Early snow, Late Post

The weekend before last I had an amazing trip in the central sierras. My friend Tim, his girlfriend and I hiked up to about 10,000 feet and camped by a granite lake called emerald lake.

Hiking in, the weather was beautiful. But after the first nights downpour we were thinking we should get out while the gettings' good. I of course led the decision to stay longer and as we decided, the snow started coming down. That snow didn't really stop until 8 o'clock that night.

But when we woke up the sky was clear and brilliant with stars. The snow was thick on our tents and we were a little bit worried as to whether we would be able to find the trail in the morning.

Needless to say we awoke to clear blue skies and crunchy snow at every step. Not only was the snow crunchy but so were our boots, rain jackets, socks, sleeping bags just about everything that could freeze, did.

As we walked the 6 miles out of our campsite we had a renewed view of where we were and we were humbled by the granite peaks that surrounded us. We were on top of the world, even though it almost swallowed us.

Listening to: Townes Van Zandt


More pictures here at flikr

The Restless Generation

I've been reading a lot of articles and critiques of today's youth (including 20-somethings) and one of the most interesting designations that I've read were those of "The Restless Generation." I think I've also read Complacent and Bored as designators for our generation. These critiques really seem to speak some truth to me.

Technology is booming, electronic communication is so easy and fast. It allows us to create and share so much, but I also believe that it shuts us down and takes away any sense of freedom we might have had without it. In its essence technology makes things easier. Tasks that used to require effort and work require almost nothing now. So now that these small yet meaningful tasks are taken away from us, what do we do? How do we measure our accomplishments, how do we dirty our hands?

Ours is a generation of exercise-nuts and alcohol and drug abusers, a complacent generation if you will, a people who cannot be content because of a painful disconnect with accomplishment. I believe that many of these replaced tasks give us too much and leave us agonizing over the strange place that it truly leaves us in.

I believe that one of the most important things in our lives in community and our connection to other people. We may not be aware of it but we depend so deeply on all of the people around us. We depend on a feeling of accomplishment as well; and technology has inadvertently taken those two dependencies away abruptly.

So where does it leave us? restless, bored and complacent. With so much energy that has to be extinguished in one way or another, through drug abuse, through exercise, through technology, through travel, through anything that is available to us, we don't know what to do.

I am not trying to paint a picture that doesn't include myself, I believe that I am an integral part of this mess, I'm just not sure how to deal with it.

I would love to hear others opinions on the matter.

listening to Glen Hansard & Marketa Irglova, "Once" Soundtrack