May 22, 2003
Mt. Lemmon, Arizona, USA
hello corey, how the hell are ya? man i havn't heard from you in such along time. so were are you now adventure boy? what mountain, what river,what ocean what city are you scoping out for the first time with the naked eye? in my books Maximum, you are a great adventurer who seeks life in the moment. email me back and tell me all about your great visits.
i on the other hand am doing very well, in good old, humbling saint john n.b. i've been cycling a lot with karen and building a vegetable garden at my fathers house. man there is just something about making your own food source, working with the soil and being in nature. peace out brotha, keep in touch and may your intuition give you guidance, and may the universe protect you in all your affairs. Jai Bhagwan( i honor the light and darkness within you) RON D
Ron... you put a huge smiling on my face. I laughed out loud. Thanks!
I'm spending the week with my sister near Tucson Arizona. There's photos on my site. Nice place, but hot. Mt. Lemmon is nearby so I've been up in the mountains a few times too, where it's nice and cool.
What a trip! Great to be back in contact with you! I got lots of photos and video to show. Too much effort to fully explain such wonderful experiences with words, but i did lots of snorkling, hiking, and cave exploring. I was in a huge cave in the sierra Madre Range near Mazatlan... way back in the hills... a crazy dirt road winding up through the mountains. I had to unload the spaceship half way up and hide my kayak and slide show stuff in the bushes to pick up on the way back, cuz the clearance was bad with all the weight, and just all the power it took to get it up there. It was amazing that we got up. I was stupid not to leave it in town. But we made it, (there was another guy with me from the US. It was his idea.) We stopped at a house along the way and picked up two kids, brothers, ages 11 and 14, as guides.
I was the only one with a light, so the others didn't go in too far. Near the bottom of a large chamber, in pitch black, I found a pole made from a tree, only as big around as you could make with your hands, and it had inch wide steps notched into it going straight up 40feet to a pocket in the ceiling. It was on a very steep angle just lying there. I started up.
Halfway I was freaked and had to reconsider. I told myself that this was the adventure I came looking for and to back down now would be cheating myself out of something great.
Then at the lip, on top of the pole, I was thinking about how it's always harder to climb back down. It was well below my climbing ability but the consequence of falling if rock broke or my hemp sandals with no tread slipped would be death. There were vampire bats flying around me too.
I cranked it with heart racing totally scared, and was surprised to find it didn't go very far-- only 20ft. Strange they'd make a ladder for just that, but the whole event getting up and down was a huge.
This trip has been a lot of laughs and great progress on the vision quest. I should be home in a month or less and will fill you in on details with a campfire cracklin'.
Wicked to hear you're planting seeds!
May you be blessed with lots of sun and rain!
-C
Hey Max,
How are you doing this morning? Is everybody having as humorous a morning as I am? Funny shit going on in Salt Lake streets today.I got flashed on the way to work today! Some guy drove to work without pants on today. I drove my new-old van to work... 1st time. This guy pulls up next to me, he's in the left turn lane, he eases up slowly as though he's trying to get my attention. So, like a sucker I look over at him and he wags his wobbly wanker at me and smiles! I flipped him off and sat there in wonder, waiting for the light to change. He seemed to like that I flipped him off. How totally strange! Some people get off in THE wierdest ways.
My best friend Meg (the beautiful Margaret Bowman) leaves for New York today for 10 days. I am going to miss her! We have been hanging out a lot since I came home. She had a potluck at her house last night from 6 until about 11. I got wasted pretty early so I was sober by bedtime, fortunately. We decided yesterday to become roomates for the summer. I'm moving in to her place over the next week while she's away and we're going to split the bills all summer. It will help her with her financial situation and me with my financial goals. Her situation is that the University of Utah is paying her very little money to teach at a state college 45 minutes south of here 2 to 3 times a week all summer.... and she's got bills to pay.
My situation is that I want to save as much money as possible while I'm fixing up my van... making it suitable for me to live in this fall and winter. My rent was $545 and now it's going to be $250. I'm really happy about it. I get to get rid of TONS of stuff this week. I spread the word amongst my neighbors last night that all my things will be sold to the highest bidder. I'm stoked.
Philosophically, I'm moved! I went to my place several times over the course of the evening and stumbled around my little apartment. I was checking it out... feeling the familiarity and the stagnation. Noticing all the things I've owned for so long, those things that I've clung to over the years. I noticed how much I, myself, identified with these objects.... and how I was using these objects to define myself to myself as well as define myself to others. My WHOLE apartment was this way! I can see with new eyes. I lived the last 10 years wondering where happiness lies. Wondering if happiness is easier to have when I feel very secure... and wondering why all these rich people in the city I live in seem so incredibly angry. If money and possessions do not bring happiness... why do the wealthy hoard their riches? Man.... I don't want to feel like I need to hoard ANYTHING.
Occasionally my heart skips a beat or two when I think about my challenges ahead. I feel extremely excited. As I allow this excitement to have its way with my heart and my spirit I realize that this emotion: excitement, gives me the exact same physical sensation as terror! HA! What a lesson! I am choosing my experience. My perception--- of "getting to" get rid of everything and change my life, is why I also "get" to feel excited. I imagine different circumstances where I may not have a choice about getting rid of all my things... or I imagine myself as a child who's parents are doing what I'm doing. It is possible then, that I might actually be feeling terror! And would I, in that experience, be willing to recognize that I'm choosing terror, and be willing to recognize my beliefs that are affecting this choice, and then - make new choices? It is just so cool to realize..... I CHOOSE MY OWN EXPERIENCE.
I want others to recognize this possibility. My impatient side wishes it were really simple... a nice conversation with a suffering friend about choices and BLAMMO! They recognize the power they have in their lives and they make new choices! But.... having tried the way of words, this is not the way it works. I have had the most success with leading by example and by being an inspiration.
I have free long distance (in the continental U.S.)on my cell phone and I've been thinking it would be nice to talk to you. If you think so too, and you'll be around a phone, will you email me a phone number?
Anywho.... I'm going to edit a "Spec Book" for a new elementary school we're designing. It's somewhat tedious work... but I get to listen to good music... and after a late and beautiful lunch break, I get out of here at 5. Aaaaah!
Talk to you soon love.
Meg
