everythinggoodisgone.com

19.6.03

so it's been a while. mostly i've been depressed & bored in southern california, which i don't think is supposed to happen. that is... southern california is one of those places in which you are not supposed to be depressed & bored, because there are so many beautiful people doing beautiful things in beautiful 70 degree weather while the sun shines on the palm trees. no fucking way man. in fact i have discovered that it is almost more sunny in SEATTLE WASHINGTON than LA.

this is one of the wonderful parts of being "in-between jobs" - you get to go on driving trips up & down the pacific coast, seeing tide-pools and redwoods and pretty little towns, not to mention lots of clear-cuts. i liked it, as an experience. plus i went with my best friend. we're good travel partners. we know when to stop, when to drive, and we try really hard to eat regularly so we don't drive each other nuts.

his family went on lots of cross-country driving trips when he was little, 'cause they couldn't afford air travel. i have jealousy about this, because i feel like i missed out on something by not seeing all the weird, uniquely american things you can only experience while driving from one side of this bloated continent to the other. for example: while driving up to seattle, we met up with his parents in the middle of the redwoods. in addition to "walking amongst the redwoods," which they required i do [i'm glad. driving through them is nothing like walking amongst them, i can't imagine i thought it was], my friend DEMANDED that i get a picture taken in front of babe the big blue ox's scrotum. i am not kidding you. the largest statue of paul bunyan & his blue ox babe are in northern california, somewhere just south of eureka.

paul bunyan also speaks, and waves, and rolls his eyes.

these things, among others [stopping in oregon to play in a tide-pool & poke sea anenomes, barking at sea lions hanging out under a dock, and going to see steve prefontaine's high school track], make driving much better than flying. when you fly & the captain says,
"this is your captain speaking. those of you sitting on the right, you can see the grand canyon," it is not the same as driving up to the edge & leaning over and saying to yourself "holy shit that's big." nor is it the same as seeing it in a movie.

however, last night i saw winged migration. it was beautiful & tragic & poetic & lovely, and there was lots of footage of birdies flying in beautiful places. but i have to keep reminding myself...just because you see it on an IMAX screen, doesn't mean you've had a personal experience of it. especially if it's the matrix: reloaded.

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