Airports and Tacos

Local Time|1840hr
Location|St paul Airport
Music| David Clemmer
Reading|HP Lovecraft’s The Dreams in the Witch House
Food|Taco Bell

First leg down, PDX to St paul. Lets start with your first concern: Why am I eating Taco Bell? Well my friend, so doth start my diet as a penny pinching traveler. This is not to say that I have not enjoyed my Taco Bell, but I do know what is in this ‘food’. In an airport where the average sushi roll is 9usd, I can hardly stick to my ideal, or even projected budget eating a 40usd meal my first day. Chicken (sort of) burrito, beefy(hardly) burrito, crunchy(I suppose it was when they bought the shells?) taco: 4.10usd. Hot damn, that’s about as cheap as any Taco Bell meal I’ve ever eaten, and I still have a burrito left for second supper!

As for the music, David Clemmer, don’t get too excited, I don’t miss you yet. But I am sure, at some point, I will. This is why you should (probably) come travel with me for a bit. Crowd funding permitting.

There is snow outside, but in that special way in which it is only seen on flat surfaces, and only the un-traversed ones, that suggests it has been there a while, but has not recently fallen. It is pleasantly cold, and even a tad drier, though I can only ascertain that reality from the brief walk up the Gate-ramp from my plane. I will be here, in this singular place that exists all over the world( airports are all, pretty much, the same), for another 3 hours. And no, I will not spell out three unless I so choose.

Now before exposing what the picture of this traveler looks like, I want to let you know that I am not, in fact, a dumbass. Between the systematic way in which my parents travel, making sure all the stuff is in order. I have been a camping type for a long while, and love to carry my things on my back into the untold wilderness… unless I am making my horse do it for me. An aside: she enjoys it, believe me. I spent 8 months in a wilderness immersion program that involved unpacking my gear from a 1970s aluminum frame pack borrowed from my father, cleaning that which was soiled, and re-packing for the next week, based loosely on the curriculum to be covered. I am no stranger to traveling. This time around though, it is a whole new monster.

I will be traveling in the urban wilderness, largely, with my recently purchased REI pack. crestrail 70, if you’re curious. Another aside: while I find black friday to be a corrupt creation of evil corporations trying to hype up the over-blown consumerism in the US, I feel that if I were intent on purchasing something before Black Friday and thus chose to wait until said friday to obtain a deal, am I not in fact hurting their profit margin, at the very least in relation to their expected? They hype Black Friday in hopes of obtaining additional sales to the normal, getting people frantic about spending money on things they probably don’t need. Therefore, they offer then cheaper, thinking to further entice these frantic purchases. If I wait to buy what I was going to buy anyways until I can get 35% off, well…. I may still be fueling the corporations, but at least I didn’t do it the way they wanted. And besides, how evil can REI be?

What was I even talking about? Right, new form of travel. As of leaving the vehicle, so kindly driven by my parents, I left my lifestyle living in the basement and working in the garage, driving a car into town, etc etc, for one that encompasses a much smaller ‘personal space’ that encompasses my person, my pack, and not much more. I connect to my old life only through this electronic device, dealing with remaining tax work for 2011, and whatever other home-side tasks await me. When I return, I will be changed, and therefore as it be an expression of my person, My Life will no longer be as it once was.

Wax poetic; I blame Lovecraft. And I blame Prairie for his presence in my bag. Blame, blame, blame. What was the point in all that? Oh yes. I am not a dumbass. With that clearly established, obviously, I want to let you know that I packed very intentionally, and without unnecessary bits. a single flashlight, the minimal amount of clothing necessary, a single smaller sketchbook, etc etc. All have a place and a purpose in a large portion of my trip. Except one.

I may or may not be wearing my my Mongolian Del. With guidance, I made it myself. Rabbit fur collar (that the dry cleaner lady felt necessary to remove the ragged medieval look from, by resewing it together neatly and stitching it on cleanly, all while reversing the grain on one of the furs… awkward asymmetry is awkward.), navy blue linen lining in a rougher spun brown/beige linen coat. Traditional ties, etc. It’s nice. It’s cozy, and if I need to, it becomes impressively small in one of my travel vacuum bags. But. it still, technically, only applies to a small portion of my trip. That is, lounging, camping, and medieval events. Point is. This thing is a familiar part of my life that I would like to carry over to my new one, and it does, in fact, help define my person a bit more. You thought I was going to just blend in this whole trip? Hardly. Only half of the time…. part of it….. some of it? Worst case, it only costs about 60usd and a few hours to make a new one, so I can always leave it with someone nice that will love it and wear it, and replace it later.

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Onto other news, I found this awkward little man-bag shoulder-pack thing under the stairs at my parents house. They didn’t care if it got lost in europe forever. But… you know… it’s kinda cool. Excellent travel bag. may attempt to keep it around for a while… but we’ll see.

Otherwise, nothing to report. I have some writing brewing for you as per the amazing view during descent through the cloud-cover. My feet are sweaty, thanks to my wool socks and the well warmed airport, and the TV is playing some Mitt Romney nonsense. I do commend one of the newscasters for saying ‘bullshit’ on tv, though I cannot tell for certain if she is for against Mitt, as I do not, in all honestly, care about Mitt. Or his bullshit.

Ending on a better note: I found that the point at which I crossed the veil and entered into the space that will be here-to defined as ‘my new life’ occurred somewhere above 10k ft elevation, after my gingerale, and somewhere in the middle of ‘Fish Tank’. Welcome to world Douglas, you will hitherto finish the evolution by which you will become Douglas Cedric, in your entirety.
-Douglas Cedric