“Make the most of yourself....for that is all there is of you.”
~Ralph Waldo Emerson~
I felt compelled to write today to distract myself from the fact that I had my ass handed to me on a silver platter yesterday in court. It was like watching The Hokies football program wreck shop on a Powder puff Homecoming group. So I decided to organize something in my life to help divert my attention from the shit show of WALLACE that occurred inside the walls of that evil abyss of every man's life dreams. Fact is, the only way out of this may be to write my way out............now that would be ironic.
"I believe that unarmed truth and unconditional love will have the final word in reality. This is why right, temporarily defeated, is stronger than evil triumphant."
~Martin Luther King Jr.~
"I believe that unarmed truth and unconditional love will have the final word in reality. This is why right, temporarily defeated, is stronger than evil triumphant."
~Martin Luther King Jr.~
The Island Chronicles had a birthday and we completely missed it. In April of 2013 I wrote "Welcome to the Jungle" in an attempt to do nothing more than publicly defend the reasons that I was living on The Island. I wrote that post after hearing the rather amusing misconceptions of who I was and what I was doing out on that rock in the middle of our urban whitewater heaven..........never underestimate the power of bandwagon mentality. During my spring last year I was spending my days cutting trails, exploring the middle lines by kayak, and adapting to the gift of a rainy summer that we were so lucky to have. I was living under the stars surrounded by a major metropolitan area, isolated in a unique and surreal world. If you had told me a year ago that after writing that first post, I would still be writing this shit show of whitewater literature over a year later and The IC would be viewed over 300,000 times in more than 20 countries around the world, I would have accused you of being meth'd out. But here I still am, searching for the TRUTH and pissing off the bandwagon every step of the way. The IC has stirred up a few pots along the way, but more importantly it hopefully told a good story or two, taught a few lessons, and helped many gain a bit of clarity to the mank and portage fest that is my mind.
The lessons that The IC have taught me on the journey are endless, and one of those lessons was taught to me recently..................remembering to focus on what's important. I never forget, and I never stop thinking about what is out there waiting for me, but sometimes I do lose focus. Sometimes it becomes very difficult to think about the boys and the fact that they get older every day, and now I need to accept the fact that it may be a very long time before I see them...................so I distract myself and disappear into that evil little part of my mind that loves to talk a lot of shit! A while back I preoccupied my mind with the colorful and hilarious world of SUP. In the end I made my point, and I stand behind what I said. And although I told a story that needed to be told, the end result for me personally is that I distracted myself for a short while from utilizing The IC for it's intended purpose...........tell a story that I have to get out of my head so I can move on with my life. Well, the fact is, I am at a difficult crux in the story, and I have been scared to tell it for quite some time now..............but I can't delay any longer. I have to re-focus, take control of The IC, and finish what I started.
“When you do what you fear most, then you can do anything.”
~Stephen Richards~
The lessons that The IC have taught me on the journey are endless, and one of those lessons was taught to me recently..................remembering to focus on what's important. I never forget, and I never stop thinking about what is out there waiting for me, but sometimes I do lose focus. Sometimes it becomes very difficult to think about the boys and the fact that they get older every day, and now I need to accept the fact that it may be a very long time before I see them...................so I distract myself and disappear into that evil little part of my mind that loves to talk a lot of shit! A while back I preoccupied my mind with the colorful and hilarious world of SUP. In the end I made my point, and I stand behind what I said. And although I told a story that needed to be told, the end result for me personally is that I distracted myself for a short while from utilizing The IC for it's intended purpose...........tell a story that I have to get out of my head so I can move on with my life. Well, the fact is, I am at a difficult crux in the story, and I have been scared to tell it for quite some time now..............but I can't delay any longer. I have to re-focus, take control of The IC, and finish what I started.
“When you do what you fear most, then you can do anything.”
~Stephen Richards~
Before the story continues, I felt consolidating where The IC stands at the moment might help a few readers gain some additional clarity into my mind. I am basically telling two stories. The first is the story of the past decade of my whitewater life and adventures, as well as the most important piece, the story of our family and what happened to lead me to The Island..................which brings me to the second story; The story about The Island and West By God, and eventually my way home to my boys. This is the story that explains how I spent the summer of 2013 existing on an island in the middle of the James Rivah, surrounded by whitewater in the middle of a city, and then in Fall of 2013 living in a cabin in the Gauley Wilderness.
The Island Chronicles have also ruffled a few feathers along the way. The culprit of those terrible crimes are the additional editorials that I sometimes feel obligated to create, usually in reference to the RVA bandwagon and the shit show that was James Rivah whitewater. These colorful pieces of so-called literature come in all shapes and sizes, and you can never be sure what topic may pop up next.......or what new character might be created. To help everyone understand my organizational processes (or lack there of) I have consolidated the stories below in the same way I view them in my mind........chronologically. The section that refers to "The Rounds" is the section that tells the story of the previous 10 years leading to The Island. The section that refers to "The Weeks" is the story of living on The Island. The section titled "The Haters Club" is the section referring to my editorials...............ENJOY! I was going to copy the link to each post, but do you have any idea how long that would take? Check back, I may work on it................the key word there was "may"...............hey, at least this shit is free.
“It was amazing how you could get so far from where you'd planned, and yet find it was exactly where you needed to be.”
~Sarah Dessen~
See ya on the rivah...............somewhere deep in the hollars of West By God. ;)
The Island Chronicles..........chronicled.
“It was amazing how you could get so far from where you'd planned, and yet find it was exactly where you needed to be.”
~Sarah Dessen~
See ya on the rivah...............somewhere deep in the hollars of West By God. ;)
The Island Chronicles..........chronicled.
"The Rounds" -10 Years of Whitewater Dirt Baggin'"
Round 1 - The Fourteenth Street Whore
Round 2 - The Fat Bastard of Fourteenth Street
Round 3 - My Mother
Round 4 - Censorship is a Bitch!
Round 5 - The Story (The Intro)
Round 5 - The Story (The Ole School Days of RVA)
Round 5 - The Story (Fifteen Foot Rookie Runs)
Round 5 - The Story (Breakin' out for WNC)
Round 5 - The Story (The Good Life)
Round 5 - The Story (Living the Healthy Double Life)
Round 5 - The Story (The Complexity of the Double Life)
Round 5 - The Story (The Flower Pickin' Gentleman)
Round 5 - The Story (The Epic Worthlessness that is Man)
Round 5 - The Story (The Space Between)
Round 5 - The Story (The Defining Year - Part I)
Round 5 - The Story (The Defining Year - Part II)
Round 5 - The Story (The Defining Year - Part III)
Round 5 - The Story (The Defining Year - Part III)
"The Weeks" - Summer on The Island and Fall in West By God
Welcome to the Jungle
The Minus Days and Week 1
Week 2: "All About the Whitewater"
Week 3: "Rocks and Shinbones Don't Go Together" and "Bald Eagle Magic
Week 4: "RVA History..........from The Civil War to the Great Floods"
Week 5: "What's with the weather" and "Adventures in a Sewer Ditch"
Week 6: "Bring on the Floods"
Week 7: "Rafting, Riverrock, and Road Trips"
Week 8, 9, 10: "Hitting a Stride"
Week 11: "Living and Loving The Island Life.......and the Wet Summer"
Week 12: "The Rains just Keep Coming"
Week 13 Part I: "Lessons of Society"
Week 13 Part II: "The Great Brown's Island Goose Herd of 2013"
Week 14 Part I: "Craziest Week Yet"
Week 14 Part II: "Craziest Week Yet"
Week 14 Part III: "Craziest Week Yet"
Week 15 Part I: "WNC Yakin' Trips"
Week 15 Part II: "West By God Yakin' Trips"
Week 15 Conclusion: "Scariest Place on Earth"
Week 15 Bonus: "Virginia is for Lovin' Whitewater........Nelson County Style"
Week 16, 17: "The Variety of Life"
Week 18, 19: "Open Boating, The LSD Dude, and My Birthday Weekend"
Week 19 Conclusion: "Birthday Suits at the Strip Club and Rainy Day Raft Adventures"
Week 20 Part I: "Daisy Dukes and Cowboy Boots........Gets me every time"
Week 20 Part II: "Daisy Dukes and Cowboy Boots.......Gets me every time"
Week 20 Part III: "Daisy Dukes and Cowboy Boots......Gets me every time"
Week 21 Part I: "War Cry Practice, Exit Interviews, and Day 152"
Week 21 Part II: "Finding the TRUTH in West By God"
Week 22: "There's No Place Like Home"
Week 23 Part I: "Mental Mapping, Mental Healthing, and Being Mentally Well"
Week 23 Part II: "Bears, Boatin', and The Boondock Saints"
Week 24: "The Perfect Rivah - Part I"
Week 24: "The Perfect Rivah - Part II"
"The Haters Club" - A Cornucopia of Opinions by Yours Truly
"How To Boof"
"The Tao of Pooh"
"The Dumb Ass on the Log"
"The Great Mental Health Med Debate"
"One Great West By God Yakin' Story"
"The Bigger the Whitewater, the More Shallow We Become"
"The 2014 Island Chronicles Update"
"There's a Dirt Bag in All of Us............"
"Time to Make Some Waves in RVA............."
"One More Wave for RVA"
"Beatering..........It's what's for SUP'r"
"I ate my SUP'r........and my words"
