Rat Racing

I'm sitting here at school with a few minutes to kill. The air conditioner is whirring hypnotically over my head, and my allergies are acting up. Since I have been back from my trip, life has been wonderfully routine. I get up for school at 6 in the morning, take a quick shower, and head out into the quiet early morning streets for a quick bite to eat. At the bakery next to my house, I order an "Americano" (cheese, ham, and egg sandwich with ketchup and hot sauce) and a large jar of freshly squeezed orange juice. After that, I wait in front of the Pacienca beach, watching the sun bleed of the water break as it crawls over the horizon.

I never thought that I would be one to enjoy running the rat race, and surely living one day the same as the next can be rather depressing. But what I notice in this so called adult life, when one works full time, is that time becomes the most precious of all resources. The older one becomes the less time one seems to have to do what needs to be done. And when you start thinking about getting "ahead in life", whether it means putting time into your profession, your relationships, your passion or pastimes, time management becomes imperitive to the betterment of all things.

In this sense, the adult life becomes like a well oiled machine. The rat race provides daily continuity so that one can tweak the small things in order to benefit a greater goal. Three days a week at the gym, martial arts on the weekends, extra time for money making plans. Each day presents the opportunity to perfect the system, as one crawls slowly forward into the so called "progress" of ones own life.

Will I tire of this, yes. Rather quickly I imagine. Half of me yearns for a life far removed from these mundande affairs. Hopefully summer break will offer some reprive, and I may continue my adventuring for a time. But for now, for just awhile, I look forward to oiling the machine, and running the alleyways and crossroads of my supposed adult life.

The Fall

I feel like I’m falling
A sudden rush of movement downward,
far into the recesses of self that I used to be.
Were they just illusions, those walls built round,
vagaries of an ego wanting to be let free.
Hard is the depth of this black pit of sand,
where life chances on the taking,
breaks from the giving,
offers little in return.
Free fall, this devil,

Who shall I be?

Oh what a summer it's been - Part I

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one MORE traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.

Yes my dears, what a summer it has been. I arrived in Salvador but two weeks past, a bit out of my mind with exhaustion. Three months of solid travel, of one dazed foot in front of the other, is certainly not for everyone. Even with my gypsy soul, my desire for liberation, for a life lived a thousand times, a thousand ways over, neh, I too reached my limit. And of all the strange things that might come out of my mouth, home sweet home, dare I say, might indeed be one of them.

So to begin, I'm going to have to stick to pictures until I can find some free time to sit in front of my laptop and think. Still too much swirling about the old noggin, and masters degree classes are just a few degrees around the corner.

So this is sad girlfriend face. Bye Leo, no I swear I'll come home, sigh. It's good to be back with my V.

First thing on the list, tall icy cold glasses of Guinness. Oh gawd. Lest I beergasm right now. It was wonderful.

Back home with the folks. Nice to see they are still vibrating industriously. Their house just gets prettier and prettier, filling up ever so slowly with my mothers stained glass projects. Being home is truly time warpy, but a nice break from the noise and heat of Salvador.

So then it was a 2o hour motorcycle ride to mother state New Mexico. The journey was hard as I peeled my way through the wind, a KLR 650 between my legs and some energy drink down my gullet, I felt liberated by the thought that my life was still free.

And then there was Taos Outback Pizza with green sauce, and it was good, and God saw that it was good, and then he ate it.

Whats life without a day with the bro, crawling up mountains and playing like boys.

Best things ever. Ever, ever, ever.

And then there was.....flash the f*@k forward, Dragons Orientation! God I could write a book about that experience. High Sierra Nevada Mountains, snow topped sunny days and blistery cold nights. I can't begin to explain how strange it was to hang out with really smart plugged in people from all around the world. I had my tattoos translated, I played sloppy guitar by a midnight fire, I jumped around half-professionally.

There was lot's and lot's of work, but a good bit of revelry too!

And I will admit, I learned more in those ten days then in the countless sleepless nights studying for my more conventional masters degree. Heh.

Dragons people are really dramatic, and smart, and talented. Not so fashionable, but we forgive them.

And dude....no one actually told me oh freakin' beautiful California is. Yosemite National Park, natural 70 foot water slides, yes please.

My birthday. I'm getting older, and I think more bald. Please don't tell anyone.

And after ten days, my crew finished off the final night by cooking dinner for well over a hundred people. I made rediculously good beans of the bald guy (a recipe I gaurd with pride), and we did some other Brazilian tasties as well. After competing with other crews for the previous nights, I must admit to feeling pretty awesome when we took home 1st place.

So, I will admit, this post is a total cop out. I could have, should have, documented my experience from the beginning. For a writer, pictures just don't do a blog justice. That said, posting over these last few months was pretty damn impossible, and I am left, the road MORE traveled, with little to show but my memories.

Finally back

Who would have thought that 3 months of heavy travel would be so exhausting. Well it's me, finally back home, a little bit shaky from my circumnavi..........uggg. Always interruptions. Life is busy. Back in a flash.