Settled in

I got moved into my apartment this week and have spent 2 nights there. My roommate, Ben, seems like a really good Christian guy, and I look forward to getting to know him better. The apartment is small, but meets my needs. It's one room with a loft, small kitchen, a very small bathroom and the smallest shower I've ever been in. Ben has the loft and doesn't take up much space, so I've got plenty of room to store all my books, workout stuff, fly fishing gear, snowboarding gear, clothes and food items. I've actually got a 5 door dresser which is really nice. Even in the place I've been for the last month, I was still living out of my suitcase and had half my stuff still in m car. Anyway, I'm very thankful for it. I also joined the local climbing gym last week. It's really nice and has a fair amount of exercise equipment, so I don't have to join another gym just for that. The class at the Bible College last week was very helpful. It was Survey of th Old Testament taught by Dr. Benware. I didn't get to attend all the classes but found the first three helpful (I'm almost completely ignorant of the OT). He comes from a hardcore Dispensational Premill perspective, which I'm pretty sure I don't agree with, so there was a lot of his interpretation that I probably will reject, but factual accounts and for a summary of the story of the OT I thought it was good. I don't know how many more I'll be able to attend now that I'm working.

I've made a fairly good friend here, Luca. He's from Sardinia (island west of Italy). He was working at the Four Seasons, but for the winter he works as a snowboarding instructor (which is nice for me). He's also a fairly accomplished photographer and probably the most well traveled person I know (travel for leisure at least). It's interesting because we get along well and have much in common, but he is at best agnostic, more like antagonistically atheistic. I am yet to meet someone who shares my devout, fairly orthodox religious beliefs and worldview and still seeks adventure and unique experiences. And that's just anybody, much less a girl like that.

I am quite undecided about what I will do in the future. I plan on staying here for roughly a year at least, but after that I don't know. Washington, Oregon and Montana are still very desirable to see at least, and southern California is still a place I may want to live for awhile. Going back to Denver is also an option that has more than a couple things going for it. If I can become a server at one of the nicer restaurants here in Jackson, I can work summers and winters, have the springs and falls off to travel and still make really good money. The opportunity to travel globally is incredibly appealing to me and now looking like an actual possiblity. Spending the rest of my life in Jackson is attractive as well. I try not to think too much about it and ruin the amazing opportunity I have right now. If things work out as it looks like they will, this year I should be able make more money than ever before, learn to snowboard, get back in shape and grow closer to Christ than ever before. Why ruin that by worrying about the future? And in truth, because I know God is directing each of my steps for my good, every possibility I imagine and even those I can't think of, are so appealing that in some ways I don't care. It's like being anxious about whether I win a million dollars in $100 bills or $50 bills. Who cares, it's a million dollars.

Well, that's it. Hope all of you are doing well. Love and miss you all, specially Radnor and Caleb.

A wanderer no more

Well, it's been awhile. I hope you are all doing well. It's been a fairly busy September for me. I guess the biggest news is that I have a job. Today I started as a security officer at The Four Seasons of Jackson Hole. It's one of, if not the best, ski resort hotel in the country and a pretty ritzy place. Once my training is over I'll be working the night shift from 11 pm to 7 am, which kind of sucks, but I make $17.45/hr, so I'm not complaining. It's kind of funny that I left a part-time job in Nashville with the intention of not working at all, and here I am beginning my first full-time job ever. After six months I can transfer to another position or after a year transfer to another Four Seasons. They're all over the world and if I'm still single next winter or spring, I'll probably try and transfer to some exotic place like Hawaii, Costa Rica or something. But for now I'm really enjoying Jackson. Last week I was able to audit the class, Universe by Design at the Jackson Hole Bible College. It was excellent and incredibly enlightening for me. It kind of pisses me off how much 'fact' I have been taught through the years that is unproven and even unsupported by scientific evidence. I'd highly recommend “Tornadoes in a Junkyard” to anyone who wants to examine the issues of evolution vs intelligent design and evidence for a global flood. I also caught three Snake River Cutthroat Trout last week. The largest, 17 3/4” was the most brilliant orange you can imagine. Unfortunately I didn't have my camera with me. I also just got back from my first trip to Yellowstone. I was only there for 2 days but saw a bear and two cubs, tons of bison and elk, two coyotes, four bald eagles, mule deer and I don't remember what else. I stayed at Chico Hot Springs Resort just north of the park. It was pretty neat, and I had the tenderest filet mignon I've ever had. On that note, I've been eating some wonderful food (which would account for my stomach being the least defined it's been in a couple years) at some of the restaurants. I've had some very good duck, the best shrimp I've ever had, some scallops that were the best seafood I've ever had, a really good crab baked thingy, the best lamb I've ever had, the best calamari I've ever had and some good salads and desserts. This also is kind of funny considering I left with the intention of not eating out at all and basically it my oats, fruit and tuna for days on end. I also went to the Buffalo Bill Museum in Cody, WY. It was quite interesting. In one section with all the guns (I have no idea how many they had but I got tired of looking at them), they had a bunch of world record or near world record mounts of moose, elk, bighorn, etc. Some of the racks were so big it was kind of ridiculous, but still quite impressive. On a sadder note, with this new job I'm pretty sure I won't be back to Nashville for Thanksgiving or Christmas. There's a chance I can visit in March, but I won't have any vacation by that time, so we'll see. I am planning on coming in September for the beach trip, but that might be the earliest I can get back. Well, I miss you all but can say that I am having the best time of my life. I would invite any of you to come and visit me, but I don't think the place I'm moving to is going to be big enough and the plane ticket would be ~$500.