September 19, 2005

• Topic: Hmmm…kayaking?….day # 19, the streak of goodness continue

  
  

  So…kayaking has rescued me from a difficult stretch of my life, or perhaps, a difficult life.  Either way, it doesn’t matter.  As long as I can kayak, I will have something to look forward to.

  
  

  Got a ride up w/ C, who does marketing and PR work for the girlscouts, and is a lifelong adventuror, kayaker, skiier, and only recently selling her motorcycle.  She’s from London, lived in Japan for a while, lived on a kibbutz in Israel, and has been in NYC for about 10 years now.  She’s also a writer, and has been commissioned to write books on topics like eating disorders, and teenage runaways and prostitution.  That last book required her to interview clinic workers at a shelter in NYC that patrols the streets at night looking for teens living on the streets, and offering to bring them in, and help them w/ their lives.  Many have unbearable home lives, and have no adult role models to turn to.  I’m gonna dig up this place this week to find info, see if I can volunteer, because that would be quite an experience, and might give me a good 1st hand feel for that line of work.

  
  

  There was an article in Newsday today about suicide amongs 18-24 year olds.  Apparently, 15% of college students are on some form of medicine for depression, which sounds low, but comes off as strikingly high.  15% of students have been pushed to and have taken the initiative to seek help, and have been medicated (i’m not so concerned about the medication issue here…since if it helps, it helps).  But…I now recall writing a while ago that the number of students merely seeking help at my uni was about 25%, which leads one to believe that the actual number of students whose mental health is to the point of not just suicide, but simply removing themselves from living a happy, healthy life, is probably more than 1 in 3. 

  
  

  I’ll begin to put more of my efforts into researching jobs, and masters programs (one’s that hopefully emphasize hands on learning, or perhaps allowing you to get credit for actually working), in the field of counseling.  I now have adventure therapy, college menthal health centers, and even this teenage runaway shelter, as future lines of work in this general field. 

  
  

  Paddling this weekend, of course, was delightful.  Sat. wasn’t the best day, I was trying out a new boat, and my confidence was shot all day.  I couldn’t figure out if it was the paddle, the boat, or just me.  By Sun. I realized it was actually the boat.  Was way too loose the first day, but after adjustments, was back having a good day.  Went 0-2 on my favorite rapid, Zoar Gap, bringing me to 0-4 career, but the rapid itself is beginning to slow down in my eyes, as I begin to grow comfortable in faster moving currents, and have begun to learn to identify various river features, holes, waves, tounges, and very large rocks barreling down at you!

  
  

  Sat. night, the kayak store in town had a bbq and a guest presentation by Chris Spelius, an olympic kayaker, who paddled down in Chile, fell in love w/ the place, and found a way to make it his home for most of the year.  He runs amazing kayaking trips down there, which I’ll likely not do for many years because of cost.  The flight alone is $900…although there was also a Costa Rican kayaker there, and flights to CR can be as low as $350/rt. 

  
  

  All to report…

  • 12:18 pm
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