It will be mine…oh yes, it will be mine. The Wavesport EZ river-running play boat. Took it for a test paddle this weekend, baby rides like a Cadillac, super smooth.
All the rain meant good news for lots of boaters. It turned out to almost be too much rain, making some usual spots unrunnable because the current was too fast, and the added risk of fallen debris making things a bit dodgy. Still…I speant all day Sat. paddling in the rain, adding a new roll called a back-deck roll to my repetoire. Also bought a discounted dry-top, so I should be able to paddle till almost Thanksgiving!!! Oh what fun!!!
Topic: neighbors
There’s a world map right next to my desk, and I spend a good part of the day staring at it. I’m hoping fairly soon to know where every single country is, so if you gave me a blank map, I could fill in every single country, and all the major seas, mountains, rivers, etc. So if the tv show Carmen Sandiego were to come back on the air, and I made it to the final round where you have to place the red lights on a blank map, I wouldn’t hesitate for a second.
The BBC had a report on the growing problems arising between Northern Morocco and Southern Spain. Many Africans have been travelling from as far south as Ghana, up hundreds of miles through difficult desert terrain, with the hopes of making it to Europe. The reporter pointed out how many of these Africans only had a vague sense to “head north” to reach a land where they might have some opportunity to make money. Like Cubans washing up in Miami, Southern Italy is seeing boats of Africans arriving at its shores as well.
As our Preisdent, George W. Bush would say, “We need to fight the problem there so we don’t have to fight it here.”
Many of these Africans have no intention of leaving Africa forever. There aim is to go to where they can get an education and make money, so they can help family, friends, and their community back at home. I had a friend I waited tables w/ in Baltimore who was from Nigeria, who was also studying nursing. His goal was to return home and live an African life once he had completed his degree here.
The book I’m reading is about refugees from Southern Sudan. It’s funny reading about some of the issues facing the non-profits and volunteers who support these refugees. From helping them get apartments, to teaching them how to use can openers, to how to properly shake hands at the end of a job interview, there has to be someone there to guide them along the way. Kind of inspired me to look into “adopting” a refugee myself, and give some basic assistance in exchange for the experience and something to do after work.
New Zealand I believe still lies in my future, but is it my distant, or not-so-distant future, I can’t yet say. I began reading an article in Men’s Journal about Phil Jackson, who came out of coaching retirement after a motorcycle ride around the Kiwi Islands…”Motorcycle and the Art of Zen Maintenance,” the article was called, a play on Robert Pirsig’s book.
I want to kayak every weekend for the rest of my life…that much I know for sure. And if I’m not…I want it to be because I’m cycling, hiking, or doing something else outdoor adventurey. For now…I’m in a pretty good situation for getting the experience I need. It’s still difficult since I have no car or gear yet, (and once I get my boat…how the hell am I gonna get it on a train or what else will I do w/ it?) but…as my finances grow over the year, options will begin to open.
I had a brief conversation w/ my sister about my “vagabonding plans.” We’re at least getting to the point where we can agree to disagree about lifestyles, but I think I’m slowly starting to present clearly what I believe in. I recognize people’s rights to live in anyway they please, but for me, I’ll often sacrafice comfort for cash, stability for adventure, and common sense for individualism.
My new career goal is to work for and sell adventure travel / eco-tourism packages.
Along w/ this…my new life goal is to experience as many personal adventure travels as possible.
Rolf Potts writes in “Vagabonding,” that work is part of the gestation period for long-term world travel. It’s a time to save and build a budget, to tie up loose ends, to make plans. I now forsee a possible departure around Sept. of ’06, seemingly a long time away, but a great amount of time for these travels to gesticulate. All this time to build momentum and anticipation.
I have gotten myself into a few routines that have been good. A reading routine combining two books, one fiction, and one non-fiction. A morning work-out that gets me to work energized, and should have me in respectable shape come spring and summer. A daily routine of reading the world news, and trying to keep up w/ sport. A new writing therapy I’ve designed for myself, in lieu of mediation or any other kind of spiritual practice. Hopefully begin volunteering 1-2 days after work, outdoors on the weekends.
What I’m missing now in terms of experiencing the “typical” 20-something life, my own apartment, weekends chasing tail, will slowly begin to pay dividends in achieving the life I want to live.