Today marks three weeks to the day since my arrival in Barstow. I've been working since 25th April without a day off; I have three days, I'll work Tuesday, and then I won't have to be back at work until next Monday. So far, the pay's good; more than enough to make ends meet, and leave me with a little bit left over.
I'm living frugally. Save for driving to work, running errands on base, and running to the grocery store, I've pretty much stuck to my flat. I try to eat two meals a day, although I do a little bit of snacking here and there. In a week and a half, when I go back to work for three weeks straight, I hope to start running in the mornings, and maybe even hitting the pool. The desert is a wilderness in every imaginable context; it's an unforgiving, savage land; but I'm practically super-human, and I'm determined to make the desert work for me.
It's May, and it's already too hot for my tastes; then again, my favorite vacation spots are Wyoming in November, and
Orkney, where the highest recorded temperature was 74° Fahrenheit. A job that requires trousers and steel-toed boots in ninety degree weather isn't exactly my idea of perfection, but I'm making a good run of it by trying to find shade, drinking a lot of water, and checking out the scenery.
I can't give details about my job; I've already caught heat for putting relatively mundane information on the blog, and you might notice that some posts have been pulled accordingly. What I can say is that I accomplished a very impressive feat on Thursday; one that hasn't been accomplished at Fort Irwin in months, and one that has never been accomplished by anyone in the company. I've been at work two and a half weeks, and I already have bragging rights. That's probably a good sign.
I've got unlimited long distance, as well as DSL and a brand new computer that's not even set up yet; that happens today, as it's the first day off. I don't have cable, and I'm not sure that I'll get it. Instead, I've been reading. When I'm at work, I read
Black Hawk Down as professional development; when I'm at home, I read
The Sparrow for leisure. From my collection of several hundred books, I brought seventy-eight, including several books that aren't for regular reading; examples of this include a Bible, a New Testament, The Book of Common Prayer, two physical fitness books (
1,
2, several books I've already read (
1,
2,
3,
4,
5,
6,
7,
8,
9,
10,
11,
12,
13,
14), and a number of books that I intend to read. I have books on philosophy, history, the Middle East, astrophysics (two books by
Stephen Hawking, baby!), embalming, and
Dirty Jokes and Beer by Drew Carey. Basically, I have things to keep me busy; and there's always the X-Box,
Sports Night,
Battlestar Galactica,
Spooks, and
U2 on video.
In those many moments of solitude, when neither word nor note are there to fill the void, I'm left to my thoughts. I'm like David, in the wilderness, fleeing from King Saul's assassins; I find myself climbing the highest mountain, running through the fields, and relentlessly scaling these city walls. I still haven't found what I'm looking for; but in my isolation, in my discomfort, in those moments of solitude, I'm leaving room for the Spirit to move in mysterious ways.
