This was originally written on 02.18.2001
I’m writing this entry in the library of “The Hostel In The Forest”. We arrived at our destination a few hours ago and it feels really good to be off the road. The last couple of days have been a bit of a whirlwind and pretty interesting. The night of my day in Cleveland I ate interesting, chinese food w/ my father and went to his work w/ him while he finished some things. He’s taken a second job of sorts doing janitorial stuff around the building so he spends some late nights. While I admire his work ethic, I worry that he has developed a bit of an unhealthy preoccupation w/ money. What is the point of accumulating money, or for that matter any other type of material possesion if one gains no hapiness from it? He always claims that Cleveland is so much better than Boiling Springs, but it doesn’t seem like he takes advantage of the added opportunity on a regular basis. I hope that he will quit his night job once my mom moves out to OH.
After that, my dad dropped me off at a club not far from his apartment so I could go to a hardcore show. Due to his extended stay at the office, and the show starting early, I missed the first two bands, but I did get to see Zao, the band I most wanted to see. They were hard and heavy and oh so intense. It was a pretty fun show, and as it ended by midnight, I was able to get some substantial sleep before going back to Columbus.
My dad is a very early riser so he got me up before 6 which meant I was able to get back to Columbus before 9. I packed, checked e-mail, and waited for Varu and Erin to show up. We left about 1 PM and headed south. Erin started driving but eventually hit her limit and I took over. We drove hardcore for hours. Its interesting how driving is considerably less painful when you have interesting company. We stopped briefly in Charlotte fom dinner. We drove on further south before finally stopping south of Columbia. It took us a rather long time to find a room in columbia as it seems all the rooms in columbia were for some odd reason all occupied. Driving from hotel to hotel reminded me a great deal of childhood holidays when we would drive, as if for hours, seeking an inexpensive hotel.
We awoke late and continued on our journey. We continued on our path through the south and stopped in Savanah for groceries, thrift stores, and to check out the Fort Pulaski National Monument. Fort Pulaski was a fort used in the revolutionary war era (though perhaps not the war itself, I’m really not sure?). It was later used as a confederate fort during the civil war and eventuallytaken over by union forces. It was a really interesting building architecturally. The fort was protected on its front by a moat and a triangular island that contains underground munition stores. It was historical and interesting. After a short drive we eventually reached the hostel just outside of Brunswick, GA. It was dusk and we had to drive down this crazy dirt road with these huge puddles. When we got there, we were greeted by Monica who showed us around the hostel. The hostel consists primarily of two geodessic domes which house the library and the common room respectively. Multiple other auxillary structures housed things like the bath house, the laundry room, and the dining area. The rooms for guests are arranged around the hostel grounds. Each structure is unique and gives the hostel a fun eclectic flavor. Perhaps the most alarming structure of all was the compost toilet. Instead of running water and flush toilets you simply cover your “deposit” with sawdust. The fecal matter is then added to compost for the garden? What do you do to urinate? Go water a tree. Our treehouse is the peacock hut, so named because of a wood carving of a peacock on the door of the hut. It is enclosed on two sides only w/ screen which makes me feel as if I will be sleeping in a jungle bungalow or Seminole hut. Having gorged myself on our picknic lunch, I decided to skip dinner and write this journal entry and read more of Catch 22.