New Years in Leadville, Colorado 2015

The morning before we went to Colorado, I couldn’t sleep, so I took some time to go through some old stuff of mine and worked on uncluttering my room, putting my pebbles, old news clippings from others, photos, paper clips, Lego instructions, Legos, and condoms together, and recycling old bits of paper. Then I scooped Peter’s litter box. After that we drove down to Colorado. I also started reading The Tao of Leadership. We went to Whole Food’s and I got a new non-crown bottle cap from a drink I got there. Finally we got to Colorado and heard Jamie, Graham, and Nick were staying in Denver that night. 

                The next day as I went into town with my mom, with the toilet still not working yet, it occurred to me that poverty cannot be the sole reason for lack of plumbing in the Third World, but perhaps lack of experienced engineers and tax payers to pay for and dig sewage systems. Indeed it seems that while we in the West may send them so many doctors and teachers, they have so few in their own countries, and the way we practice medicine and schooling in the U.S. may need to be adapted to fit the cultures of the Third World. Mom and I then shred a Bhakti Chai while I nibbled on a chocolate blueberry scone and a chocolate chip cookie. Then I went into Minerals and bought myself several different fossils, a leather sack, and a worry stone for Mom. After that I went to Fire on the Mountain and bought myself a crochet needle. I also went to Weston Hardware and bought myself five new Native American post cards. Mom came and met me there and I gave her the worry stone, for which she thanked me, and she bought me a salted caramel. 

                When we got back we found out our toilets were working again. I also organized all the recyclables in my duffle bag into bags from all my times shopping at Weston Hardware. After a dinner of shrimp scampy (for me just the shrimp) I read (or reread) more of The Silmarillion. Then I found out, after talking with Verizon about my phone, which had me locked out and was frozen, that my phone was broken, and I needed a new phone, luckily covered by the warranty, which they could transfer all my contacts and photos onto. I also thought back to how I realized why our attempts to build infrastructure in the Third World don’t go so well, and saw that social sciences are not useless on par with math and science like people think. 

                The next morning I read more of The Silmarillion. Then I gathered some wood to make a reclaimed cross. After that I went into town and got some chocolate peanut butter cake from the coffee shop, four blood red buttons for my snake from Fire on the Mountain, a jigsaw puzzle from the book store, and some chuckles from Weston Hardware. Shortly after that Mom, Dave, Graham, and I went to the Grill and I had some delicious tacos. I got back and read more of The Silmarillion. The next morning I read more of The Silmarillion. After that I completed my jigsaw puzzle. Then I did some puzzles on-line. Later I read more of The Silmarillion. The next day I found some more wood for making bottle cap signs. It turned out that we would be leaving Colorado on the second of January rather than the first, because my mom was having severe headaches and needed to get home to get them treated.

                After we dropped off Dave we listened to Comedy Central Radio to pass the time. After that I drove on the highway for about an hour. My mom and I then switched, and after that I drove for another hour. After that we switched and continued to listen to Comedy Central Radio some more, while I realized that Legolas may have been the way he was portrayed in The Hobbit movies (with the exception of Tauriel, as she was only added to put in a female character) because if he had been in Thranduil’s army during the siege of Erebor by the elves, he might have been a prominent soldier who Gloin would have recognized and told Gimli about, and they would have both treated Legolas with hostility at the Council of Elrond, and Legolas’s mother may have been dead because when Thorin was interrogated by Thranduil, Thranduil’s wife did not sit next to him as Queen of Greenwood, and Legolas and Gimli might not have become such good friends. I also realized that ASAN-KC works with disability-related organizations involved in social science (disability studies), art, music, and literature, which are my passions, and I finally decided that I am not all that passionate about filmmaking. As we got home, I realized my tendency to “hoard” may have come from the fact that in the past, I did not always think I would have very much beyond the bare necessities, and wanted to save what little luxuries I had (bottle caps, Lord of the Rings bookmarks, postcards, etc.), and that I used to have so much trouble with school work (around elementary school) and developmental milestones that I often had trouble understanding what people wanted from me later in life, whether teachers, parents, or bosses.