9:21 p.m. - November 15, 2001
day off
If I had a worthwhile day off, it would be because I lived in the mountains, or at least close enough to them to spend a �sick day� climbing. Boulder, maybe. Colorado Springs. Anywhere. Denver. Let�s pick Denver because I can currently think of a specific example from Denver; even though I hate the city, I love the surroundings. So I�d take my Jeep (of course I�d have a Jeep, how else would I navigate the craggy rock?) and drive first to Red Rocks, the amazing �concert hall� just sort of lounging around in the nooks and crannies of the red rocks of the mountains. And I�d run up and down the risers and climb the stage and slide down the poles and run back up the risers again, but that time so exhausted that I would stagger over to the side, near a massive rock, and take a nap in the sun. And I wouldn�t have trouble breathing, because people on days off don�t have any troubles; just fun.
After I had woken up, I would drive up higher into the mountains, maybe not the same mountains, because I�m not sure that one goes up that high. It doesn�t matter. Up some high mountain I would go, in my Jeep, and when it tickled my fancy, I would pull the car over to the side of the road and go hiking up the side of one of the cliffs. Play the tree-hugger for awhile, make friends with the woodland creatures, but mostly just climb. It�s more fun if there�s a real danger of falling. Once I got to a suitable stopping place, I would sit down on the crackly leaves or in the high grass and have a picnic lunch of chicken pesto wraps, Snapple Rain, fresh grapes, and a Caramello bar. When I had finished eating and climbing, I would climb back down and back into my Jeep, then roar back down the mountain.
I might pick up some friends at this point, and with them, drive out to Colorado Springs and the Garden of The Gods. That�s amazing to just look at, but once I climbed those rocks, something I shouldn�t have done without a harness, but once I got up there, it was worth the danger. I would show my friends the exact route I�d taken, the exact almost vertical incline I�d scrambled up, the formation of rocks so high up that looked almost exactly like a staircase. The sign that says: Warning: Avalanche! And how I tried, I really tried, to stay out of the danger area, but just kind of accidentally didn�t. It would be their choice at this point whether to stay with me.
At the end of the day, we�d go back to Denver and eat at this amazing Chinese restaurant I have forgotten the name of, the one that makes delicious spicy squid, scallops, and egg drop soup. For dessert, the gelato place. My cousin had a crush on this girl who worked there, so we went there, and it was an amazing gelato place; so while he flirted, we ate and ate. My friends and I would go there, and eat and eat and eat. And then we�d come back to my house and spread out blankets on the floor, and talk philosophy and boys and the future and then slowly drop off to sleep.

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