nature

the canoe trip was a success. as if there was any doubt. if i'm telling the truth, there were some instances when it could have been better, but overall i'd give it a solid A.

there's something about being on the river that's so peaceful and relaxing. if only there were automatic pilots in the boat so i could lie there all day and take in the sights and sounds. oh wait, i did have an automatic pilot in my boat, and his name was brad! ha. seriously though, it was absolutely picturesque out there. if i could build a house on the river and experience that every day, i think i would.

oddly enough, most people wouldn't peg me for the outdoorsy type of guy. in their defense, there are a lot of things about being outside that i don't enjoy...

1) large bugs (mainly arachnids)

2) humidity

3) unintentionally sweating

4) unintentionally getting dirty

but for the most part, i love the outdoors. i love nature. i love nature being outdoors.

perhaps it's my love for all things 'survivor' that has heightened my admiration for camping and exploring and adventure. that does make sense, does it not? there is this part of me that is head over heels for that stuff. if i find a little trail hidden in the woods, i want to be a nature detective and see where it leads. i have that kind of mindset. but i'm admittedly not the stereotypical mountain man. i don't have enough beard, for one thing, and i'm not using leaves as toilet paper anytime soon.

deliverance

canoe trip! no banjos, please.

agatha

i don't read a lot of books. let me just get that out of the way. i understand that reading is fundamental and all that jazz, but it's not really my schtick. don't get me wrong, i appreciate a good book when i come across one, but on the whole, i'd much rather wait for the movie.

it's just that you have to invest a lot when it comes to reading. you have to take the time to find a book worth reading, then you have to actually read it, and lord knows how long that could take. i've never been one of those people who can sit and read for hours upon hours and finish a book in a day. that's just not me. i'm not patient enough for that. hell, i fell asleep the other night after reading two chapters. and it's not that i wasn't interested in the subject matter, but it's just that staring at little black words on off-white pages does not thrill me. it's boring, no matter what the book is about.

having said that, i am very much wanting to get another book. because believe it or not, i have finished four books in the past month. now, there are definitely some asterisks that go along with that.

the first book i finished was started a few months back, so i literally finished it in the last month... technically doesn't count.

the next one i started a long time ago and apparently got bored with it or something and never finished. a co-worker started reading it and that must have prompted me to pick it back up. being that i had read half of it before, and re-read it again, i would say that one technically doesn't count either.

so we're down to two. two books that i have read from beginning to end in the last two weeks(ish). that makes me happy. and makes me feel productive and smarter, for some reason. not saying that people who read are generally smarter than those who don't, but i would say that's a fair generalization. and i am happy to now fit that generalization, to some extent.

it really is a good feeling though when i finish a book. i feel accomplished. like "hey world. i took the time to read all 347 pages of this novel and i feel good about it. no, i do not feel as if i wasted my time, and yes i would enjoy another. thank you."

so that is now my dilemma. i must venture out into the world of literature and find a new piece for me to tackle. i've grown quite fond of agatha christie. i do love a great mystery and a clever twist never hurt either. she may be my lady of the summer. any other recommendations? and if you say 'twilight', i will have to harm you.

observation

i don't know of many places to go here in lawrence that are good for tanning. i'm not far from the lake, but as for finding a good secluded place that i can sprawl out for hours in little to nothing, i've yet to be successful. i lived in manhattan long enough to discover the perfect spot at tuttle to lay out all day in my underwear and not have to worry about getting arrested for indecent exposure (can you get arrested for that if you're still in your underwear?). which brings me to the field.

there's a "field" of sorts by the overlook at the lake. it's a field in the sense that there is a lot of grass and not much else, but in reality, it's just a baron strip of land next to an outhouse and some state buildings. very picturesque, as you can tell. not secluded enough to warrant skivvy-wearing, but it does the job.

but it's fun being out in the middle of nature and listening to the sounds of the birds and the wind (or lack of. damn it was hot today!) and the bugs.

by the way, having a bee do one of those kamikaze fly-bys is not pleasant. it almost always makes you crap your pants.

being someone who's not the biggest fan of the insect world, i'm very surprised that i would allow myself the chance of even coming in contact with anything living in the grass. i often get the sensation that something is crawling on my leg or tickling my toes, and to an onlooker, it probably looks like i'm having a seizure by the vast amount of flailing and lurching i do to rid my body of the pest.

i only have two main objections to tanning in the field:

1) spiders live in the grass. my towel is on the grass. i am on the towel. put the pieces together.

2) there are so many bees! seriously. there are lots of bees. i know if i don't disturb them, they won't bother me, but there's always that little part in the back of my mind that thinks a swarm of them will overtake me and turn me into a giant puffy mass. ew.

despite my bug-phobia though, i found it rather fascinating to delve into their world and do nothing more than watch. just lay there... and watch. it's oddly voyeuristic in a way. i don't get off watching bugs or anything, but the sheer fact that i can entrench myself into this world we see every day but think nothing of, and observe the day-to-day life is very cool. it would not be cool if someone was watching us like that, because that would be scary, but essentially it's the same concept. like a miniature safari, but without the man-eating creatures and the cool jeep.

i believe i observed six different spiders during my 120 minutes of sun bathing, and not once did i completely freak out. why is that? perhaps it's because i was invading their environment and not the other way around. i knew that i would eventually leave them there, so they pose no threat to me once i stop watching them. or perhaps it's because i knew they weren't deadly! not once did i see any brown recluses scampering about in the wilderness. they're the snobs of the spider world. they have to have better accommodations than their spider friends, so they crash in the nearest apartment building they can find.

regardless, i believe the next time i venture out into the field, i will do a little more watching, because it really is amazing the things you see out there when you really pay attention. a camera might come in handy too. hmm...

june?

so much for having an active blog. shoot, i went an entire month without a single bit of anything. not saying that nothing blog-worthy happened in my life. i was just a) too lazy, b) forgetful, or c) a scary combination of the two. either way, i'm hoping to be more active from now on. but come time for that big hollywood scout to search the blogosphere for the "next big thing", i highly doubt my june-less online journal will stand out. damn.