a beautiful day

i'm back here in texas for a about a week and a half, so i decided i'd make the most of not having a car and ride a bike somewhere. after all, i am a new expert on bicycles.

so yesterday i ride a bicycle up through watauga, into keller, and then on the northside of keller on the west side of the road i stop at wat buddharatanaram, the oft ignored thai buddhist temple (home of the largest gold buddha in north america) right here in keller, tx.

i ride my bike into the grandiose and intricate entrance, and come up on a monk wearing a gold robe and drinking an arizona tea. i'm like, "hey, pardon me, but do y'all have any information on volunteer work." he looks at me and smiles, and takes a sip of his tea.

"so, do you have an information center or something, i mean i'm not buddhist or anything, at least i don't think i am, and i just thought, y'know, it's my day off and i should go out and do something for a change. i rode my bike all the way up here, and its like 10 miles and i'm beat, so at the least i might could use just a little bit of water and i'll get out of your hair."

he smiles, takes another sip of arizona tea, shakes his head, says something in thai and points off to the west.

feeling retarded, i then ride my bike further through the little town and pass a tiny old monk feebly hoing away at his front lawn. i follow the road, winding around a golden temple and come upon a woman sitting under a gazebo. figuring that nobody speaks english i approach her like tarzan would jane.

"HI. ME ALAN. VOLUNTEER?" i'm also making an exaggerated shovelling motion with my hands.

"hi, are you asking if there is volunteer opportunities?" she very elegantly responds.

thank god! somebody speaks english. now two people on this plantation think i'm a dumbass.

"yes, yes! if there's anything i can sign up for, i mean i'm here for a couple weeks."

we make our way back around the temple, and back to the old man who was every bit of 80 and still hacking away on his yard. she starts talking to him in thai, and i could only pick out a couple words in which she used the english form. for instance, she introduced me as alan, and i smiled and gave a little nod, then she talked a bit longer and put in the english word 'volunteer.'

the tiny old man, sweating in the texas sun, seemingly a bit confused by my presence, leans on his hoe and repeats thoughtfully the word, 'volunteer.'

then he turns and looks at me, and in a moment as if struck by pure epiphany, he extends out his hoe.

i look at the woman, and i probably looked like how my dog looks when i make a funny noise, y'know, and he cocks his head slightly to the side, i probably looked just like that.

"i think he wants you to finish this drainage ditch for him," the lady says, just barely eeking it out without laughing.

so for the next hour the old monk sat in the shade while i hoed him a drainage ditch. there was a bunch of bottled water there, so i was never thirsty, and after a while he got back up again and helped me smooth out the ditch a bit. once it was done i turned to him and said, "ok?", to which he responded, "ok."

i rode my bike out of their village, waving at everyone, and stopped off at my buddy brice's parents' house just in time for dinner. we all talked and laughed, and after dinner i rode my bike through the lush bear creek park, weaving through the trees and admiring fort worth's newly acquired rivers and waterfalls. a beautiful day.

jungle gym

when we were in wyoming, on the way back to salt lake city, we stopped over on the side of the road at a town fair. i don't think any of us knew there was a fair there, it just happened to be next to the gas station.

capitalizing on this unique opportunity many of us began to walk around the little kiosks. there was a fellow in a cowboy hat with muscular dystrophy selling puppy jack russell terriers, a group of girls from a small town rodeo club, and a group selling antler artwork. in the middle of the fun was a playground set with a 15 foot jungle gym, a huge slide, teeter totters, a swingset and monkey bars. and to my astonishment the playground was barren, completely empty of people and it was in the very middle of the fair.

so i climbed the slide, a bit courageously seeing as i'm a grown man with a bunch of coworkers, and silently began sliding down it. over and over i slid down the slide, i think one time i nervously mustered out a 'wee'. after a while 3 or four little kids followed suit, and because i didn't want to hog the slide, moved on to the jungle gym.

now that the initial fear was gone, i was like a monkey. i was swinging, hanging upside down, standing on the top and waving to the girls, and soon i found that two of my coworkers were playing on the teeter totters having a good time. we were laughing! next, it was on to the monkey bars. surprisingly i can still skip two bars at a time and make it across. a couple of adults in our group were waiting in line for the slide, and somebody else was crawling up the jungle gym. it was a complete blast, and i finished with incredibly sore muscles and a renewed spirit.

when did exercise stop being fun? why is it that if i want to strengthen my abs i must regimentally sit up, counting methodically to a predetermined number? what happened to swing sets?

why is it that when i need to get my heart rate up i run in a circle, keeping track of my pulse and the number of laps i've completed. what happened to tag?

why is it that in order to build muscle i must pay $60.00 a month to a warehouse that stores weights attached to pulleys, and under the pale glow of a florescent light stare at a wall and mechanically flex? what happened to jungle gyms?

moreover, what happened to exploring the area around the house? climbing a tree, just because it's there? who was given the authority to forbid me from having fun?

when the lord made me

when the lord made me he made a rolling stone
he made a curious wanderer of all that's unknown
he made somebody who is everywhere at home
when the lord made me he made a rolling stone

when the lord made me he made a penniless man
he made me without money and without land
he made me without a single red cent in my hand
when the lord made me he made a penniless man

when i get older i'll be a friend to many
i'll be a friend to strangers, i'll be a friend to any
i'll be someone who's always happy and grinny
when i get older i'll be friend to many

when i get older i will settle down
i'll find a wife of my own and a job in town
i'll show everyone there what i've found
when i get older i will settle down

when the lord takes me it'll be the perfect day
just when i've said all i've had to say
just when everyone here will be okay
when the lord takes me it'll be the perfect day

when i'm gone at my grave don't stand
don't spend anytime on that patch of land
keep on walking, shake somebody's hand
when i'm gone at my grave don't stand

on the eve of tetons/yellowstone

tomorrow marks day one of the second week of training. all of our classroom stuff is done, and now is our chance to prove ourselves in the real world of travel by taking a mock trip to yellowstone and the grand tetons national park. so what does that mean to me?

well i've learned just about everything there is to know about the park, and am supposed to give a detailed speech on the importance of forest fires. also, i'm in charge of planning children's games, so...studying hasn't necessarily been work.

also, some bright person decided to put up a slack line in our back yard of the condo, so i've become spiderman. i now have the ability to jump up onto the line (which is like a tight rope, only made out of a strap, not a rope) and land perfectly balanced on the line, walk all the way across, and turn around. a little more practice and i'll be doing backflips and ironing on the thing.

i'm quite excited to go on our mock trip, and look forward to practicing the skills i've been learning. one of the great things is that part of our job description is, in essence, to become better people. i mean, i'm learning about all different types of places and people, i'm leading strangers and teaching them about what i've learned, and i'm serving them hand and foot. i couldn't have asked for a better job. this is who i want to be, regardless of employment.

in other news, i've decided that ron paul is my candidate for president. he's under the republican ticket but his views are more aligned with a goldwater republican. he ran under the libertarian ticket in '88, he's a pacifist, and he's generally for a smaller government socially and economically. hopefully i can get my democratic friends to decide that he's the best candidate for democrats to vote for, even when compared to current democratic candidates, but, check him out, decide for yourself.

first day at backroads

well, after my trips to lubbock and to new orleans, i arrived here in salt lake city. wait a minute, new orleans.

new orleans was awesome. our hotel was two blocks from bourbon, and for two days brice, gabe and i stumbled around. at one point we were in an all black club (however we didn't notice til the next day) and we all tried to dance but were awfully undertalented.

then, thanks to gabe i was pulled onto a stage and forced to dance as a sea of new orleans chanted "go white boy go white boy go." a good time was had by all.

but on to training. today was our first day, we are staying at these awesome condos in a valley surrounded by snow capped towering mountains. our day started with a 15 mile bike ride down to a picnic and followed with several talks about how freaking awesome this company is that i work for.

in the next two weeks i'll be travelling to montana to take a mock camping trip in the teton park. after this intensive training i'll let y'all know where they send me.

adios