the animal's journal

Where are you and where are you going?
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theanimal
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Re: the animal's journal

Post by theanimal »

@FFJ- I like Joshua as well. That has quickly become my favorite podcast.

I guess there are more qualifiers than a "normal" job, but I don't think I could work a white collar, desk job. I'd consider that a sacrifice. A big part of the reason I drifted towards ERE was as a result of trying to avoid that path.

With regards to the grunt work comment, I did mean not trained to a higher level quick enough. I certainly don't think I'm above menial work. My current job is as a general laborer, mainly doing construction site clean up. Part of my upcoming guiding job involves low level cleaning as well. The stuff that puts me off is as Jacob said somewhere, that when he asked someone about apprenticing as a carpenter, they said something like he'd just be carrying 2x4's up and down, all day. That's certainly fine, its a job that needs to be filled. Though that obviously may not be the case everywhere. But my main interest is in gaining the actual skills.

Yeah, it basically is low wage work, though all expenses paid. If I did that for ~8 years, I'd be FI and able to do whatever. I'd be 30 at that time. Not that bad in the grand scheme of things.

@Dave- Thanks! I appreciate that, I'm glad you've enjoyed it.

I think your spot on with your analysis. I do struggle with this. Matty brought up a good strategy of gaining a bit of capital then semi-EREing, where you're able to have a good bit of free time but also earn money occasionally. It certainly is tough to figure out. The "work for x number of years, then stop" model certainly seems to be the most prevalent here, but that doesn't necessarily mean its the right way or even the best. If you find the ideal balance, please let me know. :)

@Ego- I like that approach. Definitely more anti-fragile than pursuing solely one path. Thanks for the input.
Last edited by theanimal on Fri Apr 24, 2015 2:01 pm, edited 1 time in total.

theanimal
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Re: the animal's journal

Post by theanimal »

I appreciate your input. It's certainly something worth considering.

I ran the numbers today. If I were to only do the guide job, I would hit my number in 7 years (I'd be 29). So that's the (likely) max scenario. Other routes would probably knock off 2-3 years. But then again, the guide job is located in prime hiking, river running, fishing, hunting, skiing, climbing (...you get the point) country. No expenses. Public lands for hundreds of miles in every direction. I think I would gain, at the least, somewhat of a "bush education" due to the remoteness of the area. Definitely not to the skill level of someone pursuing a sole trade but well rounded and adequate enough for my needs. And there certainly is no shortage of self reliant/ERE/Heimo Korth types to learn from. This path has a lot of things going for it that the others struggle to match. I certainly wouldn't mind living in the Brooks Range for 7 years :) .

Matty
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Re: the animal's journal

Post by Matty »

Sounds like you are set for at least the next year or so with that guide job which is pretty cool!

See how you go, you don't necessarily need to decide what to do afterwards at this stage. Living in the Brooks Range for an extended period is sure to develop your mindset further. You might love it and decide to stay or you might develop the passion to pursue something else!

I really enjoyed the RPF podcast with Curtis as well! I've read about SPIN farming before and have been interested in permaculture/market gardening businesses for awhile!

theanimal
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Re: the animal's journal

Post by theanimal »

Thanks, Matty.

I agree. I think I'm over complicating things at the moment. Best to take it one year at a time and go from there. Semi-ERE is still an attractive option, so maybe I'll end up following a plan similar to yours. I shall wait and see.

theanimal
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Re: the animal's journal

Post by theanimal »

I liked seeing what books C40 read last month in his journal. So I decided I'm going to copy that idea.

Books
I read a fair amount this month. I'm slowly making my way through Jacob's recommended list . 20% of the way through.

My Name is Chellis and I'm in Recovery from Western Civilization by Chellis Glendinning A good look into the psychological effect western civilization has had on humans.

The Stranger by Albert Camus This provoked a lot of thought about death and coming to accept it.

Overshoot:The Ecological Basis of Revolutionary Change by William R. Catton, Jr. Self explanatory? Possibly the best book I've read on the topic so far.

1491:New Revelations of the Americas Before Columbus by Charles C. Mann A good history of the Americas before the native societal collapse. Debunks a number of prevalent myths on life before Columbus.

No Word for Time:The Way of the Algonquin People by Evan T. Pritchard I'm enthralled by native cultures. This book certainly enhanced that. The concept of life without time is so..perfect. No rush, no stress, living each moment in the present (not YOLO style though). On my NOLS course we did a week without time. Everyone loved it.

Brave New World by Aldous Huxley WOW! Can't believe I hadn't read this earlier. I loved this. Spot on take of current culture today. I could talk about this book for hours.

The Last American Man by Elizabeth Gilbert I envy Eustace's skills. However, it was a bit sad to see how the emotional damage he accrued in his childhood has negatively affected his adult life. The book helped reinforce the idea that you can only change yourself. Trying to change others is just going to bring about a whole lot of stress and dissatisfaction.

The Cartoon Introduction to Climate Change by Yoram Bauman A good, concise summary of the fundamental principles of climate change.

Survival+:Structuring Prosperity for Yourself and the Nation by Charles Hugh Smith This book is so information rich. Each page is chock full of insight and info. I'll probably read it again at some point to make sure everything sinks in.


These books combined with my discovery of John Michael Greer's work made for a gloomy month. I experienced some dark periods and I descended into full blown loser-dom (Gervais Principle). Fortunately, by following through on my web of goals I'll be in good shape. Ideally, transforming into a technocrat. These books also strongly reinforced the idea that I should pursue a trade. I think I see an apprenticeship as an electrician in my future.

cmonkey
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Re: the animal's journal

Post by cmonkey »

I look forward to having more time to read in a few years. I have been re-reading A Short History of Progress by Ronald Wright the past week or two...very good read.

I will be adding My Name is Chellis, Overshoot, and No Word for Time to my Amazon wish list. It's over 100 books long currently!

Oddly enough I discovered John Michael Greer over the past couple months as well and can relate to the gloomy mood. I have been downright angry at times thinking about things the way they are right now, at the way coworkers work themselves to death, at how ignorant and frankly uncaring everyone is about large scale problems, but mostly about not having anyone to talk to about it all. The DW understands a lot of worldly issues like declining energy, corrupt/tyrranical government, economic problems but hates talking about it since its so depressing. The few friends I speak to in 'real life' :shock: don't give a crap about anything but career.

Its important to focus on what gives you meaning in life particularly when you start getting a bigger/clearer picture of the world.

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C40
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Re: the animal's journal

Post by C40 »

Thanks for the book summaries! I really want to read Survival+ now,

Could you share a little more on what you thought about "My Name is Chellis....".. I read a little bit about it on Amazon and the summary left me wondering if she has a highly spiritual slant related to connecting with nature (which would be annoying for me)

theanimal
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Re: the animal's journal

Post by theanimal »

cmonkey wrote:I look forward to having more time to read in a few years. I have been re-reading A Short History of Progress by Ronald Wright the past week or two...very good read.

I will be adding My Name is Chellis, Overshoot, and No Word for Time to my Amazon wish list. It's over 100 books long currently!

Oddly enough I discovered John Michael Greer over the past couple months as well and can relate to the gloomy mood. I have been downright angry at times thinking about things the way they are right now, at the way coworkers work themselves to death, at how ignorant and frankly uncaring everyone is about large scale problems, but mostly about not having anyone to talk to about it all. The DW understands a lot of worldly issues like declining energy, corrupt/tyrranical government, economic problems but hates talking about it since its so depressing. The few friends I speak to in 'real life' :shock: don't give a crap about anything but career.

Its important to focus on what gives you meaning in life particularly when you start getting a bigger/clearer picture of the world.
Yes, one of the joys of part-time work. Plenty of time for reading!

My list is over 100 as well. So much to read! :D

I know exactly what you mean with regard to JMG. I was more depressed than angry and was in a pretty low period for a few days. It was hard coming to terms with the fact that the world will not be all rainbows and sunshine. And the hardest part, as you said, is that its almost impossible to talk about this with people in real life! Most fall into the technology will save us category or don't want to think about it at all. Why talk about the end of oil and other related issues when you can talk about that sick game last night instead?? The propaganda spewed out by the MSM sure does an effective job at keeping the masses from thinking critically.

In a way, I feel like the dad, in the video that Dragline linked to in the other thread, seeing his son happy but knowing that he's going to die soon. The dying in this case is the masses unprepared for the effects of collapse.

theanimal
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Re: the animal's journal

Post by theanimal »

C40 wrote:Thanks for the book summaries! I really want to read Survival+ now,

Could you share a little more on what you thought about "My Name is Chellis....".. I read a little bit about it on Amazon and the summary left me wondering if she has a highly spiritual slant related to connecting with nature (which would be annoying for me)
Hmm, I'd say there is a decent emphasis on connecting with nature. You may still find the book interesting though. It is pretty objective.

It's broken up into four parts. In the first section she details the human relationship to the natural world. Specifically, by examining traditional cultures and some of their practices. Then she delves into an analysis on our modern culture and how the severance of that connection has led to many of the psychological issues that we see today. Issues being things like child abuse, depression, eating disorders, PTSD etc. And the final sections she goes into ways in which we can repair that connection and maximize the benefit for ourselves and for society as a whole. I won't give too much away here, but she's not advising anything like everyone going back to being hunter-gatherers.

Hopefully that''s useful. This may be of further help. This is one of my favorite passages from the book:http://chellisglendinning.org/docs/lesson.pdf

5to9
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Re: the animal's journal

Post by 5to9 »

There is a reality show on Netflix, I think it is called Mountain Men, and one of the people featured is Eustace Conway. Would be interesting to get a more in depth look at him.

theanimal
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Re: the animal's journal

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5to9 wrote:There is a reality show on Netflix, I think it is called Mountain Men, and one of the people featured is Eustace Conway. Would be interesting to get a more in depth look at him.
Yes, I saw a few episodes of that show a couple of years ago. It really is too bad that these shows that depict "reality" are scripted. I can't stand them for that reason (among others). Thanks for the recommendation though.

theanimal
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Re: the animal's journal

Post by theanimal »

Some music to complement the reading of my post: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JSt0NEESrUA :P

With less than a month until I head to The Great White North, I have begun to get things in order for my departure. Due to the means of my travel and the lack of significant space in my living area, I will be traveling/living pretty small. Think 1 large sized duffel bag, larger sized backpack and a small backpack. I have been trying to figure out what I'll be bringing clothing wise. The main purpose is functionality. I need to have clothes that serve well for work as well as for any/all excursions on my own in my off time/on my off days. Off days I plan on setting off on overnight trips, so only one set of clothing necessary for those days. Style doesn't matter a whole great deal around those parts. I'm going to list what I'm thinking of bringing below. Note my work uniform is khakis and a t-shirt. I already own all materials unless noted.

2 Hiking khakis (water resistant, for work and other activities, must buy)
1 Rain Pants
1 Wind Pants (hiking)
1 Fleece Pants
2 Work T-Shirts (provided)
1 Long sleeved shirt/hoody
1 Long sleeved base layer
6 T-shirts mix of technical and cotton (?)
1 Fleece pullover
1 Synthetic insulated jacket
1 light rain pullover
1 Gore tex rain jacket
7 Underwear
2 pairs of long underwear
4 pairs of wool socks
6 pairs of cotton socks (thinking of switching to polyester or wool)
Winter hat
Sun hat
Liner gloves
Med. weight gloves

I think that's it. This list is only for May-Sept. For winter I'd obviously need more. I should also note that laundry is free.

I'm also debating the number of books I should bring. There is no library and shipping costs $7. I don't really like the idea of paying $7 in shipping for a book that costs $0.01! So I have a number of books on my kindle and was planning on bringing something like 8-10 books as well. I could buy the kindle books but I hate doing that because I think any kindle books priced above $4 are a ripoff and I prefer paper book anyways. I have a friend that is likely coming to visit for a bit so maybe I could have him bring some for me.

Any thoughts, comments or suggestions are more than welcome.

theanimal
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Re: the animal's journal

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I spent the latter half of the last week at Badlands N.P. backpacking with a friend. Quite a beautiful place. We had some great weather, saw hundreds of buffalo and numerous other wildlife. We even had some slight mishaps, turning our trip into somewhat of an adventure. All in all a good trip. Looking forward to Alaska. :D

Image

theanimal
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Re: the animal's journal

Post by theanimal »

I have been in Alaska for over a month now and am really enjoying myself so far. We've had beautiful weather here this past month, everything is about 3 weeks ahead of schedule. Basically all the snow is already gone and the ice has already broke up and subsiding in all the deep lakes and creeks. Essentially the area is looking very similar to how it did when I passed through here last year in the middle of June.

Work is good, I began doing my guided tours about a week and a half ago and they are progressing quite well. I've been able to get tips for my tours pretty steadily so far so that has been a nice bonus. My coworkers are all pretty good for the most part. The average age is about 28 and there are people from all over the US.

We are living in three-season tents for the summer, I just moved out to mine yesterday afternoon. They are quite roomy and the temperature doesn't get too cold at night so it is fairly nice in there. I haven't certainly slept in worse conditions!

I've been able to get out quite frequently to climb the local mountains, do some hiking in the area as well as some packrafting. My coworkers consider me as somewhat of a badass since I climbed most of the popular mountains in the first couple weeks haha.

One of the locals is pretty impressive. He essentially is Heimo Korth in another area of the Brooks Range. He hunts for all his food (mainly moose for the winter, caribou in the spring), uses firewood for heat, maintains a garden (last year harvested 450 lbs of potatoes, 60 lbs of carrots and numerous other root vegetables), uses solar for power 8 months of the year and traps in the winter time months. He has lived in the Brooks Range since he was 3. I'm hoping to learn all I can from him over the time I call this area home.

I certainly don't miss big city type areas. I had to go to Fairbanks a couple weeks ago for training and didn't enjoy any aspects of it. Small community life is the life for me.

Anyways, I think that's all for now. Hope everyone here is doing well!

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Re: the animal's journal

Post by jacob »

theanimal wrote:Essentially the area is looking very similar to how it did when I passed through here last year in the middle of June.
Globally, 2015 has had the warmest first four months (Jan--Apr) in recorded history.

Did you figure out the tackle for the graylings yet?

theanimal
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Re: the animal's journal

Post by theanimal »

May won't be bucking the trend, at least in this area. With the exception of a handful of days, temperatures have been in the mid 60s to low 70s this whole month. Certainly not normal.

Yes, it's just spinners if you're using a regular rod and reel. The grayling here are out-migratory since the rivers freeze to the bottom in the winter. They haven't seemed to return yet so I haven't really done much fishing.

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Re: the animal's journal

Post by Pedal2Petal »

C40 wrote:Thanks for the book summaries! I really want to read Survival+ now,
Looks like it is available in PDF on the author's website. Not sure if it is the same version as the book version.

http://www.oftwominds.com/survival-plus-CHS.pdf

Matty
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Re: the animal's journal

Post by Matty »

Good to hear that it’s going well man! Looks like your set to improve on a lot of skills, earn some money and have a blast at the same time. The perfect set up! Hopefully the impressive local is happy to share some knowledge.

cmonkey
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Re: the animal's journal

Post by cmonkey »

theanimal wrote:He hunts for all his food (mainly moose for the winter, caribou in the spring), uses firewood for heat, maintains a garden (last year harvested 450 lbs of potatoes, 60 lbs of carrots and numerous other root vegetables), uses solar for power 8 months of the year and traps in the winter time months. He has lived in the Brooks Range since he was 3. I'm hoping to learn all I can from him over the time I call this area home.

I certainly don't miss big city type areas. I had to go to Fairbanks a couple weeks ago for training and didn't enjoy any aspects of it. Small community life is the life for me.
That is a great haul! I am a bit jealous that you get to learn from him. I guess that's what happens when you don't sit in an office all day. ;) I have barely scratched that amount, maybe 30 lbs of potatoes. I should start tracking that.

I completely agree on small town life. It really hits you how quiet everything is when you get away from cities....or rather how loud cities are. I will be spending the second half of my life in a small/rural setting.

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Re: the animal's journal

Post by jacob »

Pedal2Petal wrote:Not sure if it is the same version as the book version.
It isn't. See, http://www.oftwominds.com/blognov09/sur ... 11-09.html

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