A Summer Night

I sit alone with a cold glass coke
resting my back against a parking lot lamp post.
I’ve become accustomed to being alone.
A single ruler over my own personal Rome.
And still I smile.
I’ve learned how to still have fun without any friends.
How to make some nights never end.
All I need is a board to carry my feet,
and empty bending streets.

Then there are some nights I just want to run.
I run from bad guys with guns.
I run in a race against the clock.
I run to hide from cops.
I run to catch the love of my life.
I run because I’m trying to take flight.
I run to play a game.
Sometimes I try to out run the pain.
But tonight I run because my heart tells me to.
It’s tired of staying at a standstill,
and moving like a snail.

I know I’m made for something bigger
but where I’m standing,
it’s not anywhere near.

I know the clock is ticking
so I’m running and searching
looking for my kingdom.
Our kingdom.

The whole world is our kingdom,
and summer is our national holiday.
Our independence day.
It’s time to celebrate our royalty.
Just follow my lead
and pay no head
to the negative nay sayers
and Debbie downers.
This is our summer.
The summer for royalty.

And when the party is over
you’ll smell it in the air
for miles around.

Oh how I miss the smell of summer nights.
it’s the smell of distant camp fires,
new found lovers,
and freshly lit fire crackers.

It’s the smell of night games at the park,
sadly illegal street art,
and races in stolen shopping carts.

It’s the smell of star gazing on roof tops,
empty bottles of pop,
and someone smoking pot.

It’s the smell of distant rain,
a dog being house trained,
and pizza for kids playing a kissing game.

It’s the smell of loud rock concerts,
late night party hunters,
and future hangovers.

I need to get outside
where the night is alive.

Out to a grassy park field
where I become lost
dreaming in the sky.

I watch the stars
dance across the heavens
like ships
sailing across oceans,
filled with angels
in search of lost souls
like mine.

I’m the kind of lost soul
who goes about the day
slowly being drained
by the questions that fill my mind.
Often times I can’t sleep
and seek refuge from myself
at an all night diner.

I remember one time
being so fed up
with the lack of company in my life,
that as the hostess sat me
at my usual diner table,
she gave me a consolation smile.
Knowing it was for my lonely lifestyle,
I smiled back.
“One of these nights,”
I promised myself,
“I’ll bring her here.
The girl with the auburn hair.”

As I ate
my midnight breakfast,
I felt my mind slip away,
to a place of nonexistence.
The place of forgotten memories.

Then I decided
it was time to fix this
with,
an unconventional remedy.

From then on,
when this town kisses the moon goodnight,
I’m kissing it hello.
I’ve become a midnight warrior.
A full moon howler.
With a spray can in hand,
I hit the dark and lonely streets,

leaving my poetry,
to show others,
and prove to myself,
that I am alive.
I do exist.

-Carlin Miner

For the few who follow.

I have started another bandido blog on tumblr.
 You can find it at bandidonotes.tumblr.com.
I would be thrilled if you were kind enough to follow me there. I personally think that tumblr is far easier, and more fun to work with than blogspot.
So, my posts here will be even fewer (I also don't see how that would make a big differance.)
so you have nothing to loose. Maybe even something to gain. I've found several blogs on that site that i very much enjoy following.

Best wishes,
Bandido C.

#1 Go to France. 

For a long time now I've wanted to go to France. I can't think of a good reason why not to go.

France is a country full of history, culture, and beauty. I want to get to know it better. While I could just take some classes about France and learn a lot of really cool stuff, and save a lot of money, it wouldn't be the same. I want to know the stuff you can only know if you make the journey to see, smell, hear, touch, and feel the energies unique to France. 

It also happens that the next three items go perfectly with the first. 

#2 Learn French

I once had a friend whose mother was French. I would often go over to play hoping his mom was home just so I could hear them talk to each other in that beautiful tongue. Since then I've always wanted to learn French. 

I want to know the language that makes anyone sound more cultured and romantic. 

I would very much like my future wife to be fluent in French. 

And I would love to raise my kids speaking French.

All because of the one friend and his family.

#3 Visit the Louvre

The way I see it, how can someone go to Paris, France, and not make a point to see some of the most beautiful and priceless works of art?

I would very much like to spend day after day taking in the masterpieces at the Louvre. I would hope that seeing the final products of great painters, and learning of their stories through life, that I would gain a personal motivation and inspiration, to ...

#4 Learn to Oil Paint

This is one of those items I put on to push and test myself so that I may grow.

Up to the present date I haven't been able to paint so well. I think it's because of my knowledge on how to work the brush and paint to get the look and feel I see in my head. I choose oil painting because it is as much about the color and effects, as it is about how it is formed on the canvas. The second reason why I choose oil paint is because it seems to be the medium of choice among the old masters. 

#89 Find the best burger around Utah

Being born and raised in Utah, I like to think I know the place pretty well. While making this list, however, I came to realize that I don't know where to get the best burger. 

Hamburgers and Cheeseburgers are some of my favorite foods. I love them backyard BBQ style. I love them with exciting condiments like egg and ham. (Sammy's Awesome Aussie burger). I love them piled high. I love them just about plain. 

Knowing that I don't know which to call the best is a bit disturbing. I want to find the burger that is worth the drive, worth the money, and worth the wait... so long as it's in Utah. Not just for my personal enjoyment, but to share this wonderful knowledge with friends, family, and the world! 

How does one come to the conclusion if a burger is the best? I've put a fair amount of thought into this and I think my dad say's it best, "You'll just know once you take that fist bite." At first I didn't like this because it left too much up to opinion. I wanted something factual. Something concrete and undebatable. But over time I've come to realize that you can't do that with food because of our different food allergies and our psyche. 

Our taste-buds react differently to the same flavors, and our personal experience plus cultural history has shaped our perceptions of what is good and what is icky. That's why China likes to eat dogs, France likes to eat Snails, and the United States like to eat ... well ... American food. 

Going off opinion is also the best way to do it from an economical standpoint. There are hundreds of places to eat, and hundreds of recipes. I could potentially spend thousands of dollars before finding the one. So I'll do some research and pick out some possible candidates from word of mouth, free lunches, and food articles.  Maybe I'll get lucky and find it next weekend. Maybe it'll be an expensive, and unhealthy journey lasting well into my thirties. 

But what if I eat all the thousands of burgers in Utah and I still don't find it? Well then I'll have to sadly admit that my home state can't make a burger worth crap. After that sad, crippling, heartbreaking, and shocking realization, I'll have to revisit my favorites, and choose the one I like most.

I pray that doesn't have to happen. 

So, if you think you know where the best burger is, stop being stingy and tell me! Share the calories, grease, and love!

#8 Visit the Ancient Ruins of Greece.

For so many years now I've been learning about ancient Greece and all the legends of the Gods. I've seen Greece in countless pictures, many movies, and almost don't believe it's as beautiful as all the images make it out to be. I see picture after picture of rich, blue oceans sitting next to pale gray cliff faces and towns painted white and accented with bright vibrant colors.
I want to see this for myself. I want to stand in the places that Greek Gods have stood and have a large amount of gyros and baklava with anything else that looks tasty or weird.

# 9  Free Climb Over The Ocean 

A few years ago I was really into mountain climbing. I would often find myself looking up at the beautiful mountains at the many different cliffs, and dream about a day when I could climb up that rock face. I would spend all the time I could climbing, which in reality wasn't so much. So with a mixture of not being able to climb as much as I'd like, not a lot of people to go with, not a lot of money,  and time, my love of scrambling over rocks died away. 

One of my dreams then was to one, go free climbing and jump into a foam pit. Check. It was every bit as fun as I thought it'd be. So then I raised the bar. I wanted to go free climbing over the ocean. 
And While I'm in Greece, - a country on the Mediterranean sea and littered with cliffs- I'm sure I'll find a perfect place to go free climbing.
Free climbing, I think, is the most extreme form of mountain climbing because you go the same height as you would go with equipment but it's nothing but you, your shoes, and a bag of chalk around your waist. So when you fall, you may very well die. Or maybe you couldn't get high enough and just wished you were dead.
 Water acts as a safety net. So When I fall, I just go for a swim. Now granted there still are dangers: like the waves beating you upon the rock, the waves and current keeping me under water for too long, falling from too high and hitting the water too hard, but that's what gives it that bit of excitement and motivation not to fall. Isn't it?

Now I of course will look to do it in the safest way possible. I wouldn't want to die doing  this list item. No, that's for item number 67.