Tuesday, May 12, 2015

Spring brings change and growth...

But This aint about flowers growing in your raised bed urban gardens. 
This is about SUN! 
This is also about changes of attitude, changes in latitude.
This aint no cheeseburger in paradise.

This is life, the constant evolution, revolution, of it all.
ALL.

You have a conversation with a fun new job one day - about how you wish you could do more but you have another job comitment, and in June you will make yourself more available...

The next day that other commitment fires you by TEXT!?
I wish you could hear my laughter - TEXT!?  Yeah, the millineals are now in charge. they are setting the norm for how its done.  And its done by text.

I spent the last week shredding with one of the Top 5!  And to be honest, hes pretty damn far up there!  Jesse Huselid and I have been on all kinds of bike, in all kinds of places.  He has driven me to airports at ungodly hours, and bought the first rounds when I landed.  He has scooped me up when I was drunk and picked me up when I was sad.  Hes a TRUE FRIEND!  Hes also a wicked smart dude, who is in the midst of changes himself, graduating with another degree and entering into full on work world with fancy clothes and a commute and everything and I could not be more proud of him. 

This past week we shredded on mountain bikes all over Appalachia and I can honestly say that having him here to explore some new trails together makes me really feel like this could be HOME.

WHAT!?!?!

Is Olde Scotty Boy gonna settle down?  Who knows.  I did by an ice cube tray at the thrift store today, that could be a sign of things to come... but I do know that spring has brought the changes I needed to see happen to consider this place home for a bit.  Im no longer working the shitty underpaid bike shop jobs of the past, where my skills and experience are undervalued and underpaid.  I turned my back on beer jobs in 2009 when I thought it just wasnt going to do it for me, and bikes have allowed me to travel all over the world.  But bike jobs always came with the stress of under-appreciated hard working hours and ultimately abandonment in the end for some reason related to the fact that my energy is not for the typical bike shop owner, and my mouth is not needed as much as my hands and back.

Im working at Appalachian Mountain Brewery, and after my resume was passed around from brew-house, to tap room, and after I was fought over for that first big weekend of events, after being asked by customers 4 out of 5 shifts if I was the owner (even right in front of the actual owner one time!) and after my enthusiasm, knowledge, work history, and ethic has been discussed by decision makers as something to retain, I'm feeling like I have again not just turned towards the beer industry, but have received the recognition I deserve and a chance to thrive in an environment that fits who I have become.

Now dont go thinking this is some kind of "Return of HANK" cause I am certainly NOT the same dude I was in 2009.  I have also learned a lot of good lessons.  Im STILL learning lessons, what works in any particular situation and what does not in another... its a tricky world to navigate out there.  Sometimes you get a jolt of electricity sometimes you get the cheese.  But I do seem to have a lot of fun with it...so...

Here I am.
In BOONE NC
Working at a fun brewery that is about to blow up!
Feeling like I have community.
Theres a Farmers Market
Theres some great riding around here.
The people are really friendly.
The weather is spectacularly copricious
COME VISIT!!!!
And Im feeling home...

at least for now....
S.


Thursday, April 30, 2015

6 month mark...

So I got to counting yesterday and it looks like the end of April marks the end of the 6 month mark for my time here in Boone.  Then I started laughing!!!!  In just under 6 month time I have managed to secure most of what I want, with a lot of connecting, and a lot of patience, but also with the kindness and openness of the community to which I now feel I am a part.

I was thinking back to November, alone in this space, not really knowing my flat mates, not really hearing from the friends that were already here, and not knowing what the spring might bring.  A lot of uncertainty is ok for a traveler like me, but the permanence of trying to root down here, and not knowing IF I would have the things I wanted was making me question the decision to stay.

I was thinking of late December - early January, when the temperatures dropped and I became dependent on a car, and even that was sketchy, the feeling of remoteness and of being alone starting to get me down.

I was thinking of February when despite the temps I started making connections.  Hell there was a week there when I went on like 5 dates!  Not bad for a small town like this.  Birthday months are always good to me.

Now its about to crest into May and I have Jesse coming for a 10 day visit to shred mountain bikes and get rad! I've Cousin making plans for a summertime visit, I have a great bike shop job and a dreamy job pulling pints at the only local brewery in town, I have a community outreach bike workshop to teach this weekend, I have invited to sit on a board and committee to help start a community bike share and bike kitchen program, I have bike rides for days right out my front door, a great mountain bike community of shredders, and empty country roads for miles and miles, I have a really great Lady Friend who looks at me from across the room like Im some kind of wonderful, the list of free stuff includes furniture, clothes, food, and 3 bikes to this point... the list of blessings just keeps getting longer...

When I made my original list of what I wanted from a town I kind of expected that I would come to a place that had everything I wanted up and running.  While Im not about to try to wrangle up a farmers market (good cause there already is one) I have found a few of the things I wanted missing from the experience thus far.  Turns out, up here in the High Country, if you dont see what it is you want, you go out and make it!  There are people who make their own dog food from road kill up here for fuck's sake!  Its a real Do It Yourself culture in the mountains of North Carolina and I think Im going to dig it!  Of course part of me wants to whine about the work it takes, but the craftsman in me is really happy to have the chance to see what I can do.  If you aint got what you need - just MAKE IT!

Being a tourist for the last 6 years has given me a lot of confidence in myself, that I can go anywhere and fit in.  But that assumes fitting in to what already exists.  NC is going to teach me how not only to fit back into my own culture, and to feel a sense of permanency, but to actually CREATE the things I want to see, to "be the change you want to see" as the inspirational poster suggests.

I feel very lucky to be right here right now.
And theres really no other place to be.

S.

Wednesday, April 15, 2015

running season....

no, NOT jogging, I mean running AWAY.

It has occurred to me lately, in the form of restless energy and a nagging unease about my soul, that this is usually the time of year that I pack my shit up and get moving towards the next seasonal gig.

In the last 6 years it has been my luck and pleasure to move freely about the country and indeed the world, to see those who are important to me, to make new friends along the way and to have the pleasure to go go go go...

But I also leave leave leave leave...  For as many arrivals, and as many surprise visits and reconnections I have had in the last few years I have had an equal number of departures, goodbyes, and tearful flights.  Usually in the spring and the fall, and usually with the thought that it would only be a little while before we would see each other again.  Plans, or at least an IDEA...

This settling down and staying put has been a challenge, and one that I was entirely up for.  But the Go-season is happening right now and Im feeling a little bored.  Im missing the adventure, the friends, the community, the rides of places I have been in the past and slightly limited by the high country weather when it comes to exploring where I am now.  And you KNOW how staying present in the moment is soooo tough for a nostalgic-planner-Pisces like me!

So Im trying.  Im drawing and writing and riding when I can, and trying not to obsess about being dependent on a car, and without the solid community I have had else where.  Im trying to build what I want and its true that I have some very unique opportunities coming up fast.  I just have to stay open to them, positive about the social group I do have, non-judgmental about where I am, and not keep peeking over that fence.

Its pretty green on this side too... Maybe a little water is all we need.
S.

Monday, March 23, 2015

Spring has arrived in the high country of my heart!

Round-n-round I go....

     Reassessing the rules by Winter,
     Fall a time to reflect
     keep, hide, throw-away
     a time to review what Summer un-learnt
   
     but Spring is NEW!
     rebirth
     stretch -up...
          a yawning of restless spirit
     I can go for days and days and days and days on Winter's rest!
     And Winter's lists?
          don't forget to.....
          its probably best NOT to.....
          remember this when it comes round knocking....
          and always....never....try not to....
   
ssssssssssSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSHHHHHPPP!!!!!!

A SUCKING OF FRESH AIR AND
   AN ESCAPING OF WINTERS DUST
      CLUTTER OF MIND AND HEART AND
         AS THE FIRST RUSH OF WARM
            SUNNY SPRING AIR WAFTS THROUGH
               OPEN DOORS...
                  OPEN MINDS...
                     OPEN EYES AND EARS AND HEARTS AND....
   
     Another open bottle! Spring is to be celebrated!
     The coming lessons of Summer
     be they same or new, old or different,
     will tell of Spring's antsy energetic twitch,
     and Autumn's lessons up for review,
     and Winter's guidelines will be out the window once more.

S.

Monday, March 9, 2015

prima la primavera...

Well two weeks went by relatively quickly for Olde Scotty Boy.  What with all the bridge clubs, senior citizens meetings, early suppers, and falling asleep in the middle of Matlock and Murder,She Wrote, time just zooms towards the grave after 40.

Yeah RIGHT!

My birthday week was full of great fun, innocent fun, adult fun, sledding fun with visiting friends, late night drinks, dinners of all sorts (including a fabulous date-night of overpriced watered-down cocktails at Applebees!) art galleries, talking, talking, talking, and finally yesterday some two wheel exploring.  PERFECT!






For those of you who have not heard of it before - and I myself after so many years on bikes have never heard ANYTHING about it, Virgina is the place to be!  And like me, its just barely over the hill! (ZING!!!)  Both the number and length of the Rails-to-Trails networks in this tiny beautiful state are impressive, with the newest being a 480 mile off road epic (foreshadowing)!  I rode the Virginia Creeper Trail from Damascus to Abingdon, about 18 miles (one way) of old unused railroad grade path through the Blue Ridge Mountains.  An absolutely beautiful day that ended in me talking to a cool shop right on the trail about helping with their busy summer tourist season.  So much for not working seasonal jobs right?!




With the sun coming out strong, the prospects of a second job doing what I value in a cool new place, and Loni forgiving me for the winter respite in our sometimes turbulent, always rewarding relationship, things are looking pretty good.  Feeling very confident in my ability to make sound decisions.  Here's a splash of trailside poetry to start the spring....

Prima La Primavera.

The pungent smell of sweetgrass
as warm air drifts and drafts up from the hillside below.
Rhythmic rackety-clackle...
   klakety-tak, 
        klakety-tak, 
             klakety-tak...
of old trail trestle under tires,
the last desperate patches of snow 
wither 
into swelling creeks below.
The wind whisper-shouts of coming spring
as the last of winter's leaves rattle amongst the trees.
A soft grumble-mumble of gravel as I 
coass
       ssss
            ssss
                 sssssst 
through this sunny day.

S.


Sunday, February 22, 2015

Begin the Birthday Week

So... here we go.

40.
Fucking 40 man.  And I think its going to be a good week actually.

You know, nothing that I could have ever imagined, and with the return of all my journals, finally resting on one shelf together, there are readily accessible reminders of all the grandiose plans I have conjured up over the years for this big birthday... there was a Coastal California Bike Ride with my Favorite Dudes Idea, the Wedding in Italy Idea, the Lose a Knife Fight in Mexico Idea, the Spend the Year Fucking Off Idea, there was the Mountain of Cocaine and a Giant Party Idea... Ive fantasized about this week so much over the last few years, and yet never imagined I would be in a place like this.

Today I started the week with a nice breakfast alone - bacon.  Cause thats what real men eat for breakfast.  Then I sought out a local hike and abandoned the idea of staying warm or dry and slipped my way to the top of a local peak, Elk Knob, at 5500 feet for views of where I am calling home for now.  I laughed my ass off sliding down the service road in record time, came home to cook some food and I got myself a date with dollar-off beers all set for this evening.  Not a bad start. Not bad at all..

Of course there are other birthdays to celebrate this week.  My Man Brian Bogan is getting RAD in Cali right now and I wish him well.  My roomie Sarah (not Jessica) Parker is getting spoiled with a fancy cocktail and dinner at a local Hott Date Nite spot tomorrow for her b-day with flat mates. There is Alyssa Cookie Monster Koziol who rumor has it will be in Boone this weekend for the big night.

And I couldn't be happier!  I wish you all could be here with me, I wish I could be there with you all - but that is how this life of transient travel has unfolded, much to my surprise, and much to my pleasure.

This week I carry you all in my heart, for the journey you have shared with me to this point, for the beers we have spilled and the late night talks we have shared, and the ride we have been on together even though sometimes not in the same place.  A new friend of mine here in Boone has recently suffered the loss of someone close to her by their own hand.  It was a sharp reminder of how far I have come, and the empathy I can provide has not been squandered.  I dedicated my hike to her today as she grapples with all the feelings of loss.  And somewhere along the way my own personal loss has become my blessing, but more importantly, this journey is no longer about what I have lost, or left behind, but the immeasurable weight of all the love and kindness and goodness that I carry with me as I go.  That came from all of you, and I carry it with me, a smile hidden, to reach into my pocket of memory and enjoy when I need it.

Be well everybody,
I will be thinking of you,
pics to follow...

Olde Scotty del Norte

Monday, February 16, 2015

looky here...

Last post June 22... thats 230 days since my last post... where to begin.

First off, I missed you.  Its true.  This life of Dynamic Quality, of seasonal travel and abandoned expectations leaves a fella craving what little he has in the way of Static Quality - and that has been my friends.  As much as my personal feeling is that most of today's technology is making us LESS social, I have begun the slow process of embracing how it can keep us connected.  It will never be a replacement for a pint at the corner bar, or a coffee date with a loved one, or being able to place a hand on the shoulder of a friend in celebration, commiseration or empathy, but being able to quickly share a picture, a note, a kind uplifting word, or a story has relieved me during a tough transition.

The summer, as you all know was a bit of a disaster - with choices on my part being not very well thought out, definitely selfishly motivated, and with consequences that had me weary of the people that would have otherwise probably been good friends.  I left alaska with hope in my eyes, but knowing it would be a short spell of peace before ratcheting myself towards the unfamiliar facing the challenge to once again adapt and build something new.

We love what we are good at and are good at what we love.

Enter Boone North Carolina.  A small college town nestled in the high country of the Appalachian Mountains, bisected by the Blue Ridge, surrounded by The Pisgah, and full of interesting and kind southern folk.  Its been a tough transition worrying about finding work, staying warm, being mobile by bike in the winter, and making new friends as a single dude who is a bit out of the typical age profile of the general body politik.  Being a truer, kinder, more humble and open version of my typical presenting face has lent me the return ears and kindness of a bunch of solid folks and in no time I have procured immediate friends, future employment, a borrowed bike to shred, a freakin car to go explore and stay warm, an empathetic ear, hearts with stories to share, doggies to pet, and even a regular adult date or two.

Essentially, and in a very short time here I have found what I have been hoping for - Community.

And I want to share it with those who have been critical in helping me stay positive and happily loved as I have made my way here.  You know who you are (cause this blog is still invite only!  wink wink) and its with a very heartfelt toast, a pint or something stronger in the air, I salute my friends and loved ones and pledge to try to share as much of this as I can once again.  My journey is by no means slowing down, nor is my conviction to keep going becoming weakened.

I have been working on some art again, and its a daily event for me to sip my coffee and draw, confined within a circle, my personal Mandala for the day.  Its a type of ancient way of organizing your own personal cosmos, and Im sure there are art-therapists a-plenty out there that would have a field day with how many phallic and yonic symbols touch the pages in my little experiment, but suffice to say that this morning, after a particularly amorous St. Valentard's weekend and 5 days off to get into the usual trouble, I sat wishing that I could simply write the names of all my favorite people in that circle.

It would be a circle too grand to grace any notebook - and that makes me so happy!!

Its you who keep me going, and its going to be fun to add to that list as I go.  Maybe someday our circles will all overlap on some astral plane and we can toast the stories we share.  Until then, keep living, keep smiling, keep loving your ballz off, and feel free to shoot me a note, or ring me up with a story or heartache.

I love you.
Scotito Del Nord (Nord Carolina that is...)

bacio bacio!