Last weekend was John Larkin's Housewarming Party in Longmont, CO. Eric, a friend of mine who I'd been meaning to visit for awhile, lives in nearby Boulder, so I flew out thursday to visit him. I know him through poker, so as soon as I arrived we hopped in a car and drove 40 miles up into the mountains to a little casino called (I'm not joking) "Bullwhacker's". Its a tough job, but if those bulls are going to stay happy, someone's gotta do it...

On the way, as we drove up Boulder Canyon, we pulled over, parked, ran over to Boulder Creek, got naked, and jumped in. Wow! Those mountain streams are cold, even in September. We jumped out feeling energized and alive, and got back in the car. At the casino I could not remain incognito, I was recognized by several people and we swapped stories. I managed to get 6th (out of 70 or 80) in the little tournament anyway, which was a lot of fun. There were some excellent players.

On Friday Eric had scheduled a massage for me with Uma, a talented Czech. I biked there through the park, and afterwards headed to Pearl Street, the center of Boulder's street scene. Boulder is a pretty neat city. Like San Francisco, its in a weird transition from being really hip to being gentrified. It has a great street performer/musician scene, and half the stores are strange and hip and independent (like a great leftist/anarchist bookstore), but the other half are Gap Clones and trash like that. Its still a pretty neat place, but very different than 5 years ago, and who knows what it will be like 5 years hence. Local property values have skyrocketed, and the tech industry has brought a lot of money into the area.

As I was walking along Pearl Street, I saw a harp. Neat, I thought. Then I recognized the guy who was sitting by it as the person who taught a sign language class at Pennsic that I took. An interesting coincidence. I wandered over and talked to him. He had apparently been busking there for several months, and we talked about festivals and the strange niches that can be carved out even in this modern world.

In the evening, Eric & I hiked up a mountain for a couple of hours to some huge stone thrones which had a phenomenal view east. We could see all the way to Denver. After we hiked down, he took me to a dance at a local community center. It was one of the strangest dances I've ever been to, just because the crowd was so heterogenous. There were lots of people into yoga, massage, and other hip eastern things, and everyone moved in different ways. Even at a club or a rave, where people are somewhat following their own desires, there is a lot of similarity to the movements. Here, everyone moved differently, and that was ok. People were open, smiling, friendly, and the music ranged from Indian drum & flute to "Ghostbusters". It was a neat experience.

Saturday I met up with my housemates at John's new home, whose road isn't even on the map yet. Its a really nice house, and we had a good time at the party. It was clear that there is a lot of local culture, we heard about all sorts of neat goings-on in the area, drum circles, belly dancing, etc. Seemed like a neat place to live. On sunday we all went to the Celestial Seasoning's tea factory for a tour, and then went rock climbing for a little while on real rock before heading home. There is really a bunch to say about these things, but I don't feel like it, so maybe later.

Thats the news. There may be some pennsic/burning man pictures up on my page eventually, but I've learned not to make time-specific promises about that sort of thing, so I dunno when. Until next time, I remain,

yr faithful correspondent,
patri

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