the end is nigh

i am sitting in a coffee shop trying to find my old friend from middle school, listening to a live show of harry and the potters, and loving it. the old friend i am trying to find is named gerimy haines. he was a good friend when i was 14/15, we stole a bunch of things together and got caught. then he moved to oklahoma and wrote me a postcard about the government owned plots of marijuana. that was probably 1997 or 1998. i havent heard from him since. i dont know why i started thinking about him, but i cant find him anywhere, so, if you see him mention my name.

oooh pretty.

i am still here in rva and it is still great. i plan to leave on monday and this will be the second longest stretch of staying in one place. the first longest being indiana. so, it makes sense that this will be a turning point in the trip. the natural end and then forced self-discovery, and then the damage done. all of this in the dirty south. i have been thinking about where to go from here, quite a bit. i am going to head south to gainesville.

i think i am going to stick to the coast, but still may head inland and hit up some tennessee and western north carolina. i dont know. i am also flipping around the idea of going all the way down florida into the keys. it was an early goal of the trip, but when i look at it on the map it seems like it is just too far for too little reward. i will continue thinking about this one.

today, i received my last payment from the state of oregon concerning my unemployment. i have about $1800 to last me until this trip ends. i think i can make it last, and i will try to supplement this with some odd jobs from craigslist wherever i am. it is a bit liberating to know that i am out of the shadows of the state now, i no longer have to worry about being called in to their offices or being caught on the road or something.

now i have this new set of worries concerning money. luckily, i have never really been concerned about money and will not let this affect my journey very much.

yesterday i finished my tour of the holocaust museum and was still horrified by what i saw. i also split some wood in the backyard, which was hard. it was such a beautiful day. i alternated having my hands around the axe and around a good book. it was a nice day. then we had a nice dinner prepared ny r.j. (these people are so nice to stay with) and then muna and i had some more talk time.

the previous night we sat in her room talking about things and listening to music and it was really great. we have been having really good conversations each night since she has been back and it just feels good to know that she is my friend. we also watched a movie last night. we deliberated with netflix for a time to discover the perfect movie, and we settled on the awesome film "man on wire." i have seen the

who knew they built pyramids in the south!

movie three times now and read the book. while i was nodding off in during this watching, it never gets old. such a well done film.

today i had a lazy day. i woke up late and sat outside reading again for awhile. another beautiful day in richmond! then i was ready to undertake my day - i planned to check out the art museum. i found it but it was closed for renovations! boo! so i found an alternative day plan and went to the hollywood cemetary. this is where many virgina notables are buried, including some u.s. presidents, jefferson davis, other politcal people from virginias history, and 10's of thousands of confederate soldiers. they have a pyramid, erected by the daughters of the confederacy in memory of the fallen.

i drove around in the cemetary for awhile, but i just dont get cemetaries enough to have really appreciated it so i left for greener pastures. literally and figuratively. i went to the maymont nature conservatory and got a bit lost along the way. but when i found it i was happy i did. it is a large pretty open space that is, well, a nature conservatory. and partly a zoo. they have caged animals that are native to the region, such as: eagles, owls, a fox, some black bears, elk, deer, and some others. they also have some gardens and such.

oooh pretty.

really, it was just a nice green space that was so quiet. i could hear some planes every now and again, and the highway sometimes, but mostly it was just birds singing in the fall. leaves covered the ground, the black bear paced along the walls, the horse neighed, and everything was right. except of course the signs that near the animal pens that read "wild animals are dangerous, please do not feed these animals." clearly a caged animal is no longer "wild."

i walked all along the grounds and it felt very good. the air was crisp but the sun was out. i just wore my vest and my arms had a pleasant tingle but overall i was warm and just loving it. i could live here. and be happy. there is so much to do, i doubt i will get through it all even though i will have been here almost two weeks by the time i leave. amazing!