Cold Fog

It's a cold day in Monterey. I'm not speaking figuratively, it's actually very cold. And it was boiling this morning.

For those of you keeping up, I didn't get to meet with Rachel properly. It's a shame, something came up for her, she's leaving town for a bit, it was bad timing, life goes on. I'm not down about it, I'm happy where I am. I've had a great time here in Carmel/Monterey. I've gone to the beach loads, I've met lots of people, I have lots of people to laugh with and maybe meet again if I come back here. I've set down some potential roots, and I won't forget the awesome people I met here. Like whats-his-name, and that girl, and maybe the one with the hair. John, he's a character, I'll remember him. And Sarah, she's weird enough to make an imprint. By proxy, CatherineRose as well. Jaret too, he's a great guy. And some people I met that I have forgotten the name of, guiltily. But most of Kiana's friends who I chatted to I got along well with, and wouldn't mind knowing better. Charlie's a legend though, I certainly won't forget him anytime soon.

So I set down some contacts. I have people who know me all over the world now. Osaka, Tokyo, Beijing, California, France, Germany, Nagoya, Wisconsin... And so wherever I end up, I'll know somebody who's already there.

Tomorrow, I travel to Salinas, take the Greyhound to San José, where I'll meet Erin, and stay overnight with her, before I depart early for SFO, where I fly at midday. I fly to New York and get there late. That commences my final week. I won't see Kiana for a month, but that's ok, I didn't see her for two weeks while I was with Erin and Yukina, and she was pretty much just down the road that whole time.

This morning, while I was waiting to leave to go out, and I was sitting on Kiana's chair in her room, using her fan to cool me off (it was horribly humid there this morning), I noticed something tickling my foot. It's usually a fly, or something akin to a fly, like a similar bug, and I prepared to crush it. I like to look at what I'm killing first. I don't like killing things, but strange bugs up on mountains are threats to me. I looked, and all I saw was a bright blue thread on my foot. It looked like it was from her blanket she'd leant me to sleep on, but the blanket wasn't blue. Suddenly, the thread moved, and crawled up my jeans a bit. I realised that most of the thread wasn't actually blue, it was actually a lizard with a blue tail. I recognised it from when I was clearing out Kiana's garden. This tiny, beautiful creature, with a neon blue tail sat on my jeans, staring. I didn't know what to do. I was glad I hadn't attenpted to crush it. I called Kiana, and she helped set it free outside. I assumed bug, it turned out to be something beautiful. A similar thing happened yesterday. I was hearing bugs fly outside Kiana's window, sitting in the same chair. I heard what I thought was a massive bug flying by. I shuddered at it's size, it sounded several inches long. I turned around, and it was about two inches. And it was a hummingbird, not an insect. I hadn't seen hummingbirds in the wild before. I think ever. They were very beautiful, and they just hover around Kiana's window, looking for things to eat.

It is beautiful around here. I see eagles soaring everyday, I see vast views over the mountains when I wake up, I see so much that I know Becky and my parents would love to be seeing.

So I will be sorry to leave this section of California. I spend another day in San Francisco, and then I begin my journey home. I would like to live here after a while, I'd like to settle down here after a few years of travelling. I can understand people loving to settle in one place, the place they grew up in, but I feel lucky in my choice to not do that, at least for a while. I want to go all the nice places in the world (I dislike certain places in the world and won't be going there).

So I extend my thanks to Kiana and her family, and apologise for the situation that placed me in their care for so long. But I appreciated it, and I very much enjoyed my time in this corner of the earth.

I'm spending my last time in Starbucks writing this with my oddly functional laptop, drinking unsweetened Passion iced tea, and saying goodbye to the friends I made here. I'm having a good life.