Turning the Corner...

The time has come to get a place of my own, and I have found the perfect one. It is in a great location (for me) and in a good neighborhood. In fact, there are one-million dollar homes a block away. It's also in my price range, with everything paid except electric.

The only issue is that it's not available until the 20th of August, and I need a place on the 1st. So I'm currently looking for a temporary roommate or sublet situation to float me for three weeks.

Also, I've been unofficially promoted at the movie theater!

On Tuesday, I begin my training in the box office downstairs. This is cool for many reasons, but the short end of it is: more money!

The box office at the Alamo is very different than at other movie theaters. For one, customers pick the seats they will be sitting in at the box office, and it is the first stop for newcomers who don't know how dine-in movie theaters work. They are understandably confused to realize we do not have a concession stand, and sometimes find it difficult to grasp the concept of being served food in a dark theater.

But most importantly, there is a tap wall. There are 32 beers on tap in box office, and people can order a beer to take into the theater, or while they are waiting for it to begin seating.

So while I'm still making what I've been making, I also have the opportunity to make tips. It is a highly coveted position for that reason. Not as highly desired as Glass Half Full (the actual bar, which is right behind box office), but I am one step closer to that as well. In fact, I was actually asked to open the bar today because the opener had a family emergency. I didn't serve anyone, but I still count that as a victory.

And speaking of victories, the first issue of the newsletter I will be running for the Libertarian Party of Colorado has been published. I'm still uncertain what the response has been, because I don't yet have access to the analytics, but I'm proud of it nonetheless.

The articles I wrote for that issue (all but one) were, with one exception, merely update-type articles. The one I'm most proud of was a short commentary on the DOMA decision. I will get to write more like this, which is more my cup of tea.

I will be writing news articles too, though. In fact, there are too many big stories going on to write about and I would need much more time to write them all. For example, I'm currently writing a feature about a fairly epic land giveaway going on in Arvada - the first of many eminent domain abuse stories I'll be covering.

I don't really have a journalism background, despite having once written some news articles for the U of A student newspaper. This will be largely a new experience for me, and it feels like the big leagues. There are some serious abuses of power going on in the Metro area and around Colorado, and I don't take it lightly that I have an opportunity to do some good by writing about it.

And for once, I have an opportunity to write stuff that matters for an audience who will read it. And that is just the beginning. I have big ideas and a vision for where to take this newsletter. I want it to be the standard for all LP affiliates in every state. I want them to look at our newsletter and seek to emulate its content.

That's my goal, anyway. I'm no fool, though. Rome wasn't built in a day, and I'm not so arrogant as to think I can achieve this at all, but it doesn't hurt to try.

This all has me feeling both humbled by the realization of how much worse things could be for me, but also proud of how far I've come in three months by just busting my ass and keeping my mouth shut.

Not that I've had much to complain about, other than the usual pressure to pay bills and such. But I'm no longer in survival mode. I've begun to once again reevaluate my short and long term goals, and my soul and mind are being eased by each little ounce of clarity and certainty that life grants me.

Whatever happens, I know that I'm happier now than I ever have been in my life. I'm happy with who I've become, and I'm not as easily crushed by failure. I expect nothing to be easy, and so I'm relieved if and when it turns out that way. I prepare as best as I can, not so that I can remain stuck working pay check to pay check, but so that I can move forward.

I plan to restore my credit and refinance my truck, which I will be able to do in a year (maybe sooner). With that money, I can buy video equipment and start working on video projects again, but from a stronger, more stable position. I also plan to make another serious go at my documentary.

All in due time.

Independence Day Weekend Adventures

This post is a bit delayed because I've been super busy. I had to share my adventures last weekend, though, and they're just as rad as the Memorial Day excursion to Colorado Springs.

When everyone around me was getting four-day weekends, I thought I was going to work all the way through it. But I somehow managed to get Friday off, and so Heather and I made a trip up to Estes Park.

We saw the Stanley Hotel, which was used as the famous Overlook Hotel in The Shining. 

If Heather were more of a horror movie person, she might have appreciated the magic of this event. They even had a Jack Nicholson impersonator to greet everyone at the door.

Coming Soon:
Immortal Mallard

There was no maze like in the movie, but there was a garden with a waterfall in the back. And we found the most bad-ass ducks we've ever seen. They're so metal.

The main strip of stores in downtown Estes is very quaint, and was super busy, no doubt because of the holiday weekend. We ate dinner at Wapiti Bar and Grill, where we were served by the most endearingly awkward guy in the world.

And we just had to stop in at the Spruce House. It's a Christmas store. Yeah, I know.

Actually, I just wanted to see if they had egg nog. They do not, but they did have a duck ornament, though, and I only bought it on the condition that the lovely lady working the register sign and date the back of it. I'm sentimental that way.

We took the scenic route back, and stopped at Hidden Valley. It was originally used by a logging company and by locals who skied on tracks left by the loggers in winter. It became a full-scale ski resort for a few decades until it was decided that even a snow-making machine couldn't keep the place open for a whole season. There's a ranger's station, though, and there are several trails for hiking. 

I super needed coffee, so on the way back through Boulder, we checked out the coffee shops that Heather was fond of, but found they were all closed. So instead, we decided to hit up Pearl Street (for my friends back in Tucson, Pearl Street is what Fourth Avenue wants to be when it grows up).

Pearl Street is one of the most bizarre anthropological enigmas which I still can't wrap my head around. A struggling artist playing his heart out on a street corner is a bit odd to see when he is ten feet from a store that sells $30 bottles of shampoo. In short, Pearl Street is Yuppie Mecca.

The highlight was definitely Cooper and Harper, two kids who couldn't be more than 14 and 12. One played the violin and the other played the guitar, and every so often they would switch. True wunderkinds.

I'm with Heather when it comes to Boulder on the whole. It is beautiful and rich with culture, and some of its city planning ideas are very neat, but it's a bit too granola for me. I love coffee, but I don't need to be spending $25 on it. Call me cheap, I guess. Something about the "culture" of Boulder just doesn't smell right to me. But nothing spells it out quite nicely enough as visiting a city with a smug, conservation consciousness, despite having sculptures with built-in waterfalls.