New Beginnings

Calgary, Alberta, Canada

Phew, I just read over that last post one more time. Talk about over writing! I guess that's what happens when you think too much about what you're writing down. I'd say don't read it if you haven't already but then everyone will instantly go back to check it out. Let that be a lesson to all you other aspiring writers out there. Don't think. Hmm... Maybe not the best lesson. Okay, how about this one: don't listen to any of my advice. Yeah, that should do.

Anyway, it's no less than two weeks before I leave and everything has somehow gotten slower. Not that time is going slower or I'm getting more anxious to leave... in fact I think I'm over most of my initial excitement and it has all just become reality now. But I have been taking more time for things. Last weekend I got home late from visiting with my friends and it was snowing (yay). For a few minutes I was angry enough to leave Calgary the next day and just say screw it all. Snow in June? Seriously... But after that I took a minute and stood on my porch and just watched. It was wet snow so it was falling quickly. Kind of like watching rain in slow motion, streaking in front of the street light before hitting the ground and instantly melting.

I think as a species we define ourselves by moments or stretches in time. That's why change is so important (and sometimes scary) for us. I lived in Houston, Texas for the first three years of my life and I don't remember any of it. Other than that, I've lived in the same house in Calgary for most of my life up to this point, with the exception of brief stretches in Toronto and an apartment on 14th St. And in a way my life seems segmented into those times. About half the time, the transition between those locations was easy. But the rest, it was hard. Painfully hard. I'm still not sure which way this one will go, but it seems in some ways to be the biggest. I don't expect to return to Calgary after I'm done, and so right now (and I suspect for the next couple weeks) it feels like the end of an era as opposed to the beginning, even though I know the beginning is just around the corner.

Maybe the reason I have been trying to take things slowly, see all my friends, enjoy my last few weeks here, is because deep down, I know I'll never be coming back here. Not to live anyway. But I will be back to visit, of that I have no doubt. So, hopefully I'll see everyone in the next couple weeks, and if not, I'll be around in a year or two!

28 Sleeps To Go (not counting naps)

Calgary, Alberta, Canada

I guess I'm writing now as something of an introduction. My hope is it will give all you readers a chance to get to know me while I'm still in my comfort zone. I hope you all enjoy this blog, and I promise, it'll be as unedited as possible. I've always said the truth brings the best drama. I guess we'll find out if I'm right or not. Thanks for reading.  Please feel free to comment.  

Four weeks until I leave to travel the world for a year and I find myself asking a lot of questions. How do you react when a dream begins to materialize? When it leaves the comfort of the mind and becomes merciless reality?

Seeing the world is not the only dream I have. It's probably not even the main one. It is however, something I have thought about for a very long time. The world is a mystery, shrouded in rumors. In today's society it's easy to look up a picture or read an article about some far off place, but is the article true? Is the picture staged or biased? What is the average person like in Iraq? Are there internet cafes in Burma? Or in the Congo? What color is the Dead Sea? What color is it at dawn, in the afternoon, at dusk? How many people have stood in the places I intend to stand, and why? The world is a mystery. And the more others tell me about it the more I can't help but disbelieve. "People in the Middle East don't have the same respect for life that we do." Didn't people use to say that about SE Asia? "The French are snobs." Are they? I'm not so sure I buy that. "Africa is a poor and desolate place." Is it? How can anyone make a generalization about somewhere so huge? "Columbians are drug runners and kidnappers." Really? Perhaps some are, as are some Canadians and some Japanese and some English.

I mentioned a lot of negative things there and I think that's because most of what we hear is negative. And so, true to form, people ask me, "Are you afraid?" And I answer simply, "no." And so people ask me, "are your parents afraid for you?" "I hope not," I tell them. "I don't think they are." And if they are, it makes no difference. After all, I leave in 28 more days. Afraid or no, I will be on a plane to Iceland on June 25th. Fear isn't going to help me on this adventure. Besides, I want to see what some of the positives are.

Still, it's something of an intimidating feeling to know that I'll be surviving off just my wits, but it's also liberating. More-so than I would have thought. And if nothing else, this trip will answer for me something I think most people wonder about themselves. Exactly what am I made of?

I can't wait to find out.