Yesterday I finally broke down and got a cell phone. It had been an idyllic 1.5 years since I ditched my last ear-burner. But I realized that if I’m going to be on the road, as I plan to be in the coming months, I need one. A gOil alone must have a phone. SO, I reluctantly signed the TWO-YEAR contract (thinking a good percentage of marriages don’t last this long), and then started fantasizing about a solar charger. Here’s the site lots of folks online are recommending: SOLAR STYLE
I went for the $49.99 charger, but there’s also a $30 option. It can handle MP3 players and other sundry small electrical gadgets too. I can’t wait to try it out! And, of course, I will let you know if it’s as good as they say it is.
–Refined gOil

I am not a doomsday theorist. I’m not someone who would hunker down with enough food to last through a nuclear winter and just wait for the ‘big one’ to hit. But I will admit that a romanticized notion of the apocalypse had something to do with the parturition of my off-grid ideal (my “dream” — how precious — is to live on fifty+ acres in an earthship-type dwelling).
Having played out weird Tank Girl/Cormac McCarthy/Boy and His Dog scenarios in my head over and over, I fixated on the notion that to survive in a postapocalyptic landscape, my best bet would be to have a comprehensive knowledge of fuel sources, an understanding of auto mechanics, and a really big tool belt to wear over a greasy pair of cutoffs.
Eventually, the fact that I was even thinking about this stuff at all started to set off alarms. Why would a person fantasize so fervently about the end of civilization in the first place? I still have frequent dreams, sleeping and waking, about how cool it would be to tromp through an abandoned urban center and grab what supplies I could to produce fuel and eke out an existence in the bleak future of humankind. Is this morbid?
The answer I came to just now, driving home from leaving one of my dogs at Urgent Care because she had her (maybe) first seizure, is that we have been opportunistic, as a race, from at least the moment we harnessed the power of fire. We have spent our time learning how to better use energy resources to make life easier and more comfortable.
Perhaps we have become so dependent on energy infrastructures (grid electricity, plumbing, telephones, etc.) that…that we’ve lost some sort of control. Psychically. Imagine if the grid and all the gasoline pumps failed us for 24 hours…36 hours…42 hours…panic would ensue. Riots maybe. (Again, my extremely dramatic fantasy life takes over and has me running around in those cutoffs saving children and piloting makeshift solar rescue vehicles that only I know how to operate.)
For a long time, I didn’t even question the necessity of paying my power bill, and yet, I wouldn’t have known what to do if the power had suddenly disappeared.
Maybe all those apocalyptic visions were born of a repressed desire to regain control. If all conventional energy-harnessing methods were abolished in a worldwide explosion, the most valuable, the fittest, and the most likely to survive would be those members of the human race who could produce energy and fuel — metaphorically, those who could reach into the fire and pull out a burning branch of their own.
—-Refined gOil

Beautiful people…misty mountains…delicious, sustainably produced local foods (bummed when you bite into a mushy apple that’s traveled thousands of miles in the bowels of an oil-guzzling semi? Don’t know what a CSA is? This episode is for you)…these topics and more will be included in my first EnergyRushTV episode! We shot on October 11th, in the Applegate Valley in Southern Oregon.

If we can get the editing done, this episode will officially debut at the…

Alt Car Expo in Santa Monica, CA

If you plan to be in Southern California over the 19th and 20th of October, check out the Expo — it promises to be an exciting one! My day job is holding me hostage here in So. Or., so I won’t be in attendance. =( In any case, check back with this site in a week or so…we should have the episode up by then.
Be well, and let me know if you’ve got a story in mind…I’d love to cover it!

Refined gOil
On Myspace
or email me at refinedgoil@hotmail.com

HELLO BLOGOSPHERE

I’m the gOil, I’m 23, and I’m an Oilaholic.

I used to drive a 2003 Dodge Dakota that sucked gas to the tune of 17 miles per gallon on the freeway, but it was worse in town. When I was at my lowest, I’d just give in to the addiction, purchasing $50 or $60 worth of gas each week. I don’t know what made me hit rock bottom. I guess it was realizing how much money, energy and dignity this stuff (oil, gas, crude, black gold — whatever street name you want to call it) had sucked out of my life.

I think I was looking at a magazine in a local Co-Op when I stumbled across the word “biodiesel.” This seemed like an oxymoron; in my oil-addled brain, the preffix ‘bio’ was associated with natural things, good things — things that didn’t burn holes in your pockets or cause you sleepless nights of guilt thinking about the possibility that you might be indirectly funding a terrorist organization, while missing your beauty rest.

Intrigued, I read on…

YOU MEAN I COULD RUN A CAR ON FUEL THAT I COULD POTENTIALLY MAKE FROM USED RESTAURANT GREASE??!!!?? AND IT WOULD COST ME LESS THAN A DOLLAR A GALLON???????? AND IT WON’T MAKE THE AIR BROWN NEARLY AS MUCH AS GASOLINE DOES???!!??(Adrenaline surges through my veins, my heart rate elevates instantly, and I think my eyes fall out of my head.)

I had found a new addiction, a fresh obsession — I needed to get my hands on some of this stuff that turns your exhaust pipe into an Eau de French Fry atomizer.

A year and a half later, I own a 2004 TDI Jetta, which I run on 99% biodiesel that I buy locally (I have a blender and a safely stored modicum of methanol and lye to try and make a test batch myself eventually). Seeing how much money and peace of mind I might be able to save with this amazing stuff set off a chain reaction — for reasons personal, political and ethical, I needed to evaluate energy consumption in all areas of my life; I needed to take responsibility for my use of resources and admit that I AM IN CONTROL OF THIS (and that’s where my energy philosophy diverges from the twelve-step analogy). I CAN change myself and my habits, and hopefully help others learn about their options within the coming alternative energy boom. And believe me, there will be difficult choices: Should I go for the cute and sassy nonchalance of the Tango, which would seriously impress a discerning date, or do I opt for the edgy yet mature and sleek qualities of a Tesla?

This addiction is what brought me to EnergyRushTV. I figure I know about as much as the average person…but I’m learning more every day. I promise to blog about the coolest, most efficient, best things you can do for yourself and the environment. Oh, and I might talk about myself now and then (ienjoywindywalksonthebeach).

Love,
Refined gOil

oh yeah, look me up on myspace…