i find it very odd that my blog is, hypothetically, read by everyone i know. in actuality, it’s probably not. but the opportunity is there.

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with my pending adventure, i’m faced with a quandary that will make me dive into an online phenom that i’ve tried to avoid: self-promotion.

not that i’ve never told people about what i’m doing, where i live, where i work, etc. it’s just that i really don’t like talking about the “what i did that day” aspect of things. i find it boring to write, it can be boring to read, and the transparency of such things make me incredibly nervous. you think perverts just stalk myspace and facebook? think again…

the whole “online pain” thing that livejournal started back around 2000 really put a bad taste in my mouth; just because you can say something doesn’t mean you should. and i realize the very page you read at this second could be an argument for that point, thus making this whole blog null and void, but i digress: i’m hardly trying to express some hard and fast opinion. i just like to observe.

so, where do things go when all people tune into the blog for is updates about “what i did that day?” well, i guess we;’ll see.

or you will, for that matter.

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it was bound to happen.

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aside from every waking moment of my being having been wrapped up in travel prep, i have found a proper amount of time to give the utmost props to this prince: fred beukema.

fred has had the pleasure of being the, at the time of this writing, THREE-DAY CHAMPION on Jeopardy. today’s episode, which i unfortunately missed, was the most exciting as fred squeaked by with a victory to be what Alex Trebek called “the real deal.” Alex Trebek. The Real Deal. fred beukema is now untouchable.

fred and i have been buddies for a while now, and i, in all honesty, have never been so happy for someone. if anyone in my life deserves it, it’s the beukemas. congrats fred and melissa. now buy me this.

kidding… kind of.

i forgot to include the following excerpt from Wanderer by Sterling Hayden (Col. Ripper in Dr. Strangelove, a fine actor).

To be truly challenging, a voyage, like a life, must rest on a firm foundation of financial unrest. Otherwise, you are doomed to a routine traverse, the kind known to yachtsmen who play with their boats at sea… cruising, it is called. Voyaging belongs to seamen, and to the wanderers of the world who cannot, or will not, fit in.

If you are contemplating a voyage and you have the means, abandon the venture until your fortunes change. Only then will you know what the sea is all about. “I’ve always wanted to sail to the south seas, but I can’t afford it.” What these men can’t afford is not to go. They are enmeshed in the cancerous discipline of security. And in the worship of security we fling our lives beneath the wheels of routine – and before we know it our lives are gone.

What does a man need – really need? A few pounds of food each day, heat and shelter, six feet to lie down in – and some form of working activity that will yield a sense of accomplishment. That’s all – in the material sense, and we know it. But we are brainwashed by our economic system until we end up in a tomb beneath a pyramid of time payments, mortgages, preposterous gadgetry, playthings that divert our attention for the sheer idiocy of the charade. The years thunder by, the dreams of youth grow dim where they lie caked in dust on the shelves of patience. Before we know it, the tomb is sealed.

Where, then, lies the answer? In choice. Which shall it be: bankruptcy of purse or bankruptcy of life?

Sterling Hayden, 1916-1986

well said.

far be it from me to keep my personal life off of this blog (i like to think that i reflect on my own life here, not jutting into details much). but, i feel like i should be forward from here on out, at least for a little while.

i’ve decided (about 7 months ago) to go abroad. i hate my job, i’m 26, and i’m pretty much the most head-down-plow-through traveler i know (aside from kayla s, steve t, and heidi p). my wanderlust is at a fever pitch and i’m choosing to be stupid enough to follow it. however, i’m not being dumb about this… mostly.

in the grand sense, i don’t have what some would call “a lot of money” or anything near that. i have… enough. now, when i say “enough,” i’m speaking in terms of what i perceive as enough for me to be comfortable. keep in mind that for a vacation, i go into the wilderness and travel about 20 miles a day in sweltering heat through mosquito infested bogs and wear the same clothes for a week at a time; that is my idea of fun. however, funding my travels is only half of the money i’ll need. the other lump sum is for student loans, something i haven’t been fortunate enough to pay off yet.

where will i stay? with people. my goal is to not pay for accomidation by using great sites such as couchsurfing.com, globalfreeloader.com, and the like. what will i eat? cheap food. super market dining (i.e. pop tarts, granola bars, etc.) is a feast among beggars. where will i go? …

well, that’s the twenty thousand dollar question, isn’t it?

i have a rough idea of where i’ll head in mind, but only so far – winging it has fast become the most attractive way to go about this. yes, i have secured some places to stay- dublin, IRE; belfast, UK; and sterling, SCT. other than that, it’s all from the hip. yes, dangerous, but necessary at this point. if not for anything save for my own insatiable will.

this is a trite venture, true. countless stories flood the market of 20-somethings going out into the world to find themselves, and even more about European adventures, of which i’m taking part in (at least for the first leg of my journey). but i’ve found that i’m simply doing this because i can. nothing is stopping me.

if it is, i haven’t found it yet.

sadly, i read this after viewing the uninspired parody…

…Humanity is what Snyder’s Watchmen needs. Moore had many ways to infuse his characters and story with it, from metafictional biography excerpts from Hollis Mason’s Under the Hood to subnarratives like Tales From the Black Freighter[...].

Snyder pushes, ironically enough, in the opposite direction in his R-rated movie, leaning heavily on gore and excess in ways that Moore and Gibbons did not. In the process, the film too easily becomes a horror spectacle rather than a social text, more Dawn of the Dead than Dr. Strangelove.

The Watchmen film is shot through with deviations that seem calculated to connect with an audience of diminished intelligence, whether those viewers have read the comic or not.

via Scott Thill at Wired

via pictures for sad children