Just between you and me, I'm not that much different these days anyway. I'm a little bit skinnier (over 30 pounds, actually). A little bit hairier in the face region. The music I listen to is increasingly of the folk variety. I find myself being drawn to dress in flannel (?) more and more. But personality-wise, I'm still sarcastic as fuck. My worldview is still that my glass is half full. I'm still the same old Brandon.
I have, however, had a few interesting life experiences... being that I have done my damnedest to eschew the typical post-grad (office job, marriage, baby, house) lifestyle. I really did get in my car and drive up the Pacific Coast for a month -- a journey inspired by (but hardly resembling the spartan nature of) a certain infamous book. I yearned to create a life from nothing, a blank slate, so I moved to a place where I didn't know a soul (sound like another book?). I pursued not jobs that were simply related to my degree, but ones that were dreams of sorts. And I got my dream job -- working my first wine harvest at Elk Cove in tiny Gaston, Oregon. There I worked with the soon-to-be chief winemaker at Mud House in Marlborough, New Zealand and was fortunate enough to be able to eke out a job offer to work their harvest earlier this year. In New Zealand I guess you could say I got a little homesick (for the US, and especially Arizona) and I stumbled across this random winery that was hiring harvest help in Northern Arizona, sent my resume, and got that job. I guess you could say that a lot of this past year or so hasn't been so much about personal discovery (although in many ways it has), but more about really achieving my dreams. And to that I owe a ton to everyone who has ever ushered words of encouragement and to, more specifically (and more electronically!), The Last Lecture. Sitting here today I can check off: an epic road trip, moving to Portland, working in the wine industry, and living abroad. Not too shabby for 16 months.
"AND NOW?!" you ask crazily and perhaps over-enthusiastically. I'm living in beautiful Sedona, commuting to work at Arizona Stronghold Vineyards just outside Camp Verde. I was recently asked to stay on full-time after harvest, and I'm thrilled to say that I have my first year-round winery gig as a Cellar Hand/Production Assistant. For someone that's never really known what they've wanted to do for a living, there's a tremendous weight off my shoulders realizing that I've found what I want to do for the rest of my life. And to be able to do it so close to friends and family is quite an opportunity -- I mean, American wine is so often associated with California, Washington or Oregon, but even I was surprised we had Arizona wine. Life in the Verde Valley is certainly interesting to say the least. The good thing is that Sedona is stunning... like more so than anything I saw in New Zealand. Here's a picture of just my backyard:
The other plusses are that I've got a great living situation, I'm loving my job (still shake my head every morning when I remind myself that I'm getting paid to learn how to make wine), and that I must be living near one of Sedona's good "vortexes" (or, vortices, which I dorkily remind everyone) because I don't think I can remember a time when I was this, well, content.
The downside is that there seem to be no good-looking girls my age (or anyone my age, period) in Sedona... this is becoming painfully obvious. On the upside there aren't many guys either, so when I do find a cute girl they won't have much room to improve upon. Ha! That's always a good reason to date someone. Also, Sedona's aversion to chain retailers means that anytime I want/need to buy something other than groceries I have to make a trek to Cottonwood (30 minutes), Flagstaff (45 minutes), or even Phoenix (2 hours)... yet I refuse to take a single step inside Wal-Mart even if it is on my way home from work. Thirdly, it's really easy to fall into a Verde Valley bubble and forget about the rest of the world (or strangely not hear about the sweatlodge deaths outside town until it makes it to national TV). But overall I'm in a good place (sweatlodge-free... that's what I always say) and I can come down to the Phoenix area on the weekends whenever I like.
And that's all I've got for this entry. I'm sure a bunch of the Portland and New Zealand stories will come up in future blogs, or say if you and I have one of those old-fashioned face-to-face conversations... how 'bout that? Oh, here's one before I go: I never realized that I love foreign girls until I went to New Zealand. Not so much the Kiwis themselves, but I think in retrospect I had a little crush on just about every non-American girl I worked with or met over there. Maybe it's the accents, maybe it's the charmingly broken English. I just love them. And before I settle completely down, I will definitely do a wine harvest in France.
Loudon Wainwright III - Swimming Song
