hello you person.

I don’t like to be dirty. I like showers. I’m pretty fond of electricity. I am often chained to devices with brightly lit screens. I’m trying to break this cycle. (not that I won’t still like showers… but that I won’t NEED them)

I went up to Macomb  two weekends and I mountainbiked with my friend Andrew(and am going again this weekend). It was really friggin awesome. The course is just over a foot wide and full of challenging obstacles. I didn’t think to bring a helmet… a decision I regretted as I was flying over my handlebars and my chest slammed into a nearby tree. I had a wicked headache for the rest of the ride but it felt good (in a weird way) to get my first big wipeout out of the way.

Last I camped Friday through Sunday at Meramec River with eight people for my friend Kim’s b-day. Last time I camped was probably circa 2002, but I think something about alcohol makes the whole situation more tolerable. Kayaking there was an absolute blast! I jumped from trees, cliffs, did “kayak surf fighting”, got applauded when I did a perfect backflip from the ropeswing, and did front flips from the raft slip-n-slide (you run from the shore, slide on the underside of the raft, and four guys jerk the end of the raft upward when you get to the end).

Also, I did something I hadn’t done this whole millenia. I went fishing. I had ALOT of trouble with my pole (which came with no instructions) and I somehow had line unraveling from three spots. But I worked out the kinks and caught a bluegill. Awesome.

Oh, and a useless fact. I was born on a Friday. http://scphillips.com/units/dayform.html

Despite all my rage I am still just a rat in a cage – Billy Corgan

My hamster’s name is Pipsqueak. My hamster is free. It has a cage but I leave its cage on the ground with the cage door open. It can come and go as it pleases. It runs freely about the house all night and in the morning I see its sleeping back in its cozy little bed with its store of food nearby. It knows where home is and it loves its home. I’ve seen it run up its ramp to the cage, only to start running on the wheel. It has the whole house to explore… but sometimes not going anywhere is a good thing.

Most people live in cages, some have cages forced upon them and some step into the cage lock the door and chuck the key out of reach. I’ve lived in a medium sized town in Illinois for 22 of my 23 years (I lived in another medium sized town in Illinois for one year in college). Point is… I feel like I still have a choice, I could stay in my safe little cage in my own private cozy little world with my little wheel and a nice store of food, water, and comforts. But I have the option to run around the house. It’s a pretty big house and I’d much like to see all the different rooms.

All metaphors aside I’ve been thinking about where I’d like to head in life. I’ve always just assumed I’d graduate college (which I did), get a nice steady job and move up the ranks, afford a nice car, a nice house, get a nice wife, and have wonderful intelligent kids. (Actually, scratch the car, I think I’ll still be driving ugly cars that run well if I’m a millionaire.) But why lock myself up so soon? I’ll have plenty of time to putter around confined to a single town when I’m old and my knees are shot. Here’s what I’d rather do.

I’d like to have a job where I would be able to work from anywhere. Just me, my RV and my wifee (and a laptop with satellite internet). Out on the road, hopping from town to town. Maybe staying a month… or however long it takes to get a taste of living there… and deciding it would suck to be stuck there. I’d just do my web work whenever I got a chance and my wife could do the same… or something like art or photography. Maybe even play some music, do some stand-up when I got a chance. Oh, and the RV will run mostly on solar energy. Gas isn’t going to get any cheaper. (Whether by actual scarcity, commodities investors, or the government forcing us to be a certain color.) All this is tentatively planned for 5 years from now, assuming I’ll have enough saved up to afford an RV. Or I’ll just ride my bike around Europe.

From all this musing, I take this. The babies and mortgage can wait. Why run on the wheel? The house won’t always be mine to explore.

On a final note: Billy Corgan, you will always be my #1 Billy. RIP Billy Mays and may Billy Zane honor your position as my new 2^nd favorite Billy.