I...Hiker

Our out-of-town guest Carlin has left, so now I am going back to the rank-and-file activities: staying up too late on the Internet, washing and rewashing my clothes, going for long walks in the neighborhood, and yelling at my cats. You'd think they would've learned "Get your motherf-in cat head out of my water glass" by now, but unfortunately, they are remedial students.

Not having a guest means I'm not doing any more touristy things this week. I have lived here for almost two months, but this was my first trip to Capitol Hill and the Fremont Sunday Market, where I picked up a kick-ass chocolate coconut cookie, some handmade earrings and a couple of CDs. I also climbed a mountain. OK, we hiked a mountain, or a mount, but it took a long time, and my calves still hurt, so I figure it counts. One thing I realized about hiking - it's all about the gear. I wouldn't have figured this about free hiking up a well-worn trail, but we ran into a lot of other hikers whose icy suburban responses seemed out of place on this free-lovin' kind of place. So either the Julie and Jack Huntingtons were pissed that we were crowding the wilderness, or they looked down on us for lacking the appropriate gear. No poles, no water bottles with drinking tubes dangling from our Eastman backpacks, no Columbia hiking boots, not even REI fleece. No bonus points for our Clif Bars and Fruit Leather snacks either apparently. We figured it means that hiking is just like any sport or hobby...you work hard to train, to learn the lingo, to read the specialized magazines, to go on the hardcore trails and appropriate the right gear so you can be a Hiker. Something to put on a your MySpace account...a Hiker. Above other people who are not hikers...they are merely casual mountain walkers! Dammit, I want that gear too. I also want sweet red poles so I don't have to slide from the top trails on my ass. And wear moisture-wicking pants. I learned that Gap Jeans do not moisture wick...they moisture chafe.

But although I have no gear, there are bonuses to only working part-time. I get to enjoy more of the little moments. Like when you first wake up and rub your bare feet together and they are warm and soft... better yet if you have someone else's feet to rub together too. I like to lie in bed for a few moments to enjoy that.