September 21, 2005
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Topic: It was 2 years ago today…
Sept. 20th, 2003
Day #1 of my 45-day Outward Bound course. No idea what lay ahead, for those 45-days, or for my future. From NC, to SA, to ropes course in Pa, to book-tour via Greyhound, to higher ed. org. in DC, to OB in Bal., back to NY, working in an office to figure it out again, to kayaking, to ???
I know I can find adventure in this area if I continue to look, and continue to make a few friends here. But…I feel like a person w/ no identity here. The way most people jump when they here “Brooklyn” “Queens,” “The Village,” “Chelsea” “Long Beach” I spent 17yrs. growing up right by those places, but they don’t have the meaning for me that they do for my parents, for out-of-towners, for hip people who are part of the scenes there. I don’t have much pride for where I live, no pride for where I work, no pride for where I went to school. The one thing I have pride in is being a free-spirit, willing to go anywhere in the world w/out a plan…
I’ve only been out of school for 2 years. Just as 4-years of college did little to sort out what I wanted to do, these 2-years have just begun to sort out what I want to do.
Perhaps I’ll just be a farmer in NZ. My family can visit for a month a year, and actually enjoy my company, instead of me being the drag on the household. Perhaps then I can show them a bit of adventure, show them some new culture, bring my dad to places where he can snap photos like he’s never seen. My mom will find a garden to play in. I’ll find the local synagogue so they can visit that too. I’ll find a marathon for my oldest sister to run, and my middle-sis can come kayaking w/ me or do some hiking. I’ll have an interesting group of int’l friends to invite to dinner, and we’ll have wine from a local winery that I’ll have spent some time working on. Since my parents will have this time…they can spend a few weeks driving the countryside as they did in America…staying in cute and inexpensive B&B’s. If I don’t have my own place, my sisters can stay in the hostel w/ me, relaxing in hammocks after our days adventures.
Perhaps I’ll find a girl there, a sweet and beautiful girl. She may re-ignite one of my professional ambitions, and I’ll find myself continuing my studies in counseling, and will find myself doing some form of social work. We’ll be outdoor mates, pushing each other into new adventures, improving our skills paddling, climbing, hiking. I’ll be in the same excellant shape I was in as a wrestler in hs, or when I was hiking mountains in SA. We’ll take vacations to more exotic places, to Australia, to Papua New Guinea, Thailand, Malaysia.
Meanwhile…back in real time…every few days i head down to the barnes & nobles near me where Johnny works, read some mags, catch up w/ J, etc. Yesturday, I enjoyed reading NZ magazine, in the travel section. I found it kind of odd that there’s magazines dedicated to just a few places in the world…there must be a reason. In fact…much of the magazine was directred towards opening up Americans to this lovely place on the other side of the planet. A place where outdoor recreation reigns supreme because the gov’t covers insurance for companies that run bungy jumps, or zorbing (getting tossed down a large hill in a hamster ball sort of contraption), so there’s no worries of someone suing for every little thing.
Afterwards, we went down to a homebrewing meeting in a small bar in the lower east side…ended up sampling a wide variety of delectable homebrews, spiced ciders that tasted sweet as applet pie, spruce beers that tasted like a walk in the woods, and some double-strength brews that were closer to vodka than beer. All-and-all, a great experience, great friendly people.
So…my kayaking has allowed me to bond w/ people on the weekends, this beer club is only once a month. I’m still lacking a more regular activity…and will try to fill that gap soon.
My sis just got back 3-mos. in Peru, did the Inca Trail and the Galapagos Isles. Unbelievable place she said…so happy for her.
