Rochester

Calm Before the Storm

I should be used to it now -- whenever anything is going well for me, it's only setting up for the collapse later on. I'd only meant to go for a quick early Saturday morning explore with Ian while Nate finished some bullshit at work, and we'd go off to the Catskills for the weekend, and by the time I was back my friends would be here for the semester, and we'd go spend a few days with them exploring everything and getting the rave space up and running again. At least, that's what I thought would happen. Of course…

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Linear Cave

Finally getting back underground again after a shortened summer with the parents... not so much that they're opposed to me exploring (they're not), as that it's just difficult to plan and do anything when I'm there. But I'm back at school for the fall now, and of course I'd make going on adventures a priority. Just about everything possible went wrong on this one - it was supposed to be one of many places I went with Nate, but I started out with bike trouble and missing the first few places, and finished up with camera trouble, as in the…

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Within A Mile Of Home

This is an absolutely rotten spot on the southwest side. I'd had my eyes on it for close to two years now as it sat near-abandoned, occupied by some clever squatters with Rube Goldberg booby-traps on the entrance. I never did get to figure out their story, but judging by the signs of life I'd seen, and the possessions left behind, it must have been a fascinating one. Last summer's occupant, who we came to call "Mr. October," made his presence very well known by keeping a boom box on the roof blasting baseball games seemingly every day. After a…

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Government Mold

I must say after the raves this winter, I still didn't know what this place looked like during the day. Having Nate and his friends around too made it different, none of them really knew the place so for them Iola really was all about discovery and exploration still. For me today was more about trying out the new 50mm lens, and learning just how far back-back-BACK i have to go to see a damn thing with it. No wonder Nate told me it's the most inspiring mistake I'd ever make as an explorer. This was my first time even…

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I Came As A Cat

I woke up this afternoon sprawled out in the entrance of Kendrick Hall. Something was still going off in my head: "got to get to the stadium. it's all happening at the zoo. you're on the moon, things are different here." The stadium didn't help me one bit, the bouncing basketball an Angry Bird, the crowd cheering somehow a turgid taste. Head pounding, espresso resounding a search for saturated fat. Someone in the commons recognizes me, and puzzle pieces started falling back together. A winter morning glowing brownishly blue, infinitely late that night, it even SOUNDED cold. You couldn't hear…

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