Blergh? Blargh? Blog

uh...

Hey all. I've lurked a little in checking out the blog, but I haven't gotten around to posting anything until now. Really good to hear what you've all been up to. Apologies are due all around, I guess I've been a little anti-social, as usual...

Life has been really insane, in a not so good way. Had some pretty rough times in the two weeks after I got back from TASP. The day after I got back to Chico I went backpacking on the Lost Coast for four days with two of my good friends. My friend Reid's truck had some battery problems and we almost didn't make it out to the coast, but we push started a good bit and managed it somehow. I hadn't been backpacking since eighth grade, so that was good, real hardcore though, steep trails and my friends hike fast. There was poison oak everywhere on the trail, and I ended up getting the oak real bad all over my body a day into the trip. That wasn't so good, but the coast was beautiful.

The day I got back from backpacking I went to a wedding and got to see my brother Max, who lives in DC, and was stopping through on his cross-country summer biking extravaganza. It was good to see him, if only for a few hours. The next morning I left for the Trinity Alps to go visit my girlfriend for the last two days of the backpacking camp she had been a counselor at over the summer. Needless to say, that didn't go so well. On the way to Ashland, Oregon, where we were going to go chill for a couple days, her car broke down a few times. We also got in a car accident in another car... long story short, we got towed to Ashland, ended up stranded there for a few days. I eventually took the greyhound bus back in time for the last day of the first week of school. In the middle of that the relationship ended... Not so good.

So yeah, its been a little rough readjusting from the summer. High school is a joke, but I'm only really taking Physics and Economics, my first two periods consist of me hanging out with my old English teachers ("English Enrichment" and Aiding), and I can get away with not showing up until 10am some days, so that's alright. My two classes at Chico State are going to save this year for me. I'm taking a survey of American Literature and a fiction writing course, and so far they're both excellent.

Still, my High School experience seems pathetic in comparison to TASP. Economics makes me want to start strangling everyone in sight, screaming gibberish until they straightjacket me. I probably learned more from Charles' PubSpeak than I will from this entire semester, so I'm reading The Iliad in class instead. I sometimes wonder if the whole month and a half was some kind of weird hallucination I cooked up inside my head. I have a really hard time explaining to other people what happened, its hard to translate everything that happened in Michigan back into the everyday (Ironic?). I've missed you all a lot, a good deal more than I was ready for. I really could have used hanging out with the whole TASP crew these past few weeks.

All in all, things are looking up for the I-Man. This weekend I'm going to go on a tour to Idaho (Idaho? Long story...) with my poetry slam team. That should be real good, I'm looking forward to the mayhem that will ensue. While in Idaho I think I'm turning 18 (September 3rd), so we'll see if anything changes. I doubt it.

By the way- A very belated HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!!! Adam, sorry for slacking on that one. I'll make it up to you, somehow. Hope the 21 is going well so far.

Once again, apologies to all for not posting something sooner. Keep in touch, I seriously will try to keep things up on my end, though maybe sporadically at times. Meredith, I'm really not ignoring your e-mail, I know its been a week, but I will definitely get back to you, hold me to that- Samyukta, I owe you some poems: Supreme apologies. Apologies all around! Word.

Glad all you folks down south are doing alright, things are looking a little scary thereabouts. Sam, those book titles were horrendous, your uncle deserves some kind of medal...

I ramble. I'll be in New York for a few days in the middle of October for my Grandma's 80th birthday. I'll be out there again in April for the National Youth Poetry Slam. I seriously hope all of ya'll roundabouts can make it to that- I guarantee it will be phenomenal, not to be missed. Anyway, hit me up, let me know what's going on. You folks have left a large mark on me and I'm extremely thankful for having the honor of meeting each and every one of you. I hope to see you again sometime in the not-too-far-off-future. We'll see. I'll try not to be too anti-social. Take Care All. Best of Luck and all that...

Blergh.

Isaac