Back Home… For now.

I’m sorry for the lack of updates. I’ve since returned to Colorado. I got back on the fourteenth of December. I completely ran out of cash and then racked up some good credit debt. I came back and I’ve been busy the past weeks with work and trying to find more of it. Not too much interesting happened between Puerto Rico and Now. Though there is a plan to hitch out to California soon for some warmth and fun… I’ll try to keep you guys posted.

I’m also buying a digital SLR to replace my old camera so I’ll start posting pictures again soon.

To keep you guys here till next time I will post something I wrote a while back. I hope you enjoy it.

Richmond – Arrest, Trail, and Acquittal.

October 18th – 25th, 2007

I had come home, too drunk, from a small party at around midnight. I was still really drunk so I went out to climb something. I had it noticed days before. I had passed it several times before and it seemed too good to pass up. It was the Sacred Heart Cathedral wrapped in scaffolding, just waiting for me to scramble up it. I got to the top pretty quickly and to my disappointment, easily, so a I sat at the top and thought of my next move. Soon I was spotted by a few scenesters who taunted me from below. Instead of realizing I should shut the hell up and climb down, I shouted at them. Almost immediately I attracted the campus police who demanded I come down from the Cathedral. Too drunk to make a daring escape and a mad dash off the back of the Cathedral, I decided to comply with their order. I made way down the ladder and into a pair of handcuffs. They charged me with trespass and sent me on my way. At this point I was pretty hungry and thirsty so I wandered over to Monroe park and then to a pizza place and raided their dumpster for a small cheese pizza. I stumbled back to Eric’s and told Toohey what happened and we laughed about it. I slept pretty soon after.
When I woke up I realized I could probably talk to the folks at the Cathedral about the incident. Forgive me my trespasses and what not. I talked to a woman named Brigitte P. about exchanging community service and she suggested I return Monday. So I went camping in Shenandoah National Park and Charlottesville and returned Monday morning. My first assignment was to help setup for a senior outing. I setup tables, and then served them food. I preformed flawlessly and I also helped increase our teams efficiency in a few respects. I took it pretty seriously to be quite honest. I felt that the seniors probably expected I certain level of quality and I felt we could deliver that, so I tried my damnedest.
Tuesday they gave me yard work. I pruned trees, swept walkways, removed debris, and I ripped a dead tree out of the ground with my bare hands. I worked so quickly and effectively that I drew the attention of the workers restoring the Cathedral. One of the more senior workers said “Looking good young man.” I was pretty proud of my performance yet again. I think these two days taught me to really take pride in my work. I felt I must return the favor to the good people at The Sacred Heart and I wasn’t getting paid, at least not in money. So I decided to be good, thorough, and fast.
Wednesday it rained so I was stuck shredding paper. This time I was restricted by the shredder and not my own abilities. After about ten minutes of shredding it would overheat and shutdown for five minutes. At one point I figured out at what point it would begin to reach its threshold and slow down a bit using this technique I shredded for two hours without a single pause. This frenzied pace created a lot of noise and everyone on the floor eventually left. They returned much later, I realized the door on the room I was in couldn’t close because of the furniture arraignment so people were sort of captive to the noise. I filled two fifty gallon trash bags with compacted shreddings and left at four o’clock.
Thursday was my day in court. I needed someone to come with me on my behalf from the Cathedral. Mike came and told the court that I had been forgiven and they no longer wanted to press charges. So my actual trial took about two minutes. I was acquitted of all charges. I thanked mike about a hundred times and we went back to The Sacred Heart. I thanked Brigitte repeatedly and then I left.
Looking back on all of this I really don’t think twenty minutes on top of a Cathedral was worth nearly an entire week of my free time and all the stress and worry over the court date. I don’t really regret it entirely though as I said I learned a lot about my work ethic and how I can motivate myself and take pride in my work. I think I’ll be sticking to cliffs and trees for my climbing interests from here on. Not really.