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Yaar. Yaar! And huzzah! It’s another day in paradise.

In the absence of something more witty, I suppose I ought to at least plug in a little about my life, as of late.

First: being 21 rocks. It’s not even the ability to buy alcohol, to go to bars, whatever. It’s just the simple fact of being 21. It’s a comforting feeling. Maybe it’s just the lack of restriction, suddenly. The absence of “no”– from restaurants that could serve me beer; from cops that tell me what I can and can not do; the bringing to light something that’s been long repressed. Yeah. That’s probably it. The sudden withdrawal of authority (authority being something that I really enjoy). No more fear. No more hiding. No more “you can get me in trouble”. Huzzah!

(There was an interesting in the paper this morning (that I read while eating tasty bagels with Sagar and Carter on their way out of town) about people injuring themselves jumping off cliffs. Cliffs like this one:
But, actually, not “like” that one. That one. The one that Sagar, Carter and I jumped off a couple days ago. Never-mind this incomplete thought…)

Pizza escort service no more. THAT is exciting. I really fouled up this summer, in terms of employment. Working at Papa Johns this summer was profoundly awful. The only point that mitigates the awfulness of working with a bunch of dead-beats and underachiviers was the exiting realization of “never again…”. Never again will I have to work a dead-end job. A spikey, thorny, ow! dead-end, at that.

While working my dead-end job, though, I’ve been enjoying teaching myself some low value skills. Like how to to use a torque wrench. Or how to use a breaker bar. Or repair lawn mowers. Things that, in a few short years, the opportunity-cost of my time will be sufficiently high that it’ll never make sense for me to apply those skills. But somehow it’s good. In a if-I-ever-get-stranded-on-a-desert-island sort of way.

On a more melancholy note, Ingmar Bergman–one of the best, and most important, directors in the history of cinema–died yesterday. It’s melancholy, except for the fact that his output as a film-maker basically ended in the eighties. And I get the sense that he ended his life with as much dignity as he ended his career. n

21. Er, yeah. Finally. It was a good birthday. Thanks to everyone for the gifts, for driving up from Cheyenne, for the drinks, and to everyone that stopped by to help mark the occasion.

In little more than five hours I’ll be up again, packing the last of my things for Granite Peak. We’ll be on the mountain two or three days, then back in Bozeman for a few.

Ooh. That needs some attention. I look, and notice the corner of the room, along the ceiling, is quite literally crawling with bugs… flying things, crawling things, ants, moths… etc. I guess that means we might need to start shutting that screen door. Most of the time, the door to the H.Q. is just wide open… day or night. It works out, with the odd schedules we keep– even with only three of us here (Ken pays rent but … yeah, lives at the Castle), usually someone is up– Andrew creating some new 3D alien, or Ben destroying the barbarian hordes of Warcraft III. Of the three of us, I think Ben is the only one with keys to the house. Heh.

Anyhow. Every once in a while, there shines a brilliant moment of epiphany. Tonight I’ve experienced one such moment.

Working at Papa Johns this summer has been absolutely miserable. Talk about a mistake. The management is a bunch of lame ducks… collecting a paycheck, no ambition. (Funny story: there is ONE manager, Derick, that I actually like. He’s not a very good manager, but at least he brings some ENERGY to the work environment. Well, I haven’t seen him lately, so I ask Nick, “say, is Derick still working here?” “Oh, no,” Nick replies. “He’s in prison.” I cast a quizzical glance. “For being Black, in Bozeman, on a Thursday,” Nick explains. Well, par for the course. It’s not the first time I’ve seen PJ managers come and go … in and out of prison.) The store just doesn’t … care. And that’s been killing me, slowly. (That, and Bozeman’s AWFUL traffic systems…)

So, while driving the drive (I’m in the pizza escort business, after all), I’ve been increasingly day-dreaming about starting a store– a pizza business, perhaps? Some sort of chain business (not the first chain I’ve day-dreamed about). Something like that. Just some sort of business opportunity.

And then, I’m the new director for MSU’s Procrastinator Theatre (a second run movie theater, a.k.a. “dollar theater”), which has been systematically driven into the ground over the last five years. So it hits me: this is my business opportunity. I’ve got a big operating budget, an existing facility, and complete discretion about how the theater runs.

So this is my epiphany: make the Procrastinator my business venture. Rather than just trying to maintain the P’s pathetic status quo, why not build sales? Revive the theater. Reintroduce concessions. Cut costs. Make the theater worthwhile again…

And the timing couldn’t be better. Next spring, the theater is moving into a new facility–complete with digital projection, sound, etc. Which makes the time ripe to make good…

So yeah. That’s kinda random, but really exciting.

—

Ah, Bozeman. What a flurry of activity it’s been! I’m burried up to my ears in ambitious projects, and making slow progress on most of them. Slow progress, mind you, amid float trips, hikes, games of Settlers, parties, dirty dishes… ah, but it’s good.

say, has anyone seen my bike (as in … my pedal bicycle)? I’m worried about the fact that I haven’t seen it in some days…

Hrm. So, I’m thinking that I should run a marathon at the end of the summer. I mean, why not? It would be a great reason to get out and run around Bozeman … get in better shape … see some sun, etc. Only trouble is, I’m having a hard time figuring out what I want to register for … (that’s the hard part. The running will be easy, I’m sure!*)

(* – uh, yeah. That’s a joke, actually.)

So. I’m running the “Windows Vista Upgrade Advisor” on Kimbree’s computer … because Vista is just so awesome that it won’t install on her computer. Or, maybe it will install, but requires someone smarter than me. But, I mean, there aren’t many options. And I’ve tried just about every single one. And yes, I’ve stripped the motherboard. Disabled every onboard device. And … for some reason, it just fails, about halfway through it’s process, and reverts back to Windows XP. I try to automatically download updated setup files, but it tells me “windows setup was unable to download update files at this time”, which bodes well for the success of this attempted installation. So far, my level of “impressed” with Vista is about … zero.

Leopard, on the other hand … now THAT’S exciting. Or, not… not so exciting for those of us that don’t own Macs, I suppose. A new desktop! That I won’t be able to use! A new Finder! More powerful, easier to use! Doesn’t run on Dell! Spaces! Not on Windows! Core Animation! PC’s don’t skip or play, why would they need animation?

Hrm. Maybe if my “finding stuff on the street and then selling it” gig pays off (more about that later…), I can buy a Mac some day. Just a Mac Mini would be fine…

Well, I suppose it’s time to go mow the lawn. I’m going to set a precedent of responsibility, in terms of mowing the lawn on time (rather than just ignoring it until it’s so tall and jungle-like that someone else in the house just does it for me … like the last guy in charge of the lawn…), that hopefully will be followed by future lawn-mowers of the H.Q. (a.k.a. seven-sixteen, a.k.a. home, and also sometimes mistakenly referred to as (s.m.r.t.a.) ‘the quad’).

It’s a beautiful day in Bozeman.