visit. Beaches are for sun, and sand, and surf. I think of walks on the beach when it's warm and hot enough to want to splash in the water. Visitors beware, California beaches are not warm.

 We wandered the small tourist town of Carmel by the Sea, whose mayor was once Clint Eastwood (I kid you not, Google it). It's a cute place, reminded me of Europe. There's small alleys and courtyards to explore, and many restaurants were Euro-inspired. We stayed a night in Pacific Grove, it was right next to a SCUBA site I dove at more than 4 years ago. I never thought I'd return to Lover's Point.  

settingly spread,
jt

among the trees

Ahoy,

Although it was raining pitchforks just about everyday we were in the Bay this past winter break, the one day we selected to conquer the great outdoors the thunder gods must have parted the clouds for us. It seemed like everyone and their mom, whom they could never convince to do anything outdoorsy, was amidst the dewy woods of John Muir. After hiking along a sketchy roadside path (translation: in car traffic), we finally arrived to the not so cheery demeanor of the admission stand person. All too eager was I to break the rules and toted beneath my arm our trusty baguette to feed us on our arduous hike along paved woodland trails. This is indeed glamping at it's finest.  

 But, I jest. More than willing to peel away from the hordes of screaming children and slow as banana slug walkers, we sought a road less traveled. It proved to be worthy of Indiana Jones. There were steep slopes into sunlit clearings, mammoth redwoods over moss covered trunks.

It didn't rain the whole day, and there were only small patches of mud. I didn't even fall in a puddle. Maybe a little bit. We saw lots of mushrooms, but no forest squirrels or banana slugs. I was on lookout the whole time, but no such luck. 

woodsily trunked,

jt

Black Friday goodies

Ahoy,

I give to you my one and only item for my Black Friday haul. I suppose you can't really say Black Friday, more like post-Thanksgiving. On a typical Tuesday night, I convinced the resident rocket scientist to take me to Target. I had absolutely no intention of coming home with a beauteous specimen such as this fine 13 pounds of poultry. For less than $10! Forget the commotion of a Thanksgiving turkey, just wait for the post-holiday calm of a clearance turkey.  On a whim, I decided this was the year I wanted to cook my first turkey. In a style befitting of only my intentions, I decided this was the year I would spatchcock a turkey. 

I sent my prayers to the poultry gods that this would not be a disaster. Many points in this endeavor, I thought to myself the ridiculousness of my mission. And so, a week after Thanksgiving, I baked my first turkey a la spatchcock for myself and the resident rocket scientist. How happy I was that he convinced his friend down the street to join us.

This year, I am thankful for all the people in my life 

that put up with my debauchery and all my hijinks.

goldenly spatchcocked,

jt

December is here!!!

Ahoy,

December is my favorite month of the year. Many people are appalled whenever I say winter is my favorite season in Chicago. Aghast, they question my sanity as I gush about the snow, and my favorite winter Chicago activity - shoveling. But there are many other things to love about December. Many of them have to do with the holiday season. In retrospect, it's silly that I'm so smitten with the holidays because growing up my family never celebrated anything to do with the holiday season. Most years, it was my brother and I at home alone. We were so bored, and I'm absolutely positive we had far too much freedom with the remote control. We watched Christmas specials all day long.

Despite my parents ambivalence toward American holidays, we did have a fake tree as kids. My parents were probably still into the whole being American thing, and conforming to American traditions. Their intention was probably to give us as "normal" a childhood as they believed could be bought on American soil. I suppose the novelty of the holiday wore off with the belief of the tooth fairy and Santa Claus. But as we grew older, it was up to my brother and I to make the most of the holidays because our parents would always have to work.

Thus my memories of the holidays are mostly my brother and I barely tall enough to reach the top of the tree. We had to stack additional stools onto a chair if we were intending to put a star on the top. This was probably not the safest endeavor. I remember my ideas for homemade ornaments using our duplicate vacation pictures because we had already shattered so many glass ones we could hardly adorn one side of the tree (so glad they make shatter-proof now). And the thousands upon thousands of construction paper cutouts I orchestrated my brother to snip. Our factory of 2 employees, with seasonal work. My mom would come home mortified at the mess we had made, as we continued snipping into the wee hours.

December is my favorite. It will always be.

dashingly pined,
jt

rocket science

Count the number of times you can see my cousin in the pink dress!

When I was a kid, my dad liked to take pictures with our film camera. I'm glad to be that old. The rest of the family would moan and groan as we would pause and hold a pose next to all the classic kodak moment landscapes. But the one time my brother and I would delight in his photographer exploits was when he figured out how to make "twins" of us in a photo. We'd get so excited to develop film from those sessions. We even convinced one of my friends that we actually did have secret twins somewhere. I have no idea how he did that with our film camera to this day. Now that I've been given access to the latest and greatest in technology today, one of my favorite kinds of pictures to take is creating as many duplicates of my friends as possible in one image.

sunny Seattle!

Ahoy,

I had forgotten how exciting it is to be in a brand new city. It's as if you have the whole world before you and you haven't seen any of it. It's indescribable. This past weekend was full of food and exploration in Seattle. The weather was divine, which I'm told was a rarity because it was gloomy for forever before our arrival. But that's something I love about Seattle, that the weather is its own character. Like that no good uncle at family gatherings that is just there for comic relief, but you must deal with him and bring him food, regardless.

My travel buddies got wired on java daily, throughout the day. All caffeine, all the time! Your blood sugar level won't know what hit it! In addition to the plethora of coffee I was swimming in, I feel it's also important to note the land and sea of plaid that was abundant like a fresh summer crop. But I'm told this is year round. There are places I feel out of place for demographic reasons, but rarely do I feel out of place for stylistic choices.

As is included in any trip, a survey of the local climbing gym. They were ginormous! There was a slide! There was a pirate ship! There was endless amounts of fun! Alas, life is not all about pirate ships, there must be a place to sail it. Having been adjacent to water my whole life, I would settle for nothing less than a puddle. We borrowed a rowboat and shimmied our way around the swampy depths of alligator free water.

The best of all worlds indoors and outdoors, Seattle has so much to do and so much to eat. I can't wait to go back!




lustfully adrift,
jt

climbing days are here to stay

Ahoy,

Climbing on real rocks outside has been a bucket list item I've listed as completed for quite a while now. But every time continues to be an adventure. When I put it on my list so long ago, I never would have thought I would have so many opportunities to go outside and climb. When I got my first climbing intro 3 years ago, just as I was leaving CA, in my last ditch effort to check off all my items, I wasn't thinking I would get to climb so many times after that. I wasn't thinking I would actively seek out climbing gyms wherever I went, I wasn't thinking I would get a membership at a climbing gym and meet so many fun people to go on climbing trips. Climbing is very much an individual sport, but the social aspects of it is really one of my favorite reasons to climb.

Last weekend, we went out to San Bernadino for sport climbing. It's a marvel that so far in the middle of nowhere you can still find a big community of people all interested in the same thing you are. Complete strangers, familiar faces, everyone is out there to hang out, to climb, to help you climb. Outdoor or indoor, it's easy to talk to people on the wall. It's easy to create a commonality as soon as you touch the wall. That being said, it's not like this all the time. But I truly treasure the contact that people can make when climbing. It's a lonely planet, but this is a way to make it a little less so.

gorgingly frizzled,
jt

waiting for fall

Ahoy,

Fall has always meant the beginning of school for me. Many things I've come to associate with this season also comes with memories of school. I remember deliberately stepping on the crunchiest leaves on my way to class. I remember the smell of morning on the first day of school. I remember the first day it would be so cold I would dread sitting on the toilet when I got up. I remember the resetting my clocks so that it would still be dark as night when I got up for school. I remember the change of breath the city blows as my outer layers grow thicker, skin less exposed.

Everywhere else in the country it seems the season's changing. I'm getting frost advisory notices for Chicago. The leaves are turning, days are shortening. Meanwhile, I've got a new layer of tan on my shoulders. I'm waiting for fall like it has happened for me for every year of my life, and it's still a dry 90 degrees outside my windows. I don't think it's coming for me this year. This strange place is like an eternal summer.

everlastingly triassic,
jt

CPS on strike

Ahoy,

The public education system is something that has grown to be very near and dear to my heart. Even though I'm no longer in school, and don't plan on having any more school, my teachers from all my years of education are still my teachers today. I still remember every single one of my teachers from grade school and high school. I have fond memories of my childhood and youth, despite the absence of air conditioning as the CPS calendar rolled into summer. I have had the fortune of attending both a public and private university, which only confirmed my faith in the public school system. I am proud to be the product of public schools, and proud of what public schools have provided for me and those around me.

Although it may be true that this strike does not affect me directly, it is not true that I do not feel for those that are affected by it. I'm grateful that I had uninterrupted school years, and hope that this new contract will arrive speedily and can provide for kids a future full of potential that I received.

graciously schooled,
jt

basketball upstairs

Ahoy,

Clearly I'm in a foreign land judging as how the ground below me moved last night. Welcome to California.

My first earthquake was during my first week at Cal - some 5 years ago. We thought it was the boys upstairs playing basketball because they had been when we went to investigate earlier in the week and throughout our stay there. But this time was the real deal. And then about another week later I'm told there was another one, but I was in the shower and didn't feel anything. I've come to associate earthquakes with boys playing basketball upstairs because I don't know any better and haven't felt anything big enough to actually knock my things over.

So strange, this place is. Growing up in the most earthquake safe part of the world, the ability of the ground beneath my feet to move is difficult to wrap my brain around. So it moves, you say? So you can't build with bricks, you say? So things can topple over and fall into the ocean, you say? Images of Lois Lane falling into the abyss of the San Andreas Fault Line come to mind. Haven't you ever wondered where Superman is when you're feeling the earth shake and open up beneath you? Not anywhere near you, probably. I'm sure there are lots more important people to save from being swallowed up into the earth. Then why on earth would you choose to live here? There is plenty of seismologically stable land all across America, plenty of it ripe for development, you know? Clearly all that sun has fried your sense of reason, logic, and instinct for survival.

tyranically parched,
jt