Smiley (which I found out was just a nickname) and Mike have left, Richard and a couple other dudes are here now. There's a relatively quiet college kid (physics major), whose name I forget. He doesn't seem too interested in hanging out, but he may be shy. One local dude is moving out today because he found a place to live.
I've enjoyed Richard's company, though. He's 47 and has lived in Jackson for 20 years. So far he's been very generous with things like food and drink, but I haven't taken him up on yet. He's also a wealth of knowledge on things like where to play music, folks to play with, what not to do, and social networking. We were talking about fishing, and I mentioned that while I was stoked to fish, out of state licenses were real pricey. He told me not to worry about that...
Richard's been out of town for a month. I know he was in rehab for a bit, for what I don't know. (which I would avoid mentioning here but he's pretty up front about it and I'm not about to pass judgment) Then he went to Cody to find work and had no luck. He expects to be at the hostel for a couple more days before he finds a place to live.
I think there's a lot of alcoholism in this town. It makes sense--there are always people here on vacation, so you can find somewhere fun to drink every night of the week. A lot of people just start out with a partying lifestyle and then seem to get stuck with it as they get older. A few of the longer-term older residents I've met fall into this category. I'm glad I get a chance to see both sides of the lifestyle, it's makes for a much more balanced perspective.
I also just finished a book--Sorrow Floats, by local author Tim Sandlin, which is about a 22 year old alcoholic mother of two who embarks on a trip across the country with some unlikely characters after driving drunk with her baby on the roof. A good read, gritty at times. So alcohol is definitely an important theme in town.
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