Nathanael Rowe

So I have been working at Skateside in West Long Beach for about 3 months now, and I love it.  I especially love the relationships I have been able to develop with some really cool kids.  I have been thinking about this a lot, and well, I would like to move to West Long Beach.  I want to move into this community where a lot of the Skateside kids are from.  As soon as I got home from my trip, I could feel a deep pull to this city, and that this is where God was calling me to be for a long time.

The more time I spend at Skateside, the more I wish I lived in this neighborhood with these people, but for now I live with my grandparents in East Long Beach.  West Long Beach is kind of rough area, but the kids are great, and a lot of fun.  My sister and a lot of her friends have done a similar thing in fullerton called Solidarity, obviously a lot more involved, but I feel a similar calling to West Long Beach.  Anyone want to join me?

I am not financially stable enough yet to move out on my own, but I am praying that it happens soon.   If there is a way for me to afford moving out, I am going to do it.  The only problem right now is that most of my work ends with the school year, so I need to start thinking about what I could do for the summer.  Any ideas?

My first car was a 1986 Dodge Caravan.  This is not a picture of my car, but this is what it looked like.  It was a fun car, with a lot of stories, some of which I will share here at another time.  Today I want to share a specific story that resulted from a unique feature on my van.

See the hose that connected my wiper blade to the wiper fluid reservoir was broken in a very specific way.  It is important to point out that I did not break this part on purpose, but that instead it was simply a natural deterioration of the clearly superb Dodge Caravan.  This convenient break caused my wipers to squirt out a solid stream of liquid to the right of the car each time I pressed the fluid button from the inside of the car.  The stream was so perfect that if there was a car directly to my right it would go right into that car’s driver side window, and if their window was down, it would go right into their face.  So needless to say, I went through my wiper fluid reservoir pretty frequently.

I would often pull up to friends and sometimes even strangers, ask them to roll their window down, and then squirt them right in the face.  It was so fun, and people would want to ride in my van just so they could be a part of this hilarious prank.  I remember one time pulling up to an elderly lady at a light.  My buddy was sitting shotgun, so he promptly signaled to her that he would like her to roll her window down to ask her something.  As soon as he did, I squirted, and it hit her right in the face.  Now in retrospect I admit this is pretty cruel, but that lady’s reaction was simply, “Wow, you got me, that was pretty good.”

One time while in High School, I was driving to the beach with some classmates.  Along the way we noticed our science teacher was driving next to us.  So we of course signaled her to roll her window down, and as soon as she did, I soaked her.  The interesting thing about this, is that she was not a teacher I had any grudge against, her name was Mrs. Brown, and if anything she was one of our favorite teachers, but something about that vehicle just made you take advantage of the opportunity to squirt your teacher in the face.

The next day at school I was terrified to see her, but eventually I slowly walked into her classroom with my head down.  She just stared at me and shook her head.  I apologized immediately, and she had come up with some devious plan of humiliating me for revenge.  I willfully took her punishment, although I no longer remember what it was exactly.

Anyway, we had a lot of fun in that van, and squirted a lot of unexpecting victims, If you can mod your car in this way, I highly reccomend it.

During the trip I had a lot of time to think about what I want in life, I thought about future occupations, a future family, where I would want to live, and what I would want to accomplish by the time I die.  After much consideration, I decided I would like to get married some day, probably still some years off if it does indeed happen, but if it does, there are a couple of specific things I am looking for.  I know many people who want to get married and that is it, that is the end goal.  For me, I think I only want to get married if the conditions are right, that is to say, I see no need to dive into a life long commitment with someone unless they meet certain criteria.  The following is said criteria, which I share mainly for the purpose of being held accountable to my own current convictions.  It would be marvelously challenging if somewhere down the road, I am involved in a relationship where something from here is left out, and that is made aware to me by a friend or acquaintance who read it here some time before.

1. Although it may be obvious, I want to be completely in love with that person.  I want to feel for her what I read about it books, and see in the movies.  If I am not in love with a person to the point where I truly care about them, more than I do myself, then I really see no need to get married.  I want absolute love or nothing else.  Perhaps this is foolish, I really don’t know.  Its just that so far as I can see, marriage doesn’t seem worth it unless I am head over heals for her.

2. She would need to be someone who is in love God so much so that she is willing to follow Him wherever He may lead us.  Right now I do not see a specific call to anywhere but Long Beach, CA, but I want to remain open to wherever I can be used most.  I love adventure, and would hope that I could find that same excitement in a mate.  Again, if she does not share that excitement to follow God wherever, I hope that I would always prefer to stay wildly devoted to God and single rather than to settle for a dull safe life with a partner.

3. I am frugal, and would like a partner to be so as well.  This is not so much to save money, which is indeed part of it, but more so because I value good stewardship, and am passionate about being able to give generously.  I am not saying this should be true of everyone, but I personally feel guilty any time I buy something that is not essential.  I understand buying nice things every once in a while, but I would hope that my partner would feel the same desire and urge to give and support those who do great acts of charity, more so than she would see the need to spoil herself with luxuries.  Maybe I just sound cheap, but I find it incredibly attractive when women value the needs of others more than they do their own jewelry.

4. I have recently seen the need for a more healthy lifestyle, and I think I can thank daily stops at Mcdonald’s while traveling the US for that conclusion.  With that I would like to find someone who values their health as well as mine.  I think I would do well with someone who challenged me to maintain a healthy lifestyle, both in how I eat, and the activities I do.  It would be ideal that this person likes to prepare healthy food with me, and engaged in healthy activity with me as well.

5. The last thing is beauty, and this is something that roots itself much deeper than just one’s skin.  I have known plenty of sexually attractive women that were just down right ugly.  Likewise I have met plenty of women who I did not find attractive at first glance, but who grew in beauty as I discovered their elegance in how they treated others and myself.   I do want a woman who is physically appealing don’t get me wrong, but on top of that she needs to be someone who shows beauty in the way she interacts with people.  This can mean so many things, her sense of humor, her compassion towards others, her strength, her independence, and so many other things that make a woman beautiful.

I know some people who are concerned for me and my singleness, and have even mentioned this to me, as if there is something wrong with me for it.  However I am quite proud to be content with my independence.  I do not feel as though my life would be incomplete without a spouse, but it does seem like a pleasing way to live.  With that said I am in no rush to find a wife, and like I said before if I can not find all of the things I listed, then I would just as well prefer to stay single.  For me marriage is not an absolute, under the proper circumstances it would be most beneficial and pleasant, but outside of those circumstances it seems rather unnecessary and simply not worth the difficult effort involved in maintaining a relationship.

I am amazed how many revolutionary inventions I see on regular basis.  I am pretty sure I was told somewhere in science class that this concept is impossible, but here it is, and you can buy it at Best Buy.  I am both excited and terrified of what we might invent in the next 5 to 10 years.

Here is another funny story from almost 10 years ago.

When I was in high school I worked at Hollywood Video on Spring st in East Long Beach.  For some reason we had a plethera of expired sodas, specifically Pepsi product.  Now I don’t know exactly how the whole legalities work when it comes to selling expired sodas, but we did.  So many of the sodas that sat in that fridge were actually expired.  Well I knew this, and so I justified to my self, stealing the sodas since they were expired anyways.  I would also occasionally hook my friends up with an expired soda as well, cause who really cares right?

Well one day Ron Delaney comes into Hollywood Video while I am working, and if you know anything about Ron it that he is quite the stickler when it comes to spending, so anything that is free he is excited about, as am I on many occasions.  So Ron asks if there are any expired Pepsis and if there is could he have one for free.  I say sure if you can find an expired soda, go ahead and just have it.  He of course promptly found some expired Pepsi One, and proceeded to open it up and drink it.  Meanwhile he is hanging out in the store and just talking to me while I have another boring day at work.

After a few minutes go by, Ron says his stomach is hurting him, and that he thinks its from the Pepsi being bad.  Almost immediately, as if he had planned it, he lays down on his back on the floor right in the front of the store.  Remember customers are going in and out this whole time, and he is on the floor grabbing his stomach and screaming, “Don’t drink the Pepsi, The Pepsi is bad!”

I was furious, the nerve of this guy to complain about the free soda I gave him.  I promptly kicked him out of the store, and never gave away free expired soda again, especially to some one so ungrateful.

I have been home now for almost 2 months, and to be honest it is kind of weird.  Having a job (or three) a place to live, and lots of friends and family is all a real blessing, but I just can’t stop thinking about my life on the road.  Everything is so simple and organized now, I know the days of the week, and I even have deadlines.  Its not bad, its just strange.

I used to spend many of nights under the stars, uncomfortable yes, but at peace knowing I was living as best as anyone could.  Now I spend many of nights in my bedroom, staring into my computer.  Don’t get me wrong, I am thankful for the walls, its just that I used to live with out them, besides the ones I would borrow from the occasional generous local.  Living a normal life is good, its dependable, its steady, its just kind of boring sometimes.  I don’t really remember being bored like this while I was on the trip, even if I had nothing to do, I was in a new place with new people.

Writing has been good, it helps me think about the amazing experience Ryan and I both shared, but more and more frequently I get the urge to just take off again.  I know I can’t now, once again I have responsibilities, and a goal, yet its still all so tempting.  For now I will do my best with these walls, but to go on so fast for so long and then to just stop seems anticlimactic.

Who knows what the next adventure holds, maybe its not even traveling at all, but whatever it is, I think I am ready for it.

I’ve been a little sick of having to use my bike to get everywhere, so I decided to buy a crappy little car for those times I just don’t feel like riding, and for when it rains.  Not that I can’t ride in the rain, I have done that several times, but I can’t ride in the rain and still be presentable for work, so that is why I need a car.  Anyway, picked this little 97 Toyota Tercel up for $898.19.  It was $900, but I found a $1.81 in change, so it was a nice little discount.

Speaking of damaging other people’s properties, I am reminded of a pair of events that happened in High School.  While the goal may have been for these two events to be unrelated, I believe they were.

One day Justin, Ian, and I were riding back home from surfing at the beach.  We were in Ian’s hatchback, Justin was sitting shotgun, and I was sitting behind him.  I did not have my own window, but I had to spit so I asked Justin to scoot forward so I could spit out his window.  Ian instantly advised against this as he thought the spit would just backfire and go all over his rear window, I of course disagreed and proceeded to spit out the window.  Well just like Ian thought, a nasty loog instantly splattered all over his window.  He was furious at the fact that I had done exactly what he told me not to do.

A few weeks later, Ian was riding shotgun in my 1986 Dodge Caravan.  Somehow he found a razor blade and started cutting my inner upholstery and ceiling as I drove.  I looked over at him and noticed what he was doing, all I could say is, “What are you doing?”  He calmly put the razor blade down, and stopped destroying my car, but he showed no remorse.  I am pretty sure he was getting his revenge on me for spitting all over his car, but only he really knows.

Tonight I was over at my friend Jack’s house, and during an exciting game of apples to apples I leaned back against his dining room chair to fast and snapped the wood.  I felt really bad, because I seem to have an on going problem with braking or losing Jack’s things.  Just the other day, Jack was throwing a tennis ball against the backboard, and when I caught it, and tried to throw against the backboard it just sailed right by, flying over his garage and into someone else’s yard.  Another time I came into their house and somehow from the vibrations of me entering the room I caused a bottle of wine to fall off of it’s decorative holder and onto the ground, breaking and spilling everywhere.

There have been countless other accidents and through them I have realized, I am a bad friend.  Honestly I don’t know why they let me remain their friend, maybe its because he can always count on me to lose in Backgammon or Monopoly.  I am a huge cluts, and I just constantly break things, especially nice things that belong to other people.  Anyway, Jack I am really sorry, but I think you should use this blog to share any other stories you have of me breaking or damaging your stuff by my own klutzy actions.

Since I got back I have been slowly working on typing out Ryan and my adventure in book format.  It is not an easy job, but I really want to finish it.  I think if the trip taught me anything about myself, its that if I really want to do something, I can.  And right now I really want to write a book.   Not to make money, because it likely won’t, but instead because I feel as though the trip is worth being written about.  I had such a unique and wonderful time over those six months, and I am sure Ryan did too, and I think what we did, and what we learned deserves to be shared and documented in something tangible and accessible.  Whether people want to read about it is a whole other story.

So in my free time, I am typing away, and often times what comes out is quite poor, just like these blogs here.  However, my goal is not to write a great book, I think an editor or if need be a ghost writer can do that, so instead my goal is just to write a crappy book.  That really takes the pressure off for me when I think of it like that.  I imagine a lot of people get stuck writing cause they want it to be great, but if you are willing to overlook that, you can get a lot more done.  It is still challenging, but I am glad I am trying this.