Controlled Chaos

I am moving to Indonesia to teach for the next 10 months, and during that time will not post to this blog with any frequency. Instead, you can keep track of me at Jonthon In Indo, created especially for this trip!

So much has been happening in these last few days that I haven’t even been able to blog!  But actually, I’ve been pretty lazy recently, so please note that I just backposted blog entries from June and July all at once.  Make sure to scroll down!

But in this post, I’m just going to cover everything I can think of that has happened since I got back from my camping trip, with the exception of Batman.  Here goes…

packing:  I packed up all my stuff just about as soon as I got home.  Then I weighed it.  My hiker’s bag weighed 35, and my hockey duffel weighed 85…I called to check on overages, and found that 50-70 was “only” $50/bag, but over 70 lbs was $600/bag!  So I spent another day unpacking things, weighing individual packets, and then stuffing the hiking bag with the heaviest of them until it weighed 65.8 pounds. Then i threw everything in the other bag, knowing that the average previously was 62.  Presuming I didn’t put any more than 12 pounds of extra stuff in the hockey bag, I should be good for tomorrow…

rash:  Turns out that on my camping trip in CoMo, I got a bacterial infection from a tick bite!  Yay!…It started out blending into my mosquito bites, but then persisted, and dominated my hands and feet and started moving inward.  This, according to the interwebs, is called “centripetal.”  It had all the features of a “Rocky mountain Spotted Fever” rash, but I never got ill.  Since I am uninsured in Missouri, I had to go to nurse practitioner in a walgreens.  $60 later, I had a prescription for an antibiotic.  And now, the day before the trip, the bumps have more or less receded, except for the ones of my feet and a few on my legs, which have scabbed over and lasted so long due to my itching of them.  Bad me!

economic hardship:  I wanted to defer my loans, but College Foundation, Inc. had no policy for Fulbright and other scholarships.  I did a bunch of legwork and basically found that I could enroll in 8 credit hours next year to be considered a full-time student.  F that, I’m not paying that.  So I called CFI again, and explained my story, and still nothing.  So I mentioned that I only make $1000, and found out that I was qualified for economic hardship.  This got even better when I said I couldn’t provide a stub because right now, I am technically unemployed!  So I sent off all that paperwork to prove that I am suffering economic hardship because my government stipend is “only” $1,000/month.  Contrast this with the fact that teachers in Indo make about $30/month, and will question how I can afford to take so many trips…ironic, no?

wedding:  I attended my dad’s wedding to Laura Coulson, nee Bamvakais, on Friday.  It was held at Windows Off Washington, a pretty nice venue.  It’s in the city museum, and the whole floor was made out of recyclable stuff -even the walls were made of old CO2 containers!  Jeff and Theresa werethere, and Aunt Clara, and Don Despain, andFather Joe Gembala, who I talked to for a while, and Dad’s office staff, and Laura’s family.  I danced with Faith and John Hunter and Wyatt, my new cousins who are pretty cool.  Before the whole thing we took pictures, which should be online in about two weeks, so I’m keeping an eye out for those.  Overall, the event went well, and if Dad’s happy I am too.

farm:  On Sunday, Idropped Dad and Laura offat the airport, then drove to mom’s and took a nap.  When she got there, we drove up to the farm.  I saw CAnne, who seems to be doing OK, and Papa Hezzy, who needs to stop smoking.  Then I went andsaw Uncle Tom and his dogs, and we walked around and looked at the trees h, Oliver and I planted last time we were up there.  Then we went to the garden to see the crops we had planted, and the green beans were doing all right, so I picked a bunch of them, which we ate for dinner.  After that, I went up to the house, and mom and I went out to cut down Daisy’s under my grandma’s supervision.  I pulled the mule around to dump stuff in, and also fiulled a small mason jar with the remaining good Daisies.  After that, I drove the mule to the burn site and emptied its contents, then took it on a spin around the farm on the path.  I went all the way out to a little concrete bridge going over a small brook, which was really pretty, then came back.  I went in and helped Aunt Sue cook and make another lemon pie…mmm.  After a while, mom and I headed out.  We listened to the Nightwatchmen on the drive home, and mom seemed to like it.  We went to Oliver’s house in Highland, and I saw his kitties, Stanley and Husky, named after power tools.  They were very cute, and had cgreat personalities.  He also had a turtle Dave gave him named Soup, which was living in a tub.  Soup will soon be joined by lucky, who is crawling around the floor of my mom’s house somewhere right now.  Anyway, when we finished getting the tour, Oliver drove me home in his “new” jeep, which had no doors or roof, and can only go 55.  Still, it was pretty freedomlike.  When we got home, I called TJ, and he came over.  We drove out to Acid Bridge just to do some backroading, then James and Derek came over, and we watched it rain.  Eventually, they went home, and I went to sleep…what a day!

Missouri ID: On Monday, I went to the Department of Revenue with a bunch of paperwork, and applied for my new Driver’s License, so it wouldn’t expire when I was gone.  Prior to walking up there, I took a number of online driver’s tests, and was a bit let down when my test consisted of naming 6 signs by picture - I passed with a 100%.  And since my name was different on my voter registration and passport, she asked me how I wanted it, and I finally have a diver’s licence with my name spelled “Jonthon!”

Wall-E:  On Monday night, my mom and I went to Chipotle, ate, then headed to Showplace 12 again to see Wall-E.  It was amazing, again.  it always will be.

Cory:  When I got home, I drove to belleville, and played rockband and hung out with Cory.  He’s been on hardtimes lately, but seems like he is getting back on his feet.

laundry, sewing and haircut:  I got home tonight, and my mom cut my hair at 2 and a half, buzzcut.  I look like I’m military now.  Maybe that’ll help with the heat. Following this, I showered and put in my laundry, which I’m about to go finish folding the second load of.  My mom made baked spaghetti, which was very good.  The only thing we didn’t get to was stitching my bags…

While blogging today, I came across an article about drunken shrews and just had to blog it.

Dad and Laura were going to the Muny to see Miss Saigon, so I took the opportunity to go back to Illinois with Mom and take her to see Batman.  It was really good.  There were shows at 6:30, 7, and 7:30.  We got there at 6:53, got tickets, and while she bought popcorn, I went in and found two seats in a prime seating area, somehow magically.  It worked out well, because my mim and I rock.

I got into town thursday night, and by Friday, I was unpacked and repacked enough to go pick up a rental vehicle from hertz and head to CoMo to go camping.  The compact car rental was the same price as the economy, and when we got there we were pleased to find that there were no compact cars in the lot, so we ended up getting a Kia Rondo.  Cory and I threw our bags in it, got the iPod hooked up via FM transmitter, and headed on our way.  We drove straight to CoMo, no interruptions.  When we got in, we went through the J-school to use the bathroom, then onward to Jesse hall to handle administrative stuff with regard to my student loans (which ended up being unnecessary…).  From there, we headed to my friend Scott’s house, where we hung out and played some halo.  When my friend Eric got into town, we headed up to Shakespeares to meet him for pizza.  At dinner, I got a call fromm one of my students who was at a College Summit event at Amherst college, and then the phone got passed to about 7 people, which was kinda fun.  When I finished the call and we finished the pizza, we headed back to Scott’s place.  We watched Eagle v. Shark (memories…) and drank some really good tea Scott had.  After that, we headed to Justin’s, where we set up hammocks (Justin let me use his mosquito net) and went to sleep.

The next morning, we got up, and Cory and I drove into town and went to Scott’s house.  We dragged him up to Cafe Berlin, where we got delicious organic food.  I had a carrot juice, which was especially memorable.  After that, we ran a few other little errands (such as to Bass Pro Shops, where I got an LED headlamp, a filet knife, etc.) then got back out to Justin’s to get ready for camping.  We got out there around 5, which was later than we might have liked, and hiked the mile.  I had on my blue backpack facing forward so I could use it’s straps as cushioning for the black hockey duffel bag I have, which was full and VERY heavy.  On top of that we carabeenered Justin’s new belly boat, which made for quite a precarious pack.  But less than an hour later, I had hauled it the entire way to the campsite.  First things first, we jumped in.  After a while, Justin set up fishing rods, and we got out, and I organized our campsite a bit.  Over the course of the evening, Justin caught about 8 fish, 5 of which he threw back.  We ended up keeping three of them, and Justin and I, with Katie’s supervision, fileted them down at the end of the lake.  We made a small fire, then put a skillet on it, then cut up avocados into it for moisture, then added some water, then PBR, then onions, and peppers, and the fish, and probablysome other things.  Then I cut pita breads open, and we precariously moved our meal into the pockets, pre-stuffed with cheese, and ate.  It was delicious!  After that, Justin’s cousins showed up, and we got to work hanging five hammocks - my two, Justin’s 2, and his landowner’s.  Justin was climbing pine trees and getting places I’d be incapable of climbing to just to make it work, but it worked.  Except we got eaten alive by bugs, especially Katie and I…

I woke up the next morning before dawn, and climbed all the way to the top of the ridge behind us to make a phone call.  Then I threw wood down, and almost hit Max, Justin’s cousin - my bad!  Then I took the belly boat out, and slept in it for a while, very comfortably.  Then I came in as everyone was waking up, and ate some sepcial K red berries with some hemp milk.  What a breakfast!  Eventually, people started waking up, we had another good swim, then we packed up our campsite and headed out.  The hike out wasn’t as bad as the hike in, but we reaked horribly when we got out.  We drove to a convenience store, where I got gatorade, a snickers ice cream bar, and some odd looks from the cashier - whatever.  Then we headed to Justin’s, where we showered, I packed stuff up, and we got in the vehicle.  From there, we headed to El Rancho, where I got a veggie chimichanga…mmmmm.  Then Cory and I drove all the way back to the Hertz dealership, got a ride from my dad to the loft, where Cory’s dad was waiting, and our weekend was over.

Julia and I went to see in the Heights this evening on Broadway.  It was really, really good.  A lot of fusion between multiple genres, excellent choreography and writing and set design, and very contemporary.  It cost $80, but it was worth it!

This morning, Mike got up at 9 (instead of being at his meeting at that time) so we didn’t head out until he got ready, attended it, and got back.  We took the train to the North Bronx, and Donohue picked us up at the stop.  She’d already gotten tweo magnums of wine, so we headed out.  We made our way pretty quickly, and even commented on how the directions must have been wrong.  But after driving around Westchester (beautiful homes, anyway) lost for a while, we got back on the interstate, and found out that the same highway touches the interstate at two places.  So we took it, got thrown off again when the highway sign telling us to turn was completely covered by a tree, and then made our way out to the end of the directions.  At this point, we pulled into a fruit stand, and a farmer informed me to look for the big tree…can’t miss it.  Indeed, we couldn’t, and finally, we had reached the Appalachian Trail.

We unloaded stuff and headed in.  We walked east, and uphill, until we got to alarge tree along the path.  We stopped her to relax for a bit, then walked through some cool reeds in a little low-lying area.  There were boards laid out end-to-end to walk on, which was cool/natural.  Then it was up, up, uphill until we got to farmland.  I waved at a farmer running a tractor, and he waved back, much to my compadres’ surprise.  Then we headed into a section of forest that had little underbrush, and we cut our way in.  I threw up both my hammocks, and we sat there and enjoyed the scene.  It was great.  Eventually, we headed out, retraced our footsteps, and at the top of the big hill, I asked if they wanted to run downhill.  They didn’t, but they offered to take my stuff so I could.  I started running, and it cut really steep, and I just kept going, until it spread out a bit, and my legs were turning down on top of each other but still couldn’t keep up, so I jumped, and somehow managed to do a somersault by just flinging my right shoulder back, and then I just kept running, which was pretty amazing.  I got all the way to the bottom, and stood in the shade for a bit.  Exhilirated, I waited.  Eventually, Mike and Jenna got there, I got my stuff back, and we walked back to the tree, where I stored my packs and Mike’s.  During that part of the hike, we saw monarch butterflies, dragonflies, rabbits, and even a whitetail deer.  Then I walked them down to the car, where a hiker was sitting.  Mike and Donohue left, and I sat down next to Butters (trail name, real name Bobby).  We talked for a while, then  I went and got something from my pack while he made mashed potatoes.  After he finished, we hiked west, all the way up about 600ft to the Telephone Pioneer Shelter.  It was pretty exhausting, but we sat up there and talked some, and then got out the log that is at every stop.  These logs allow hikers to communicate, and Butters had hiked ahead to write to his group.  I wrote “Kids should be educated in the woods” in it.  Then I hiked down to the road and the big tree again, and up to where my stuff was stowed.  I meditated as I watched the sun set, and made phone calls, as I somehow had service.  Then, I grabbed the hammocks and my blue bag, and hiked across the street, through a small lotus-y pond, and up to the rocks.  Then I went up a little farther, just to avoid the mosquitoes (which would turn out to be a failed effort…).  I tied up both hammocks, then hiked all the way back, got all the rest of the stuff, which was quite a bit of stuff, and hiked the same way again.  I left only a magnum of wine and a 2.5 liter of water behind.  The rest I slowly hauled downhill, across the road, through the lotus-y pond, uphill, up the rocks, and in.  Then I covered up as best I could as the mosquitoes proceeded to eat me alive (but not entirely).

Ben, Jess, and Hunter showed up about 2 hours later, at 9:30.  It was dark out, and I had them honk when they got to “a” big tree to ensure it was “the” big tree.  It was, so they unpacked, and then hiked in…slowly, because it was dark, wet, mosquitoe-filled and uphill.  While they did, I made a fire against a tree trunk between two rocks.  Then I went and sat out on the rock of the path and made shrew calls to approximate their distance.  At long last, they arrived, and unpacked.  They started drinking and cooking, but by this time, I was pretty tired.  I played some harmonica while Hunter played the drums, but eventually i had to go to my hammock.  I wouldn’t sleep for long, though.  After everyone else slept, I was awoken by an animal making a dreadful sound, which was answered by another animal of the same sound on the other side of our camp.  Slowly, the animal was coming nearer to us, so I got my flashlight out, and heard it move downhill.  At one point, I caught it’s eyes in the light, but still couldn’t see it.  Whenever the light was out, it kept coming up the hill.  Hunter happened to be sleeping on the ground of that hill, and at one point I swear the animal must have been standing on him.  By that point, I had my leatherman out, with its blade open.  I ended up getting out, walking over, finding nothing, and then eventually sleeping for maybe 2.5 hours.  I woke before the dawn, and watched it from my hammock.  After a while, Ben and Jess got up, but Hunter didn’t.  We cleaned up a little, then hiked down to the lotus pond.  It was less impressive, having been stomped through during the night.  But we ventured further, back to the car.  Then we walked back up, and started packing hammocks and everything else.  Eventually, we made Hunter get up.  That boy can sleep!  After we got our camp packed up, we went back to the car, unloaded in it, and then hiked back uphill to the point where I did my somersault.  I had realized, in the evening, that I was no longer wearing my glasses, so I was determined to find them on that hill, knowing that must have been where I lost them.  But when we got there, it was pretty big, and Hunter said, “you’ll never find them.”  Within three seconds of that statement, I had turned around and gcaught a glimpse of the sun in the grass.  I had found my glasses.  I picked them up; they were in perfect shape, with just a little dew on the lenses.  =)  We kept walking uphill though, and cut in to the same path I’d made the day before.  This time, though, we looked for walking sticks and explored.  We found some very crazy looking mushrooms, and after everyone had been called back to look, I noticed that we were pretty much in a snake’s den, with small entry holes all around us in the mud.  We left slowly, then left the woods altogether.  We walked further, all the way to the top of the ridge, where we could clearly see it was dropping off.  Then we went ALL the way back (this time I didn’t run downhill!).  We got in the car and headed back.  We stopped in a Diner at one point, and got breakfast that hit the spot.  I also emptied our trash into the hole on the side of one of those cigarette stands, as none other was in sight.  Then Ben drove us to the Norrth Bronx in Jess’s car, where Hunter and I walked back to a 6, which ran local all the way to 125, where I got off and got a bus across, then walked downhill, and was home in time for dinner!

(this date may be wrong…)

I finally finished making all my trades on Final Fantasy Tactics Advanced! I can finally return Delio’s GBA to him!

And when I did just that, some time around this date, he informed me that FFTA2 is about to come out for the DS…