morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2004-01-26
To: curious about hiker diversity
Miles today: 0.0

Nick, my roommate, is bisexual and was born without part of his left arm. Our other roommate, Ashley, is biracial. I spent eighteen years of my life in a very diverse suburb on Long Island. Because of my place of birth, the age of my car, and the shape of my nose, most Mainers of course assume I'm a rich Jewess. I'm actually the product of many generations of Welsh Methodist mine workers. Clearly, we live in a very ignorant WHASP area, and as a household, we have regular intellectual discussions about this situation. This is a little phenom I like to call "duh". This morning's discussion went from the Iowa caucus to Republican support, which obviously fell into American ignorance (where else would it go?). From there, we delved into racial and gender stereotyping and the ignorant masses which partake in it. I filled Nick in on my post about gender profiling at EMS and the responses it summoned from you guys, and he filled me in on the current racial issues being tackled by the cast of MTV's the Real World. (Apparently, some white girl thought that since she was raped, it was OK in a drunken spat to counter "bit**" with "ni**er¢. I myself am unfortunately a victim of rape and I can say that although rape is an extremely difficult experience to overcome, it is "bu**sh*t" to ever dream that the word "bit**" comes anywhere near the word "ni**er" in offensive tact. But that's not my point here.) As one might imagine, I've gotten used to the luxury of all these open, multiple-sided talks about racial misunderstanding, gender (dis)respect, sexual preference, religious difference, political ignorance, and handicapped assumptions.Don't take this the wrong way; I'm by no means PC timid, or a feminazi, or a societal activist of any kind. But, I have to admit that after a little pondering, I'm curious to see how I'll react to being surrounded mostly by white, economically average, heterosexual, ?so far respectful?, democratic males for five months. Most likely my pheromone receptors will find the company just spiffy, but how will the annoyingly argumentative section of my brain handle it? I spose I'll just have to invent differences. I mean how do thruhikers divide their society? And don't get all hippy and tell me they don't. That's ridiculous. There has to be something. So, does it go by food brand? Shelter preference? I mean, do all the tuna can chefs get the more desirable flat boulder while the MSR users get the crappy windy area? Do all the kool kids hammock together in the far corner of the playground? Inquiring minds demand answers. Then again, I could be completely wrong about the whole white guy theory. There could be an Uzbek she-male planning a solo sobo at this very moment. In which case, I'd have to admit to being an ass. Lovingly,
Date: 2004-01-26
To: in response to last post's responses
Miles today: 0.0

Ross Nolan says he's not economically average. He's a poor hiker, he says. Not to be difficult, Ross, but aren't we lucky to be debtless enough to do exactly what we want to do for six whole months, sans income? The majority of the poor, correct me if this is different in London, may only wish for such freedom, much less cross an ocean to claim it. The rest of you, please correct me if you disagree.
Date: 2004-01-26
To: another response to #8
Miles today: 0.0

"...the trail is the ultimate equalizer." - bankerboy"...we're all out there together and sooner or later cynisism gets left way back along the trail somewhere." - Ross NolanI probably didn't make a clear enough point in number eight. I know that the differences present in normal (don't get all hippy and argue the definition of the word normal) society will be either nonexistant or put aside on the trail. It's my reaction to that fact that I'm curious about. It's human reaction to that fact that I'm curious about. It's our nature to categorize. Now Ross, I know we'll have a common bond, just like all categories of greater divisions have common features, but what will be our featured differences? To what categories will we turn, I wonder.
Date: 2004-01-26
To: categories
Miles today: 0.0

Well, studies show that some of you (dang hippies) believe that categories will be left behind in this high stress period of our lives. Others, however, have come up with a pretty generous spectrum of possibilities: personal gravity, speed, non-hiker support... Maybe we've come to a real conclusion, here. Hippies and psychology enthusiasts don't mix all that well, do they?*lightbulb* Or maybe it's just gonna be The Smelly vs. The Baby Wipe Carriers. Yeah, I think that's a little more realistic. Which team are you on?Let's make this a good clean fight, boys.
Date: 2004-01-26
To: pepper spray
Miles today: 0.0

first off, i'd like to say that you can forget about all those nice upper case letters i was so sweetly providing for you. screwit!and uh...my mommy seems to be obsessed with pepper spray lately. she's scouring the countryside for a bottle of pepper spray. "it's for the bears," she says. don't get me wrong, i don't wanna be bearsnax any more than the next guy, but i'm a little nervous about having all that power at my fingertip. for example, i'm a sleepwalker. what if i start sleepwalking one night and oops! pepper spray my tentmate in the crotch? i worry. gimme some pepper spray advice. is it worth the potential (and very serious, i might add) detriment to troupe morale?
Date: 2004-01-27
To: packs
Miles today: 0.0

so.i'm switching packs already from gregory's g-pack to gregory's z-pack. g-packs are meant for 25 lbs and i carry 33+. that's probably fine for week long trips, but for five months i believe i'd prefer accurate support. the z-pack can provide me with said support. so there ya go.one more thing--i'd really love it if my readers would try to pay just a little more attention to detail before they decide to pray for me or whatever. god's riches at christ's expense? uh...i'm not sure what that means, exactly, but my being called grace has nothing to do with god, riches, christ, or expenses. it's actually due to my being a complete maladroit when it comes to staying vertical. did i mention i'm an atheist at all? i think i did. i'm sure intentions were pure and all, but i think pure intentions are more deeply felt when all angles are covered. i mean, what if i really was jewish? i'd probably have cried. then where would we be?
Date: 2004-01-27
To: holy crap!
Miles today: 0.0

ok so guess what--i just got about 20 proselytizing emails from christians, concerned for my spiritual well-being! go team! i appreciate your compassion, i really do, but i'm truly not in need of salvation. i hope i don't emit that vibe on the trail. despite the fact that i don't believe in god, despite the fact that i'm sarcastic as hell, forward as a freight train, and in this journal pretty negative so far, i'm by no means unhappy in my life. contrary to popular belief, atheists are not mean, unhappy people. we just have things besides god to make us happy. god doesn't run a monopoly on the appreciation of life, ya know. there's an incredible spectrum of human emotion which is present with or without the belief of a higher being. i cry like a moron at the sight of human birth just like any normal 22 yr old christian girl. after all, biological beauty (especially with all its flaws) to me is exactly the same as the miracle of life to her. my advantage comes when i tell you that biological beauty shows itself, with proof, in every square inch of this world. what's naturally present in your structure makes you beautiful to me, though what's lacking in my faith makes me somewhat less tangible to you. from that, i'd personally rather be fully amused by what i can see and touch. so thanks, but i really don't need to have my eyes "opened". hope that was put forth with enough depth to be understood without offense.
Date: 2004-01-28
To: trail entries-composing and uploading
Miles today: 0.0

honestly, i didn't expect this kind of a following. think about it--sarcastic wench attemps thruhike, writes about the dumb things she encounters; wonder if all the super nice trail people will want to read any of it... well, reasonable brain cells would expect my mom to be the only anxious reader, so i wasn't all that worried about updating daily, weekly, or monthly. in fact, i just assumed no one would notice if i posted a lot of pre hikes, then posted like twenty entries from my cousin's house in virginia, then maybe a few short ones from hostels, then like eighty and a followup when i got back to maine. i can see now that i'm not gonna get away with that. huh paco, you needy, needy bastard. so uh, what should i do? i don't think i could trust a middle man to type this stuff without adding, like, smiley faces and love and crap. besides, the only middle man i know of would be my mom. and frankly i'm amazed she figured out the concept of 'the guestbook'. no offense, mommy. but let's be serious. i could draft a stranger to post for me, but that's a little sketchy if you ask me. what's the collective opinion on PDAs? if i bought one, would i chuck it in NC? would i call it steve and make out with it nightly? i think i could use a steve in my life... ok. you're dismissed.<3 xoxoxo <3,
Date: 2004-01-28
To: steve, etc.
Miles today: 0.0

ok, john fitch, i beat you to it. pocketmail it is. just signed up for a year of service. looks like steve's gonna be stephen instead. sorry about my lack of photos, by the way. grizzly adam just brought that issue to my attention this morning, and as luck would have it, i have an awesome excuse. about a month ago, my main computer crashed. it would turn on, but the operating system wouldn't get past the desktop background. no icons, no tray, no keyboard use--no files. and by no files, i mean i lost all of my college writing assignments from the past four years, all of my illegally downloaded music, all of my addresses, and yes, all of my pictures from trail life. clearly, gateway ruined my life. so not to worry, as soon as i get to my upload device i'll go out and take some pictures of stupid maine being really f*c*ing cold. maybe even some pictures displaying how f*c*ing miserable i look when i stand outside in stupid maine. sloppy kisses and baby talk,
Date: 2004-01-29
To: stuff i definitely won't miss.
Miles today: 0.0

last night, my roommate got mad at me for suggesting that the reality game show he was watching on tv, ""celebrity" mole", was of questionable entertainment value. dennis rodman, mr. cooper, some girl from growing pains or family ties or something like that, and some other outskirts autographs were challenged to run back and forth on a ~2 ft wide plank thing, carrying bottles of tequila on trays, all while being pelted with nerf- and dodgeballs by the opposing team of has-beens: a baldwin, an mtv vj, and that pretty much sums up all that i recognized.well, jesus christ. i definitely won't miss filler tv and the raging delinquents who defend it. no offense, nick. well, maybe just a little offense. sorry. also, i won't miss my cat's poop-rolling-in habit. (she's just completed the activity and has now moved on to mommy-rubbing-on.) emphasis still rests on dumb tv, though. in other news, today's the big day. i'm leaving orono. well, i have to come back up here with a moving truck on saturday, but the feeling's there. if it snows today, i'm hoping for snowshoeing tonight. if it doesn't, then screwit. i'll just conduct another thorough gear-weighing adventure. this time i have to add the extra weight from the new pack and from the pocketmail system. and i forgot to add salt and pepper weight to the viles last time. and i forgot to fill my platypus... i should try to be less of a moron this time, i guess is my message.
Date: 2004-02-01
To: vicarious my pastey fanny
Miles today: 0.0

so i've been getting lots of "i wanna hike this year and i probably would, but i'm a pathetic wretch of a penelope and i don't wanna leave my horrible dead end job in order to do it, so please keep posting so i can more violently pity myself as your hike progresses" messages this week. what is wrong with you people?obviously, if you're obsessed enough to wish you were on the trail every single second of every single work day, (and i of all people know for a fact that you do) you're mentally motivated enough to drop everything that makes your life miserable and start seeking the things that might possibly make it a little less depressing. if you get on the trail, hate it, and get off a week later, at least that's one step closer to discovering what you really want in life. you'll have discovered another thing you can't stand. if you get on the trail, love it, get off six months later, get on another trail, etc., then you'll never forgive yourself for the patricia you once were. a lot of you think that if you have doubts at all, you're not right for the trail. that's complete donkeypoop. we all have doubts. serious doubts. if we didn't have doubts about such a huge lifestyle change, then we'd be too cocky to recognize and solve the problems we'll face along the way. the thing that makes us charge on, though, is the fact that our doubts about this hike are greatly defeated by our doubts about sitting on our asses in a useless office for the next six months. so, priscilla, in conclusion, you should get over yourself (your paycheck) and leave that yeast-infected womb of an office you call "life". there isn't a whole lot to hurt you out here. i know that's a terribly idealist thing to say, but i'd be screwed if i in any way tried to pass this hike off as anything remotely resembling the definition of practical. and i, miss realitypants, am actually following through on it.
Date: 2004-02-01
To: jason slavic says...
Miles today: 0.0

so as it turns out, you've been following the "petty", "me, me, me" ramblings of an "attention getter" (a very shy one, in reality) who needs to "grow up". how do you feel about being so brutally had?maybe i should have been talking about someone else and their experience with sardines as trail food rather than anchovies. even though i haven't actually come in contact with any hiking sardine eaters. since i haven't yet started the hike which will fuel the bulk of this journal. my fault. i'll try hard to change my incredibly selfish ways. until you can hike your own hike, write your own pre-journal!
Date: 2004-02-06
To: pocketmail device/mommy
Miles today: 0.0

well, i received my pocketmail device today and after a long effort on the phone with the korean/australian/indian woman (i couldn't decide which she was) activated my service. this whole idea reminds me of speak 'n' say. without the speak. and the say. actually, it probably doesn't remind me of any of that. so nevermind. just know it's the coolest toy to hit the nelson house since the brunton sherpa, for which i built a shrine.as you might have guessed, i'm composing this entry, disguised as an email, on my new toy right now. when i'm done babbling on about my personal endeavors in a fit of immaturity, i'll send this email to my mother, who will with any luck figure out how to copy and paste her way into posting to the site. congratulate her, olwynnel@aol.com, since she's obviously succeeded!since this toy's name is stephen, maybe i should name the sherpa. suggestions welcome. no dumb ones, though. k thanks.
Date: 2004-02-07
To: snow, gear, etc
Miles today: 0.0

so i'm at my mom's place in alna, maine, trying to figure out my gear and my packweight and how things will work with this journal and these pictures while i'm on the trail. it's not pretty. my new pack hasn't yet arrived. it was ordered about a week ago, and the guy in shipping thinks it'll get here on mondayish. i really hope he's right, because this is driving me insane. i've decided against cooking spices. i've decided against extra thermals. i'm as of yet undecided on my filter vs pills. so many mixed opinions. oh well i guess i'll just bring both and decide for sure by neels gap. shouldn't be hard. i've divided my vitamins and supplements into rx bags; my baby wipes into ziplocks. everything's in a ziplock, actually. it's kinda ocd, but oh well. last year i got deet in my toothbrush and was just a little more than cranky. pissy's more like it. tell me what to do with the filter situation.
Date: 2004-02-09
To: screwit!
Miles today: 0.0

thanks for your all your genuine concern for my water supply. really. also, thanks for all your emails telling me to change the gear i already have. "yeah, you're dumb, so instead of a tent, bring a series of rough covers and a bug bivy and a different bivy which you can suspend from a barn and a tree and sleep standing up after you run around in a circle five times and twist your legs behind your head. it's a lot of work, but it's my way, and that means it's better than your way, so you should change." really, thanks. i uh...appreciate it. but screw that. i'm a filter girl. have been for some time. it's not a brick, it's a little piece of plastic. it gets the crap out of my water (including the pine needles, which, with aqua mira, i would so gracefully khack on). it doesn't take 20 minutes to do so, either. there is no two step system, there is no funky taste, there is no resupply, there is no feeling of massive chemical ingestion. as for my tent: it's light, it's easy, it keeps the bugs out without some insanely annoying layering system. i'm sorry, maybe i'm a little phobic, but i just can't sleep if i feel like i'm being mummified with bug netting. screw that. twice. from behind.oh, guess what. i'm NOT cutting my toothbrush in half! KAPOOEY! (grace strikes again)
Date: 2004-02-10
To: weather, gear, stuff, etc
Miles today: 0.0

so first of all, i just have to thank the '04's i've been talking to lately. mainly cuz they mentioned me in their journals, but there's a little bit of genuine grace in there... ross, burn, cgiddy, brian, and joy. really, you guys make the waiting just a little less horrible. thanks for putting up with my crap.ok enough of that nonsense. i went up to the outfitter in camden today. they didn't have the maps i need, the bastards. but i did buy some wicking shirts and a northface rain jacket. light, and lime green. just how i like em. oh, and i bought a sports bra. i'd talk about how i'd rather not be flopping around all over the trail, but i'm sure you'd rather not hear it. so i won't talk about it. i took baileydog out to hummason pond, a couple miles round trip from the house. had to cut over the railroad tracks which cut through the property and which are maintained by the wiscasset, waterville, and farmington railway museum. pretty neat thing to have running through your back yard in my opinion, but my mom has other thoughts. anyway, it was 40 frikken degrees out today, and by my calculations, that's shorts weather damnit. bailey thinks so too. so i made the trip in shorts. didn't get cold, either. makes me wonder if i really need my winter coat down in georgia, or just 2 thin layers, a fleece, and a rain jacket. hmm...
Date: 2004-02-14
To: me? rich?
Miles today: 0.0

the frontiersman just littered my rankings pages with accusations of wealth. he says i won't make it because i'm able to replace a pack that wouldn't work with a pack that will. he says i spend more time shopping than hiking. he says i should read "waldon", because thoreau has some sort of enlightened, cashless view on outdoor living. jesus christ you people are pathetic. you think i replaced my crappy, falling apart pack to show off my money? what's wrong with you? first off, i'm 22. i don't have a job. i owe my mom so much money i can't even begin to add it all up. what the hell kind of bank account do you think i have? forgive me for not being old enough to have some dirty '70s canvas pack with moth holes and glory stains to take with me. forgive me for not trusting people enough, i do have tits afterall, to hitch hike my way across canada like you, frontal. of course i spend more time preparing for my hike than i do hiking right now, ass. i don't start til march second! and just to clear things up, i'm an english major. of course i've read walden you ignorant, bitter, loathesome little man. though it doesn't sound like you have. if you had, and stayed awake throughout, you'd know that thoreau wasn't poor. his cabin at walden pond was within walking distance of his parents' place. yeah, his parents, who supported him for his entire stay. if you'd read on in thoreau's library, you'd understand that thoreau didn't even make it to the top of katahdin. next time, research before you try backing up your poorly aimed judgements. ok i'm done being upset. again. i got my packweight down to 22lbs today without a filled h2o bladder. that's pretty good considering i dropped 11lbs since august even though i have a heavier pack and more gear. oh and burn thinks i should change my signature to include something i said to him this morning. i was trying to explain his attitude, which in my opinion, is the reason for his popularity.
Date: 2004-02-20
To: last friday in maine
Miles today: 0.0

i asked burn for an entry subject request this morning, and this was the best he could come up with: "Guys, don't hike to catch me if you think you're gonna get laid. Matter of fact, don't hike to catch me...who the hell am I, the pheonix goddess? Go masturbate off trail." this suggestion comes from burn's careful study of my click number, my breast size (not literally), and word of a ranking post left by some eric person, telling me to "make sure [i] put out." i've come to terms with the fact that less people would read my journal if i had xy instead of xx. and it's true, you most likely won't get laid. unless instead of my tent you find burn's hammock and he tells you to go **** yourself. in that case, you'll probably have some hint of a chance. anyway, i'm not going to take burn's advice. being a snot is my forte and all, but i'd rather talk about something a little more wholesome. like how retarded i am for this hike right now.i wake up in cold sweats having dreamt of flooding on the entire trail, car crashes in georgia, packs falling out of trunks in pennsylvania, captain kangaroo's death... sad, really. he was a nice guy. i just can't take this waiting. burn says we're all "chomping at the bit," but i think it's safe to say that no race day clich© comes anywhere near sufficiently explaining the kind of passion which is eating the eyeballs of the tentative class of '04 right now. i'm beginning to hate television and internet correspondence like never before. cars are beginning to feel fast--too fast for normal transportation. the road south feels farther down the driveway than it did yesterday. this terrible sensitivity feels like caffeine ache. like i've inhaled five jumbo pixie sticks (the kind that were taller than me at the age of four) through my nose at the theme park and am now feeling the accelerated effects of the gravitron. this is a kafkan paranoia, a woody allen-esque hysteria that sets me into trances and frenzies, packing, dreaming, weighing, dreaming, ziplock inspecting, falling asleep on the floor, etc. lepidopterous nausea is a relentless companion, and from the sounds of it, we all share the same desperate wish. we only want to skip these days and weeks and make it be the morning when we stand on that rock for a photo op, turn around, and walk away. please, einstein, for the love of relative sanity, put us out of our misery.