//------------------------------//
// The One: Chapter Two: Journal One 
// Story: The Few 
// by EctopicEntropy 
//------------------------------//

	10/31/10 My father has found out about my truancy problem. I haven’t been to school in weeks, so it’s understandable why he’s concerned. I just don’t see the point of wasting one fifth of one’s life just to spend three fifths working oneself to the bone attempting to acquire some miracle elixir. Enough of my ‘flawed’ views on society, though. The reason you’re reading this, and why I’m writing this, is because I’m leaving. I’m going to take my bow, a quiver of arrows, and a sharp knife and take off. If you are one David Castillo, I apologize dearly. I know you trusted me to be there for you, but I’d prefer to avoid my father’s wrath. And, as anybody reading this may have guessed, I am most likely dead at this point, as I never leave my satchel behind. And, if you aren’t David, grant a dead man his wish and put these journals into his hands.

11/1/10 Today, I let my father think he won. He dropped me off at school, expecting me to actually go to class. Poor man. I’m already basically free, and from what I’ve heard, it’s going to be impossible for me to go back to school, since this school is shutting down. Of course, that’s been word-of-mouth, since I no longer have internet access, but I trust the little birdy who told me.
Being out of school for two weeks may just be the best thing that happened to me. I have been presented with four options, two of which are, put bluntly, retarded. The other two, however, are almost beneficial. The first, online school, fixes my problems with the social aspect of school. The second, accepting a GED and entering a community college, fixes my problem with the education. Of course, they both have problems. Online school will teach me the same old humdrum curriculum, will cost too much for a prodigious one, and I may be inclined to cheat with search engines. A community college will have the same stupid people, it may be too stressful, and I’m likely to be the youngest there, causing its own plethora of problems. Of course, I do have a third option, which is what I previously wrote. Still, I don’t think I can leave everything behind. For how scary my friends, the internet, my family, and my education are, they are just as, if not more, glorious. I truly am torn.

11/2/10 I write this after having been forced a decision. My father, a christian man, found out that I am a fan of, as he put it, “a faggot’s show,” which is the newest generation of My Little Pony. I left, took the aforementioned survival gear, a t-shirt and jeans, and left everything behind, including my last name. I am now just William, vagabond, transient, and, more than likely, soon to be dead. I know that sounds like a bleak statement, but it’s true. I have had little to no survival training, my only edge being a crack shot after a year of archery club after school. I have no idea how to find water, how to keep myself warm in the coming winter. I don’t even know how to gut and clean an animal properly.
Learning is fun! Lesson one: When gutting an animal, don’t cut into the digestive track, or the animal will turn septic. Lesson two: Blood doesn’t come off. At all. I knew I should’ve paid more attention in health class.
So, turns out blood does come off. Only with cold water, though, and Tucson doesn’t have too much of that. Also, as I sat eating charred rabbit over a tiny fire, it occurred to me that I am at risk of two very silly things that could potentially kill me: scurvy and rabbit starvation. Hopefully I’ll be able to plunder some oranges from some place, even if it does wind up having to be a supermarket. The second problem isn’t so severe, it just means I’ll have to take down larger prey. The third problem is so real and terrifying that I actually didn’t write it, but dehydration is going to probably wind up killing me.

11/3/10 Woke up before the sun to the sound of heavy boots and barking dogs. Seems that the amber alert has been sounded, and I’ll have to move. East seems like the best option, since there isn’t much of a west.
Note to self: Puddle water tastes horrible

11/4/10 I found a bottle of water on the side of the road. It was a nice, metal one, and though the water in it was hot, it was clean. Never thought hot water would be refreshing.
I’m attempting to skin the animals I kill. I thought I was skilled with a knife, but I found out that was completely wrong.

11/5/10 Cottonmouth is killing me. Not the snake, the sign of dehydration.
State border! Woo! I’m dead.

11/6/10 Well, I’m not dead. But I don’t know why. My bottle no longer seems to be empty. As a man of science, I want to say that there has to be a logical explanation, but I cannot see any. The water’s nice, though.

11/7/10 With this new water source, I feel a lot better. Except for the fact that I don’t know where it’s coming from. I don’t want to be saved by the same God that my ass of a father believes in. Or any other God, because the thought of them existing is blasphemy!
Well, with my extremely atheist statements having been said, my water source has not run out. So, either this is not the work of a God or said God is just very patient.

11/8/10 I managed to actually get an intact pelt. The only problem, however, is that I lack stitching tools. And stitching knowledge.
I thought about it for a while, and I remembered that the natives used snake ribs and sinew as needle and thread. I guess I could try that, since I don’t really have much of anything else to do with my hands.
Well, after a few trials and many, many errors, I managed to fashion myself a hat out of a javelina hide I let dry in the sun. It’s a little stiff and definitely not pretty, but everyone has to start somewhere.

11/9/10 This hat is actually kind of nice. It keeps the cold breeze off the back of my neck and the sun out of my eyes. And it makes me feel like a wild man. Next step, the shirt!
Alright, who the fuck invented the fucking shirt? It looks logical on paper, but it is so hard to execute in the fabric! Rargh!
I scrapped the whole shirt idea, and went instead with a sort of single-sheet drape that covers chest, midriff, and arms. Take that, modernity!
Wound up in Las Cruces, bummed some heat off a trash fire, and slept in an alley. Would the title ‘D.G.K.’ be appropriate for me yet?

11/10/10 Well, someone’s got a kind heart in Las Cruces. Me and the bums I slept with awoke to some guy in a suit cooking us bacon and eggs. I thanked him graciously, but had to ask if he had any oranges. I expected him to call me an ungrateful slob and stalk away furious, but he just handed me an orange with a knowing smile. He actually never said anything. Was he mute?
As I’m sitting here beside my dying campfire writing to an audience I’ll never meet, I can’t help but think of my situation. I’m fifteen and on the lamb with very little survival knowledge. Some may take my situation and say it sucks to be me, but I’m very glad to be me. I learned everything high school had to teach me online, and I wasn’t planning on perpetuating my misery by going to college anyway, so I was basically done with schooling anyway. And being out here is awesome! I’m learning so many things I never would’ve been able to learn in society. Like how to build a fire in scrubland without lighting the west coast ablaze! The secret is inflammable material, a.k.a. rocks.

11/11/10 I wondered what time it was for the first time in a long time today. I couldn’t help but laugh. To me, right now, all time is is a number assigned to the position of the sun. Time is a funny thing when you look at it from an outside perspective.
I finished my ‘shirt’ by midday. It’s quite warm, and makes me feel even more rugged. Now if only I had a beard.
Well, I tried to will a beard onto my face all day, but it didn’t seem to work. Oh well, I’m only fifteen, I’m sure it’ll come around someday, right?

11/12/10 I feel like I should make pants to complete this hide ensemble, but they seem like a hell of a lot of work, and I’m not too keen on the simple method, which is essentially a dress. I may be a pony fan, but I’m not wearing a dress.
Loneliness is eating what little sanity I had left. A particularly cold wind whipped up, which pierced right through my thin jeans, so I yelled at the wind “Fine, I’ll wear a dress.” Stranger than that, is that the wind petered out shortly thereafter. I don’t think I believe in science anymore.
I started on the dress thing, but without enough leather, it turned out as a short skirt. I told the wind I’d wear a dress, not a skirt. Ain’t nobody gonna catch me anywhere in a skirt. No way, no how.

11/13/10 A normal person would be homesick by now, I imagine. But I’m destination sick. I want to see what’s beyond the next horizon, every horizon. Is wanderlust the proper term for that?
Slept the night in Carlsbad. You know the place, famous for its caverns? Yeah, that place. Nice town.

11/14/10 So I finished the dress with an addition of a rabbit pelt or two. And though it might have brought a blush to my cheeks when I put it on, it’s really warm and quite comfortable. Damn you, society’s residual gender interpretations!
Cold wind whipped past me. Didn’t feel it at all, since I had my hands tucked up inside my coat. Warm as fuck

11/15/10 Sat on the side of a road for a little while. I have no idea why, but I did it. That was about the events of today.

11/16/10 Shoes gave out. Kind of shitty, but I think I can make it barefoot. I used to walk around barefoot a lot during the monsoons, so my feet are fairly tough. Besides, there isn’t a cobbler for who knows how long. Probably here to England.

11/17/10 Started to sing a song as I was walking. I haven’t heard “On the Road Again” in years, but apparently I know it by heart. Curioser and curioser.

11/18/10 Met a couple stoners on a rock outcropping. They flipped out and started yelling at each other variations of the phrase ‘Is this real life?’ I’m not sure who’s crazy in that situation, the man in a dress with a bow or the people having an existential crisis. 

11/19/10 So I’m sixteen now. That’s a thing, I guess. Being sixteen just makes me think about cars. And how much they suck.

11/20/10 Nothing eventful happened today, but it ended in Abilene. Didn’t even know this town existed, but it has the same small society of homeless that I fit right into. I find it quite interesting to observe their social dynamics. Most treated me like a kid, someone who needed to be taken care of, but once a few of them started talking to me, they found that I had quite a bit of knowledge and experience, and began treating me more like an adult. They were infinitely curious about my bottle, just as I was.

11/21/10 I’ve entered a greener part of the country. Being a Tucson boy, this is actually quite a shock. In Tucson, the most green you’d see is from trees, cacti, and golf courses. Rarely would there be naturally green grass, and never so much of it.

11/22/10 I was almost bored today. I began thinking about how I’d be reading a book back home right now, but then I remembered I’m the kind of hero that’d be in the book I’d be reading. And this journal kind of makes my life a book, so really, this is more exciting than a book because I’m in the book. The things one thinks of while walking alone.

11/23/10 Found an injured canine laying in the shade of a tree today. It growled as I approached, but that didn’t deter me. It attempted to get up, but immediately collapsed with a whine. I took the moment and stepped right up next to him. He looked at me with a great degree of fear in his eyes, but a petting behind the ears calmed him down and let me assess his injury. He seemed to have been bit by something, and it went deep. I washed it out and bound it with scraps of my shirt. I’ll be staying with him until he recovers, but at least he picked a nice tree.

11/24/10 He seemed well enough to get up without a fuss at about noon, so I made to leave. He, however, had different plans, and is now following me. I decided to call him Silver, because he’s got a grayish hue to his coat.

11/25/10 I’m thinking that west may have been a better idea, because even mid Texas is cold as a witch’s tit. Ugh.

11/26/10 Silver’s doing really well. I was able to remove his bandage this morning, and he’s starting to regain his natural gait. He still isn’t much help in the hunt yet, but I’m sure that’ll come with time.

11/27/10 My hair is really musky. It reminds me how long it’s been since I’ve had a hot shower. Or a warm bed. Or a roof. Not that I miss them, it’s just a thought.

11/28/10 Silver managed to bring home a rabbit today. I was really proud of him, and let him tear into it. I had my own meal and plenty of hide anyway.

11/29/10 I killed an armadillo today. Not as tough as they’re made out to be, honestly. I had the urge to place his skull facing the rising sun. It was a very spiritual urge, and having lost almost all belief in science, I shrugged and followed the urge. Nothing came of it, but I felt like I did the right thing.

11/30/10 Eastward, ever eastward. That’s about all. East.

12/1/10 I’ve made it a habit of setting skulls facing the rising sun. I have no explanation, except that it simply feels right.

12/2/10 Six feet beating an unbeaten path into the east. Has a mystical air to it.
Slept with a gang of hobos again, this time in Shreveport, Louisiana. Didn’t even know I had crossed the state border.

12/3/10 Woke to Silver growling. At the end of our alley stood a lean woman, slightly bent. She made eye contact in the dim pre-morning light and left. Having become rather impulsive, I followed her. She seemed to have expected as much, as she was right around the corner. She introduced herself as Gretchin, and immediately inquired about my bottle. I was suspicious at first, but handed it to her. She turned it over a few times, seeming not to find what she was looking for. However, when she opened it, she grinned. She told me she had sensed magic coming from it and then asked where it had come from. I told her, in all honesty, that I didn’t know. She investigated further, even pulling a little water out of the bottle. This was very strange, because when I saw pull, I mean pull. She simply waved her hand and water began to flow out of it. She then looked at me through the water and declared that I had cast the spell, to which I firmly denied, as I didn’t even know magic existed. She sighed, put my water back, and beckoned me to follow her.
She took me to a lake outside of Shreveport. It was frozen over, so we walked across. She walked like a graceful angel, and I slipped and slided like a newborn deer. When we got across, she stepped inside a humble shack without even a ceremony. She’s awfully strange, especially considering that she knows, and wishes to teach me, magic. She helped me get settled in today, but she promised my lessons would start tomorrow. I’m honestly giddy with excitement.

12/18/10 So, haven’t written in a while. Been really tired. She gives me lessons while I build a tolerance to magical energies. Basically, human magic functions by wiring yourself into the ether that connects everything on the planet and then using the energy in everything to cast spells. However, the human body can only handle so much energy before they start getting feedback from it. In order to increase that limit, one has to reach that limit every day. I reach that limit fairly quickly still, but  my lessons here aren’t even done. She gave me today to rest, so I’m sitting on her roof, staring at the sky. Louisiana’s beautiful.

1/2/11 Lessons are done. She sent me northwards and told me to constantly reach my magical limit before I slept every night. I’ve got enough skill in magic to cast small magic bolts, so I’ve unstrung my bow and am planning to take down prey with the bolts now. She wasn’t able to teach me much else. Apparently, you’ve got to know how magic works and have a high tolerance for magic before you can really learn magic. However, I’m still excited. The person she’s sent me to see will teach me word magic. I have no idea what to expect, but I’m sure it’ll be fun.

1/3/11 It feels good to be on my feet again. Even if I’m headed in a different direction.

1/4/11 I really want to go swimming, but there’s snow on the ground. Fucking winter.

1/5/11 So I have this bow that doesn’t really do anything and I’m contemplating leaving it behind. However, I don’t think I can. It feels like a part of me. Decisions, decisions.

1/6/11 I decided to keep the bow with me, and leave it in Tucson if I ever return. It would be a fitting resting place.

1/7/11 It’s so white around here. I have to wonder what state is under all this snow. And also what there is to eat besides rabbits and wolves.

1/8/11 Crunch crunch crunch. Snow sounds weird.

1/9/11 I met a farmer on the road today. He seemed nice enough, gave me some peach preserves. I still think people are strange, though.

1/10/11 Boredom finally set in. I blame the endless white expanse.

1/11/11 Made Springfield by nightfall. No hobos to crash with, so I slept on the street alone.

1/12/11 I realize you may be wondering how I can go barefoot in the snow and not lose my feet. The answer is simple: magic. The magical energy from the ether actually creates heat, much like electricity, allowing me to channel a small amount of energy and keep my feet  toasty warm no matter the weather.

1/13/11 Everything is so white. Ridiculously white. More white than Tucson is brown. And yet, everything that’s white is blue in other situations. And black in yet others. Water is really weird.

1/14/11 Sleeping under the stars is really nice. The sky just sort of falls in on itself at night. It’s really beautiful.

1/15/11 I think we’re in a flyover state, one that would have squares of cornfields any other time of the year. Right now, though, there’s nothing but snow. I know a lot of entries have been about snow, but snow is amazing to me.

1/16/11 Silver and I played fetch with snowballs today. It was really fun, even though I had to make so many.

1/17/11 Alright, snow has lost it’s appeal. It’s gone from interesting and mysterious to run of the mill and boring. Now I can’t wait for spring.

1/18/11 I’m dreaming of a white Christmas… Even though it’s a little late for carols, I found myself singing this one today.

1/19/11 My pants have given way to the buildup of dirt and grime and the constant wearing. I left them behind in the snow. I hope someone wonders where they came from. It would make me chuckle.

1/20/11 Made Des Moines after nightfall. Slept in the snowbank on the side of the road. Awfully comfortable, considering it’s snow.

1/21/11 I’m wondering if I need to make an entry every day, especially since almost nothing happens in the great white north.

1/22/11 I saw a snow owl today. It was pretty.

1/23/11 Made Mason City in the dead of night. Slept in a snowbank again. I’m really hoping this doesn’t become a regular thing. I liked my hobo friends.

1/24/11 I really want to get to Duluth. I don’t even know what state it’s in, but I want to get there. I think she said Minnesota? Whatever.

1/25/11 I think the snow is having an adverse effect on my mood. I’m feeling grumpier and grumpier as the days drag on.

1/26/11 With all this white expanse, I can’t help but wonder if the sun reflecting off the snow is giving me a tan. That’d be the weirdest thing, a winter tan.

1/27/11 Nothing worthy to note happened today.

1/28/11 I wonder if there’s intelligent life out in the stars. Surely there must be, right?

1/29/11 Continuing from yesterday’s entry, I also wonder if there is a God. It doesn’t seem logical, both in the sense that if there was, there wouldn’t be evil, and also one God would be overburdened.

1/30/11 Still thinking about Gods. Honestly, a pantheon, like in Greek mythos, makes the most sense.

1/31/11 It would also make sense if there was a God for every little thing, and they would be ranked in accordance to how important their thing is, from stick insects to humans to pure existence. It would also form a hierarchy, where the God of insects is above the God of beetles and he is above the God of Japanese beetles.

2/1/11 Made Duluth by night. Finally get to start in on my next training. All I have to do is wait to be contacted. And by wait, I of course mean sleep.

2/2/11 I was approached by a man called Horatio in the morning. He took me to his house by the lake and started in on lessons immediately. I’ll probably not be writing much, since these lessons are probably going to be fairly time-consuming.

2/17/11 He gave me a break today, and I sat on his roof and stared at the clouds. Lessons so far have been language, mostly. He says we’ll soon start in on using the language he has been teaching me, the language of magic, to cast spells. 

3/4/11 On the road again. Horatio sent me back west, to someplace called Courtenay. I’ve got a few new tricks up my sleeve, figuratively, thanks to his lessons. Like fireballs!

3/5/11 Spent the night at a campfire surrounded by people like me. Wanderers, vagabonds, fugitives. It was a nice change of pace, being around my own kind. I asked them if they knew where Courtenay was. They laughed at my idea of walking there, so I assume it’s pretty far.

3/6/11 It’s so still up here. Still and serene. And pristine. And other -een words.

3/7/11 Silver blends in almost perfectly up here. I have to wonder if this is where his species originated from.

3/8/11 The evergreens up here sure are nice. Green and white and brown and nice.

3/9/11 Made Fargo by the night. Nice enough place, I guess. A little white for my tastes, but everything is.

3/10/11 All things considered, I’d make a pretty interesting person in a community. Walked all over the U.S., knows magic, wears clothes of his own making. Maybe only in Portland would I be ‘interesting.’ Heh, Portland jokes.

3/11/11 My shirt went the way of my pants. I’m now wearing only animal hide. Feels au-natural.

3/12/11 I really want a beard. Even if it’s just stubble, I want it. It would be awesome.

3/13/11 I grew stubble overnight! Thank the beard Gods!

3/14/11 Made Bismarck by night. Reminds me of Johnny Horton.

3/15/11 Spring is coming. That’ll be nice. It’ll put the smell of the pines into the air, make this trip even more enjoyable.

3/16/11 I realized that my quality of writing fluctuates a lot. At the beginning, I was very eloquent and well-written, and I still am sometimes, but at other time, I’ll not even use full sentences. Strange.

3/17/11 Made Dickinson by nightfall. Met some friendly homeless that seemed to be migrating back to the streets. It’s nice to be among ‘my kind’ again.

3/18/11 This landscape is beautiful and all, but it’s not terribly interesting, once you see it every day. I guess these are a wanderer’s problems.

3/19/11 I wonder why we’re here on this planet. Did we really evolve from mud-amoeba completely by chance? Or were we put here for some higher purpose? If the latter, who put us here? What do they want?

3/20/11 I’ve decided that evolution is more likely than being put here by some higher power. I don’t think higher powers, with enough magic to create life, would pay terribly close attention to us, let alone create us. Then, what is the purpose of living?

3/21/11 I can’t seem to figure out what the meaning of life is. For other animals, it seems fairly simple. Herbivores live to sustain carnivores, which live to sustain larger carnivores, and on up until us. But, nothing preys on us, so what is our purpose?

3/22/11 I think the only answer to the meaning of life question is that there is no meaning. We evolved to our fullest capacity, and now we may better ourselves continually through technology, but we serve no purpose to any other species, besides ones we’ve domesticated. Non-domesticated animals keep care of themselves, from food and other necessities to population control, it’s all easily controlled by the animals themselves. So, do we just keep advancing our technology until we can’t anymore? It seems the only logical conclusion.

3/23/11 If our purpose, as divined by me, is to advance technology, why then are there religious people and freaks who don’t trust technology? Are they genetic aberrations, to be cast aside for the common good? Do we need to shed this part of our population to assist in this artificial evolution. Surely not, as they are people too.

3/24/11 I can make no argument in either direction. It seems only logical to cast aside impediments, but that is unethical. Yet, if it weren’t for strange courses of thought, we wouldn’t have all the amazing art we have now. Conversely, we’d be much more technologically advanced. What is more important, power of soul, or power of technology?

3/25/11 I can’t decide which is more important. If we advanced technology as far as we could and scrapped all belief systems, when we would eventually have a mass existential crisis and implode. However, if we fully embraced our spiritual side, our technological advancements would grind to a halt. Is the only answer to strike a perfect balance?

3/26/11 If the only answer to a better life is perfect balance, why then is it not working currently? We have a fairly good balance between spirituality and technology, yet we haven’t had a man on another planet yet. Sure, we made it to the moon, but that’s not terribly exciting. Not anymore, anyway. So, what does our society have to do to advance technologies quickly, yet still be able to embrace our spiritual side?

3/27/11 I don’t think I could ever figure out this conundrum. It seems unsolvable, mostly because most religious or spiritual people tend not to be able to impede science. So, do we common-folk just have to be patient and wait for science to move for us? It seems the only answer, which really isn’t one.

3/28/11 I wonder if we even need science. We’re fairly far ahead already, so what if we just stayed earth-bound and reveled in our already great technology? Would current designs be improved? Or would technology be stagnant?

3/29/11 All this philosophy is making my head hurt. Why does it even matter what I think? Like as not, nobody will read this.

3/30/11 Freed from my philosophy addiction, I decided to pick up juggling instead. It isn’t terribly hard, with two anyway, and pinecones make perfect practicing items.

3/31/11 I tried three pinecones today. I felt a lot less successful afterwards.

4/1/11 I’m starting to get the hang of this whole juggling thing. It’s pretty fun.

4/2/11 I made Missoula sometime in the night, and plan to help out my fellow homeless by juggling for money in the morning, maybe even do a little magic, maybe some firebreathing after the sun fades.

4/3/11 I performed all day, even having Silver join in with a few tricks. I made a decent amount of money, and left what I didn’t eat with to the homeless people. They’re nice enough, and they need it a lot more than I do.

4/4/11 It felt nice to do something charitable. I got a nice, fuzzy feeling from it. Maybe all the philosophizing was unnecessary, and that’s the meaning of life, to do for others what they cannot do for themselves.

4/5/11 I love the smell of the pine trees in spring. All crisp and fresh, outshining imitation car fresheners like it’s nobody’s business.

4/6/11 Everything seems to have come to life. There is so much life out and about now. Makes for a good hunt.

4/7/11 I’m in Moscow now! Somehow, I’m not in Russia, though. Apparently there’s a Moscow in Idaho, too. Who knew?

4/8/11 I played the role of charitable street performer again today. It’s so fun seeing the wonder and excitement on everyone’s faces.

4/9/11 Life is wonderful. It’s wonderful to live and be alive and stay alive. Absolutely euphoric.

4/10/11 Cancel the statement of yesterday, instead everything is wonderful. I just can’t be mad at anything today. Even horrible things, like overhunting, overfishing, starving Ethiopians, not anything. It’s both awesome and a little scary to feel this way.

4/11/11 A robin alighted on my shoulder today. He was so pretty, singing his little robin heart out. I just couldn’t have him for lunch after he sang like that to me.

4/12/11 I caught the faintest whiff of the sea on a strong wind today. I think we’re still a ways away from the ocean, but it was refreshing.

4/13/11 Slept in Yakima with a bunch of hobos. They told me I’d have to head more northwards, since Courtenay is in Canada and I’m only in Washington.

4/14/11 It’s so fun being a street performer. I could really get behind this lifestyle. I won’t, of course, since settling down anywhere anytime soon is still a bit of an alien thought.

4/15/11 After being given directions by a kind stranger, I set off in a northwestwards direction in pursuit of Courtenay. The further I go, the greener it gets.

4/16/11 Every few breezes, I smell the sea. It’s got my heart a flutter. I haven’t seen the sea in so long...

4/17/11 I’m giddy with anticipation. The place the stranger said Courtenay was at pointed at a coastal place. And it’s spring. I’ll finally be able to swim again!

4/18/11 Made Seattle in the night. It’s quite a bright city, and that’s not a bad thing.

4/19/11 I got to be a street performer again. I love this gig.

4/20/11 Heh. It’s 4/20. Heh.

4/21/11 Camped at the side of a body of water. Supposedly, I’ve got to cross it to make it to Courtenay. Time for a Jesus maneuver. And some swimming, just for fun.

4/22/11 After walking on water and swimming all day, I made it to Victoria and slept, wet and happy, with more homeless, in Canada.

4/23/11 I think word is spreading of my street performances. I had a much larger audience today.

4/24/11 I can still smell the sea! And it smells amazing!

4/25/11 It rained today. It was a little cold, but that didn’t bother me much.

4/26/11 I’ve noticed an odd pattern. All of my magic teachers have lived by water. I wonder if that’s coincidence.

4/27/11 Made Courtenay by night. I’m so excited to start my lessons!

4/28/11 I was approached by a man who called himself Gustav. He took me to his house at the edge of the bay, and began on our lessons. He plans to teach me material magic, which is both alchemy and reagent-based magic.

5/13/11 He gave me a break today, saying I had earned it. I went for a swim in the bay, and decided to take the time while I wasn’t exhausted to write. We finished the alchemy portion, and it’s a lot like cooking, only powered by the ether.

5/28/11 Finished the entirety of my lessons today. I am now a full fledged wizard! Somehow, I don’t feel any different. Oh well, on the road again! Southward bound! Homeward bound!

5/29/11 So, I figure I might as well attempt to explain how material magic works. Basically, it’s word magic, but without the words, and with a material component instead. I can cast all the spells in two ways now, and have been taking a little time to gather a few herbs.

5/30/11 Everything is so quiet, up here in the great green north. It’s really quite beautiful.

5/31/11 I tried fusing material and word magic today. It expended a bit more energy, but it produced a more powerful spell. Instant cooked rabbit!

6/1/11 Slept on the U.S. side of the border. Home turf, sort of.

6/2/11 I think I’m going to attempt to make it by Portland before I go all the way home. I think they’d appreciate my talents.

6/3/11 The ground feels amazing. So soft and warm and squishy.

6/4/11 I can’t help but wonder if anybody else ever walks in these woods, and if I’d ever run into them. We’d sit under a tree, and talk about the weather, then go our separate ways when the conversation grew thin. It’d be nice.

6/5/11 I wonder if I can even still function in society anymore. Sure, I can interact with the bums fairly well, but what about ‘normal’ people?

6/6/11 It’s probably breaking a hundred degrees back home. Can’t say I’ve missed it.

6/7/11 Got to Portland some time in the night. I can feel that tomorrow’s going to be great.

6/8/11 I was right. I made an amazing amount of money, and was even offered places to stay so that I could keep performing here. I, of course, declined, but they were such nice gestures. People are crazy.

6/9/11 It’s nice, being able to get yourself anywhere without having to worry too much about anything. It’s really relaxing.

6/10/11 Stopped in Salem about midday to perform. Then I slept in an alley way. For a town that used to burn witches, they were pretty receptive to my street magic.

6/11/11 It seems to be that for those bound by house and home, the road leading away from creature comforts is the longest, but for those bound by way and wild, the road to them is longest.

6/12/11 Silver and I took a little time today to just appreciate the small things. Like the clouds, scudding across the sky.

6/13/11 Latent labels misconstrue meaningful ministrations. I have no idea what it means, but it popped into my head, so I wrote it down.

6/14/11 Thinking about it more, I’ve decided that yesterday’s statement had to do with how the perceptions and constructions of gender in society make medical practices harder simply because of gender and modesty. It makes sense now.

6/15/11 I think I’ll settle down for a while when I get home. Hang out with old friends, maybe even split rent with one of them and get a job. It doesn’t sound terrible, though I don’t think I’ll make it very long without being struck by wanderlust again.

6/16/11 Made Klamath Falls in the night, and slept with the same old pack of homeless.

6/17/11 Performed again today. It never gets old.

6/18/11 I looked at a map while I was in a diner yesterday, and decided today on a more southeast than south-southeast course. However, it’ll take me through Nevada, which will be fairly arid. I’ll miss these forests.

6/19/11 The forests are already thinning out. I like change and all, but the scenery’s going to be a lot less pleasant without these trees. I should know.

6/20/11 I may have been complaining yesterday, but today I see that that complaining had no real place. The scenery’s just as beautiful, just a different kind of beautiful.

6/21/11 Without the trees, the sun has grown more intense. I actually shed my ‘shirt’ today. It’s quite the reminder of home, even if it’s not as intense.

6/22/11 I wonder if Las Vegas would appreciate my performances. I had sort of aimed for it, as a midpoint between me and my destination.

6/23/11 I think I may have stated this before, but I love sleeping under the stars. It’s such a natural experience, and it makes me feel connected to the Earth.

6/24/11 I wonder, if everyone was assigned one of the four elements, which one would I be?

6/25/11 After mulling it over, I decided that I would probably be assigned Earth as an element. I’m patient, sturdy, a little stubborn, and very durable. Too bad that’ll probably never matter. Oh well.

6/26/11 Dirt and sand as far as the eye can see, speckled with scrub and the occasional coyote. Add in some saguaro, and you’ve got my hometown.

6/27/11 I’m actually a little homesick. I guess, since home is my destination, I’m still destination sick, but I actually really want to be home today.

6/28/11 I wonder if my dad would take me back. I wonder if I’d take him back. Probably not, on both cases.

6/29/11 I just realized. I’m only sixteen. If I plan to settle down and get a job, I’ll probably have to at least act my age, if not more.

6/30/11 For what it’s worth, I think I may have some of the toughest feet in the modern world. I don’t think it’s worth much, though.

6/31/11 Days pass slowly on the road, but months seem to melt in the stream of time.

7/1/11 I can see Vegas from here, at night. I wonder how far I am. It still seems pretty far, but I think I can make it in a few days.

7/2/11 I’ll definitely make it by tomorrow. Finally, I’ll have someone besides myself to talk to.

7/3/11 Made Las Vegas by the end of the night. People were still up and about, but I managed to find a secluded alleyway to sleep in. Sure is hard to breathe here.

7/4/11 While performing on the street, I caught the eye of a couple of wealthy tourists. They gave me quite the tip. Too bad there’s not many homeless to share the riches with. I guess they’ve got to keep the streets clean, since the city lives on tourism.

7/5/11 Looking at a map in a cafe this morning, I decided to aim for Phoenix. It shouldn’t take me much more than a week, gauging by previous speeds. So close!

7/6/11 I figured out how to use the etherical energies to chill myself, allowing me to become my own A/C unit. 

7/7/11 I think I’ve been in Arizona for a few days, but I can’t quite tell. Without a map, the United States really just blends together.

7/8/11 I cut through a forest, just by the edge. I think that means that I’m just south of Prescott, but I can’t be sure.

7/9/11 I saw a roadrunner today. I almost caught it, but it was too quick. I guess the coyote really could have that much trouble.

7/10/11 I saw a plane for the first time in a while. I saw it land just beyond the next horizon, implying Phoenix is fairly nearby.

7/11/11 I was right. I made Phoenix in the night. I haven’t been here in five years. It’s just as pretty as it was back then.

7/12/11 Performed again. I think I saw someone I knew in the crowd, but that might have been just a trick of the light.

7/13/11 I’m so close to home! If I had a ride, this trip would take two hours. Sadly, for me, it’ll be a few days. But it’s right there!

7/14/11 I’ve never been this excited for Tucson. I don’t think I’ll ever be this excited for it ever again, either.

7/15/11 Made Tucson by night and slept in the old ‘coyote den’ my friend and I discovered a while back. I have a good feeling about tomorrow.