In the last few months I have dealt with some issues of anxiety and depression. So I gave myself some free time do some ‘soul-searching’ through journal writing, traveling, and recreational drug use and I am thankful for that opportunity, don’t get me wrong. I fully admit that my existential angst has been largely produced through my own voluntary life choices. Existential angst requires plenty of free time within which to express said angst. It can only be produced in leisurely cultures where we can drink coffee, smoke cigarettes, and discuss the futility of it all. No one has time to apine the human condition when they are digging through heaps of trash to survive. These people are living in the shit, not talking about it.
While I may be a bit whinier than most, I don’t think I am in a unique situation for someone my age. Everyone who graduated with me seems to have the same dumb-struck expression on their faces at the moment. We are recent college graduates entering a tough economic world. Pair that with the fact that our generation, which was raised largely by hippies and free-thinkers, has been told that we are all wonderful individuals who can achieve anything we put our minds to and we have a vicious recipe for unsatisfaction. We were all given the well-meaning but misguided idea that we can achieve our dreams. We came to believe that we not only deserve well-paying jobs but also self-fulfilling, satisfying jobs and lives where our hard work will be recognized and rewarded, and, that, to boot we don’t need to work exceptionally hard to do this. I think that many people my age, including myself, expect a lot from the world but don’t know how to put in the work to achieve it.
The only person I know who is 100% sure of her future is my friend Sophie who is well on her way to becoming a professional dancer. She has a singular focus that most people cannot or do not possess. However, everyone I hung out with on my roadtrip has some project they are working on which has value. While I wouldn’t say that any of my friends ‘got it all figured out,’ each of them impressed me in a particular way, whether it be with their creativity, their heart, or their sheer tenacity. As a born writer, reader, philosopher, and overall neurotic-worrier type I am given to bouts of general ennui. But every time I slip down towards nihilism I look up and see people around me doing great things. With friends like these how could I not try to step up to the plate and produce something of worth myself?
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My first stop on the road trip was Eugene where I stayed with Dustin King. Dusty has continuously impressed me with his generosity. During the summers of our college years Dusty would always open up his home to his friends for nocturnal hangouts. This was a haven where we could pursue our collective passions to our heart’s content: playing smash brothers and smoking weed. Dusty hasn’t changed a bit. He generously shared his home with me even after I rudely forgot to call to ask if I could crash at his place until the day I arrived in Eugene. That same weekend he played party host to a gaggle of students from Southern Oregon whom he knew only as friends of friends. Dusty is also a great dj and mash-up artist: djdkmodeKatherine Lonsdorf also resides in Eugene. Not only did her and her boyfriend provide some sterling conversation, she also served me free beers at the seafood restaurant she works at in Eugene. Bless you Katherine! Her hard work at the restaurant inspired me to look for more work as a bonified server or bartender and graduate from the ranks of casual caterer. Her plans to teach English in Korea impressed me immensely as a courageous and adventurous decision. Many people talk about doing such things but few actually go through with it as she is doing. And she gave me a great recipe for a juice fast, which, I will probably never have the determination to follow through with, but which she followed to the T while working shifts at a busy restaurant. Dang this girl is nuts!
In San Luis Obispo I stayed with Alex Werner who I am dubbing the king of pop. Not pop-music, that’s Michael Jackson’s exclusive throne, but pop culture. Alex knows everything there is to know about music, movies, fashion, and current events. Even more impressive than his encyclopedic knowledge of all things current is his ability to balance a populist appreciation for mass culture with a distinctly critical taste. I rarely find someone who can enjoy both trashy horror films and art house classics like Holy Mountain. Alex has always been a musical aficionado but he has finally put his tastes to work in the last couple months. Alex started a blog where he posts links to downloads of new music that he has discovered. This blog is extremely useful for people like me who have tone deaf ears and non-discriminating tastes. Now I can slip on a track from the blog and say things like, “well there earlier work was simply wonderful but I find their later stuff somewhat shallow” with confidence. The cool thing is he even takes suggestions for new albums to post: http://nvrmindtherain.blogspot.com/.
In Los Angeles there were tons of kids to take inspiration from, too many to list here so if I skip you don’t be insulted, or be insulted and start your own blog so you can toot your own horn.
First, I was impressed by Sir Alex Wolf and his commitment to the tao of the bicycle. Wolf got me into bicycling in LA in the first place when he generously lent me his old, Peugot road bike. One sunny afternoon in May he took me on an amazing ride through downtown Los Angeles and the Silverlake, Highland Park, and Los Feliz neighborhoods. We breezed through yellow lights and used hand signals to weave our way through traffic. I felt free as a bird on wheels. As a duo we were more visible to cars and could go where a single rider wouldn’t dare. I had ridden in Los Angeles before but had always been hesitant to stray too far a field because of the lack of bike lanes and the general disregard paid to bicyclists by ulcerated, super-ago Angeleno motorists. I hope Wolf reads this and posts his invaluable route to this useful site: mapmyride.com. I also wish Wolf luck on his business venture to create a mixed-use warehouse space in LA that will draw musicians, artists, and intellectuals.
Then, of couse, there’s Amy Wax who holds the honor of having the shortest name of anyone in this year’s graduating class at Occidental. Amy manages to party harder than almost anyone else I know and get good enough grades to see her into one of the most prestigious masters and PHD programs for industrial psychology in the country. One of my friends is getting a PHD, I can’t believe that shit.
Shout out here to my buddy Shoshone who is one of the most socially conscious fellows I know. We always have the most interesting talks about race, gender, class, income, social status, and all those other topics most people in our generation are too jaded to care about. A philosopher is one who retains a curiosity and sense of wonder of the world around him or her and Shoshone fits this description perfectly. http://dreamofsafety.blogspot.com/Shoshone also inspires me with his lifestyle choices, consistently home-cooking three healthy meals a day. He tells me that what you put into your body is the most important thing you do every day because that is the stuff that is digested and becomes your cells. I think he got that idea from this fellow.This guy has some other strange and controversial ideas about diet such as suggesting that we should eat lots of vegetables and avoid fast food. What a nut, huh?
My wonderful compatriot Keegan Vance hosted me in San Diego and Lake Arrowhead. When I wasn’t too busy gorging myself on latte’s made from his uncle’s fancy espresso machine to listen to him, Keegan was giving me many informative facts about the city I was visiting. Keegan is the king of city knowledge. He has led several walking tours of Portland to great success. He disusses the history, culture, and architecture of the city. His tours are much better than this rinky-dink operation but not quite as colorful as this Portlander's take on the city.After being in San Diego for less than three weeks Keegan decided he knew enough about the city to lead his own walking tour there. But since he’s gone gallivanting off to Thailand and other areas of Southeast Asia we will have to wait for more urban erudition until a later date.
My good friend Hal taught me all about how to be the life of the party. His pad in West LA is decked out with every possible imaginable toy: drawing supplies, board games, fanciful party hats, three video game systems, musical instruments, trippy lights…the list goes on. But it’s not the toys that make the place special. It’s Hal’s infectious personality and laugh that draws people in. His music is also sweet but he hasn’t posted his song online yet (Come on man!!).
And finally there is Ari, my new friend I met on couchsurfing.com. She has some of the most infectious energy of anyone I have ever met. She is one of those people that is authentically interested in many things. A true polymath, Ari knows French fluently and is also learning Italian and German. She wrote an entire novel as part of this project: http://www.nanowrimo.org/. And to boot she knows a scary amount about geology and dinosaurs. I don’t know how some people muster this amount of energy but whatever spunk this girl has I want to bottle it up and pour it all over me (yeah pun intended you perverts.) And I almost forgot another Ari I met at Sasquatch who is a wonderfully talented rap and spoken work artist. My favorite work of his is a little ditty about the natural life called “pooping in the woods.”
Oh wait, I forgot Darcy, a friend of Katherine’s whose going on a round-the-world trip. Apparently you can buy a plane ticket which gets you around the entire globe and you can pick when and where you want to be let off along the way: http://lasttraintowherever.wordpress.com/
And then there’s Brooks who renovated an old school London double decker bus into a pimped out party bus complete with tv’s and surround sound. He’s going to debut this bad boy at the first Thursday block party in July. DoubleDeckerpdx.com
Oh, one last person. I can’t forget Matty from Sasquatch who took 12 hits of acid and snorted two pills of molly and ingested a plethora of other intoxicants and still managed to be conversational in the English language. Bravo my friend, you are an idol to us all.
Well, after seeing all the things my friends have done I am realizing that I might not be such a terrible fuck-up after all. I may be a self-obsessed, neurotic, anxious, caffeine and sugar addicted slob, but I have done a few worthwhile things. I ran 13 miles without stopping in Eugene. I tolerated a bunch of crying six year olds for four solid months before heading out on my grand adventure. I went without my computer for over a month, a challenge most people my age would consider the worst of tortures. I lived and got along with a complete stranger for two days. I can fry an egg, juggle three balls, and type 80 wpm. And I have my own weblog, which pretty much makes me famous, right?
