A (now monthly) blog post and the close of Summer Part 1

In 9 days (July 17th), I head off for Costa Rica to volunteer with the sloths at Aviarios. Of course, my carbon footprint getting there will cancel out whatever good work I could hope to achieve, but ah well. At least it will be pretty, and hopefully educational.

This last week has been a hectic one, after over a month of very quiet summer. Last weekend I went camping with Shawn and a couple friends about halfway to San Fransisco (right beneath the fires), then took off to Colorado for the week to visit a bunch of friends who drove there and were staying with Jessica's aunt, who lives there. Went on a couple cool walks and saw a rodeo, which was a cultural experience and a half. Then came back for the 4th and headed out the next day to camp with Robbie in the mountains right above LA. All this has made me somewhat feel that I've done something this summer.

However, I'm reading a book called "Doing Nothing: A History of Loafers, Loungers, Slackers, and Bums in America" which is making me feel a lot better about the summer. Fuck you, Post-Industrial Puritan Work Ethic! It's got me thinking about people who avoid working (like at a Starbucks, not at anything in life), and the ways to live without a shite 9-5 minimum wage job--without being a wage slave. More so how it can be done well, or differently, rather than how I've heard of or seen it done: Keroac bumming around and surviving on apple pie, the couchsurfer I hosted last year living on people's couches and being a "freegan" (a person who takes food that the grocery store puts out back as it reaches its sell-by date) until he learned it was illegal in the UK. What other ways are there to do this? Something like my Costa Rica trip seems something of an answer, though of course that comes with a fee. But there are networks like WWOOF (Worldwide Opportunities on Organic Farms) where you can stay at a farm and get room and board for a day's work. Sure, it's still work, but its not $8/£4.45 per bored hour of the same day to day tasks. I was at a bonfire last night for Shawn going back to Jordan (where he's working for the semester) and hearing everyone sit and talk about their jobs was the most depressingly adult thing I think I've ever experienced.

I feel like there are, again, infinitely many things I want to do before I leave again. It makes me wish I had to leave sooner, almost, because in 9 days I can get a lot done...the question is, what to choose to do?

In Costa Rica I'll only have access to the internet in internet cafes, so posts will be...probably more frequent, if anything! When you're on a schedule, you tend to get shit done that needs done rather than watching that YouTube video another 7 times...