Greetings from Darby, MT

I have arrived. I am in Darby, Montana. I have been here for a few days now and am really beginning to enjoy it. I live in a house surrounded by mountains and wildlife. There is a river in my backyard and I live on a private road. My house is much nicer than I expected. We have a large kitchen, a spacious living room with a bar, and a hot tub that unfortunately we are not allowed to use. So yeah. I guess you could say I got it made for now. The trip here was quite a journey. It took me 3 days to get here with a total drive time of about 27 hours. Most of which was pretty boring. Have you ever driven across South Dakota? It sucks for 90% of the way. Nothing but tourist traps and corn fields. The only good thing was that there was no traffic for most of the trip. Once I got on I-90 I was able to lock in the cruise control at 80mph and speed past the rest of the motorists. During the trip I lived off of mostly Doritos and cola. I felt pretty sick by the end of the trip. I was sleep deprived and malnourished. It was my kind of road trip. So now I'm here and everything is going well. By the way, if anyone wants to venture out to the Bitterroot Mountains, I have plenty of room for guests. Holla!

A Few Days in D.C.

I have just returned from a short trip to our nation's capital, Washington D.C. I had an amazing time. I was able to visit a large number of memorials and museums in a short amount of time. It was a feat that I think few could duplicate. Sightseeing alone to me is way more fun than having to cater to the needs and wants of other people in your traveling party. That's 'cause I am pretty good at denying myself any comforts and pushing my limits of physical exaustion. I walked everywhere at a pace not unlike that of the winged feet of Mercury himself. Pushing the old and weak aside, I blazed down the pathes that led to the greatest symbols of our nation's legacy of freedom. My only regret is that I didn't take more pictures. However even the pictures that I did take do no justice to the awe inspiring landscape of D.C. What an exciting an patriotic city! To my surprise the hobos were at a minimum. I reasoned this out to be the result of an especially cold winter. The ones that were there though, kept pretty much to themselves, as long as you didn't invade on their turf which includes most public parks. That was recognized as bum territory. As long as you kept a respectful distance you could enjoy their rantings safely. Oh yeah and never make eye contact with them. They will recognize this instantly as an invitation to hastle you. But the homeless were a minimal part of my trip. I was surprised by the nightlife that the city had to offer. Good thing I had one of my best friends guiding me, otherwise I would have been lost as to where to go. Overall I had a lot of fun and the trip was capped off by a long Saturday of drinking. It started out normal. Walking the streets of Eastern Market, checking out what the vendors had to sell, an innocent stroll down the street. Then a sign caught my companion's eye. $10 all you can drink vodka. She stopped dead in her tracks. She looked at me with a face that said, "I know we shouldn't, but..." We couldn't resist. The vodka began flowing when we entered the bar at around 1:40 p.m. and didn't stop until the cut-off of 4 o'clock. Needless to say my friend and I are not ones to have just a few drinks and be happy with a mild buzz. We pounded glass after glass of self-mixed cocktails. By the time it was 4 p.m. I was having trouble remembering where we were and my friend was making extended trips to the lavatory, having fell victim to alcohol's sweet sickness. We stumbled home, passed out, and awoke 4 hours later. Feeling a little under the weather, my friend decided that she was done for the night. I on the other hand was not about to waste my last night in D.C. by being sober. I purchased 1.5 liters of wine and began drinking again. My flight was to leave at 6:30 a.m., so I figured I would just drink all night and then jump on the plane with a happy buzz. I didn't initially plan on drinking the whole bottle, but it ended up being completely dry without a minute to spare. My friend, bless her heart, was sober and was the only reason that I even made it to the airport on time. However I ended up being too drunk to fullfill my part of the bargain which was just to get on the plane. I passed out in the terminal in front of my departure gate and didn't wake up again until around 8 a.m. an hour and a half after my flight left. I was a little out of sorts when I woke up and freaked out at first. I left the terminal to talk to a service agent and didn't realize that my wallet had fallen out of my pocket. The service agent asked me for my ID and I reached for an empty back pocket and again began to freak out. Fortunately I was able to retrieve my wallet, but I was put on standby for my flight for the rest of the day. I sat around at the airport watching flight after flight leave for Detroit which was my destination, all of them booked solid. Finally after over 13 hours in the airport I was able to get a seat on a flight to Detroit and...well...I guess that's it. After that I went home. But I have never had a more fun 4 days. Those are my favorite trips. No plans, no itenerary, just do whatever comes my way. I had a blast and can't wait to go back to D.C. A special thanks to my good friend Michelle, without you the trip would have been nothing.

Graduated

I finally did it! I graduated college. It only took me 5 long years. That's okay though. I don't regret a second of it. When I look at what I have now, I sort of wonder what I have accomplished and what is actually different. Nothing is really different, except that now I have a degree. But then I think back on all the stuff I did during those 5 years. The memories are what is different. I have done a ton of new things, been a lot of new places, and met some new people along the way. What is strange is that I still have the same core group of friends from high school. I don't know if that will ever change. I am excited about moving on though and meeting more people and doing more cool stuff. I have a lot more experiences to draw from now and am starting to figure out how it all fits together. That is all for now.