The peace of wild things...

When I moved here to Portland, I got to where I rarely drove. My apartment had a lousy shared driveway situation to where I usually left my car there unless there was a rare opportunity where all my neighbors were gone. I'd always been a walker, but moving to Portland allowed me to integrate walking as a bigger part of my daily life. Eventually, I moved and got to a better situation with driving. But this allowed me to have a better access to nature in the surrounding regions, other than the admittedly large hiking areas that are accessible through Portland transit. So I got more and more into hiking, and these days I'd say it's probably my favorite thing to do. Some of that is due to the bad habit of social media where I feel compelled to share anything I do that I feel might attract interest to my tens of followers [it's a little more, but not much.] But it's also a genuine desire to feel physically engaged and to be in nature, and hopefully in peace and quiet [though that sometimes is hard to find on popular hikes.]

I prefer hikes with some kind of payoff at the end, and it is almost some kind of adrenaline junkie situation. If it's not at the edge of something, I feel like it's blah. Well, that's exaggerating a bit, but I at least like to see a cool bird or an opportunity to take a cool photo, even if there's a lot of huffing and puffing involved to get there. Or occasionally falling down. The most embarrassing is when I am slowly struggling to ascend or descend [actually the trip back down is often way more precarious] while these families with little kids are scrambling with no problem.] Anyway, here's the view from atop Silver Star Mountain. The best part of it were these ravens that sounded like people yelling.

I fell down once on the way back, sliding on loose gravel going downhill on the trail, despite my hiking poles. Thankfully I only got a scraped arm and some wounded pride. I'm sure the birds got a big kick out of it.

Still more to say, and remembering Wendell Berry

A series of events have conincided to get me back to blogging. I feel I have more to write about than I once did, and am doing more though in other ways my world is smaller than ever. I promise to get to more of Where I've Been in my next entry. Still in the same town, same job, but my living situation has changed significantly. I've traveled a lot and had a lot of experiences where enough time has passed so that I feel like I can write better about them than I would have if they'd just occurred. Wendell Berry has died, a writer I came to love in my 40s. I read an essay by him in college and I despised it, thinking him some Luddite who wanted everyone to live on a farm or a small town similar to the one I grew up in and hated. Now I'm in my mid-50s and would love to live a simpler, rural lifestyle [though I still would like to visit a city on occasion.] His novel Jayber Crow is one of my favorites, and the greatest example of the "quiet novel." It's about the life of a town barber, his road to get there, and his life among the people he barbers. I read it every few years, and find something new from it each time. He created a whole universe out there, Port William, Kentucky. I'll miss all the people there, Jayber Crow, Elton Penn, Tol Proudfoot, the Coulters, the list goes on and on. I have to get back to my pre-work breakfast, but will return.

In which I come back, ignoring the length of my recent absence.

So I was in a relationship for about a month. Then I broke it off, the usual patterns. Needed alone time, couldn't seem to get it. I never read. I rarely pursued any outside interests. The benefits of being with the other person weren't worth it to me, so I decided to end things. I didn't do it cleanly enough--I was too wishy-washy before ultimately saying what needed to be said, but it was better than past breakups [I always just ghosted or sent a "Dear Jane" text.]

I am kinda-sorta still on the apps but not really looking much anymore. I realized that I have not meant anyone yet in these past two years that have made me comfortable enough to where I am willing to give up the things I enjoy as a single person. I don't know if that's ever going to change.

Work is really miserable. I'm responsible for everthing because I was the only person dumb enough to stay there. I'm trying to re-establish my apathy toward deadlines, etc., but it's hard. And I applied to for the permanent verison of the role I have on a temporary basis, so that will be even more punishment if I do get it, and I'm almost hoping that I don't. Only reason I'm doing it is more money and easier road to retirement.

It looks like the travel plans this summer are happening, so that's something new to be excited about, though it will be a trip out of my comfort zone. I'll be with friends most of the time so it should be okay. Not sure how I'm getting around or what I'm doing after that though. And already worried about what comes afterward.

Never quite got over the end of the marriage. I'm starting to think that idea where it takes half the time of the relationship to be fully past it may be true. The hurt is not quite as deep, it's more to the dull-throb stage and not the shooting pain. Years ago in a poem I compared it to pain of a phantom limb and that is still accurate. I feel a little guilt about the recent breakup, I feel like I'm continuing a cycle of abandonment, even though I was totally imcompatible with the other person. But I wonder if that's what people sometimes do. They are left and so they feel compelled to leave others--similar to what they say about residual hauntings--an endless loop of leaving.

Something I learned today...

I decided to remain at my job for now. I have an opportunity where I want to see what happens, it could make my life a lot easier if it worked out. What's really helped lately is that I've really quit caring if people are upset, if deadlines are missed, etc. I do what I can in the eight hours alloted per day. I'm doing the job of around 2-3 people at the moment, and that number is about to increase. I sometimes get a secret pleasure from causing issues, and I suppose that's when I know that I've truly become a government employee, after years of training.

I go out more frequently but often don't really interact with people other than transactionally. But some of that is changing. Despite my issues with it here, I think this is probably the best place for me at this point in my life.

Seek You, and being seen.

Almost finished with the illustrated semi-memoir SEEK YOU, by Kristen Radtke and it's one of the better things I've read in a while. There's something about being seen in a written work, to say "Yes, this is my experience too." A feeling of validation and legitimacy that we all seek. Many things struck me about the book but I especially related to the idea that we are often performing, even when we live alone. I often imagine my life as a movie, even when I am sitting alone here I imagine how I might look on screen. I spend much of my life preparing for and trying to visualize social interaction. What I may say, how I want to look, the impression I would like to give. I wonder is anyone really natural with others? I know I felt a level of comfort with one person in this life so far, and I don't know if that can be replicated. I meet people but never feel that sense of ease or of being with a kindred spirit. I think the current model doesn't work for me, and I'm going to need to try something else...

What do we talk about now?

I've never felt like completely throwing in the towel here. Any long lapses have been due to inattention instead of a deliberate decision to stop, though I believe I did have a couple of "goodbye" posts several years back. I know at one point the job search got so depressing that I didn't want to write about it anymore. As far as my recent output, things get really repetitive around late 2020, and I don't know if I've ever really gotten it back on track.

New Year's was New Year's. Spent it chatting with different people on different platforms, all on my phone. My weekly report usually has me with at least 8-9 hours of phone usage per day, sometimes more. Maybe if I were the type to make resolutions, one of them would be to use the phone less, but it's really my lifeline. So probably not happening.

I'm still looking for that exciting book that can make me forget everything. It's getting harder to find. I'm hopeful that something is actually going to get better this year. eew job, travel plans. Something.

I don't really have a clear favorite book this past year. I enjoyed THE SENTENCE by Louise Erdrich, and liked OUR COUNTRY FRIENDS by Gary Shteyngart. The new Franzen was pretty good. I liked Colson Whitehead's THE HARLEM SHUFFLE. The Sylvia Plath biography RED COMET. Enjoyed S.A. Cosby's RAZORBLADE TEARS, and I won't even go into all of the older books I read. The libraries fullly reopened this year and that really helped me make it through. The curbside ordering they were doing in 2020 was much appreciated but there's something about being able to browse.

Still fooling with the dating apps, know I should stop, but just when I think I'm out, they pull me back in....

The better and worse of 2021....

Better: Movie theaters being open, being able to finally go out with a group of people.

Worse: My job has become more difficult in just about eveyr possible way over 2021, and I think I'm going to need to leave in 2022, one way or another.

Better: Lots of new online friendships.

Worse: Not really any in-person friendships, other than some people here I met online that I occasionally see [and they are awesome people.]

Better: Got to see my family a couple of times.

Worse: Not really able to relate well to them, and my hometown has gotten really depressing to visit to where I don't think I want to do it anymore.

Better: Vaccinated and boosted.

Worse: Don't think we're ever really getting out of this. 2021 wasn't much better than 2020, and I don't expect 2022 to be any different.

Better: Lots of travel plans for 2022.

Worse: Not sure if they're going to actually happen....

So my mental state is a little better than last year at this time, probably because I'm able to go out more. I feel some dread at how my life may end up long term. I don't see much changing, but I suppose it still can. In the words of a great philosopher, maybe partying will help...