Walking Every Trail in ACFL

We here in Anacortes are blessed with an amazing resource right out our back door. The Anacortes Community Forest Lands has over 50 miles of trails that offer an amazing range of vistas, terrain, and secluded little spots. I've been hiking these trails for going on 30 years and I had imagined, with all my wandering, I had probably covered them all. But with a need for a quarantine project, I decided I needed to do it up properly.

All it took was 19 hikes, spread out over about a month, averaging about 1.5 hours for me to systematically check off all the trails. I could have probably picked a more efficient route to knock them all off, though some backtracking couldn't be avoided. But hey, it's quarantine—what else was I going to do?

I was surprised to find a few trails I didn't recognize and also be reminded of a few favorite spots. But the greatest thing about the project was that it got me out of the house (in a time that it was much needed*). I got some exercise, I got to be surrounded by the calming beauty of nature, and I fully caught up on my all podcasts. The dozens of miles hiked (along with all the biking it took to get there) didn't, however, help shed those COVID-15, but so it goes.

Now that things are starting to open back up, I plan on turning me eyes to trails further afield, trails that I haven't hiked on umpteen times (yesterday, I hiked up to Cow Heaven and got to frolic in the snow!) But it's nice to know that I'll always have a wonderful trail right in my backyard the next time the need arises.


Saturday June 6 2020File under: Anacortes

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My Homemade Quilt

Last night, Della and I got to sleep under my homemade quilt for the first time. Ten-ish years in the making*, I'm super stoked to have it completed. It incorporates T-shirts from many different aspects of my life and I'm excited to have it as a usable treasure for the rest of my life!

Even now, writing this post, I can get lost in all the memories represented: Key Club, juggling festivals, Palmyra, my dad's cafe, high school dances, family reunions, college, travels, long-past musical obsessions, and so much more. I had been holding onto these shirts, not knowing what to do with them but not wanting to throw them away. It [very] eventually turned into this project and I'm so glad it did.

I am not a master at the sewing machine. I don't think this quilt will be winning any bees any time soon. With all that I learned during the process, a second attempt would be much quicker and better. Seam allowances, accurate cutting, and actual planning, things one may think are obvious, are now finally obvious to me. Enough notable shirts didn't make it into this version that a second project isn't out of the questions (though how many quilts does one need?). But even with its imperfections, this quilt keeps us warm and makes me smile so I'm pleased as punch.

I hesitate to call this a "quarantine project", as so much of the thought and work went into it before outside life went into hibernation. But I also am pleased that there will forever been this association between this project I hope to have until I die with this crazy time in history. It will help remind me what one can do with time and ideas and how to make the best out of any situation.

But in the end, I really just wanted to show you my quilt that I'm really proud of.

Friday May 29 2020File under: misc

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Best Extra-ing Ever - Three Busy Debras

Being an extra in TVs and movies has been a goal of mine for some time now (previously covered on BdW here, here, and here). I dream about it, I tell everyone I know about it (in hopes they've got an inside connection), and I meticulously capture each appearance. While progress toward my ultimate goal is moving at a pace slower than I'd originally hoped, I'm at least making some headway.

Of the dozen or so times I've gotten the opportunity to be a part of various commercials, shows, and movies, my time on Three Busy Debras is easily the most fun I've had! Some sets are a lot of waiting, less-than-ideal conditions, and , in the end, very little (if any*) screen time*. This time around, it was different: Della got to be there for 2 of the 4 days of filming, we got to do cartwheels(!), all the other extras were super fun, and the show is a genuine hoot! Top that off with lots of great screen time in the finished product, it feels like a total win.

Often, when the show finally comes out, I meticulously watch for myself only to catch a far away glimpse in the far background (or even less). It's a weird kind of craps shoot—putting in long, inconvenient days with a chance that all of your footage might end up on the cutting room floor. So when you see yourself not just in the far off background, but in the mid-background, and *gasp* foreground, it is really really fun. Top that off with the fact that the show itself is super entertaining and it feels like a perfect combo.

I plan to continue working towards my goal*. I've got a clip or two still in the pipeline. And my agent is still working hard on my behalf*. But after 4+ years in the biz, I realize that waiting around probably isn't going to make me a background star. I need to get out there and work for it! But whatever happens, of course you'll hear all about it here.
Monday April 27 2020File under: extra, video

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My Circus Valentine 2020 Act

The My Circus Valentine show at the Bellingham Circus Guild is one of the not-to-be-missed events of the year. I've had the privilege being part of the show the last bunch of years and I always like to share what Della and I came up with for an act. This year, we decided on Star Wars* as our theme (only partially as an excuse to buy $1000 worth of fancy juggling clubs).

The act turned out great, if a little high difficultly level. The moment when the lights go down, the beat kicks up, and the clubs start to blink really brought the energy out of the crowd. This video, captured by the David and his awesome team at Access Bellingham, was during the first official run of the show and we dropped our hardest trick (back-to-backs). But hopefully it gives you an idea of the act. If nothing else, at least it is captured here for posterity*.


And here are a few pictures for fun. The photo booth run by Jeff Lefferts produces some of Della's and my favorite photos of the year.

Wednesday March 18 2020File under: juggling, holidays

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Financial Recap of Singapore-Malaysia-Indonesia

At the end of any travel adventure, after the stacks of mail have been dealt with, the clothes have been washed, and the tans start to fade, Della and I like to recap how the money side of the trip panned out to a) help contextualize it b) log it away to help inform the next trip and c) to bask in the awesome memories a little bit longer. This trip to Singapore/Malaysia/Indonesia was the longest, most ambitious, and most expensive trip we've taken, which in my eyes just means MORE DATA!

After transferring the data from our travel journal to a spreadsheet and categorizing it, this is what it looks like.

TotalPer DayNotes
Hotel$1008$17.38Our hotels ranged from on the beach with pool, AC, and free breakfast to a tiny room with no windows up a stuffy staircase. We never stayed in dorms, always having a room to ourselves.
Transportation$2651$45.70This includes all transportation for both of us, from the flights to get us there to scooter rental and everything in between. If you exclude the getting there and back, the numbers would be $1481 ($25/day), about half of which was in interisland flights (Kuala Lumpur->Semarang: $238, Semarang->Pangalan Buun:$127, Yogyatkart->Bali:$98, Bali->Singapore:$159, Singapore->Bali:$159)
Entertainment$640$11.04We didn't do every thing we could. We didn't pay to go up the Petronas towers or pay to go snorkeling*, but we didn't not do stuff just to be cheap. We did high class stuff like pay big money to see big temples and low class stuff like get the fancy seats at the cinema—pretty much anything we did to fill the time and had to pay for*. The biggest chunk was from our klotok adventure seeing orangutans.
Food and misc.$1275$21.97Smoothie bowls, corn & bean sno-cones, never ending quest for dumplings—we ate well and often but meals rarely came to over $10 combined. Examples of misc. things might be postcards, luggage storage, or clip-on fish-eye camera lens
Overall Total$5598$96.52


A few random money observations along the way:
  • The klotok orangutan trip was a huge expense, running to almost $900 when you take into account getting to there and back. It was definitely the splurge of the trip.
  • Hotel hunting is actually a fine and very annoying art. We found crazy good deals because online warehousers (priceline, etc.) were having sales. And while we always tried to give the money directly to the business instead of doing it online, they often didn't want to match the online prices. It was one of the bummers of modern travels for me—putting a layer of internet between me and the place I am.
  • We like to travel cheap. More days than not, we had $0 entertainment costs, instead opting to do free things like walk around, see public art, find hidden neighborhoods, enjoy sunsets, and way more.
  • Due to a lack of planning and miscommunication on entry into Indonesia, we had to make a visa run to Singapore. The flights, travel to airport, luggage storage, etc. added an unneeded $400 or more. Visiting Singapore a second time was fun, but the hassle as well as the extra expenditure was a bit of a bummer.
I know money isn't the be-all end-all of travel. Sometimes you gotta spend money to experience what you came to the country for in the first place. And I think Della and I walk that line very well. In looking back on the trip, there's nothing I think we would have done different money-wise. We had an amazing trip and did so at a cost that is just about what life back home costs. I can't wait to do it again in some other exciting, adventurous place soon!
Sunday March 15 2020File under: travel

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Grab and Gojek - A Ray of Light in the Otherwise Dismal Transportation Scene in Bali

Transportation in Bali, at least from the perspective of this budget traveler, is severely broken. Compared to the trains, subways, public buses, ferries, and more of the rest of our trip, travel was so much of a bummer that for mostly this reason, we will have a hard time recommending Bali to prospective travelers.

Don't get me wrong: we saw some really cool stuff. There were oodles of seclude waterfalls, myriad gorgeous rice terraces, innumerable friendly people, countless cute monkeys, delicious food and drink, a really really tall statue, and more. But getting to each of said places was a challenge (and not the good kind of challenge where you feel like you accomplished something afterward, but more like the kind of challenge you might euphemistically call talking to your Trump-supporting uncle about politics.)

Bali's epic fail of a transportation scene is an open secret. The roads are overcrowded and sometimes downright scary due to poor infrastructure investment; the public transportation system that was once in place has pretty much ceased due to all locals now owning their own scooter; the taxi system has been called a "mafia" where prices are monopolistically high and the aggressiveness of the drivers is nerve-rattling; and renting a scooter, while an attractive option, comes with a risk of playing into police bribery*. Most travel guides suggest hiring a driver and private car to take you around to the various sites, but besides costing more than our total daily budget, this option felt just too chauffer-ish.

Enter Grab and Gojek, Asia's answer to Uber and Lyft. Prices are very reasonable and clearly communicated, the drivers never once failed to be friendly, miscommunication is rare since you select destination via the app, and the cars were all airconditioned*. While private ride-share takes away from the travel experience, separating us off in our own little bubble, it was pretty nice when it worked. But many areas ban Grab and Gojek* while others were so remote, there weren't any drivers around.

So what do you do in the absence of good transportation options? We got creative. We rented bikes and took to the back roads. We bummed a ride with the every so friendly locals. We walked...a lot. And, unfortunately, we did less than we would have otherwise. Temples went unseen, beaches went unswam, and chocolate plantations went ungrazed.

If we get a chance to tell you about our epic 2-month Singapore/Malaysia/Indonesia celebration trip, you'll hear about tons of the awesome stuff we saw and did, but you'll also probably hear about why it ended on a bit of a less than positive note all because of Bali's bummer of a transportation scene. So it goes.
Saturday February 1 2020File under: travel, indonesia

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The Photo Not Taken

One of the main tourist attractions in Bali seems to be instagrammable photo ops. The roadside is littered with colorful signs to pose under, [albeit beautifully] woven hearts and nests, and swings galore. Never, however, was this photo-in-lieu-of-actual-culture made more apparent than today at the Handara Gate.

Due to a series of circumstances too convoluted to get into, Della and I hired a private taxi for the day to take us to some sights and drop us off at a somewhat off the beaten path mountain town. Sights included UNESCO World Heritage rice fields (which were pretty magical), a temple on a lake and surrounding gardens (which felt a little like Disneyland, i.e. contrived for tourists but still kind of nice), and the Handara Gate (actually a gate to a golf course resort).

The scene at the gates epitomized the it's-all-about-Instragram phenomenon that we can't help but sometimes feel overwhelmed by. You had to pay $3 and stand in line for 20+ minutes to get your photo op. And that's it. You never got a chance to actually admire the gate, since there was always someone posing there. There wasn't anything else there (unless you wanted to get in a quick 9). These hoards of people drove to this spot to stand in a line to get the photo and leave. But we weren't going to become one of them. We hopped back in our taxi (much to our driver's surprise) and were on our way.

The gates are beautiful. And we understand the draw for sure. And if we pass by again when the line is shorter or we don't have a complicated situation with a taxi driver, maybe we'll join the masses. But at the moment, we couldn't bring ourselves to do it. So instead, I thought I'd Photoshop myself a nice little picture. So I cropped myself out of a jumper from earlier in the day, and badabinga: you can't hardly tell*.

Pictures are a part of travel for sure. It's a great way to remember a place and a time. I cherish some of my travel selfies and look forward to taking many many more. But I hope that the next time I find myself lining up to get a picture in front of a faux cultural icon, I stop and take a moment to reflect. And then probably go post it on Instagram.
Monday January 20 2020File under: travel, indonesia

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Borobudur and Prambanan

One of the things I was excited about in planning a trip to Indonesia was to check out Borobudur, the largest Buddhist temple in the world. I remember taking a class in college that focused heavily on the temple, its intricate carvings, and the symbolism of, well, everything. Whatever knowledge I gained at the time has since gone far away. All that I retained is that Borobudur is kind of a big deal. So Della and I set the alarm for an ungodly hour, saddled up on our rented scooter, and braved the almost certain death of Yogyakarta's highways to get a glimpse.

In short, it was spectacular. We made it early enough that the temple was covered in morning mist and before there were too many people so we could get some goofy pictures. We watched the interpretive video*, ate at the restaurant*, but mostly walked around to look for new angles to take it all in from (always with the photo op, of course).

In the less-than-adequate planning that I did for this trip, I didn't pay much attention to mentions of Prambanan, the nearby temple complex which is also a UNESCO World Heritage Site. I figured we'd figure it out when we got here, so that's just what we did. With little in the way of expectations, we again braved the melee of the roads* and struck out for Prambanan.

I don't know that I'd say that Prambanan was more impressive than Borobudur— because the latter had a lot of anticipation and acclaim, both of which usually tend to increase my enjoyment—but it was pretty rad. Esp. after we ran from the hordes at the temple proper and the constant dodging of line-of-selfie-sight, we found the place to be super nice and immensely photogenic.

Two spectacular temples in two unforgettable days*. If you ever find yourself in the area and planning on visiting Borobudur, I encourage you to consider buying the combo ticket for there and Prambanan. I think you'll be happy to did. But maybe consider a taxi to get there instead of scooting. Then you'll be both happy and alive to tell the tale.
Friday January 10 2020File under: travel, indonesia

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Celebrity Status in Indonesia

**Tap on the shoulder** "Photo?"

It would seem that people in Malaysia and Indonesia love to get their picture taken with me and Della. Not necessarily people who we've shared an interaction with or even made eye contact with. Sometimes it's parents herding their shy child to pose with the bule-bule or hip twenty-somethings wanting something for their Instagrams, but other times it is a group of giddy hijab-wearing ladies or families taking a stoic portrait-for-the-mantel. We try to match the tone and appear as fun as possible. Because it is fun! People wanting their photo with us for no reason? We feel like celebrities. The photo session is always followed up with handshakes all around and lots of shared smiles.

The phenomenon seems to happen more where there are less foreign tourists, places we might just be holing up for a day or two to wait for a ferry or catch up on some internetting. In Semarang, Indonesia, a lovely lady at a mall food court* asked for her photo with us because we were her first foreign customers! Naturally, I asked for our photo with her too! At Prambanan, Borobodur's lesser known yet still spectacular cousin, it was such a flurry of one after the next that I had to duck away lest I melt in the blazing sun.

Rarely do we capture the moment, because we're both busy being in the photos. But occasionally, after I've slunk away, I get a chance to snap Della who is always game to keep posing and smiling.

But now that we've hit Bali, it seems like a our fame has run its course. Among the sea of tourists, we're no longer a novelty. And I'm okay with that. The interactions, while sometimes tedious, always seemed to have a genuineness of real excitement and, afterwards, real gratitude. These traits encapsulate our impression of the people here—so nice, so helpful, and so proud of their country*. So until my fame hits back stateside, I at least got a taste of what being a celebrity is all about
Saturday January 4 2020File under: travel, indonesia

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Twas the Night Before Christmas 2019



Twas the night before Christmas
With the air thick and moist
The jungle all around us
Sings with its enchanting voice

The chirps of the bugs
The calls of the birds
The howls of the monkeys
Form these foreign words

Four kinds of primates
Or was it five?
That we saw today
On our boat ride

Macaques and proboscis
A few I forget
But watching the orangutans
Was really the hit

So human-like and graceful
They swing tree to tree
The babies and their mamas
Were the most fun to see

Now we're anchored in the magroves
With the jungle close at hand
Three nights on this houseboat
Is our Christmas plan

We'll look for more monkeys
See what Borneo has to share
We'll night hike to tarantualas
If we might dare

It's a different Chrsitmas
Than at home it is true
We trade cold for hot weather
A ham for fish stew

But even without trimmings
Carols, gifts, and bells
We have each other
And time to oursevles

For us, that's just right
Plus it gives me a reason
To write my "Night Before" poem
To chronicle our season

Now the candle's burning low
And tomorrow's an early start
So I'll pass along this wish
From the bottom of my heart

May your Christmas be
As joyous as mine is
Full of love, fun, and smiles
And perhaps some bad rhyme-es

These "Night Before Christmas" posts have become some of my favorite over the years. If you're interested, check back to poems of the past via the archive.

Monday December 30 2019File under: holidays, poetry

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