Descending The Ascent

        We didn’t have any plans for today as we had just gone to Acadia two days ago on our last day off, but with the humidity gone we knew we wanted to do something. My family called in the morning to let us know they were back from their vacation out west. My sister is also home again after spending the last five years working at multiple national parks and coming home for only a few weeks here or there. She’s going back to college for a couple years to finish her degree before returning to her nomadic lifestyle which I’m so proud of her for living. She gets to do some pretty amazing things.

        I also got a letter from my friend Donnie who has spent the last five years in prison. I met him in my senior year of high school and took him under my wing, he’s a couple years younger than me and someone I consider a brother. I saw him playing the piano one day and brought him on board as a producer for my record label. He quickly transitioned into rapping as well with aspirations for much more. He lived with me for a short while after his grandmother, who’d been taking care of him, died suddenly, leaving him with nowhere to go as his parents had both passed away, as well as most of his other close relatives. He ran with some bad friends at the time and even though he was headed for bigger and better things, couldn’t abandon his old crew. We fell out of touch when I moved up to Maine and he got deeper into the illegal lifestyle so many from our culture succumb to. He reached out to me in 2010 when he was wanted for armed robbery and I’ve been his only lifeline to the outside for his incarceration. What was supposed to be a six year sentence turned into twelve due to a mistake made by his court appointed lawyer. He’s been fighting to get his sentence reduced to what it originally was but just found out that the judge only took one year off his sentence. He also needs to have an MRI due to a clot in his brain. Not good news. It had me a bit bummed and I decided I needed to explore the mountains today.

        So on a whim we headed for Acadia, stopping first at Dairy Queen for some lunch. We made it to my destination, the Precipice trailhead around 2:00. Jaime stayed in the car while I went searching for The Hanging Steps once again, this time pretty sure I knew where they were located. Wrong again.

        I made my way up the rock climber’s trail to the giant wall of rock and climbed my way up the massive boulder field. I’ve always been a natural at rock hopping so I didn’t find it too difficult despite the huge crevices underneath me or the near vertical elevation gain. I’d come this way once before in search of The Hanging Steps but crossed the boulder field early on and made my way up the other side of the ridge.

        This time I went straight up the boulder field until hitting a small cliff at the top. I took a left here when I probably should have taken a right. Upon closer scrutiny, the steps are most likely on the rock climber’s wall just below the top of the slide. But I continued on up the mountain, seeing a break in the trees up ahead. I ended up scaling the entire side of Champlain Mountain, getting some incredible views along the way and finally reaching the Ridge Trail that makes its way to the summit. No Hanging Steps. I thought about going back down the way I came up and taking that right hand turn just above the slide but climbing down the way I came wouldn’t be too safe.

        So I called Jaime at the car and told her to meet me at Sand Beach as I planned on going down the Ridge Trail to The Bowl, then down around the backside of the Beehive to Sand Beach. But she realized her name wasn’t on the park pass and wouldn’t be allowed through the gate to get to Sand Beach. And with the park loop road being one way, she couldn’t drive back and meet me at the other end of the Ridge Trail. Uh oh.

        I tried to find my way down the way I’d come up but couldn’t find the spot I popped out on the trail. To the left and to the right were sheer cliffs, I’d come up the one safe way. I originally intended on going down the Ridge Trail and walking along the road back to the car but that meant over a three mile walk plus the mile and a half of trail.

        So I did something stupid, I descended via The Precipice Trail. It’s only a mile, but it’s a mile straight down a thousand foot cliff with iron rungs and ladders. It’s meant to ascended but all the signs warn you to find a different way down. People die on this trail. Five and a half miles versus one mile. I took the trail down. A trail I’ve never gone up before. I didn’t need to go all the way down, just to the first tree line where I would take the abandoned cliff trail to The Great Cave and cut off a few tenths of a mile. Of course, I would be going down the hardest part of the mountain.

        I pushed my fear aside and went for it. Luckily it was getting later in the day so I only met a few groups going up. I had to get out of the way for them as they were going the right way, up. I could hear them coming every time and stopped at a safe-ish place to let them by. They were all friendly and showed concern for me going down the mountain that way but I told them I was experienced and not to worry about me, most of them actually needed a little pep talk of their own as that trail is quite scary. I even met a girl who was doing The Precipice as her first hike ever. I gave them all pointers, told some of them about secret places not found on the map and carried on.

        It certainly isn’t easy climbing down the trail but I wasn’t as terrified as I thought I’d be. See, I have a healthy fear of heights, nothing too serious, we’ll just say I don’t like them. But one of my tricks in life is that if you pretend something enough, it becomes real to you. So I just tell myself I’m not scared of heights, get myself amped up, and go for it. It works every time. Turn that fear into excitement. Only once did I get a little scared and that was on an extremely narrow ledge with no rungs and a huge drop off where it looked like the ground was getting closer by the second and then pulling away, exactly the way they show it on TV. I was glad to step aside for a gentleman coming up and he apparently did not like that ledge either due to there not being any railings whatsoever. I talked him through it and we both went on our way.

        I think what helped me the most on my descent was knowing I have the upper body strength to hold myself up if I missed a rung. So with every step, I would hold on tight and prepare to fall so if it happened I’d be ready. If you’re expecting something, you’re better equipped to deal with it when it comes. When you’re not ready, it’s the element of surprise that catches you off guard.

        I held onto the iron rungs at the curve in order to get a better grip. I’m glad I did because in a few spots, there wasn’t a rung where there should have been. I looked down every time which isn’t recommended but I did alright, all the while telling myself I wasn’t afraid of heights, and saw that the rung was indeed missing as I could see little spokes of them popping out of the rock ledge. The fact that these broke off did not comfort me at all but I was holding on tight enough that it didn’t matter, I just used a little more arm muscle and lowered myself slowly.

        One rung at a time, that’s all you can do. And I enjoyed myself while up there, taking in the views and appreciating the experience. And honestly, if placed in that situation again, I wouldn’t hesitate to climb down the Precipice once again, as long as it wasn’t at a busy time because I wouldn’t want to get in anyone’s way going up. But the fact of the matter is, it is a very dangerous trail and I see why so many get hurt and die on it. Both the physical and mental aspects are quite daunting and shouldn’t be taken lightly. I was prepared for this mountain and still felt intimidated by it so for those who don’t know what they’re getting into, its easy to understand why they don’t make it.


        Part way down the trail, I veered off into the woods on the long abandoned cliff trail to The Great Cave. I’d found it a few weeks ago coming from the other direction and even climbed some of the rungs on the Precipice just to see what it was like. So I knew exactly where I was going and followed the lost trail as if it were the marked path. It cut out a good three or four tenths of a mile and brought me through a slab cave with a view of the ocean, beneath a hanging boulder suspended over a stone stairwell and down to the Great Cave which holds a dear spot in my heart since it is what got me into ‘off trailing’ and finding abandoned paths. From there it was down the rockslide which I’m able to do easily now after all of the other rockslides I’ve encountered, and then down the easy part of the trail and back to the car where Jaime was patiently waiting for me, reading a magazine.

        We stopped at Blueberry Hill once again and got the exact same ice creams we had just two days ago, yet the price went up by 53 cents. But my peanut butter pie sundae was delicious. Jaime had a craving for hot dogs and hamburgers on our way home so we stopped at Five Guys for supper. I figured that would gain back any weight I might have lost in my long day of sweating. But I only ate half my meal as my stomach is finally shrinking, at least on the inside, thanks to my diet. Surprisingly I was down to possibly my lowest weight yet at 205, down a couple pounds from my normal 207.

        I talked to my sister on the phone for an hour and a half to end the day, we haven’t talked since she headed off for the Spring earlier this year so we had a lot to catch up on. Most of the parks she travels to don’t have any cell service and they have to travel quite a few miles into town to even get spotty wifi so we go many months at a time without talking, then catch up on one another's adventures. She’s both bummed and excited to be back home for awhile but knows that after her two years are up it’ll open countless opportunities for her career.

        Oh and we also stopped at Marshalls on our way back through Ellsworth where Jaime got a few things including some new boots and I went to Goodwill where I found an LL Bean raincoat size XXL for either me or Jaime. We don’t have raincoats and will most likely need them for our vacation so I’ve been searching but they’re always too small or don’t have hoods. XXL is a little big but its great for hiking because it gives you room to move around freely, and its LL Bean so you can’t really beat that for only $8. One more to go now and we’ll both be ready for the rain. And yeah, my legs are definitely feeling the strenuous climb. I can’t wait to move to NH and do this everyday.

Waterfall Wading

        Today was one of the few days a year where you don’t need a park pass to get into Acadia. Despite the unbearable humidity and rainy forecast, we knew the park would be packed but decided to go anyway since we hadn’t our last few days off. So we decided to keep it simple and do short off trail hikes where we wouldn’t encounter anyone. It worked, not a single person all day.

        We parked near the start of the park loop road and headed beneath the bridge to Duck Brook before taking the tributary stream that feeds it, Witch Hole Brook, emanating from the swamps around the Witch Hole Pond area. Since its been so dry lately the streams were extremely easy to cross. I followed Witch Hole Brook up through the ravine while Jaime hung back, angered by the constant sweating in the high humidity. Since the water level was so low I rock hopped my way up the brook, stopping to take pictures of the tiny waterfalls. In Spring this one will be amazing but a little difficult with the steep banks on either side of it. Even without much water it was still gorgeous.


        It popped out on the carriage path around Witch Hole, the only place I saw any other people all day. It turns that stream is one that I’ve always wanted to follow because it flows over a tiny four foot waterfall just off the carriage road. It is also the exact spot I came up with the idea to form the 12 Knights crew within my record label back in 2001. I’ve always brainstormed while hiking and that particular day I came up with something that stuck. At first the 12 Knights were an elite group of top members of the record label who basically ran things, a board of directors. It was something the new comers strived to be part of. Later on, everyone associated with Royal Kingdom were referred to as knights. We upheld higher moral standards both on and off the microphone. It was something that changed a lot of lives and saved quite a few, including my own. I’ve always remembered the exact spot I came up with it, my sister by my side, listening intently as I brainstormed out loud. I was just thinking about that a few days ago and mentioned it to my wife so it was kind of crazy following a stream and coming to that exact location.

        We decided to follow Duck Brook up to the secret waterfall rather than drive to Duck Brook Bridge and walk down from there. It was fun rock hopping our way upstream, encountering a few more rapids and small cascades along the way. Even the ‘Secret Waterfall Of Duck Brook’ was rather unimpressive today, but still a beautiful spot, hidden deep in the ravine where no trails travel anymore.

        Jaime wore her bathing suit but I had to change into mine, well sort of, my field and stream shorts are basically swimming trunks but I had my underwear on beneath them and had to change. Luckily no one else felt like taking a dip in the pool below the waterfall today because they would have seen my tallywhacker flopping in the breeze. Knowing my soft and fragile feet, I bought a pair of water shoes earlier this summer and boy did they come in handy. The pointy rocks were even too much for Jaime to handle and we had to pass the shoes back and forth between us to walk into the water. The rocks were also extremely slippery but the water was refreshing and surprisingly not too cold. I was able to go right in without my usual ‘brr its cold’ theatrics.

        The center of the pool is about five feet deep, perfect for me to stand up straight and keep my head above water. We hung out for awhile, discussing our vacation to New Hampshire coming up in just a few weeks. I also, for the first time in my life, peed in the water. Yes, I’m 31 and have never peed in the pool. But I really had to go, so I pulled it out near the edge of the rocky pool and let it go. Of course Jaime teased me the entire time, telling me I was gross and getting pee all over myself, that I’d smell like urine all day, it’d be on my shorts, then in my nose and hair after I went under a few minutes later. Did I mention she’s the one who convinced me to do it in the first place?

        On our way back we followed the abandoned Water Pipe Trail, deciding it would be faster than rock hopping back down the river. The trail brought us high up on the hillside above Duck Brook, eventually ending at the tall rock ledges overlooking the park loop road just after that first big bridge you cross after the visitor’s center. I’d always wanted to climb up those ledges but never had. So another childhood goal has been crossed off my list.


        After the sun poked through the clouds for a few minutes while we were swimming, it disappeared for the rest of the day and the mist began to fall heavier. The fog was so thick and the clouds so low, we couldn’t even see the ocean from the park loop road. So we decided not to go searching for The Hanging Steps today, which I’m pretty sure I now know how to get to. The rocks would have been too slippery, considering we’d have to climb a boulder field. Instead we went to Day Mountain along Route 3 in search of Tilting Rock and the Sea Stack. After doing some research I was quite certain I knew how to get there, but we never got there. We found the start of the trail easily enough. It was beautiful, walking through the wet pines on what was once the road long ago. But, we kept following the remains of the road when we were supposed to leave it early on and head into the woods rather than parallel the current Route 3. So we poked around the woods for awhile, crossed the actual path, kept following the abandoned trail and came out back on Route 3. Although a cool experience, it wasn’t quite what we were looking for. Now we’ll know for next time.

        We stopped at Blueberry Hill for ice cream on our way home. Jaime got her usual Coffee and Raspberry swirl and I got my usual peanut butter pie but this time I got it in sundae form which was delicious. A good way to end the day.

Beat The Heat

       Today was our day off from work but it was too hot and humid to do any hiking like we have been on our days off. I got up a little late for me, around 10:00, and continued with some trail searching online that I started last night. It turns out there are a lot more abandoned trails in Acadia than I originally thought. So the trail guide I’m working on, The Acadia You Haven’t Seen, has now doubled in size from 25 places to over 50. I’ve only visited about half of them so I have a lot of exploring to do.

        After finishing up some research I was too tired to complete last night, I headed into the studio and turned on the computer in there for the first time in months. Then I brought in the air conditioner after pressing a couple buttons made me sweat profusely. My homeboy Santo has been wanting some tracks to sing but since I’m not really working on any music right now, I wasn’t able to send him something immediately like usual. But the album I was working on at the tail end of 2014, The Memory Of Light, had a few spots already set to feature him. So I fired up the equipment, transferred the instrumental for ‘Yoga Pants’, finished writing the chorus for him and sang a demo version. Since he’s back in CT, I send him the instrumental and my demo version via email, he records his and sends it back to me for any changes. ‘Yoga Pants’ is a song about, you guessed it, yoga pants and men’s love for them. It’s on an upbeat instrumental I made over a decade ago with my producer Big Andy. The song is more lighthearted and sexually explicit than my normal material but would resonate with a wide audience, if anyone were to actually listen to it. I can’t wait to see what Santo does with the chorus and I’m sure as soon as he sends it, I’ll be hitting the studio to lay my verses. After scanning my lyrics, the first two verses are great but the third falls a little short, rather than rewriting it which I rarely do, I might cut it completely and either give Santo a singing verse or have my longtime partner in rhyme Gambino hop on it. He’s fresh off of opening up for the original Terror Squad over the weekend at a nightclub in the Bronx. This track is right up his alley and might help him get some more exposure. I’ve given up on my dream of making it in the rap game but he’s still going strong.

        However, every once in a while I’ll get the urge to drop some new stuff and show it to the world. The problem is no one cares so what’s the point? But today I went over the songs I had ready to go for The Memory Of Light and man that would be one hell of an album. It just needs to be recorded. Who knows, maybe it will be.

        I toyed with the idea of going to Acadia today by myself but decided against it, figuring I’d stay in the air conditioned studio and work on some music and maybe sort through some more of my crap in the never ending process of cleaning and organizing my room. Jaime’s friend Mallory along with her son Forest had planned to go bridesmaid dress shopping for Mallory’s upcoming wedding but opted out considering the heat. They just came over to visit instead so I brought the air conditioner back into the living room for them, killing my plans of doing any work in the studio. Seeing Mallory with her adorable son made me realize yet again why we aren’t having children. It becomes a lifestyle, taking up all your time and attention, something we are not willing to give up. For some reason, I don’t regret my decision not to become a parent. It seems wonderful and all, its just not for me or my wife.

        While visiting with them, Jaime mentioned I should start researching hikes for our annual vacation to the White Mountains in New Hampshire just a month away. I already have more than enough hikes to keep us occupied for our two weeks there but I love searching through old hiking guides and maps to find abandoned trails and bushwhacks to places no one sees. I’m looking at an interesting one right now on Mt Osceola which involves a 2.5 mile bushwhack along a river that would bring us high onto the rockslides of the rugged mountain. Jaime thinks that might be a bit long though and I have to admit, she’s kind of right, doesn’t stop me from wanting to do it though. We may settle on a regular trail hike to the Greeley Ponds nearby and do a shorter bushwhack from there up some smaller rockslides. But it’s something to keep in mind for the future when Donnie gets out of prison, giving me a hiking buddy who’s as crazy and adventurous as I am, okay maybe not quite but close.

        After my ‘little brother’ Jeff was mentioned in conversation, I decided to message Samantha, his ex and mother of his child, to see if she’d heard from him lately. He hasn’t had any activity on Facebook which is odd for him because he’s usually bitching about being lonely or not having a job and he hasn’t responded to any of my messages in months now. Figured I’d check up on him to make sure he’s okay and not dying in a ditch somewhere. He’s chosen his own path but being one of my oldest friends, I still feel like I have to look after him. I was appointed their king, I created a Kingdom and I made them my knights, so I feel obligated to lead them back on track when they go astray.

        My tomato and bowl of cereal weren’t enough to keep me full so I decided to head out and grab some lunch, not wanting to cook anything in the already hot as hell kitchen. The girls took Forest to go get some ice cream at Gifford’s and I headed off to eat at, well, never mind, I went to Salvation Army instead, based off a feeling there would be something good there. I’ve learned to trust those instincts and went, despite being hungry. And what do you know, a $5 pair of hiking pants in brand new condition were sitting on top of one of the racks. I paid $10 for my hiking shorts and that was at work where I get a discount on the already discounted items. They’ll be great for Fall and early Spring hiking when my jeans are too heavy and restrictive. They’re even in the khaki color, not that ugly green those pants tend to come in. And they’re just my size, even a little bigger, the way I like them because it makes rock hopping easier. A perfect find.

        On my way to get food afterward at, well I still hadn’t decided since finding out the Hannaford ‘wing bar’ is closed from 2:00 to 4:00, Jaime called and said she was back already and Mal and Forest left because he was too hot in the ninety degree weather with high humidity. But Mal did get to see our woodchuck ‘Linky’ in the yard which excited her because oddly enough she’d never seen one before. I’ve been trying to get a woodchuck, my favorite animal, to move in for years now and this summer it finally happened, right under our shed. So I swung by the house to pick up Jaime and we went off to Ruby Tuesday for the salad bar, what we both wanted earlier in the afternoon. Three plates of salad later and a couple bites of my burger, I was finally full. At least it was salad I filled up on.

        Jaime sat in the air conditioned car as I went into Walmart to get some new socks as I’ve had to throw many of mine away lately. They’ve been developing holes like crazy. Of course I passed through the toy department but showed a little self restraint for once and did not buy the WWE Legion Of Doom 2 pack for $20. All of their packages were a little messed up so that helped dissuade me. I already have them in singles packs from the Jakks Classics line in the exact same blue outfits. I’ll wait and get their Hasbro tag team pack from the 90’s line at some point. Of course that’s around the $100 mark but I want that one more so this one wasn’t worth it. See, I’m still trying to talk myself out of it. You have enough figures, Matt, more than enough, you can’t take them all with you when you move into a condo. So I stuck with just the two packs of socks. And a packet of Butterfinger Cups, to make me feel better about leaving the Legion Of Doom on the rack. It worked. But I was good and only ate three of the bite size cups, way below the serving size.

        Then I moved on to the Goodwill in Brewer where I got an audio cable for Jaime’s car because hers is in the process of biting the dust. Then I stopped at Mardens but didn’t find anything. We decided to drive around some more in order to stay in the cold car and headed over to the mall where I went to the Bangor Goodwill and Hands Of Hope thrift stores, also where I got nothing. I rarely find anything but I’m always on the lookout. Right now I’m hunting for raincoats for both me and Jaime, figuring this vacation will be all rain since we got not a drop last year over the course of two weeks. I already got my two pairs of hiking shoes and a fanny pack, yes a fanny pack, for the short hikes, after years of making fun of my dad for wearing one because it made him look like a tourist. Now all I need is a raincoat. Not as easy to find as one would think. I’m also still on the search for a pair of desert camo pants for a photo shoot for my Lost In The Sands album. I’m beginning to think I’ll never find these damn things, unless of course I drop $30 for a new pair which seems pointless seeing as how I’ll wear them once for a photo shoot and probably never again. I’m also on the hunt for clothes I can alter for the clothing line I’m working on which is surprisingly coming out quite good. I’m now on my second pair of jeans after doing a few t-shirts. So I’m in need of more black jeans and camouflage bandanas to cut up. You wouldn’t think it’d be this hard to find camouflage bandanas, especially in Maine. Hiking books and action figures are always a welcome find as well. And some kind of bowl or tub I can use to make my own rock fountain, I have the water pump, I have the rocks, all I need is something to put them in.

        We stopped for beef jerky and cookie sandwiches on the way home. Now I think it’s time for a little snack. We’ve been hanging out in the air conditioned bedroom since we got home, Jaime reading magazines on her tablet, me researching hikes and then typing this blog entry. Not sure why I decided to do it, just felt it needed to be done. Now’s as good a time to start as any.

And So It Begins

        Just to catch you up on recent events in my life so the blog doesn’t pick up in the middle of nowhere, here’s what I’ve been doing the past week or so.

       On Friday my wife Jaime and I went hiking in Acadia like we’ve been doing once a week on one of our days off. We decided to do the Orange And Black Path along the slopes of Mt Champlain and from there take the Precipice trail to the talus field and go to the unmarked Great Cave since last year Jaime didn’t quite make it all the way. The trail was insane, Rudoplh Brunnow sure did know how to make them, over rockslides, up stone staircases, dangling off cliffs by iron rungs. Not realizing what we were getting into, Jaime threatened physical harm while ascending a stairway literally on the ledge of a cliff with not even a railing to hold onto, but she had fun by the end of it. We found an easier way to The Great Cave than straight up the rockslide and took some amazing photos that she has dubbed ‘calfies’, yes, cave selfies. It truly is an amazing place and I’ll never figure out why Acadia no longer maintains the trail to it. We also found the old abandoned trail leading away from the cave, leading you back to the Precipice trail higher up on the ledges. After a hundred years of being forgotten, the trail was still easy to follow thanks to all of Brunnow’s remarkable stone stairways.

        We have decided to call ourselves the Hiking Douchebag Klique because we have to look fresh even when we’re out on the trails, I wear bandanas that match my outfits to be photo ready and she puts on makeup, not to mention we have the exact same hiking sneakers, sort of like old folks in their matching track suits. And the Klique part is an ode to the behind the scenes wrestling stable of Shawn Michaels, Razor Ramon, Diesel, Triple H and 123 Kid, which is why its spelled with a K like their Klique, however, we’ve decided to change it to the regular C spelling of the word so it’s easier to find online. It was only 1.5 miles round trip but man were we sore after, that was one grueling trail. I still managed to run 0.3 of a mile back to the car afterwards though which means I’m getting in shape.

        I’ve also been working on designing my own clothes, something that I started back in 2000 but never got around to really doing until a few months ago. I started simple with shirts and am now onto pants. My latest creation is an old pair of black jeans I have that ended up with some holes in them around the pocket area. So on one leg I sewed on, by hand, a strip of camouflage material I cut out from a bandana that goes halfway around the leg and will eventually wrap all the way around it. On the other leg I cut out Proph in the same material and used it to cover the hole on that side and balance out the design so its not heavy on one side, nothing on the other. They’re actually coming out great. I’m working on another pair which as of right now has my P logo on one back pocket, the Crown logo on the other.

        The forest I’m beginning to grow in my yard is doing great, however, one pine tree I planted last year has died. All the other trees are thriving, some having grown one to two feet this summer. After all my hard work, I got my first wildlife, a woodchuck has moved in under our shed. Most people want to get rid of the rascally rodents, but they’re my favorite animal so I’m honored one of them is calling my forest home. Now I get to watch him from my windows every day. We’ve named him Linky, short for Lincoln, our home away from home in New Hampshire and where we are striving to move to in the very near future.

        Aside from the novels I’m writing, I’ve also decided to do a trail guide, ‘The Acadia You Haven’t Seen’, in which I discuss all of the old abandoned trails of Acadia and the cool places most people don’t know about. There’s lots of research that goes into it and lots of exploring, all for a page worth of writing, but if I can get it published, it could be huge. I also began work on a self help book about finding yourself and learning to be the person you truly are as well as one entitled ‘The Mountains That Made Me’ where I relate pivotal moments of my life to the mountains I hiked while making those life altering decisions, a memoir of sorts mixed with a hiking guide.

        We’re getting closer to leaving our home in Bangor Maine, a place we no longer belong. We belong in the mountains of New Hampshire. For the past few years our goal has been to get our books published and move out there. However, without anything published yet, we’ve decided maybe we should move there anyway and just find new jobs. We’re looking at condos and houses but aren’t really sure which we’d prefer. The first step in leaving is paying off all of our credit cards, a task that within a year and a half we have almost completed. That’s well over $12,000 of debt now gone. We’re getting there. We’re beginning the downsizing process already, figuring we’ll most likely be getting a studio size condo that won’t fit most of our stuff.

        We’re both trying to lose weight and get healthier, especially for all the hiking we have ahead of us. I’m doing good but not good enough. At my heaviest I weighed around 230. I started working out about a year and a half ago, I’m now down to a little under 210. That was with exercise and eating smaller portions. Now I’m trying to eat healthier as well, usually having a salad for lunch and one with supper and staying well under 2000 calories a day. My workouts have been getting less intense as the heat's been picking up but when its tolerable I still get a good one in, as well as an insane hike every week. I don’t know what my goal weight is but I’m getting there, slowly but surely. I definitely notice the changes, especially from the weight lifting and leg exercises. Everything is so much easier to lift at work now, I’m slinging 120 pound gazebo boxes over my shoulder, and on the trails my legs don’t get nearly as sore as they once did. It’s a good feeling. I just need to keep working at it.

        I realize I do too much and spread myself too thin, never being fully able to dedicate the time needed to any one thing in particular. If I focus all my attention to just one aspect of my life I’m sure I can succeed at it, I just don’t know how to put all my eggs in one basket. Do I even want to? I don’t know if I can do that again. I did it once with my music career. When that didn’t pan out, I was left with nothing except for what I’d gained from my years as a rapper. I damn near had to start over. I needed to reinvent myself, or at the very least redefine who I’d become. That was ten years ago, now, at almost 32 years old, I’m not sure I’d have the luxury of starting over. I like to think I give my all to everything I do but the fact of the matter is, I do too much to truly devote myself to any one of my many hobbies. Which to be quite honest are more than hobbies, they are lifestyles that require a lifetime of dedication. If only there were more hours in a day.