FINALLY!

My Dearest Friends,

As you all know, I am now safely down here in North Carolina, for a time living with Drew Veres's grandparents in Cashiers--about an hour outside of Asheville. I am taking a year off of Kenyon to play music with my band, King Tut. We will be moving to Asheville proper after a month of working and living here, saving money for our down payment and deposit on our as-yet undiscovered house. I'm starting this blog so I can keep in touch with people, so people can be voyeuristic and not talk to me but just keep tabs on what I'm doing, and also just to get into writing again. Anywho, just cause I sent you this link doesn't mean I actually expect you to read and comment--you're all in school and have got better things to do than read about this bum's travels. So, anywho, here's what's been happening the last couple days:

Drew and I arrived in North Carolina yesterday after spending a day in Athens with our friend Mike. After a four hour car ride, we pulled up to the very top of Mound Street, just off the Ohio University campus, and found Mike on the porch, barely looking up from his laptop, working on an article for the local newspaper. After a quick tour of their lovely house, I met Ian, of whom Michael had spoken very highly, and told me just how much I'd love hanging out with him. Ian used to go to OU but now he's living with his girlfriend Emily and working at a pizza shop. He hails from the small but beautiful city of Gambier, Ohio, which is where Kenyon College, my alma mater, is located.

Athens is a beautiful city--very hilly and scenic. We partied with some friends from Bay High who are freshmen there now. On Labor Day, we played a show at the Wire, a kind of community center/show space/front for anarchistic subterfuge (if they could serve beer I'm sure they'd call it "Tapped"). It was probably the biggest show we've ever played in terms of the people who came out to see us (instead of barflies who just happened to be there when we were playing). I saw Leo and Gina and Michael Kortlander, a few friends who went to the Kenyon Young Writer's program with me the year before my senior year. All in all, it was a beautiful night and I met many wonderful people who will hopefully show up to our return to Ohio sometime this Fall.

The next morning (yesterday) I got up early and packed the car up--a kind of present for Drew who was still asleep and would be driving about six hours later that day. After some warm goodbyes with the promise of many returnings, Drew and I left (FINALLY) for North Carolina. We made great time--I finished "Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets" and started on "The Prisoner of Azkaban" all in between endless music and mountains around us.

The mountains here are gorgeous. West Virginia's mountains were tall and imposing, herded right up to the edge of the road. The mountains here in North Carolina are spaced further apart, but layered beautifully, fading back into paler and paler shades of blue. Drew and I spent a night at Warren Wilson College visiting Kate Ziegler. She showed us around the campus a bit, but it was already dark so it was difficult to really appreciate how beautiful it was until this morning. As a belated birthday gift, Kate gave me a girl's sweater from the Gap in Ireland, a few of her dad's old ties she loved, and the complete boxed set of the Planet Earth DVDs. This morning, she and I went on a walk into a beautiful pasture. I'm sorry all you Kenyonites reading this right now--Warren Wilson's natural beauty puts Kenyon's to shame. After lunch, Kate had to go to work, while Drew and I went back to her room to shave our stubble. We ended up going to the wrong room, not knowing it, and were incredibly frustrated when the key simply wouldn't turn. After calling Kate and almost slipping the key under the door and leaving, we realized that we were on the other side of her dorm. We made it back to her room and had use her two-bladed shaver and conditioner instead of shaving cream. I would have avoided the whole shaving business altogether but we had to do it for our appearance here in Cashiers.

And now this house! Drew's grandparents on his mother's side bought this property back in the 70s as a vacation home for the summer when Palm Beach got too hot. Ever since, they've been improving and adding on to it, so here's a quick list of the main features that jump out to me:

• First off, the house is up a huge winding hill and overlooks a mountain that has a bare rock face. The stars are beautiful and bright and the air is sweet and clean.
• The back of the house is basically one giant window that faces said mountian.
• There is a porch in the back with a hammock (upon which I read a little HP this afternoon).
• I lied, there are TWO porches, one beneath the other, which is OUR porch because Drew and I have our own rooms in the lower level (not really a basement since the house is built on a slope).
• There is a club house (emphasis on house) that is basically a one-room, den-like place off the lower porch where Drew and I will practice when his grandparents are vacationing in Italy. (note: This particular addition was made to get all the kids out of the main part of the house so they wouldn't bother the parents as much.
• Our bathrooms have large tubs that have jets in them for massaging power.
• Did I mention there's still a beautiful view of the mountains from our room?
• The beds are almost four feet off the ground and ludicrously comfortable.
• There is a golf cart we can drive around.
• There is an upstairs that is basically four bunkbeds and a bathroom for all the kids who used to come here when they were young.
• There is a spiral staircase.

Pretty cool, eh? I feel like our summer vacation has finally begun. After our extremely dirty, hot, and, well...dirty summer in Kent, we're relieved to be here. On Friday, we start work at a local restaurant called Cornicoupia. We'll either be waiters or bussers. But tomorrow, Drew and I are going to have a picnic near some waterfalls and perhaps go tubing down a river. Best part about it?

NO HOMEWORK!

I hope you're all doing well and having a beautiful new year at your respective colleges or apartments or whatever. May only peace and happiness come through your doors!