Joshua is from Australia, a brother in wanderlust. I know him from Madrid. When I went to Portugal, Joshua set off walking the Camino de Santiago. He is currently in Edinburgh, Scotland.

joshua -

it was great to hear from you. hope you've come closer to resolving your existential dilemma in the scot-lands. you've got a good head on your shoulders. i'm sure you'll do fine.

cincy was hectic. i did find myself in my old haunts a few times and did feel that womb-like security, but sometimes it lapsed into that too-familiar stultification. many of my friends had gotten pregnant/married, a couple were dead, and many more had scattered to the wind. for all that though, cincy was still the same place it was when i left. all the reasons i had for leaving were still completely valid. this might sound like silly, egotistical reasoning, but just a couple of friends really missed me, and it had a two-fold effect: it galvanized me against many of the people who had claimed to be my friend, and it did make me a little sad to leave the ones who really did care. i think it's pathetic that people i've only known for a couple of years here in california are better friends than people i've known for a decade in ohio. that said, i do have a core of friends who mean the world to me back in cincy. i was a little sad to leave it, but i was more glad than sad.

things i miss about madrid: my friends (of course), walking through lavapies with carlos telling me bits about that neighborhood in which he grew up, the verve of the patio, of course, playing guitar and sharing fruit and booze with strangers in the retiro, pounding up the back roads of Vallekas on my bike late at night with a load of tea in my bag. looking at the mesa from the Pedriza watching the sun go down with my girl from ohio (mind trip!). there's lots to miss...

i flew to frisco. boring, i know, but i had my shit to deal with...i slept in a borrowed tent on the roof of a friend's house in Excelsior for a month and finally landed a decent flat 150 yards from Baker Beach, in the Presidio. i share it with the fellow i was sharing the roof with: a jew named Sam Israel. he plays bass in my band (we've only played three shows, but they've all been fairly successful).

i got a job as a nude model at the art institute. in addition to the modeling gig, there's a chain of three family-owned theatres here in the north west corner of the city, and i got hired on just by walking up and asking for a job. i was pretty surprised when they called me back. it's really, really easy and low stress. i make just enough to scrape by, but, as my mama used to say, 'sure beats a kick in the seat of the pants.' i work with a couple of mongolians and they're teaching me a few words of mongolian. it's cool, because it is an asian language, but uses a cyrillic characters (like russian). the practically negligible bit of greek and russian i know does help a little. i've always been in love with the steppes ever since i was nine or ten and read the biography of genghis khan. maybe in a few years.... i'm just getting settled in but i get itchy feet every once in a while, each time stronger than the last.

the other night i rode my bike across the golden gate bridge to sausalito. a woman from cincy, named sara, lives in a sailboat in the marina there. she teaches special ed kids, but everyone else in the marina is ex-military, as this whole area used to be a giant army base. oh yeah, there is one conciencious objector who lives there (he went to prison for not going to 'nam). there was a kickin' band at the clubhouse, the beer flowed freely, and it was a really fun night. i slept on the sailboat and when i woke up a baby seal was eating a crab on the jetty and sara went and petted it. i have to say, though, that drinking with old sailors didn't really help my case of wanderlust. i can hold out at least a year, i think. maybe more, if i take a few short trips. one of my mexican buddies from madrid, rafa (whom i believe you met), is coming to visit this weekend. that'll probably make me want to hit the road even more.

as for women, it's pretty hilarious. my friend sara (from cincy) set me up with her co-worker H. on a double date. H. seemed nice: berkeley grad, 26, cute, into yoga, punk rock, etc. a few dates later, i spent the night. nothing crazy, just some high-school level making out. in the morning, she takes a shower and says "you can use my computer while you wait." cool, i need to check up on a couple of job applications. i need to e-mail my resume to someone, so i download it off my e-mail but....it disappeared! i search for 'resume.doc' and click on the first one that comes up, assuming it's mine and sweet jesus! it's a crazy list of sex acts, kinks, and deviations that would turn your hair curly, all in a very professional resume form. you know i'm no prude, but man, that was too much. under the "Future Endevours" heading, she put:

Soft core pornography modeling
Hard core pornography fucking
Having really healthy, loving relationships
Establishing life partners


that's probably the least disturbing (and most hilarious) part of her 'resume.' you get the idea.
and she seemed like such a nice girl.... glad i found this out now and not post-coitus. i believe the moral of this story is, "rafa, be single for a long time."

my life is almost "normal" now. there is a certain comfort that comes from the stable, work-all-the-time-drink-with-the-mates-on-the-weekend existence. feels like the sojourn i had between graduation and travel...not how i want to spend the rest of my life, but i feel that now, in my working bachelorhood, i am laying the groundwork for future adventures. if you are on the road and have a place to come to, you are travelling, but if you have nothing to come to, you are simply lost.

take care of yourself, buddy. stay warm!

cheers,
rafa