Grab your boots, this is deep!

"come on and take a free ride" ...its strange what standing on the side of the road with a kmart bag in your hands will get you..really everyone should try it at some point... in my case, at least, it worked out pretty well. the taxi drove past us, asked where we were going (not 2 miles down the road,straight shot) and he shrugged and drove those two miles with two less passengers than he could have had..but the best part is that the car behind him stopped and asked us where we were headed and told us to hop in..thats me again, hoppin in with strangers haha..it was some nice old lady who told us we looked like nice people and she always helps out nice people..that was the highlight of sunday..saturday was the long awaited trip out to buck island..which is one of the most stereotypically gorgeous beaches in the caribbean! post card after postcard have come from the shot of the beach/water combo there, and it didn't really sink in where we were that day until we got back on campus,where no water is to be seen haha..being out in the sun all day pretty much takes the energy right out of you, and it happened to remind me just how important sunscreen really is, though i've yet to get horribly burnt down here, it may happen,but as of yet im adhering to the "potroast method" ..slowly cooking to a deep brownish color..didn't end up doin the relay race this weekend, there just wasn't enough organization to get it all squared away,but i am down for the wall to wall tri this coming weekend..anywhooo

today i road out to carambola, ditched my bike at the top of the beast and ran up the side of another hill next to it that they've affectionately coined "the bitch" ill attest to the fact that it lives up to every inch of its name, but the view from the top is absolutely spectacular...i could look down the coastline and see the end of the island, see the little dots of dear old UVI, and the big stacks from the oil refinery..from up there you realize how small the place is when you can see water on three sides..though i had just run up the side of this mountain i felt rather small and insignifigant..i got to thinkin' while i was up there (oh no, here it comes...look out world) so i was thinking to myself "i wonder.....i wonder how much it would hurt if i jumped off and tried to land between the rocks in the water down there?" ........so yeah thats one of the things that went through my head..there were other deeper, more substantive thoughts, but i can touch on those later,ha..don't worry i didn't actually try it out,the wind was waaaay to strong and i couldn't crunch the numbers fast enough to calculate how far to the left i would need to jump before the current pushed me toward the rock, mind you i didn't have a parachute, only my sweatsoaked shorts,which i really didn't want to lose in the attempt...1000ft. looks a lot higher when you're up there...sorry to dissapoint, i haven't gotten to the profound part yet, so if you're still with me..cool..here we go, so after i pushed the notion of unassisted human flight out of my overtaxed brain, this is what i mulled over..and am still pondering, so feel free to ponder with me if you will..once i got to the top of the mt. the view was amazing as i mentioned before, but i couldn't help but be a tad dissapointed. (geez son you're on an island, on a mountain overlooking everything,and you'll probably go back tomorrow,what more do you want right?) good question,self..i wanted more, i wanted the mountain to be taller, the road a little steeper so i could push myself a little farther. and why is that? before the why is dealt with, i can at least understand what got me there, i wanted to see what was at the top,and i did, (thats a guy thing i think..to go and do "stupid or crazy" stuff just to see what it is) and i was definately glad i did,but why? for me its a personal drive to say i did it, but for the rest of the world i think it may be something else. i think that for those driven to do something,see something, create something, there is an element that leads you to do it, and with that element comes the risk of being less than wholly satisfied with the end result. in my case, if i would have just stayed to the same route i always run/bike, id have missed out, but would i have really missed out,since i didn't know just what i was missing? the problem with those folks who want to go places is that...they want to go places, and because of this fact they are afraid they might miss something if they don't. usually we end up deep in thought,but not always..i guess what im trying to say with this rambling on is that taking 'that' chance can almost be a dissapointment at the end. not in the sense that what you get is bad, but the strong possibility that it won't be enough to satisfy what you thought you'd get to see,do,create whathaveyou. does this mean you shouldn't do it? no,never, not in a million years do i regret the choices ive made in coming down here, and getting around its just that the only dissapointment may come when i realize that i'll always want to see and experience something greater,because i know there is always something out there that is bigger,tougher, and ulitmately more rewarding. its more of a curse i guess you could say "the curse of a driven soul" . but to sit around and say the island is boring,and there is nothing to do would be the same as me saying id rather be at home doing the same old same old, and i couldn't do that. im totally convinced that everything is what you make it...for the islanders who don't appreciate what they have, thats their problem. just today i was reminded how quickly things can change. one of the women going to school down here from atlanta looked upset and i asked what was wrong and she told me that her nephew had been shot and declared dead,but came back and is on life support after taking shots to his heart and lungs from some guy..her nephew isn't the type to get involved with the wrong crowd, the guy also went home and shot his own girlfriend..its a really sad story but id just ask you guys to pray for her and the situation..with that i think im gonna head off to bed