Long Time, No Write...

So it's been a lil' while since I last had something to say that I thought was worth putting into this blog. In the meantime, I've just been doing the usual crap: hiking around here & there, working overtime to save up money for a down payment on a house, and looking for that ever-elusive dateable guy.

My camera turned up missing when I brought it up with me to take "before & after" pictures at the other store. I'm a little peeved about it, but I more blame myself for not keeping closer tabs on something like that. Oh well, I'm going to buy another one soon, maybe one with a bit more functionality :).

I finished The Hours... a bittersweet novel, but still it was well written and worth the reading time. I don't have much to say about it seeing as most everyone I've met has either seen the movie, read the book, or both. I didn't think that it lived up to the hype which surrounded it. However, according to one of my friends, I HAVE TO see the movie as well.

I just started reading The Bean Trees, by Barbara Kingsolver a few days ago... a fictional story about a simple Kentucky girl who decides to buy a beat-up car and go out driving the highways towards the west, and ends up in posession of an infant Indian child along the way. The story is a somewhat gritty, but warm tale which details this woman's hardships, triumphs, and seemingly natural motherly instinct (despite the fact that she has not, as of yet, had a child of her own)... as well as some fairly raw commentary about life. It is a very engaging read thus far, I am already halfway through the book. Ms. Kingsolver has a talent for good character development and involving the reader in the story. There is a sequel to the book entitled Pigs In Heaven and I am already wanting to get my hands on it. I have to say that reading books like this is giving me a finer appreciation for good writing and well-developed stories.

Speaking of books and movies, I think that I was the last gay man on earth who hadn't seen Brokeback Mountain, so a coworker of mine lent me the DVD and I watched it the other night. I thought it was a good story and the actors did a nice job portraying Ennis and Jack. I was almost in tears at the conclusion though. What a depressing way for the story to end. :( It sort of makes me feel fortunate to be living in an era when gay men (in many areas) are able to establish relationships and live an uncloseted life without the harsh social stigma and potential for physical abuse that was attached to it a few decades ago.

So yesterday I went on the longest hike I've ever been on; about 16-18 miles total. I went up the trail at the base of Green Mountain, this time determined to attain 3 goals before dark: discover the location of the REAL warming hut, find and swim in one of the Claremont reservoirs, and pick at least a quart of wild black raspberries. I succeeded on all fronts. My wandering brought me out in the next town on a back road and I almost didn't make it back to town before dark. I definitely got my exercise.

The warming hut is a small ghetto-style shack (maintained by the "Shugah Valley Snow Riders") located about 2/3 of the way up the mountain, just under the power lines. It is furnished with a small wood-stove, 2 sets of filthy bunk-beds, a beat-up table and a few beat-up chairs, a manky oriental rug, and a broken lantern. It's probably big enough to host up to 8 people for a night 10 if they pack in like sardines. It looks like a lot of people have partied hard there though, judging from the beer cans all over the place and the burns on the walls & mattresses, as well as the spiral-bound log book on the table filled with statements such as "6/13/06: KILLER KEGGER, ran out of weed though!" and "4/22: This place sucks, Jay almost set his leg on fire. We ran out of beer and there's not a store around for miles." I'd have to clean it up beforehand, but I'm thinking of taking some friends along for a hiking/camping party there this autumn :)