Posted on by Todd Smith

DAY 194

DAY 194
10.15.07
TREE 116

Again, I waited. I have got to stop waiting till dark. I am in a strange place right now. My time here [the Mary Anderson Center] is coming to an end and I don’t think I’m coping well. The real world is coming, parents’ home, job, less time for art and nature. Not here… this place did change my life. Michelle [Amos] said it would back in April [2007]. And I was hoping it would and now I know it did. I changed it. I have made the future more uncertain, yet at the same time created and focused my goals and my needs. So I’ve been avoiding responsibility, escaping into T.V. [Lost] I’m allowing the time-suck and before I know it, I haven’t eaten or climbed.

I got up and drove to Taco Bell off Route 150. I ate way too much [3 – 1/2 lb bean, cheese, & rice burritos] too fast and felt awful. But I had to climb… or I wanted to climb before I lost all daylight. I walked around but nothing was close to Taco Bell so I drove to the next shopping area. The one with the chiropractor place and the gym. I found a tree on the corner of someones property. It was just over the fence from the shopping place. A large tree, volume-wise, and low branches.

Besides my bulging belly the climb was easy. On my way up John Torstrick, a friend from high school, called. He asked me to design a CD cover. That was pretty nice, and I agreed to do it.

Then I climbed to the top, making transfers between the two middle limbs to get to the highest point.

The sunset wasn’t great, nor the view. I broke a lot of branches too. In general, this climb only slightly elevated my mood, but raised it nonetheless. By the time I got back to the ground my stomach pain from dinner was gone.

 

10-15-08: How ironic that I wrote with reserved excitement about renewed goals and needs then immediately said I was just watching a lot of TV. I had refrained from watching any lost till just before leaving Portland. Rachel and I got the first season and then just stopped. Then at MACA I was told of a website that streamed TV shows. I watched seasons 2 & 3 in 2 weeks. I became officially a fan and was hooked. I just did not want to think about moving back in with my parents and working a real full-time job. (Obviously I never got over that). But I am very happy now and found my balance though I still struggle with wasted hours in front of the tube and on the tubes (internet).

Also, that CD cover thing unfortunately fell through. I did make some designs but the CD was never produced.


Yesterday I went to Mellwood Arts Center to the art store. I got some paper then went a little further down the road towards Zorn to find a tree. I found one quickly not too far from the WLKY channel 32 news station.

There is much to write and show about this climb. I took almost 40 pictures and climbed up and down all 3 major branches of the tree. Before I got to my first height to take my first pictures I took off my messenger bag and placed it in the crook of two branches. It had my new paper in it and I did not want to ruin it.

Then I went up the limb that reaches over the road.

I went slow and quiet since there were two people working on cars just across the street.

They never spotted me and eventually went inside. At that point I was more at ease and moved more freely. I transferred to another limb that connected to the middle major branch.

I went up as high as I could there.

I was getting further and further from my bag.

I climbed back down to where I could then transfer to the third and last major branch of the tree.

I climbed up this side and as I went noticed a young boy in a red shirt going down the sidewalk on a bike, over and over. I could tell he had spotted me and was watching as he went slowly down the walk. When I reached the top of the tree I took a bunch of pictures of the sky, leaves, downtown, the highway… whatever I could see.

When I looked towards the houses I saw a woman on her stoop. Then I saw the boy in the front yard. I was really hoping that he was not going to tell her of my whereabouts in the tree. I did not want to be accused of being a voyeur… but as I secretly took pictures of them, I realized I was one.

Ok, just read the definition of "voyeur" and I do not mean it in the sexual sense… just the hidden observer kind. Though I cannot control how others may view my actions in the trees. Which is why I would like to avoid being seen.

So at this point my bag was very far from me.

I needed to go back and get it. I thought I could just go back down this third branch and up the first, but I was wrong. I did the entire climb in reverse. By the time I got to my bag I was sweaty, dirty, and tired, but extremely satisfied. This was a great tree. I got to the top, three times, it was very challenging and fun, plus there was the element of suspense as I thought I might get caught. I very much enjoyed it.