jackrabbitunderneath
Member
what's up! you can call me Jackrabbit, they/he. I'm a 30yr old drifter from TX, currently wintering on a few friend's couches while I recklessly spend my summer funds on local metal shows where i get nosebleeds by taking elbows to the face!
My sad-ass backstory starts in a "one-stoplight & a K-mart" town where the options were get into drugs or get into the woods. My also-transient father married my mom with a walmart sack of underwear to his name, so the story goes, I guess it's in my blood. Anyway, I grew up with him, the two of us in snake-leggings and carhartts, learning how to track whitetail deer. Then there was a messy divorce, I got kicked out and started living on friend's couches where I rotate to avoid nosy landlords, I picked up a stalker and a tracker on my car, changed my name like ten times, all before I was old enough to legally drink! [sad-ass backstory over! only happy from here on out]
Then around 20 I got a job teaching other kids about how to live in the woods, what leaves to eat with and which to wipe with, and I never looked back. I teach archery, tracking, I'm learning foraging in different biomes-- I spent one summer foraging chantrells in the woods, ate them for breakfast lunch and dinner. Imagine my surprise when I'm in the city and they're fucking $10/oz! Who knew I'd been eating gold the entire summer?
During the 2019 quarantine, I was in Oregon so the camp I was working for got shut down and I struggled to find housing because I have never had an actual landlord aka no "real" housing history. So I said fuck it, I lived out of basements and in the forest.
In 2021 I headed back to TX and got a "second chance apartment" that wasn't even under my legal name. No AC, no heat, just a roof over my head, indoor plumbing and a lock on the door. It was a big step up for me. No rats or roaches, that was nice compared to some basements I'd molded in. But, honestly, I struggled to hold down an "adult" (read: non-seasonal) job, so 4 months in, I packed my stuff and left my last check in the deposit box. My current 2023 "room & board" prospects are either working at the Grand Canyon, Yellowstone, or NoCal! I don't really do good at long-term jobs, I have trouble putting down roots. I get bored. I like wandering. I traded stability, willingly. Do I regret it? Kinda yeah. But also, no.
Thankfully, I made a few former-transient, more well-adjusted friends here in my current homebase. It's a college town so the ones who stay tend to be former transient themselves, I've noticed. It's a cool scene, great live music. Both the city and my friends are teaching me how to work thru my paranoia "brain on fire, must leave town immediately" issues. I fucking love them, they all understand both my need to travel for good reasons (to see the world) and my need to travel for bad reasons (afraid everyone is out to get me), so when I go "ayo I'm gonna take off for a weekend" they will lovingly sit me down and go "are you leaving because you want to travel or are you leaving because you are scared we hate you? because we fucking are gonna miss you" which is, so so nice.
I like having a home base, that's kinda a new thing I've been learning to appreciate this year. That having a place to return to isn't a cage, it's... just a landing pad, a place to touch base, to meet with old friends. I can travel without being a total "ghost in the wind". Plus, the cheapo free music where I can bodyslam people twice my size, can't beat that. Cheaper'n therapy, I always say.
Might spend this weekend working at a viking ranch? That sounds really fun. They're gonna help me get my archery instructor certification! Life is actually going pretty good. I'm making connections just by fucking asking! "Ayo, you need help this weekend?" "sure! come drive down to see us". risky? probably. But I can bail if I need to, I got my lil' clunker SUV.
I love seeing everything I can, I love spending time in nature and teaching others to enjoy nature in the same way that I do, to stop and notice all the little things. I try to see the best in life, to savor when there's warm water so that I can get through when my toes are cold and my fingers are numb. I've gotten paid to live at places that most people PAY to come VISIT for a weekend! Ain't that the life?
I love the Wheel of Fortune tarot card the most: it's all about, the good things don't last, and that's kinda sad but it makes them more meaningful. But the bad things never last either, so you can get through this. The wheel will turn again.
A current list of things I'm trying to teach myself but who knows if I'll follow through (I got hella ADHD...)
- tank drum
- harmonica
- juggling
- crochet
- saving up for some tattoos?
- Jackrabbit
