I initially began this blog with the intention of eventually writing a book about my adventures, and achieving life goals. I have established goals, and a notebook that I carry with me and write in when internet access is not readily available. (Surprisingly, this happens more often than not.) So far, I've managed to rant a little, rave a little more, and be angry at the world the most. Things, presently, appear to be getting back on track, however. Or... so it appears, anyway.

While I am uncertain if anyone reads this, I think it will be most useful if I dedicate 10 minutes a day, if only for myself. It will help, at least, to maintain my writing ability, and maybe my memory.

On the upside,  I have finally gotten in touch with a human (yes, a real, live, breathing, non-electrical person) at the Technical College in town regarding my DUI classes. I am quite excited about this. As it turns out, a newer employee of the college had mis-filed (new word of the evening) my registration forms. This, as a result, made my contact at the Tech unaware of what was happening with me. I noted that the paperwork had been sent in nearly a month ago, and she still seemed confused. Upon looking back through the computer, she determined that the check had been cleared, and the registration form misplaced. I really need all of this to become taken care of; as of February 16th, it will be. I'm quite excited about this.

The beagle rests beside me, snoring under a blanket next to me as I'm feeling quite congested and head-cold- tastic. I've had the opportunity to re-connect with old friends, and rekindle old relationships over the last few days. It has been quite wonderful. Megan from Montana arrived in town. To my surprise, Ian the Cowboy was also in Appleton. We got some wonderful lunch! I then caught up with other, even older pals. There were even friends from high school in town over the New Years holiday. I got coffee with Nate, and played with his wonderful beagle/blue heeler cross. His dog, as it turns out, is actually very cute. Sort of funny lookin', but it seems like a neat pooch.

Regardless, I believe that I should go. My head is beginning to feel cloudy with snot. I hope you're (?) feeling better than me!

Nothing too new or exciting is happening, besides me sending in two tons of job applications daily. (Which has proven to not be so successful.) I've only landed one interview, and, upon telling them that I wouldn't be able to start until the middle of July, they seemed disappointed. Or something to that effect. But, you know, that's how the world works sometimes.

I do, however, have some Bailey the Beagle stories to share. We went hiking over the past weekend, and she found some turkeys in some bushes, and decided that she wanted to chase them. She managed to get them out, and follow them for a bit, until they jumped off of a hillside. This caused her some confusion, but she continued smelling around, seemingly hoping to find a new smell. On Monday, she had the opportunity to meet something that looked like a lab, but had huge feet. The lab was following it's person who was riding a horse and seemed kind of cowgirl-tastic (which seemed kind of badass, of course). Anyway, they became friends and all went on after their doggy mohawks went down. (When my dog becomes nervous or unsure of herself, she has a patch of hair on her back near her neck that sticks up and looks kind of like a Mohawk.) I've determined that I'm still infatuated with cowboy culture. It's not so much that I desire to live on a ranch and have like 30,000 cows, but it's still neat being able to visit, and "help" to work with cows. It's also cool being able to participate in a culture that seems to be all about the cows and ranches, and having a ton of extra space available to do whatever on, like letting Bailey and her dog friends run on. Or, letting my dog walk with me off her leash, and recognizing that we're not going to get in trouble if she minds her manners and doesn't decide to jump on anything that shouldn't be jumped on (say a small child- but this happened once. Ty's kid was flailing the dog's toy around and Bail decided she wanted it back. When dog jumped up to grab it, she knocked the kid right over.).

Time to grow. I mean... go.

So, there's been a lot of new stuff going on recently, mostly involving cows, rivers and amazing life experiences. But, these are the perks of living in Montana, I suppose.

Susan and I recently wandered around Fort Keogh, an old army fort that had been used by Custer and is now a cow research laboratory. People can go hiking, fishing, paddling, ect., and check out the cows that hang out in the pastures. We wound up getting slightly lost in our attempts to check out abandoned soldiers' quarters, and wound up going through a river. It was a delightful experience. We even encountered a bull who seemed to notice us, but ate grass contently as we quickly walked past.

We also had the opportunity to experience calf branding. This too was exciting, and new. I realized that things like this are potentially a once-in-a-lifetime type deal. How many times am I going to be able to walk into a room and say something like, "So, you know when you're out branding cattle and...." and have others be able to relate? Probably not so many. Unless they grew up on a ranch. Or maybe a farm if they've got several cows that are free-range as they are here.

Also, I heard back from U-MT, and apparently I'm not good enough to gain acceptance into their graduate school. This is okay, I guess. There'll be plenty of other opportunities. Or something. So I keep telling myself. I'm planning to return to Wisconsin towards the end of August. I've got an interview on Thursday of next week, which I'm looking forward to. It's for this program called City Year. I hope it works out, as it seems like a really interesting program. Just as eastern Montana begins to grow on me, I am also feeling the urge to return somewhere closer to home. I don't think I can spend the summer with brown grass, few trees and no humidity. I also miss the smell of thunder storms, spring time, and freshly cut grass. I miss the smell of fall. And of snow. I miss the feelings of snowmobiling. Of being in forests in the winter. I miss fresh veggies, and the Appleton Farmers' Market. I miss people who recognize that there are various kinds of corn. But, when I leave this Big Sky Country, I'll miss the people I've encountered and had the opportunity to spend time with. And the things I've been fortunate enough to experience here. How many people can say they've hiked through cow research facilities?

So, we'll see where I wind up. It's funny how things just grow on people, it's time to go. But this is a growing experience. On a slightly more positive note, Ty's thinking about coming with.

So this is the new year...

... And I don't feel any different.

So I feel like I need to get back to the initial point of this blog: discussing the quirks of eastern Montana as compared to central Wisconsin (from a mid-western point of view, of course). I've been using a lot of short sentences and bullet points. I need to get back to the longer winded posts.

I have had several exciting adventures. I'll start in a psuedo-chronological order. Alex the Texan, Susan and I went to Billings for the New Year. It was kind of exciting. We went to the cinema, and saw "Up in the Air". It was an interesting movie about a guy (George Clooney) who gets hired by bigger businesses to fire people. He winds up meeting this woman who he believes has the same paradigm that he has- flying and spending most of his life on the road, so to speak. They wind up having an affair, and he falls in love. That is until he decides he wants to become serious and give up his travels that he has previously enjoyed so much to spend more time with her. He eventually shows up on her doorstep, only to discover that she's got a family, and is happily married. Her perspective was that they were just having a happy affair, the end. He thought she actually gave a shit about him. Woops. Anyway, it was a decent movie. We also hung out with some of the Billings VISTAs at their house, and played a rousing game of Truth or Dare. We eventually hunkered out, and returned to Miles City, cowboy capital of the world.

Later that weekend, Susan and I got bored, so we decided to take an adventure to the ranch in Terry. It was quite delightful. We wound up going sledding with Cowboy and Megan on some of the smaller hills on the ranch. The cows kind of hung out and didn't really do much to my surprise. I hoped that they would do something cool- or at least moo- but they just stood there all content and watched us. Oh the life of eastern Montana cows. How nice it would be. Save the lack of barns thing. We later played Rock Band and enjoyed coffee and Baileys. Yum. I've become quite partial to the ranch- it's kind of a neat place to be. (Yes, it's a ranch. I've learned recently that farms are more agriculturally based- they grow corn or hay or soy beans and occasionally have a few animals. Ranches, on the other hand, tend to be more animal based and less likely to grow crops. Sure, they might have a few acres of hay or whatever to feed their cows, but the cows make their money.)

At any rate, these are my recent adventures. It's been great.

DQ adventures, lost contact, the wedding

So, things are starting to pick up yet again. I really wish that people were here this weekend instead of last- there really isn't as much going on, and things should be slightly more relaxed. The open mic starts again, which should be exciting... And... yeah. There's been stuff happening for most of the last few weekends, so hopefully, some "I'm not doing anything" time will be nice.

I'm half afraid of losing people that I had been close to before, but I guess that happens. Or, the people that are supposed to be around in a few months will be. Or something.

So, last night, Susan and I discovered that the Dairy Queen had recently gotten fried cheese curds. Kate, Susan's roommate, didn't know that such things existed, so we brought one back for her. She seemed to think it was strange, but after trying them realized they weren't actually the worst things ever.

Work is going relatively well. I feel like I'm mostly ahead, and I've got only a little more to do, but will need the help of others to accomplish these things. The first courtwatch meeting is this afternoon, for which I'm quite excited- one of my "projects" is actually beginning to get started! BeLinda is also starting on a newish fundraiser that I'll be helping with- we're hoping to reserve areas of sidewalk during Art Walk, and "sell" sections that people can draw pictures representing "Safe Families, Safe Kids", and the funds we raise will help us out. It seems like a pretty cool idea- but we've got to go through the mayor to get it approved, which seems as though it'll be a long process. Hopefully, we'll get it, though! Oh, optimism.

Speaking of optimism, I'm beginning to realize that I am quite young, and have a lot of time left to do cool things. But what cool things can I do? I'm giving some serious thought to the following, but am looking for thoughts and/or suggestions. Let me know what you think!

- Applying for a Youth Outreach Position with the Peace Corps.
- Going back to college and learning how to teach
- Remaining in Cowboy Country and trying to find a job (despite the lack of opportunity... and my uncertainty that there's a lot of space for people like me out here...)

I'm also half considering combining the first two...

Anyway, I'll leave you with these words from the Weakerthans:
"By the way, I got your letter yesterday
It said there’s no need to be sad
It said that some things would never ever change
But that some already had"

Rain, bars and pizza...

So, the weekend went well, though a bit crazy. There were actually a ton of VISTAs in town for the fair, which was fun. It was exciting to have people my age here. Matt made it in (despite hitting a few animals), which was the best thing that's happened for a while! I was really excited to have a Wisconsin person here...

On Friday, we all went to the Montana Bar, where Matt was surprised by the number of cowboys. I guess I noticed too, when I first arrived here. I've kind of adapted to the culture and people here- it's really kind of an interesting place to be... When Matt reminded me that things were in fact quite different here than in the Midwest generally, I began to get all homesick again. It didn't end well...

Saturday was kind of fun as well. I had to work at the fair for a few hours, during which Matt and Susan joined in on the fun. Before the fair, Susan and I took Matt to Murdoch's (Similar to Fleet Farm, err Farm and Fleet), where he had tried to convince me to get boots... Which I did, as he picked up a cowboy hat (which worked for him surprisingly well!). He even wore it while sitting around the fair booth, despite an apparent silly feeling. Susan and I wore cute Elf Hats, as the fair's theme was Christmas in August. The elf hats gained our table brownie points.

I've still got several trainings to attend (IST in Big Sky over labor day and a retreat for ACMAC in October!), and a camping adventure planned, I'm sure I'll be keeping somewhat busy. Work is also helping to keep my mind off of a strong desire to go home.

The Fair, Friends, and Elves in August?

So, things are finally starting to seem more homey... Well, they were... Until I realized I was within a block of a halfway house. I will continue to be glued to my cellphone.

Over the course of the last week, I've had a complete change of perspective on several fronts. I met a real cowboy (yes, he wears cowboy boots and hats, and knows how to break a horse) who turned out to be one of the coolest people I've met out here, and learned how to drive stick. We (the Terry VISTAs, Susan and I) wound out going camping outside of Terry on Ian's (the cowboy) family's ranch, which turned out to be a ton of fun.

The training in Helena went well, though got really long, really quick. I cought up in the last session with some of the Billings kids, and joined in on their games, which helped pass the time. Getting home at midnight wasn't so much fun. Jordan wound up leaving earlier than I had expected him to, which wound up being ok, as it led to the aforementioned camping adventure.

Sunday led to lots of wandering- I learned more about the cool things to see and do in Miles City. With Ben's help, I discovered that it's a lot easier to escape here, if one pleases. There's also a place that has "special cows" and some pretty cool places to walk near the Yellowstone River. It's apparently called Fort Keough (I might have mispelled that...). Anyway, people research cows there, and apparently cut out parts of their skin near their stomach and replace it with glass as to see what's happening on the insides. Interesting? Maybe.

This week at work has been kind of full. This weekend is the Eastern Montana Fair, in which we have a table, and some Elf Hats. The theme this year is Christmas in August, so the fair buildings are all pretty and shiny. Our table also has a 5-foot singing and dancing Santa- it's pretty neat. There are a lot of cool things to see, including lots of 4-H stuff, several barns full of animals (mostly cows and horses), two buildings with displays, rides, a rodeo and a tractor pull, and even several musical things happening. There are also clowns and magicians occasionally floating about. It's pretty much the best weekend ever.To make it better, Matt from Wisconsin is coming in (hopefully) tonight after a crazy long drive from Colorado. Whoo hoo Wisconsin friends! There are also some kids from Billings and Terry in town as well!