Best Friends and the Days to Come

It's usually not obvious (more to me than any one else) but I can say that I have a lot of friends. As far as my best friends are concerned, I can probably name at least 3 people I can consider close enough friends to be my best friends: Jon Howlette, Adam Le Gros, and Sterling Montague. There's probably one or two more that aren't on that list but to be honest, I don't trust that many people enough to the point where they'd carry that title. Now, those of you that know me well enough know that most of the time, I really don't care about what other people say or think about me. These cats, however, really have an influence over me. I don't know what it is, maybe it's the fact that I've known these guys since elementary school. Maybe it's because we've seen ourselves through moments that have etched themselves in our childhood memories never to be forgotten. All I know, if one of those three looked down on something I said or did, I'd actually feel bad. Shocking, yes I know. To be honest, I'm too lazy to type what happened. I'll leave it at I said something quasi-jokingly, one of the three took it serious, and now I'm truly looking at myself through his eyes to see if I need to change something about myself. My life is full of paradoxes like that.
Out of 80 something applications, I've received my first tentative offer of employment for a contract Engine Crew out of Boise, ID (3 Type IV and 2 Type VI engines for those of you that care). They have contracts with the Bureau of Land Management (which owns like 75% of the rockies) so hopefully I'll be able to get a lot of experience from them....that is if I choose them for whom to work. Like I said, this is just the first company to get back to me. Hopefully come May, I'll have a few more options. But until then, It's looking like Boise. Less than 3 days before I received that message, the firefighter position in Mcmurdo, Antarctica opened up again for the 2007-2008 season. Obviously, I applied. Looking at my resume now compared to when I applied for the first time in November, I've managed to accomplish a lot. Hopefully, I'll have a fighting chance in hell at getting the position. One thing I never really anticipated was breaking all of this to my mom. I'm not looking forward to the day I set out to drive to Boise....