There comes a time in every young man’s life
when he just can’t play by the rules anymore.
It isn’t necessarily meant to be a statement
and his motives aren’t always malicious.
There’s just a deep sense in his soul
that draws him to be included
in a life he’s never known before.

Just as the great explorers of the 19th century went out into the unknown,
just as puritans and beat poets have been ever traveling West
just as the entrepreneurs and gold miners want to grab a piece that’s theirs
so has this child reached his hand out into the fog of manhood.

His soul is tortured and restless
but the thirst never seems to be quenched.
He is looking for new continents, religious freedom, the meaning of life, gold, success,
he is looking for what every man has looked for before him.
His true purpose is unknown, especially to himself.

The quest for adventure brings life for a time and then death.
Death to the natives, death to the sailors, disease to the land.
It’s as if it gives death a life of its own.
As he stands on the cusp of the ravaging volcano,
he can see that death as the molten lava that has stirred so long.
begins to cool to become an island of truth and freedom and life.

Well, as you can see, I am struggling to keep my resolution this year. Since last time some major changes have taken place. First of all, Dave and Jess moved in. Dave sings loudly when he thinks he is alone, and Jess is the new tallest inhabitant of me; this is how I remember them. It really seems like the house is getting along well together. I’m sure that the ease of J-Term isn’t hurting, but these kids cook and eat together often, and even finish up with a movie sometimes.
Speaking of movies, last week’s Mockumentar-Tea was a huge success. The house has spoken lovingly of all of you attendees. More people worked on the crossword puzzle than ever before, and I was happy to have a few new visitors, too.
Speaking of new visitors, one of the Dutch students, Suzanne, is staying here. I hear that her English is very good, but like all languages, gets worse as the night comes on. Except love language. I assume love language must improve into the night.
Speaking of love, Colin’s sister, Emma, stayed the night last night and the happy trio will be reunited later today when little Kyler makes his way across the state. How lively and homey I will be!
These are happy days, readers, when family and friends are in such abundance. May they never leave us.

welcome to the new year, everybody. my new year’s resolution is to tell you more about my feelings–to write on this–but there isn’t a whole lot to say, yet or ever. what i can tell you is that it is almost time for jterm to begin, which means that my belly will be afire with inhabitants once again. i ache for my blinds to be opened, my doors to be unlocked. i ache for the smell of bread, of coffee, of feet. i ache for the instruments. most of all i ache for the newcomers, dave and jess. i am already holding their belongings, but i have yet to give jess the 3am wakeup train blast. i have yet to give dave a community meal. oh how i ache.
let my new 8 be beacons of warmth in the bleak midwinter.
yours in frozen pipes and space heaters,
the salt house

Dissappointed by our utter neglect for our own blog, Vienna and I decided it was time to give it the sweet sweet attention it deserves. Many things have happened within the past two and a half months; a haunted house, a turkey, Bob Dylan documentary, hot water shenanigans and a few carols. And lo, you find us on the brink of finals. As the semester winds down we are all balancing (or not balancing) our time between good company and work. Preparing to cut ties or tie up loose ends as we say goodbye to those Saltines who are broadening their horizons by embracing the unknown. We lift our glasses in celebration. As a result of knowing you a piece of each Saltine has will never be the same (Josh your humor may have changed us for the worse), and for that we are truly thankful. We love you Michelle and Josh, God bless you and keep you. If we end up cutting ties on this earth, rest assured we will meet again in heaven at the corner where the golden streets of Zechariah and Malachi cross. Cheers to you!

It’s Friday morning, things are going well. You may have heard about the TP delivery. We are all in cahoots. In addition to stocked bathrooms, we are now offering visitors Gala apples, and a slightly more even game of foosball. Ben is back with us, after a night in Philly. Amy is 21 now. Josh’s turtle has yet to be eaten as soup. On a more troubling note, Jesse has come down with The Sinus Headache and is currently nursing himself back to health. We’re all pulling for him. As for me, I am feeling good. The rain last night was welcome, even if it means I’ll have wet-butt in English class today from riding my bike to school.
Come over tonight, we’re having a private viewing of The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe.

the boys’ side now has toilet paper in both bathrooms.

and this is it:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HgqbCq_sxmo

–Josh

Since this has been making the internet rounds:

John Kerry + UF student + police + taser

–Josh

Pretty much every morning I have a nip of tea. Sitting on the balcony, tea in hand, watching the nuthatches and tufted titmice and occasional finches harangue each other and flick-flash from branch to branch - it’s hard for me to imagine a better way to spend the first, say, 45 minutes after sleep. Prayer seems to naturally drift through the steam off the surface of the water, as un-harried and unhurried as wood upon water, curling down around my hand on especially cold mornings.

But what I really want to talk about is Yogi Tea.

My girlfriend’s brother, Davo, first got me into Yogi Tea, with a box of Chai as a gift last year. It’s good stuff, black, full of flavor, aromatic. Heck, it’s even Organic with a big O. Yes, it truly has all things that are good.

Anyway, long story short: the teabag comes with a little fortune-cookie saying, and I thought I’d share. Have at it, and cheers–

–Josh

Next Sunday (September 8th) at 8pm we’re going to begin having open houses entitled DocumentarTea. So come on over for a little blue planet documentary and tea.

Last Friday we had our first open house. After a week of busy schedules we cleaned up and threw together a welcoming atmosphere complete with food, friends, and an outside showing of Edward Scissor hands.

As the night dwindled down and everyone left we kept the good times rolling by sharing creepy stories of demon faces and poop. We’re really not afraid to let it all out when we’re around each other. I woke up the next morining with sore intercostal muscles from laughing so hard. The greatest part about living in a house is you get to live with twice as many friends as living in an apartment. This past week I’ve been cherishing these moments of bliss - great weather, easy conversation and little responsibilities. These are the times we have to hold on to, so when the semester gets crazy we can look back an remember why we’re in this. We’re in this to learn to live and love together, its not always going to be about our classes or stress, but how we value others. Our SALT house community is jiving (in the immortal words of Becky Owen) and I think I speak for all of us when I say I’m excited for what’s in store for us this year.

-Steph