Where I am to the Outer Banks

To understand the past, one must first understand the present.

I have yet to find consistent full-time employment, but I did stop receiving the unemployment compensation last November. Currently I’m back at NBC part-time helping out on the weekends. The work is familiar, which makes it more enjoyable, but I’m not considered permanent by any means. My benefits ran out and I’m currently searching for health insurance. 


I don't climb or mountain bike as mush as I used to, probably since I don't have coverage... my fiancee & I agree I'll be getting on some sort of plan soon, but not until after we return from the honeymoon. For now I'll take it easy, and save my money.

Last summer as I mentioned in Chapter One I reconnected with an old friend, Zach. He brought me into his company, Hat Trick Interactive. I was a trainee but eventually I settled into the role of Project Manager, on a part-time basis. On top of these two supplements to my monthly income I’ve been searching intently for anything consistent, but I haven’t had much luck. One thing is certain, in about a month I’ll be walking down the aisle towards the future Mrs. Jason Guinter, and we’ll be a family for better or for worse.

One good thing about music, when it hits you feel no pain

I explained that Dorothy was my inspiration for world travel, did I explain that music was the catalyst that brought us together? I remember her wearing a moe. hoodie and showing up at my friend Tommy's in 2004, I'd been seeing moe. since 1996 and belonged to a very select group of "left-coasters" that actually followed the band whenever they came close. So although she seemed young, I was definitely curious. I'd been in the OB Bubble 6 years at this point and hadn't found anyone other than friends that knew about this band. Honestly it was never really about their music, but about the lengths you go through to keep up with it. The internet was just getting going, and you couldn't follow this band on the radio... so anyone that was into them, after the detective work it takes to stay current, had to be interesting by default. It didn't take long for us to get together and find new artists to love, together.

Our wedding sounds will not be common, by any means. We get a free DJ with wedding package "A" but to put it delicately, I have alternative ideas. Coincidentally it seems they do not provide an Emcee for the event, I wonder how much one could make as a bi-lingual DJ at Las Rocas for wedding season :) From the moment the guest arrives at the ceremony, till our parents are making sure that nobody is passed out in the post-reception bathroom, we'll have approved every song that plays. I've sifted through over 40,000 of my own collection, and downloaded countless new albums in the past six months. We've obsessed over this because of the "Chicken Dance" and other mood-killers, the only hour where things will be different will be the cocktail hour during which the Mariachi Band will set the festive spirit for the entire evening. Otherwise mp3 playlists will entertain our ears, with backup versions on the various groomsman's phones and iPods just in case.

Music seems to be an underlying theme, I'm not gonna lie... it has truly kept me sane over the years, without it and the unpredictability that it stands for I would be lost in this world. Music takes me on journeys into my imagination, life would be so mundane without it, and it completely makes sense that I ended up at High Sierra last summer when my life plans were spinning out of control. So then I went to Newark, and was picked up by Dorothy & her BFF Meghan at the airport.

In a nutshell, we had been invited to partake in the Jantzen Family Vacation on the Outer Banks. Dorothy had decided that she wanted me with her but after a few days in this paradise it was apparent that something wasn’t right. I wasn’t feeling the love, and her mind was else ware. We made it through the trip and back to New Jersey, but things still weren’t right. I was hoping our return to Cali would solve our problems... but rather than come back with me, she dropped me at the Newark airport by myself and stayed behind, claiming her family once again as the reason.

I was devastated, and hoped she really needed her space.

I was wrong; she was spending time with the other guy. My sister turned me onto that info, and my friend had seen her at a moe. show in Delaware. Regardless of what she had set out to do, she had sent me home so she could continue with the “Summer of Dorothy” on her own, with another guy. A few days later she broke up with me over the phone, and I started to try to figure out how to cope with such a disrespectful breakup after so long, while we still lived together.

This is when I started to regret my travels, the reality set in that not only was I being punished for leaving her for so long, I now had to suffer for actions I thought were towards our eventual union. I wasn't moving fast enough for her, after almost five years she expected more, and I was just getting it. Until that moment I had never considered marriage unless I had a secure future, now I'm realizing that love is much deeper and my employment status should not affect whether I want to marry the woman I love, or not. If only I would have asked her before I started all this, used that severance check for a ring, rather than blow it all on myself. Fuck, Catalina would have been a great place to propose, or Joshua Tree... the signs were there, I just wasn't looking. And that's why I started to resent my travels, because not enough attention was paid to the girl I love the rest of our plans never materialized, and I'm dealing with heartbreak.

I maintained a little faith but mostly I start to cope with yet another lost girlfriend. This one was different, I didn't see it coming and I definitely didn't agree. Usually I've emotionally separated myself from the situation so when it goes down I'm able to "take it like a man." That wasn't the case this time, I was pathetic and spilled too many tears over this chick. Having a job is another great way to cope with a breakup, at least 40 hours a week you're able to submerge yourself into something with eventual positive rewards (the paycheck) - normally I at least had that escape - this time I had nothing, just a big empty house full of her shit.

So I drank, Zach joined me from Reno for a weekend since he was thinking about moving down this way and we brought August in with a bang. Friends & booze are a solid way to get through a breakup, but once Zach was back in Nevada I found myself dwelling, bummed, and looking for a way to make this summer more than just a bad ending to a great adventure. I needed to find promise, something to make her proud to be with me... or something to make anyone proud to be with me, I was low and needed to find a high. 


Since I was still receiving that unemployment check I decided that money wasn't as important as being happy. My living situation had become unstable and one afternoon when I was venting to my friend Christina that Dorothy had just given me her 30-day notice she mentioned her friend Damon, a nice guy she knew from back home that was looking for a place. I was going to take September to clean up the house once she had her crap out, and coordinated my new roommate to move in on October 1st.

That was easy, really the only problem now was in my head, I needed some sort of happiness to turn my attitude around... adult beverages only work so much and honestly I've never been a good alcoholic. I needed to get away, remove myself from all of the memories we created together in that little brown house on Brighton, but where...

That concludes Chapter Two, I'll finish up the "Summer of Dorothy" in my next post.