Found a house. It's with a guy from New Hampshire. Big fenced-in backyard, a couple of picnic tables, tiki torches, a garden full of tomatoes, peppers, onions, and cucumbers. A washer and a dryer, dishwasher, quiet street. It's also got a wireless internet connection so I can use Yuka's laptop here in the back. Not bad. It took about five days to find the place.

Haven't found a job, but already approaching double digits on job apps, so one should turn up soon. That will provide some money until I can find "a niche in some unconventional but satisfying way," to quote a mentor of mine.

First impressions of Eugene:A Grateful Dead-painted Volkswagon van three houses down. A psychadelic VW van three houses down the other way. Tie-dye is in style. Mohawks of such brilliance and stunning coiffure to be art forms. Three weather forecasts: one for the Coast, one for the Valley, and one for the Mountains. Foggy, cloudy mornings giving way to cloudless days. Used book stores, local food, recycling, urban shamanism, organic restaurants, bicycles, aging hippies, long beards & army pants. A true American city.

You can rent dune buggeys for rides along the Pacific Coast, jump off cliffs into 40-ft. pools, take a dip in a hot spring, climb mountains, go white-water rafting. All this is about an hour away. Zazen meditation every weekday morning at 5:15 a.m. at the local zendo.