Reflections

All things considered the vacation has been going well. I feel like I am getting the US out of my system and that I won't feel the need to eat fast food, or sit in an SUV, or go bowling for quite some time. The weather has been pretty overcast, cold, and bleak since I arrived, with icy storm fronts threatening to steal away my personality. New Mexico was nice, Boulder swift but savory, and Michigan somewhat oppressive but fun. I have crossed paths with old friends, danced around a Capoeira roda, eaten exorbitant amounts of hamburger with fries. I have run through snow drifts, sword fought with icicles, and played god awful amounts of Halo in HD. I have exercised my first world purchase power and will bring home gobs of electronics, shoes, clothes, and just about every thing else under the sun.


It's been good, real good. A bit fattening and non-productive at times, but certainly worth the trip. As I spend my last few days on my parents farm one this is for sure: I think I'm ready to get home. Bahian heat is calling, in all of its mystery and majesty. I miss the girl, miss drinking coconuts by the sea, miss the way people stare at my white face when I say "oxe!" and make gringo faces.

The Lost Boys

Old Haunts

I've got a long list of resolutions this year. I want to get stringy tough with gym and martial arts, want to take my girl out to a steak dinner (Argentina!?), want to destroy my work colleagues in MA papers. I want to invest more money in mutual funds, maybe buy a plot of land, maybe sell more and more of my things. This year I'd like to get serious about my writing, maybe set a couple of evenings a week on a book, maybe write something that doesn't just disappear.

Work colleagues at the museum.

Microbrew!

If anything this little vacation has taught me, it's that I'm pretty satisfied with where my life is heading. There is nothing like letting go of familiarity, shucking off comfort and security, and finding something that gives you meaning. A path realized by you and you alone is the greatest path of all, because no matter what happens it's yours. I suppose I take comfort in that.

Kalamazoo's very own Big Burrito

The video below is worthy of a post itself. It's so cool! My brother set up his camera at our cabin in the mountains and took pictures of our crazy night on New Years. It is a time lapse collage, 1 hour long, pics at 6 frames per second. Check out the dog lazing about on the floor and our dance off in the kitchen. Definitely one to cherish for some time to come.