Latest Update: July 15, 2001 by Ben Marcus

10:39 PT SATURDAY JULY 15, 2001 THE CABIN AT SHERIDAN LAKE

And now here I am, and it's nice. Don and Sue and some others are out barefoot waterskiing, hauling past in the jet boat going backwards and forwards and all that fun stuff. Dano and someone else just went paddling in kayaks and others are reading and talking to Ike. This is nice. Peace and quiet, far from the madding crowd. Maybe it will make me a nicer person.

I'm going to download all the photos I've taken over the past few days. Then I might do some reading and work on my next heinous project, which is really, really good, but I can't talk about it.

Sorry to the family for all the nastiness. I'm just venting, I guess.

11:07 PT MONDAY JULY 16, 2001

ODOMETER TRIP METER

MONEY Just gave Don C$25 for groceries in Hundred-Mile.

I've got to buy these nice people a hot tub. They need a hot tub. They deserve a hot tub. They're good people. Don "Schwartie" Schwartz, Lee "Girlfriend" Erickson, and Sue "Sister" Schwartz. Canadians, athletes, barefoot water-skiiing fools. Good people. They need a hot tub at their nice little cabin by Sheridan Lake in British Columbia. And some day I will buy them one, for the grass, for apr¶s-barefoot. This is my bow.

Those three fine Canadians just took off for Hundred Mile to take care of business. The gals are going to an "aesthetician" whatever that is, and Don is gonna do something else. I just asked how long it would take to outstay my welcome and Don said "two or three months." I told him I didn't need that long but I wouldn't mind hanging for a few days. I'm re-typing "Fin" and Chris Dixon might be able to put it in front of Jimmy Buffet. I' m also editing Lee's thesis on vandalism in public schools in Canada. She's getting a Masters in education, and teaches at an alternative school somewhere around here.

Don is a heli-skiing guide in the winter at Whistler, and after seeing his legs in action doing the barefoot skiing I can imagine he is a pretty hellacious snowboarder. Don is a bigger, more solid version of Matt Warshaw. He is rock-solid and handsome, despite the burns that disfigured most of his face in a helicopter crash a few years ago. I'd heard about this. Doug Palladini was involved but not in the chopper. I think it was in the Cariboo Mountains. There was a chopper with almost a dozen heli-snowboarders on board when the pilot augered in. The escape doors on the Bell Ranger didn't work properly and some people couldn't get out. Three people (including a pregnant woman) were killed, and Don nearly died. His face was badly burned and he wore a mask for several years to recover. The scars make his face turn even more purple when he is barefoot water-skiing, but it hasn't slowed him down at all. Don and his gals are Go Go Go. They go for three "footie" sessions a day, working on tricks and techniques for a competition later this year. Don is up there as a barefoot water-skiier, nearly world-class in his ability. His sister Sue and Lee are very solid on the boom and at the end of the rope. Barefoot water skiing calls for lower back, butt, calf and ankle muscles. There's a lot of technique and it's easy to eat shit. I've gone out in the boat with them twice, which is a lot of fun. Don has a "Malibu" a small water-ski boat powered by a 358 HP Corvette engine. The thing is built for speed and handling. It has a big stainless steel mast and boom in the middle, and it has a killer sound system, hot water shower and hot-air blower. It would make a killer Ranch boat. You'd be there in no time, in style.

Those are the only three left after the group of 12 took off over the weekend. It was a nice group of people, funny and friendly, sitting around the campfire, cracking jokes and a few of them were Monty Python-literate, always a plus.

We had Wahoo and rice and garden-fresh salad with bacon last night, and it was pretty good. This morning I made a big batch of oatmeal and even sang my little tribute: "Oatmeal. Oatmeal. There's no doubt. Good going in. Better coming out."

They were charmed. Ike has them charmed, too. He's eaten well in the last few days. Don has some great buffalo jerky that I am going to send back in a CARE package to anyone who is still talking to me. He's also had canned shrimp, fresh cr¶me, smoked ham and bits and pieces of Wahoo. He's doing okay, eating and sleeping. There was as gopher running around today that Schwartie was trying to pick off with an air gun. I told Ike to get on out there and earn his keep, but he just looked at me and went back to sleep.

That cat always looks like he's up to something and that was especially true this morning. I think he did a hairball on my computer. There was furr all over. Stupid cat.

So, here I am in Lake Sheridan, British Columbia and the Beatles are singing "That's all right" on the BBC tapes CD. It is all right. I'm going to hang for a couple of days because I won't be spending money and I'm down to US$284.

After this I'm going to head for Whistler, wherever the hell that is, then go north, through Prince George and all like that there. While here I'm hacking a new version of Fin that I will print up and copy and send to anyone who wants to read it. The more I write it, the more I like it.

I'm also working on Project X and Project Y, but that's all I can say about that.

The conflict with Frank is continuing, I think. I need to call Katharine today about it, and I also want to do an interview with Jeff Clark for Swell.com. he just had major back surgery and will be recuperating for six weeks. A while ago I had the idea to do a little roll-over thing which points out all the bones he's broken and vertebrae he's sproinged in his 40-plus years as a tough guy. Hopefully he'll want to talk. He deserves an interview.

Ike just jumped up on me and wants a scratch. Now he's walking on the keys. Let's see what he says.

ThE CHUMP StIll Doesn't know!!!

Wow, that's amazing. Ike just stepped on the keys at random and came up with five perfect words in English. Astounding. What's the thing about a thousand monkeys typing? This cat never ceases to amaze me. I think I'll give him some Wahoo with a fresh cr¶me chaser.

Bye for now.