Some Thoughts

One week ago my toenail fell off due to rollerblading. Not having a toenail is actually kind of freeing. I could get used to it. The breeze, especially. Too weird? It's too sensitive to rollerblade though. So pretty much, with each day I am losing any and all gains I have made this summer which makes me panic because what if I can't do my inline skate marathon? #panic I was up to 18 miles working towards twenty while doing like 50+ a week. And with all the ice-cream I eat in this weather that I'm sure parallels the temperature of Hell, my caloric intake is too high. For instance, yesterday I had ice-cream for breakfast and lunch. Then at 5 AM, I woke up in a pool of sweat despite the high setting of my fan and lack of clothing. How did I cool myself down? A bowl of ice-cream.

In other uneventful news, my sleep schedule is too weird. Despite my efforts to be in bed by 11 PM, I usually wake up every few hours or so. 3 AM though is the most consistent time. According to Christianity, research, and experience it's the devil's hour. Sometimes I feel like I'm being watched, and other times it's because Eau Claire is just f***ing hot. But according to Chinese medicine, the hours between 3 AM and 5 AM signify lung time, meaning that any hazardous wastes are being coughed up and can also represent any stress or grief you are feeling in life. Like any human, I do have worries and a lot on my mind. I just don't want it to wake me every morning! I need to train myself for those 8 AM classes and 12 hour days in which I have to schedule EVERYTHING: class, eating, studying, to campus tours, other student orgs, work obligations, my social life, and down time for myself. IT'LL BE CRAZY.

I've also had a series of car issues. The pipes surrounding my muffler have corroded, my tire went flat, and the window button panel is janky. I'm sure something else will happen in the following weeks. I blame the miles from South Dakota. But have zero regrets.

There's only a few days of my summer contract left and then it's two weeks of (Braveheart) freedom until my RA contract starts again. What am I doing in that two weeks? ADVENTURING. Mom and I are driving to Seattle and stopping at various national parks along the way. From Seattle, I'm flying back to Juneau for the week for more adventure! It'll be great to be surrounded by the mountainous terrain and constant drizzle, maybe continue my soul searching. My trip with mom will provide a significant amount of bonding time, which will be lovely.  It can't come soon enough.

But until then, I have to finish up work tasks, fix my car, pack up my room, move out of my current room into my new room, pack for my trip, etc. Oh yeah, and still continue my social life. These next few days will be busy!  I feel overwhelmed. But in a good way.

I'll try to post once more before I go off the grid. Until then, stay cool!
-A

Lumberjax

The Lumberjack World Championships were this weekend and I was one of the lucky few to have been able to go. I loved every single millisecond of it. From our drive to going to Copper Falls to overheating in the cabin to waiting like...two hours for a fish fry to a lumberjack pancake breakfast to making new friends to mini golf to the candy shop to ice-cream to getting sunburn to making dollar bets to drinking adult lemonade and beer to playing Jenga to having heart-to-hearts on the porch to getting eaten by a plethora of mosquitos to taking an ice-cold shower to shooting shotguns to WATCHING BADASS LUMBER JACKS AND JILLS. HOLY  MOLY. EVERYTHING ABOUT THE WEEKEND WAS GREAT. That's all. Sorry for the short post. I'm too tired. Hugz!

-A

South Dakota

The majority of summer 2k15 has been spent soul searching #cliché There's a lot I need to figure out in regards to my life. In actuality, what 22 year old knows where they stand in the world? Well, probably a lot of them. I have the privilege of not being one of them resulting in feeling lost. A career seems so foreign, but yet, it's so close. The concept of a god is fairly overwhelming in the midst of such a broken society. The concept of finances is scary. Pretty much, the real world is terrifying but exciting. Thus far I have been fairly comfortable wandering through life and trusting my heart while rolling with the punches. With all of that said, I had the intention of spending this past weekend camping out in the wilderness of South Dakota figuring things out. Do I know what that would have entailed or have meant? Absolutely not. But, Friday night a few hours before I was going to leave for my life quest, a group of friends decided to join me. I am so thankful that they did because it was the weirdest trip ever.

Time of departure from Eau Claire was about 8:30 PM. We alternated driving, listened to some jams, read about the Goat Man, and made the 685 mile drive to Keystone, South Dakota. Also known as the home of four stone(d) presidents: George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt, and Abraham Lincoln. AKA: Mount Rushmore. We rolled into the park at about 6:30 AM, prior to the park officially being open. As a result, we were able to avoid having to pay for parking or an entry fee #holler I don't know what I thought of Mount Rushmore. It was cool. Maybe beautiful? Too commodified?

We then made the drive down the Needles Highway to Custer State Park. GAH. It was BEAUTIFUL. So much wildlife. I cuddled with a wild donkey. Saw some bison. The nature. All the rocks. The trees. The blue sky. Winding roads filled with switchbacks. Feeling like you were on top of the world, but actually on top of South Dakota.

After exploring that area, we made way to the presidential wax museum. I don't have the correct words to describe my emotions towards that place. A waxed figure of President Reagan, terrifying. Jackie O covered in her husbands blood while Lyndon B. Johnson is being sworn in, tasteless. Teddy Roosevelt sitting in his room surrounded by game, interesting. If you find yourself in that area ever, check it out. It's worth the $10.00

Our next adventure was the Badlands. Another two hour drive. So...we were there. It was like, over one hundred degrees. But also, we weren't there. At least not the designated tourist portion of it. We couldn't find the trails or anything. After sitting in a driveway trying to figure out where the heck we were, we decided to abort the plan. I'm sure you would do so after entering and leaving the Badlands like, five times in a half hour period. The next plan was to drive an hour and a half to our campground. Once the tent was up and everyone settled in, the night was spent at the fire making pudgie pies and eating s'mores. We then all proceeded to pass out from exhaustion.

The 'site was offering a $2.99 all you can eat pancake breakfast. It was heavenly. We then made our way to Wall for the infamous Wall Drug around 9:30 AM. Possibly the weirdest portion of the trip. Within a thirty mile drive, we drove past forty-five signs advertising Wall Drug: Drug is thug, free ice-water, five cent coffee, etc. We got there, went into some really bizarre shops and made our way to the 'pharmacy': giant jack rabbits, stuffed bison, miniature mount-rushmore, free ice-water, a t-rex simulation, more wax figures, a gorilla playing a piano, and more! GO THERE.

THEN on what was supposedly the last lag of our trip in the lovely state of South Dakota, we came across a sign advertising the World's Only Corn Palace. What does that even mean?! So we went. It was...interesting. Corn walls. Corn murals. Corn puns. Corn sculptures in the roads. Corn on the cob.

We made it back to Eau Claire around 11:00 PM Sunday and I'm pretty sure everyone passed out. Lots of bonding was spent in the car. We all lost our sanity at some point. But got closer because of it. I'm going to speak for the crew and say that the weekend away was much needed in the midst of the Eaux Claires music festival preparation, which is this current weekend.

Lots of footage was captured on the GoPro and will be posted at some point. So stay tuned for that in the future. Otherwise, enjoy the (weird) photos below!

-A

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Because America

Hello (hot) dogs (get it? hot dogs are patriotic).

America is another year older and to celebrate, I made the 3.5 hour trek all the way back to the good ol' G (thank goodness for the speed limit increase #70mph). The weekend was filled with humidity and 82+ degree weather. But did that stop me from partaking in celebration? ABSOLUTELY NOT.
Friday night Dad, Uncle Jim, Sara and I had a 10:00 PM tee time at the Whitnall Park Golf course. You might be thinking, who the heck plays golf in the middle of the night? Well, surely not us. We play croquet. Tiki torches light the fringe of the green and wickets are everywhere. The sprinklers were on, which resulted in us having to change course (no pun intended) and head to a different hole. A hole that was just one giant mega hill, so croqueting was a bit challenging. Ok, SUPER challenging. It took us almost two hours to play one game when last time (the time the police caught us), it took dad and I that long to play three games on the green. It was still fun though. Oh, and I ended up winning, even though I was losing pretty much the whole time.

Saturday I had a good 'blade while mom ran behind me on the New Berlin trail. Afterwards, I went to go lay in the grass and stretch, but as I was going down, I managed to lose my balance. One leg went over my head, my arms flung up, and my Camelback fanny pack went airborne. Oh, and a group of people saw me and stared. I thought I sprained my ankle and I heard a crack. But I think I'm okay... It was only a little embarrassing. Naturally, I played it cool and acted like I did it purposely. We then headed over to the Doughty's for a very (un)american meal: Greek and Indian chicken, gyros, hummus, German chocolate cake, sangria, etc. It was a cultural meal and representative of America's image as a melting pot. And yo, the food was delish. I'd do it all again. Especially the sangria. The company was also lovely! Later that night, Step-on-me, A-a-ron, Sara, and I went to the Greendale fireworks then ate ice-cream from Kopps then went to bed. I woke up to a pissed off bird squawking in my ear; that was nice. Today I just ran errands, went rollerblading, had some brunch with the fam, and headed back to EC. I probably lost my voice from jamming to Taylor Swift, Adele, and Farewell Milwaukee the entire way. Strange mix of music. But all good, especially Farewell Milwaukee. They're my all time favorite band, so I may be bias.

ANYWAYS, I hope that y'all had a good fourth and stayed cool.

- A

dad using google earth and a whisk to map things out