Mountain Monday Tacos
Late last night, I spent hours mixing a rap song I began 11 days prior. I remixed 3 beats my producer friend Skip sent me, transforming them into a fast paced medley.
At the mountain cabin dining table, I wrote a teenage saga in my blue skiing book journal. I placed my phone on the charger next to the TV, and recorded vocals in Bandlab with my Bluetooth earbuds.
On Sunday night, I had tricks up my sleeve to improve the voice quality. And techniques for remixing the beats so you can really feel the track. Apparently Skip was inspired once he heard it. I might have ended his melancholic funk, so he could make more beats. I shared all my Cheap Windows masters for him to cut up. We were in that one off electronic duo Ketogenic Riot together in 2019. It's high time we do some remote collabs.
I told him on Discord that I need to go out for a hike, so I did. Packed a light backpack quickly, walked down the Maple Lane hill, with plans to hop on the bus to go eat delicious tacos. As I waited for my free transit, I saw that two mules had wandered behind the Easy's general store to snack on the grass. As I stumbled over, an older fellow was already taking phone photos from his backyard. I shot a 1.5 minute video and snapped pics from a closer range. I sent them to Skip on Discord, and texted them to Neil, who's also in Michigan.
I watched the mules for a bit longer, and returned to my bus stop. I kept listening to the Cortex podcast reviewing CGP Grey's decade old YouTube video Humans Need Not Apply. I hopped on the bus as he and Myke spoke in my ear. Grey was early to predict that AI would replace creative jobs and bullshit office makework. The self-driving cars developed and expanded differently than he forecasted. ChatGPT and Stable Diffusion became a tribalistic political issue. In its online culture war, there's no room for nuance.
I missed pulling the cord for my bus stop. The driver let me off at the empty Big Bear airport. I called Christian Molenaar since I knew he would be off work. We shot the shit for 5 minutes about tacos and tech while I walked. I hung up once I was in front of Cocina de Mexico. There was a trashy couple leaving who reeked of cigarettes and weed.
I stepped inside, grabbed a Pineapple Jarritos from the cooler, and ordered 3 Al Pastor tacos. They were prepared quickly. The cook/cashier lady asked if I wanted two of the toppings, and I just said “todo” for all of them. I took my picture and chowed down
Absolutely delicious. I nibbled the chile pepper also, which lit my mouth on fire. I was sweating and my nose ran. I swigged some Jarritos to cool the heat. I remembered Gordon Ramsay brought donuts for his Hot Ones interview because sugar counteracts spice. There was a fly nibbling at me, which is actually a sign this place is legit. The interior isn't Instagram worthy either. It's really about the food. The employee asked me 3 times if everything was alright, and I assured her it was great. She pointed out the salsa verde in the cooler when I was halfway through, so I grabbed two to finish my meal.
I used all my napkins, and had to blow my nose. Then I returned to the counter to pay. I told her the last time I ate here was a few years ago, and I'm visiting my mom's cabin for a few weeks again. And that my San Diegan punk friend is bringing his gf to Big Bear for a weekend trip soon. I recommended Cocina de Mexico to him. Said I know the area too well, gave him a full itinerary almost. She thought that was all cool. There was a temporary error with my debit card, but it did go through. I had to show her the $17.75 deduction in my app, we thanked each other, and I walked out the door.
I kept sipping my soda as I walked beside the main road, dangerously close to cars travelling at 40-50 mph. I wanted to buy either Zyn or liquor. I soon arrived at the corner with the smoke shop and community market. I decided on the market for alcohol. It took awhile to make my 3 choices inside. Ended up with Golden State Cider, salame to snack on, and protein bars for easy calories. I'm ready to check out. The cashier is stocking the front, and I pan around pretending to look at things.
I initiate the transaction.
“How's it going?”
She contains her stress with “it's going”
She rings me up, I insert my other card, the total is a bit less than $40.
“Do you want a receipt hun?”
“No I'm good”
“Need a bag?”
“Uhh yeah that might be good”
I grab it and her goodbye is
“Have a good day sweetheart”
That feels nice to hear. The woman seemed tough as nails to a coworker as I was browsing the aisles before.
I saw a bus stop behind me as I entered the market, so I back tracked 500 feet or so, then waited. There was a dusty, B-shaped cushion. I try to sit on it, and hit my Geek Bar Pulse, but I'm
still antsy. I listen to a YouTube interview with Dogpack404. He's releasing a 3 part YouTube documentary on the crimes of MrBeast, his former employer. The host cricitizes some of his editing decisions, which he accepts gracefully.
Commercial break: if you want to be notified of my future posts, please subscribe by email or RSS. The Android RSS app I recommend is Focus Reader. That's how I'm reading my favorite writers from Substack, Ghost, and Beehiiv. The eastward red line bus arrives and I hop on. It's loud inside so I keep listening to the YouTube video and then an mp3 of the deathcore song In Dying Days by As Blood Runs Black. I sit and ponder. I depart outside Easy's Market in Sugarloaf again.
My backpack has an uncomfortable lump of supplies at the bottom, which will bother me. I place my bag on the market bench and rearrange things. Two bros are smoking cigarillos near me. I remove one earbud in case they speak to me, but they don't. I'm too occupied to eavesdrop, as they enter the store. I zip up then tread uphill. As I walk, I flip my backpack around once again to grab my nice flashlight that Reddit recommended. The handy, compact Wurkkos TS21. I showed how bright it was to Scarlet the homeless scrapper in North Park, back in February. Her light costed $20 or $30 more.
I kept rearranging how I grasped my water bottle, light, and phone. It slowly charged on the external battery pack. I use two zipties to keep that attached as I move around. The discombobulation affects the charging speed, but whatever. A bit of water drops on the phone, and I shift it all around again. I then shoot a quick photo of this house.
Night is falling, and I turn on my light at full brightness as an SUV draws near me. I keep pivoting my head to keep an eye on it. But it backs into a driveway before reaching me. I pause a few times for sips of water or catching my breath, since we are at an elevation of 7200'. I grew up at sea level, so my body hangs onto that conditioning. I've accustomed to the mountain landscape and oxygen level as well as I can. I've also noticed the cell reception and Google Maps trail info has also improved since we first bought our fixer upper cabin in 2016. I reach the Sugar Shack, enter through the side door, and drop my bag on a dining table chair. I unpack the few groceries and immediately remove the secure white topper from the cider cans, so I can crack open a cold one. I sit at the porch table, writing this very story in Markor using my Bluetooth keyboard.
