Feed Me To Stones - Olympa, Day 1; Friday

So I had one of the best weekends I've had in a long time. And not being the type to be content with a short explanation of the goings on, I had to type an extremely long briefing of the events that unfolded. This is just the first day of a two and a half day visit with my friend Colin over at Evergreen College in Olympia. I'll post the next part tomorrow.


So 2008 seems to be the year of totally awesome weekends. First there was the one with Kenne (tyger_raven) treating Amanda and I to Universal Studios and Wicked. Then there was the one with my little sister at Magic Mountain and flying with Kristine. Not to mention the abundant amount of hanging with friends like Dee, Josh, Eric, Zach, and even the family romps. I've been having great times this year amongst the major life changes. But this weekend is definitely a contender for raddest one so far.

This past weekend I went to go hang out with my friend Colin kungfuechidna who I met online through nefarious means (read: okcupid.com). It was a weekend of blindness, transmutation, and dumpster flowers among other things. Needless to say, I wish I had had my fucking camera on hand!


"Man, I really hope this is the 'right' Olympia."

I left Ruston at approximately 2 o'clock. I had to use mapquest to find out the first bus stop was across the street and up five feet. That's just to illustrate how much getting-lost potential I had going for me during this trip. To make matters more interesting, both of my roommates phones were recently turned off. So basically, if at any point I got lost or stuck somewhere I was quite literally fucked.

So, when I got to my transfer area in downtown Tacoma and had to find Bay H and the bay's end at G, I got kind of freaked out. See, the way it was set up was letters A-D were on one side of the street and E-G were on the other side. I rounded the corner, and they weren't there. I kept my cool and kept walking up and down the streets pretending I knew where I was going, haha. Eventually I found H... across the street the OTHER way. J was just across from that, for some reason. I have no idea why it's set up like this, but I'm just glad I found it.

So after riding the second bus-- at one point freaking out because I wasn't sure if I had passed the last transit area I was supposed to get off at-- I make it to downtown Olympia. But Colin is running late, and quite honestly I'd only seen a few pictures of him online so I only vaguely knew what I was looking for. Obscenely tall somewhat paunch white guy with brown/red hair. Sort of like my friends Kyle and Kasey back home. Shouldn't be too hard.

After one mis-identification (thankfully he ignored me) I hear someone call me from behind. I turn around, and in my foggy-minded confusion kind of stare and wonder aloud "Colin?" See, I had the plan of tackling the man and possibly screaming incoherently just to make him wonder if this were a good idea. But I was tired, and a bit nervous considering I knew not where I was nor how to get home-- so he got as best as I had to offer, poor guy. I think I even shook his hand for some reason.

Whatever, first impressions are for suckers.


"I must admit, I've never read that."

So I have to say one thing: I never believed in love at first site until I visited Olympia.

When I lived in Santa Monica it took me a while to really fall in love with the area and Venice. I never did fully explore the area, and wish I had. But I did loved it, it was the bastion of culture I wanted to be surrounded by. So when I left I instantly began to miss it.

Olympia had me with the flailing folk-punk kids dancing across the intersection.

Colin gave me a brief tour of the area, starting with an alley leading to a big scary room full of... people making... stuff. You see, there's a parade every year called the Procession Of The Species in the fair city of Olympia. It's where the weirdos-- and let's be fair, everybody in this town is a weirdo it seems-- parade through the streets wearing animal or animal-similar costumes, citizen-made floats, and all sorts of fun stuff. It's a busy weekend that almost everybody obsesses over, it seems. In this particular warehouse was a make-shift studio for people to house their costumes, floats, and generally wreak creative havok.

It made me so happy, and so mad I had decided to leave my camera behind. Seriously. I had first hand accounts of everything going on and I missed out. Ah well, there's next year!

We walked around more and talked above various things. But when we walked past a used book store, we had to go inside. It was a great book store with a massive selection. But the best part was that the sci-fi section was tucked in the back through a doorway, giving it a seedy porn-section feel to it XD! It was so awesome.

"Oh, Contact!" Colin cooed as he pulled a hardcover copy of the book off the shelf. He'd talked about it before, and it's written by a scientist I have been meaning to learn more about-- Carl Sagan.

"I must admit," I said, perusing other book titles. "I've never read that."

The resolve had set itself on Colin's face. He hup'ed the book up and, turning heel, marched to the front of the store and bought it before handing it over to me. Funnily enough, I hadn't caught onto the idea that he was actually getting it for me. So, needless to say, I was happily surprised. Let me just say, of what I've read so far it is indeed the amazing book Colin has proclaimed it to be.

After a bit more touring, we were on a bus heading toward Evergreen University where I'd be staying the weekend. The campus is literally surrounded by a rain forest, hence the name Evergreen I imagine. It's really incredible, and beautiful. Washington as a whole is worlds away from the parts of California I've lived in. It's insane.

So after dropping my stuff off in his dorm room we went over to the campus food-place (I forget the name right now) to get some dinner, which is where I also had a chance to meet some of his other friends. Interesting crowd in this school. I liked it.


James Luna

After dinner we went to catch a performance at the Longhouse. Colin had gotten tickets to see a man named James Luna, a Native-American/Mexican performance artist. I presume that originally the extra ticket was for Colin's boyfriend, Kyle. But seeing as how Kyle was called away to a convention in Portland, I scored the leftovers. Go, scavengers!

I was totally unsure of what to expect from this guy, to be honest. And to be even more honest(er?), at first I didn't dig what the guy was doing. It was weird, and confusing, and I think he might have insulted my delicate sensibilities by barking at the lady in front of us. But... yeah, that's where I'm gonna leave that bit.

The rest, though, did pick up. He mostly talked, sometimes in character and sometimes as himself. One of his more interesting bits was his discussion about growing up in Anaheim (not too terribly far from where I lived in CA) and live on the reservation, all while cooking a Spam-based food thing. The smell was intoxicating, I must admit. It was a pretty genius move on his part, because every bit of food he'd add into it added a new level, and drew me in more and more. It was pretty interesting.

There was music toward the end as well. Actually, there was music all the way through-- a live band accompanied him. But near the end it became more music-focused, with spoken word over it.

"Hello, Demon. Hello, Demon my old friend." That piece gave me tingles. Those lines, when talking about addiction and depravity, really felt intense. But the piece that got me the most was when he talked about his home burning down on the reservation, and how neighboring tribes and a Baptist church from Oklahoma help him and several others rebuild everything. Very moving stuff.

Oh, and if you think that he was the only interesting thing about his performance let me tell you about the heckler.

This asshole in the audience doesn't seem to grasp the concept that, you know, not every performance is like Rocky Horror Picture Show, or moreover it's not stand-up. It's a performance. You shut your fucking trap, and you let everyone else enjoy it. This isn't to say his talking out of turn was really negative. It was kind of funny once, maybe twice. But it was irritating, and this guy didn't quite understand that. So the people running the show decided to come over and politely explain to him that if he didn't shut the fuck up they'd kick his ass out.

Not the kind of man to learn his lesson and be humble about it, he storms out of the room and-- as I heard it from one of Colin's friends later who had the misfortune of hearing the whole thing-- loudly complain about how he was being treated, demand his money back, and get generally upset when the house decreed that no, he had watched half the performance already so he wouldn't get a refund. Apparently there was much general haberdashery, and irritation of the loud variety all around. Eventually he left, it seems. Despite that, the performance went on well without him to route it on.


Midnight stroll through the treacherous dark woods

After the performance we stopped by Colin's room for a while to rest. It was late, and while we didn't intend to sleep yet it had been a pretty long day for both of us.

But eventually restlessness kicked in and Colin already had an idea of what we were gonna do next.

Donning a my long-sleeve/tee-shirt combo, a jacket, and a beanie in pocket I followed the sandal-wearing, tee-shirt and shorts having freak-o-nature into the chilly air outside. We were going for a midnight stroll through the forest.

For those of you still living in places like LA, or otherwise near well-populated areas, let me tell you one thing. Nature? Nature is EXTREMELY fucking dark. Five feet into those woods and I was completely lost. Not to mention my eye sight is getting kind of bad lately as it is, so it was just... I was lost. If you had blind folded me, walked me fifteen feet into those woods, spun me around and left me to fend for myself you'd find one less Jeremy in this world, and one quite full forest animal. Also, you'd have a new weeping ghost haunting that particular plot of land.

But while nature is exceedingly dark at night, when you look up through the canopy and see the stars above... It made my heart flutter. I'm an art fag, I know this. Things like nature make me happy. Some people cry at the end of movies, and I get all giggly-gay in a beautiful sunset. So seeing the trees silhouetted around me and a clear starry sky over me made my heart go a'flutter.

But back in reality-land, this trail was an impossible one. If Colin moved more than five feet ahead of me my eyes played an optical trick on me making it seem that he was suddenly rushing forward really fast and getting enveloped by the darkness, even though when he talked he was still very clearly nearby. To make matters worse, the ground was uneven, muddy, roots were everywhere... and in MANY many parts, it was full of twists, steps, hills, and all manner of impossible things to traverse in the darkness. I had to have Colin guide me through everything like I were a blind man, haha. I had to hold his arm practically the entire arm, for fear the darkness (or The Predator) would sweep him away from me and I'd be forced to sob incoherently and possibly pee my pants.

But it was all totally worth it. When we finally got to our destination I was completely blown away. We were on the edge of the inlet. The water was totally still, there was no moon in the sky but tons of stars. There were a few houses on the edge of the water on the other side, up in the small hills; their lights reflecting in the water. It was absolutely stunning. Then Colin started slapping at the water, and things started flashing.

"What're you doing?" I was totally confused, but amused at the same time.

They're fish, he went on to explain. Bioluminescent fish; some using a phosphate based system in their bodies to create the glow, and others naturally evolving their own totally not yet understood way of doing it as well. More interesting was that they're cool burn, which it seems is still a scientific marvel. Also, they're REALLY pretty. Like REALLY REALLY pretty.

In all honesty, it was a really romantic spot. Hell, if Colin weren't already attached we probably would've been having a make-out party. Don't worry though, Kyle. I'm not gonna steal your man, haha. It was a nice spot, though.


Sleepy time

After eventually making it out of the woods we decided to call it a night. But not to let idle normality muss up this weekend, Colin suggested we sleep in 'the loft.' Not sure what 'the loft' was, I agreed and away we went to the tenth floor of the dorm building. In the kitchen-type-area was a ladder, and at the top of the ladder was what can technically be thought of as an eleventh floor of sorts... only really small, and just a weird corner area.

That's where we slept, and it was awesome.

Up to about two years ago I was deathly afraid of heights. I would be okay going up them, but I'd constantly feel this rushing feeling in my body, as if I were getting ready for the floor to fall out from under me at any moment. Then I started doing parkour and buildering, and I grew more comfortable with being high and unsecured. Not greatly so, but just enough. Then a few weeks ago I went flying with Kristine, her dad, and my little sister. I fell in love with being high in the air. When I was on the plane trip up north I took a window seat, and staring out the window most of the time I kept longing for the plane to be higher and higher. I felt like a little kid obsessed with planes.

So being in that loft, up so high above the ground-- and not just the ground, but precariously perched over the tile below-- it was just a neat feeling. And yeah, I know it's weird. I loved it, though. I'm a freak like that.