4 weeks

Four weeks is how long that "blogging once a week" idea lasted. I knew it would happen..I got into midterms and papers, and any minute I could spend not on the computer (besides Facebook, of course) was a godsend. But the quarter's over and I'm a college graduate! It's so weird that I started this blog right before leaving for school and I returned to it right before graduating. So much happened, but much of it doesn't fit this blog's theme. Now I'm back home and I know it's the type of place I belong.

My friend was visiting from LA for the past couple of days, so I got to show him around SLO. His first comment to me was, I didn't know you lived in the country. I didn't either, but as we went about our tour of the area, I knew what he meant. Everything I could think of showing him was outdoors: Bishop's Peak/Madonna Mountain, Edna Valley, Montaña de Oro, Morro Bay, Terrace Hill... Not surprisingly, every time we came back to the house we were exhausted. And that's how I know I belong in a place like this one. All through school, whenever it was finals week or I had a paper due, I'd make myself take a break from staring at a book or my laptop to look outside. I kept thinking my eyes were going to waste looking at screens and text; my eyes are meant for seeing trees and leaves and a natural world with too many details to remember, so you just have to stand on a rock, take a deep breath, and fill your body with the world around you.

Remember in Avatar, when they talk about the connections among the plants, and how the people can connect with the animals and trees? I think it's true that there is a connection among the energies of all living things, and I think that connection is harder to recognize the more we dissociate ourselves from the natural world. My sister told me about a study that measured the energy levels of trees in a forest and found that they are different when a normal person walks through and when a person walks through with an axe. I wish I could find it online. Anyway, think about how you feel after spending time outside. You feel refreshed, like your mind has been stimulated (and not just from the view) and your whole body gets tired. You could run around in an enclosed room with fake trees and lakes and animals and you wouldn't feel the same. Outside, our mind and our body is responding to so much more and that is tiring.

I love feeling like that though, I love sensing that connection to something real..which is why I'm through with living in Davis and going to classes. I'm done sitting inside for weeks on end. So what am I going to do? I'm gonna go find me a job where I can talk to people every day, then go out on hikes and to the beach during my time off. I'm going to save up money then make my way to a new country, where I can connect with the people and the environment there.
I'm going to get Bruce out from under my bed and go see my sister.