four days

I'd finally gotten around to taking some time off. Just one day though. Friday was the one I picked making the last weekend a four day one. This was just the thing I needed after skipping out on a vacation earlier this year. I spent the first two days doing something blissfully next to nothing. On the third day I called my mom to wish her a happy birthday, and then proceeded to do nothing again. On the fourth day I took a nice long drive in the country with the beagle. We went scouting for potential farms or ranches to get permission to pest hunt on. Ok, that was my reason. She was just along for the ride but enjoyed the walks we took on our stops just the same. So in between all of this I managed to cook a few choice meals, play some video games, goof off on the internet, read a book, sleep in, watch a few movies, oh and I aged another year officially. Betcha you was thinking I was a good son for remembering his mother's birthday. Nope, it's just hard to forget when you were born the day before hers. Sorry to say but I'm just a regular guy who can forget dates with the best of them. I turned forty six for anyone wondering. Forty-fucking-six! Holy shit!!! I can't tell you how much that freaks me out. It's a little weird since I don't feel like I'm that old, but I'm really not sure what it's supposed to feel like. I feel just like I did when I was in my twenties, only difference is I'm a little more seasoned now. And by seasoned I mean that at least I'm not making the same stupid mistakes I used to. Hopefully I'll have moved on to a whole new set of stupid mistakes with more in the years to come. More to come, I just needed to get this minutia off my mind.

friends missing in action

Just to clarify things a smidge better because I had a friend contact me in a somewhat guilty panic right after my last post. It wasn't an attempt to solicit contact from those of you whom I haven't spoken with in a while so much as a lament about the circumstances I've found myself in. Still, it was nice that the post gave me a chance to get caught up with a friend I hadn't spoken to in over a year. For anyone else reading this that I haven't spoken to in a while. Yes I miss you, and would love to hear from you sometime soon. Drop me a line when you've got the time.

feelin' a little lonely here

I think it's because I don't have anyone to talk to on much of a regular basis. At least it feels that way. I do have family and friends but they're all in CA. Even though it's been years since I moved away the frequency of our phone conversations has remained exactly the same. I talk family every day and my closest friends at least once a week. The problem is I don't go out much because of the cost and I'd rather put the money where it serves me best long term. Paying off the bills! Now the beagle is a great company and an awesome listener but she severely lacks conversational skills. I think it's how I'm living life now that's the problem.

The irony here is that I've lived in a city for over two years where I'm surrounded by some 2.5 million people. You might think I'm socially awkward and unable to make friends but I'm no wallflower. Making friends has never been a hard thing for me to do, but I decided to treat it like dating. I'm abstaining from it because of what's been planned. I have made plenty of friends at work, but I'm one of those types who avoids mixing home and work life together. I learned years ago that I like to keep them separate to avoid complications. Another reason for this is when I moved to MN. I made lots of friends thinking I was staying there for many years to come. The bad economy changed that and I found myself in TX a year later. I was even expecting a repeat here since the economy was so bad, but things turned for the better. Since circumstances have been favorable I've been making the most of them for as long as they'll last me.

Some of you may be thinking how on earth will being alone on the road be better for me if I'm going through this now. Apples and oranges. One I tolerate as a means to an end, and the other is my preferred element. Being out there gives me a peace of mind and calm I don't get anywhere else. Meanwhile each day I live in a city feels like an assault on my very being. I mean both examples literally and figuratively.

Since I started writing this I think I pinpointed what's bothering me. It's not so much that I don't have friends to talk to, or that I suffer from a lack of human contact. I think it's my not being able share things that matter the most to me with someone who understands and feels the same way. I also realized that when I was homeless, and living in a tent, that I worried a great deal less about things like this. I spent most of that time enjoying the peace of the desert and living in the moment.

I need to be patient and make due here a little while longer. That life will be mine again soon, soon.

travel trailer roof repair - discovery phase

I called the dealer where I bought my trailer and spoke with the service center repair tech about my leak. The cost of resealing my entire roof would run around $300. Way more than I'm willing to spend. Repairing the hole would run around $60. Still too much. I gotta give the tech credit for one thing. He described the entire repair process to me so that I could do it myself. Not that I ever thought fixing a leak was a hard thing to do. Sometimes, if I can afford it, I like to pay someone else to do all the work for me. The benefit is two fold in that I can spend my time doing other things, and I'm not to blame if it was done wrong. The cost will be around $20 (half for the dicor and the other half for the denatured alcohol) and take about an hour. Everything sounds easy enough to do, but we'll see.

well that didn't take long

I dropped in to check on my trailer today and everything looked good, on the outside. When I opened the door everything looked good inside too. It wasn't until I turned around to step out that I saw it. I can't believe I didn't notice it on the way in. There it was, just sitting there proud as the day is bright. A big old f'n puddle of water on my dinette. Between Saturday and Tuesday we had 4 very heavy rainstorms. A roof leak is just what I needed now. Sigh! It looks like it came from the overhead cabinets above. I found a few puddles inside. After I cleaned up I checked for water damage and found none. At least I had that going for me.

I don't know how much it'll cost to fix because all the RV service shops were already closed. I would have to wait until tomorrow morning. The one place I did find open was in Socal. They said they wanted $250 two reseal the roof of a 16 ft travel trailer. I'm hoping it won't cost this much when I talk to the local shops. Wish me luck.

... 9 ... 10

Thought I would share some good news for a change. I paid off bill #4 of 6 today. This is a major turning point in that I can finally end my ties with Wells Fargo and switch completely over to my credit union. Yay!

counting to ten

"There are times when one would like to hang the whole human race, and finish the farce." - Samuel Clemens

I think since before my last post I've been feeling irritated to the point where stupid shit gets to me. This is how my last week went. I only worked three days in the office, and one at home. Normally it's a fun place to work at and not a typical or boring place to work at by any means. However I've been working there over the last 4 months (almost nonstop) without much of a break in routine. The walls were closing in. Working from home on Thursday so I could sign for an arriving package was a much needed break for me. Unfortunately on Friday I had jury duty, something I absolutely loathe doing. I hate cities and only ever go into one when absolutely necessary, so having to drive there for jury duty made the experience that much worse for me. Not being called to serve on a jury and learning that I'm exempt from being called again for the next three years was most definitely the upside to that day. I know civic duty blah blah blah. I've served on a couple of jury's and have come to learn what a waste of time it really is. I'll be happy when I won't ever be called to it again.

But wait, there's more! The errands I had to run over the weekend just about did my head in. Technically speaking, everything I did over the course of two days could have been done in one over two hours. Instead I spent about 3 hours running them on each day. I'm aware that it was a holiday weekend and all but something about the people out this weekend made it worse. It's like they turned on their stupid full blast and couldn't seem to handle doing the simplest of things. Driving, paying, pumping gas, and even picking up a bag of dog food. Needless to say I was feeling completely irate by the time I got home and pretty much locked myself in my apartment for the remainder of the weekend. It's at times like this when I'm acutely reminded why I've made the choice to prepare for the full timing life. I'm sure I'll have bad days out there too, but none quite like the ones I do now. Remembering this helped ground me again and made it possible to enjoy the rest of the weekend. That night I made a nice Gnocchi Pesto dinner, washed it down with some Guinness, and watched Deep Space Nine reruns with the beagle on the couch until bedtime.

This week is off to a good start already, and I know the coming weekend will be better than the last.

rubber spock ears

I like to learn about new things all the time. This is why I've had many hobbies in my 40+ years. In all that time I've learned quite a lot about each hobby I took up. I keep up with the few I still like, but moved on from the ones I don't. There really just isn't enough time in the day to stick with all the ones I do like. Still, I do my best because they're worth it. Internet forums make it easier to learn and faster to exchange ideas with those in the know. Unfortunately there comes a time when people cross the line of being a hobbyist and turn into a extremist.  This is that moment when they've become that much of a geek in their respective study that they're completely lost in the minutia of it all. Hence the rubber Spock ears moniker. They won't snap out of it and insist on wearing the damn things to the dinner table. Now don't get me wrong I happen to love and am a huge Star Trek fan, but the truth is still the truth. It's these people who often make learning and understanding things very difficult. Since they don't know how to teach they are often heavy handed or just plain confusing. What's worse is they treat you as if it's your failing when you question or disagree with them. In short they forget what it is to be new. These are the folks who feel compelled to interject and push their point of view into every thread well beyond being helpful. I've learned passive ways to tolerate and deal with them so I can get to the heart of the matter. However I've also learned in onset of my old age that I'm not one to suffer fools longer than is socially acceptable.

I'm on my umpteenth hobby. Air rifle hunting. I'm asking questions in a forum about it. If you haven't guessed already, the guy sitting next to me at the table is wearing the ears. He won't shut up. I think I'm about to verbally take a grown man over my knee and spank him in front of everyone. That is all.