Interest or not

Tag: travel

  • Recently I’ve felt sad for ways I harmed people when I was a troubled youth. I would like to apologize to them and the truth is most of the people I harmed I did not know and never met. The people I called my friends then were experimenting with drugs. We smoked marijuana, we took LSD, we got drunk, we ate psylocibin mushrooms, we smoked cigarettes. We were often high on drugs or in-between getting high on drugs.

    We stole cars. We stole parked cars that we learned how to hotwire. We would drive them around town for a few days then abandon them somewhere completely different than where we stole them from. We stole a minivan one night and had a crazy idea to drive from where we were in Colorado to Canada. The group of us so called friends were fourteen, fifteen and sixteen year olds.

    We stole license plates from another car and attached them to the minivan in an effort to hide the fact that we were driving a stolen minivan. We drove north to Wyoming where we ran out of gas in the city of Casper. We had no money and left the minivan parked on the side of a road. We walked to a mall where our plan was we would sell fake LSD to kids and use the money on fuel. School was probably in session and we found no one to sell our fake LSD to. When we returned to the minivan Casper Police caught us.

    We were put in the Casper Jail in a separate area from adults where we stayed a night. I remember being alone  in an interrogation room waiting for an officer to ask me questions and looking at the brown wood covered walls and how the design of the walls looked horrifying. When the officer entered the room he asked me questions and I told him my version of what happened.

    One of the kids dad drove to Casper to pick him up. Me and the other kid were put on a greyhound bus back to Colorado where our parents picked us up the next day. I remember my dad picking me up where the bus dropped us off and seeing how angry he was with me. He drove me to the police station where I was processed and he left.

    From the police station I rode in a van with other youth who were in trouble to the Mountain View Detention Center where I stayed for one month. After it was all said and done I was ordered by the court to pay restitution to the owner of the stolen minivan. If I was not on probation before the incident I was definitely on probation at that point.

    Those were difficult times for me and for the people I harmed when I stole their property. In retrospect all these years later I look back and am grateful I got caught by the authorities when I did. I’m glad I was ordered to pay restitution to a fund for the victim and I’m glad I stayed a night in jail and stayed one month in the juvenal detention center and was put on probation.

    At that point in my life I needed correction by the authorities and beyond the ways my dad tried to put me on a safe and productive path.

    Sometimes I think about how horrible it would be to wake up and get ready to work or to bring your children to school or to go shopping and to find that your vehicle was stolen. I played a role in the theft of as much as five cars including the minivan with our group of so called friends and in those acts caused as many victims.

    I am grateful I moved far away from the community where I was living and got in a lot of trouble. I’m grateful I’m far away from each and every one of those bad influences. I’m grateful that I was able to start over in a community that is new to me. I’m grateful to be here at home safe and sound in my community and happy that I don’t know any people who do drugs and happy that I don’t know any people who sell drugs.

    I was homeless when I moved here from Colorado and was homeless in this community for four more years before I got into a recovery program and started taking medication I need for my mental health. When I was homeless I received very much help from volunteers who provided meals to the homeless and volunteers who opened up shelters to sleep in on very cold nights.

    Since getting into recovery, I’ve received help and support from very many professionals at work in social services. I have a home I lease in a safe neighborhood. The neighborhood feels safe to me. I volunteered with a local organization for nine months helping people in need in my community escape poverty. It feels good giving back.

    Often I think about my minivan I own. I think that it is parked in a safe location and locked and that it will be there where I parked it when I return to it. Thinking about my minivan locked and parked in a safe location is a comfortable feeling.

    I feel confident in thinking that my minivan is waiting for me to drive it when I am ready to drive. Whether I’m driving to work or to buy groceries or to do errands, the thought of my minivan I parked in my safe neighborhood and locked is a good thought. The thought is basic. I parked it at a specific spot and it should be there when I return to it.

    As a resident of the apartment building I lease and community I live in I feel valued as a neighbor who looks out for my neighbors. As the owner of the minivan, I am responsible for maintaining it and for keeping the plates registered and keeping the registration current and keeping it insured.

    This is about being responsible for my property. Making sure that my minivan is in good working condition is my responsibility as the owner and driver.

    I know that writing this does not make good on the victims of the cars I played a role in the theft of many years ago when I was a teenager. It’s ok. I have forgiven myself. I believe in karma. I don’t know what the future will bring. I like to think that my most difficult days are in my past. And I know that experiencing problems happens in life and life is worth living through the ups and downs. Life is precious. Every moment including this one.

  • I recently went to an appointment I scheduled at the local US Post Office where I applied for a Passport. I brought my application already filled out. The meeting went well and the employee I met asked me if I had any questions. I did not. He also asked me if I am a US Citizen. I confirmed that I am a US Citizen. That was it. He kept my birth certificate which will be mailed to me when my application is done being processed. I was done with my meeting within 10 minutes.

    The first time I applied for a Passport was exciting. I was in my early 20’s and preparing to travel to islands in the Caribbean and French West Indies. Since then my Passport expired and I legally changed my name. I received an email from the US Passport Agency stating that they need more information from me. I need to provide my certified legal change of name document to complete my application. Since my last Passport expired I became homeless and lost all my possessions other than the clothes I wore and a backpack of supplies for living outdoors. I lost the documentation I received from the Court when my legal change of name was finalized. Since then I’ve got back into stable and secure housing thank God and thanks to the support of many professional men and women at work helping troubled Americans every day of the year.

    I was relieved when I called the Clerk of Court in the County where I was living when I changed my name for a record request and learned that I could fill out the record request at their website. It took less than five minutes to fill out the record request and only charged me $20 for a certified copy of my legal change of name decree issued by the Judge who granted me my name change.

    I was also relieved to learn that I should receive the documentation within one week. I don’t currently have plans to travel internationally although I want to be ready to travel. My Passport application might take as long as 90 days to process because I didn’t ask for it to be expedited. That’s fine by me.

    When I was younger I traveled to Mexico and to Canada and only needed my Gov issued photo ID card to cross those international borders. Times have changed and my current Drivers License is not Real ID certified. New Passports are Real ID certified so I’ll be able to use it to fly domestically and internationally.

    I flew last year before the Real ID policy was in effect and was able to fly domestically using my Drivers License. Like I said, times have changed. Gov issued Real ID have improved security features and tie a person to their digital identity, online habits, online behavior and biometrics. I think this is good business and will improve safety for generations to come.

    I love to travel and I love to fly. Although flying can be somewhat nerve racking I’ve always arrived safe and sound at my intended destination. I’m fortunate that most of my flights were on schedule. And flights I’ve taken that were delayed did not take too long. Once when I was flying home from Costa Rica to Denver I flew into Miami where my connecting flight to Denver was delayed for over 10 hours. The airline paid for a Hotel room for me for the night and drove me to the Hotel. It was a fancy Hotel near a pier off the Atlantic Coast. The next morning I took a taxi cab to the Airport and my connecting flight to Denver departed on schedule. All’s well that ends well.

    The scariest flight I took was from Alamosa Colorado to Denver’s Stapleton Airport on a winter day sometime in the late 1980’s. The airplane was small and held maybe one dozen passengers. When there was turbulence the airplane altitude seemed to raise and dip a lot. We landed safe and sound at Stapleton Airport and that’s what’s most important.

    Here’s to many more safe travels! Well planned vacations! Safe roadways, safe railroads, safe waterways and friendly skies. Wishing safe travels to you and your loved ones.

    Jason A. Greenwood

  • Free

    At a young age I was taught “freedom isn’t free”. I didn’t understand the meaning at first and over time as I grew older I gradually began to learn meanings of the sentiment. It’s a truth I understand much clearer today. Freedom isn’t free refers to many things. One in particular is freedom of speech. As a human I have the freedom to speak when and where and to who I want to. I have the freedom to say what I want to, and there are consequences.

    Like in science, for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. Speech follows similar responses. Speaking with someone I agree with more often returns a favorable response. Speaking with someone I disagree with might not return a favorable response depending on the words that are the topic of conversation.

    Young people learn this early on. Friends group together and entertain themselves and one group of friends often share many of the same words and lingo in their communications. Where a different group of friends have their own unique lingo and expressions. These two groups of friends are important to each other.

    While a person in one group of friends might not often speak to people in the other group of friends in United States the English language is a common bridge people use to communicate. While English is the most widely spoken language in United States it is far from the only language people speak in this country.

    Growing up in United States I was encouraged to learn a second language. The options in my middle school were French and German and Spanish. I learned some words in each of these languages. Later I chose Spanish as my second go to language beyond the English language. I was brought up speaking English. English is my first language. I speak some Spanish. I value my ability to speak Spanish and enjoy learning Spanish words. My ability to read and write Spanish is limited.

    I believe when a person is able to communicate in a second language they strengthen their relation to other people from different cultures. It’s important to me to have good relations with other cultures. Here in Medford Oregon most people speak English. Many other languages are spoken in my community and are fewer and further between. English sounds “normal” to me.

    When I lived in Los Angeles I was surrounded by people speaking many different languages. It took getting used to. Los Angeles is one of the largest cities on Earth with one of the largest amount of people on Earth. Getting used to living in the megalopolis of Los Angeles was difficult. There are many reasons getting used to Los Angeles was difficult for me. It was a challenge and the challenge it was to me I am grateful for.

    Challenges are important. It might be interpreted as a challenge to speak to someone in a different group of friends because they might sound different than what you’re used to. They might dress different than what your used to. Their lingo are likely to be different than what your used to. These differences while at first may feel like a challenge to start up a conversation, the challenge is worth it.

    Unfortunately when I was young I got into trouble in and out of school. I made bad decisions and suffered the consequences. The group of people I surrounded myself with were similar to a gang. We liked each other and we were sometimes suspicious and skeptical of people who were outside of our group. We caused problems individually and as a group. We grew older causing more problems to ourselves and to others. We compromised our freedoms collectively and individually and compromised freedoms of people we wronged.

    I moved far away, over 1,000 miles away from the “community” I was raised in. I’m no longer under the influence of negative and dangerous people. I’m fortunate that I was able to move far away from those influences and start fresh in this community. There are many people in this community. People I care about and people I know and respect. Life experiences have taught me to be around people who have my best interest in mind. People who respect themselves and others. These are the people I consider my inner circle. People looking to make the world a better place right here in this community.

    Moving far away from where I was raised was not easy. It was worth it. Moving to a community that was new to me was not easy. It was worth it. Not everyone can or have reason to or should move from where they are raised. Many people learn early on to respect themselves and others and look out for one another.

    The most successful people in a community often are raised in the community the live and grow up in to adulthood and as an elder. This is an example of people with no reason to move from where they were raised. This is the epitome of stability and structure.

    On the other hand many people choose to move from where they were raised and for many reasons. A work opportunity is a reason why a person might move to a new community, possibly very far from where they were raised. Economic factors often play a part in these decisions.

    People who learn early on to respect themselves and others are more prepared to make the most with the community they live in. and if they move to a community new to them are best equipped to thrive in it. The same goes for moving domestically and moving internationally. I don’t have experience moving internationally.

    I have experience traveling on vacation internationally and learned from my travels, life outside United States while similar in many ways is very different than living in United States.

    A common saying goes, to learn is to travel. Depending on where you travel you might learn things you want to and things you didn’t want to learn. Both are true and depending on the reason for your travel will make a difference in what there is to learn about.

    Things people consider free are different in different cultures. What Americans living in United States consider free vary widely to what citizens of a foreign country consider free in their country.

    Freedom is very important. Freedom to live in peace and in a stable economy are not free.

  • The world is large

    Very large. When I was a young boy I looked at maps and globes and learned where I was. I hadn’t traveled very far and didn’t know then how large the world is. One of my first memories of traveling far from home was when I flew from Denver with my sisters to visit my Grandparents in Fort Lauderdale Florida. I remember being in the airplane sitting beside the window and looking down to the ocean very far below.

    We were between the mainland and Florida over the Gulf of Mexico recently renamed as the Gulf of America. Eventually I saw land below and that was Florida. When we arrived in Fort Lauderdale my Grandparents picked us up at the Airport. One of the first things I noticed was the humidity. I could feel dampness in the warm air. It was thick and I loved it. I remember on the drive to their home looking out of the car window and noticing how different the trees looked from the trees back in the dry arid climate of Colorado.

    When we arrived at their condo a gate opened, and we drove under the building into a large parking garage. We got out of the car and put our luggage on a dolly with four wheels and a handle just like in a hotel. We rolled our luggage to an elevator and rode in the elevator many floors up to their floor very high in the building. Their floor looked very different from the lobby area of the condo where we stopped briefly. Their floor had several doors on it. We rolled our luggage to my Grandparents door where there were fancy decorations and entered there home.

    Their home was very fancy. It was clean and bright, and everything looked good to me. I noticed a large wall at one end of their home that was almost all window. With my Grandpa I walked out onto the patio. The patio was long with a solid gate built around it. The patio was the whole length of the building and looked out over the beach and shore and Atlantic Ocean below. That was the first time I saw the ocean.

    Later that day we put on our bathing suits and went down to the beach. I loved it. I recommend you visit a beach if you haven’t been to one. There is no beach in Colorado. We all had fun playing on the beach and I went swimming not far into the waves and ocean. The salt water and sand felt so good. The water was warm and the waves were powerful. We collected sea shells in a bag and enjoyed being together on the beach. I have many good memories from that summer vacation.

    Back at home in Colorado I looked at maps of America and the world and globes with a new perspective. I could see where Florida is on a map in relation to Colorado and looked at the dot on the map of Boulder in Colorado the city where I’m from and the dot on the map of Fort Lauderdale in Florida where my Grandparents lived. I saw the distance between the cities and looked farther. I’ve been looking farther since.

  • I unfortunately have done numerous crazy things in my past. Fortunately I’m making rational decisions these days followed by rational actions and have learned not to react to something I don’t like when there is no reason.

    One crazy thing I did was look online for love. I’ve heard of success stories about couples who found each other through dating websites, something I’ve had minimal luck doing. I decided I wanted to get married and convinced myself that I needed to look internationally online for a woman who was looking to get married. This was about 13 years ago. At the time I didn’t feel confident approaching women in person about dating.

    I was making other crazy decisions and actions back then but for this post I’m going to focus on the specific crazy decision I took upon myself to look for love internationally. I’m not saying looking for love internationally is crazy. People do it all the time and create loving relationships that last. I wasn’t confident enough to approach women in person about dating and resorted to reaching out through the internet hoping to find a lover.

    Have you heard the song American Woman by Lennie Kravitz. That song summed up my opinion about American women which left me looking outside of United States for love. I spent hundreds of dollars on contacting women in foreign countries through websites that offer the service of connecting couples looking for marriage. Not much came of it.

    I wrote a letter expressing my interest in finding love and marriage to no one in particular and posted it on to Craigslist “man for woman” long term relationship in San Jose Costa Rica. I received numerous replies to my post and after vetting the replies one specific reply stood out to me. A young woman who was a college student studying to be a Doctor and living with her sister’s family in San Jose replied to my post.

    I liked what she wrote to me. We started writing back and forth and eventually had a Skype meeting where we got to see each other and listen to each others voice on a live video meeting. I got my hopes up. I was falling for her. Five months later I boarded an airplane with my buddy in Denver Colorado and we flew to Miami and then from Miami flew to San Jose, Costa Rica.

    Long story short, it didn’t work out. We arrived in San Jose and the next morning when I met the woman in person I was hung over from cocaine I took the night before. The impression I made on her was lacking. I did my best to give a good impression. I was on time and brought her a fresh bouquet of flowers and when we sat at a table in a restaurant for lunch I knew within me then and there I was not ready for marriage. Our meeting went well although not as planned and the spark I thought we shared did not show itself.

    I went back to the hotel where I was staying and proceeded to do more cocaine. Would have a spark between us have lasted if I would have stayed sober and arrived chipper to our meeting I do not know. Other than doing illegal drugs I was making other irrational decisions in my life back then.

    I’m going to stay on task and continue the story. For the rest of the trip I hired a tour guide who brought me to historical landmarks in San Jose one day. The next day I hired the same tour guide to take me to a beachside Resort outside of San Jose.

    A cab driver drove us to a small town on the coast where I hired a small boat and captain who brought us over the open water to the other side of the peninsula. When we docked I hired another cab driver to drive us through the jungle to the Resort. I rented a room with two beds at the Resort and spent the afternoon on the beach and drinking alcohol at the tiki bar beside the pool.

    A guest arrived at the resort paragliding into the ocean and swam to the shore. The tour guide I hired connected with the guest who paraglided in. She was a Canadian and on vacation from working at a Spa. The next morning I left early to make it to my flight to Miami on time. I left my tour guide at the Resort and hired a cab to drive me through the jungle to the pier where I bought a ticket on a large boat with many passengers that floated us to the small town on the other side of the peninsula.

    Back on land I hired a cab driver who drove me directly to the Airport in San Jose. I arrived at the Airport early and eventually my buddy showed up. We flew back to Miami Florida and then to Denver Colorado. From the airport in Denver I drove my car home. The next day I returned the gifts I had brought with me for the woman I went to Costa Rica to meet at the store where I bought them and went back to work.

    Not long after that I got a call from her one evening while I was eating dinner at a restaurant and told her that I was hung over and had taken cocaine the night before our meeting. That was the last time I heard from her.

    The moral of the story is don’t do illegal drugs. Like I said there was other irrational decisions I was making back then and was not ready for marriage.

  • Evening in Medford Oregon

    I went to the bar just before dusk.

    A couple were seated at one end

    I traveled there alone and sat down on a corner stool.

    A big woman with long straight dark hair asked me quietly, “what are you having”?

    Do you have Heineken in a bottle? I asked. “Yes”, she brought me the beer and asked, do you want to leave the tab open?

    “I’ll leave it open”. I replied. Several people were seated along a wall gambling on big machines where the players pull levers down or press a button and hope for a winning score.

    A small group of younger men were gathered near a pool table focused on the balls at play.

    The bar has good food. Last time I ate there I got a plate of quesadillas with grilled chicken. I sipped the Heineken and ordered another.

    On television the Sandiego Padres were playing a team I did not recognize. Their opponents black Jerzy had a capitol A on the breast pocket area, white and silver. The television stats kept the opponents team a mystery to me. Padre’s were up 4-3.

    The couple at the end of the bar noticed the baseball game on television for a moment and seemed to be enjoying themselves. They are a Hispanic man and women in their mid-thirty’s. Several other couples were seated around the room at tables. An Oriental man appeared to have more than enough drinks to possibly walk home.

    It’s a quiet neighborhood bar in a small shopping center with a Domino’s Pizza and a drive through coffee shop. Joes, Bar and Grill. Is it a franchise or one of a kind? I don’t know, I enjoyed the beer and social environment.

    The waitress brought me a second beer and spoke up, I’m glad. It was good to hear her voice above the voices of patrons. I settled my tab then drove home.

    It’s early in the evening, Thursday in the all American town. Tonight will cool off some from the summer heat.

  • At a bar in town it’s almost last call

    It’s almost 2am. I’m in my home office at my desk. There are things to do. Often over the years I wake up early in the morning around 2am. I’m awake for a while then go back to sleep. It’s a cool spring night. There’s not much going on here. My neighborhood sounds quiet from here inside. In town it’s close to last call at a bar.

    Asleep in bed in my dream I was at an airport. Present day. A woman was having sex on a table in front of a group of people. Another woman was sitting on the smooth solid floor with her back against the wall and legs straight out in front of her. I walked to her and offered my hand to her. We walked away and left the airport together. I don’t know the name of the city where we were in the airport. We left on foot. She didn’t need to fly on an airplane. We left together.

    My grandparents had a membership to the Ogden Golf Club. When we were young children my sisters and I would visit our grandparents in summer. They brought us golfing at the club. I remember mostly practicing with a putter. The club had a pool were we went swimming and ate lunch at a restaurant. Back at our grandparents home my grandpa showed me a coffee cup with a hole in one message imprinted on it he won at the golf club.

    Earlier in the day I visited a book store. I’m 47. A woman at the book store sold me a Magazine about Oregon and told me of a good restaurant near the coast. The woman is beautiful. Her smile is pretty. The shirt she wore at work covered her tits. I thanked her for selling me the Magazine.

    Life is good