Far too Long...

While I have known this for a long time, recently my feelings have come to a head and its time to get them out. Indeed, its been far too long since I've written in this blog. Since the last time I did this, a lot has gone on in my life. So much so, that my entire outlook on what it means to be an explorer and an adventurer. Beware, this might get a tad preachy, but that is by no means my intent.

The past year I have managed to travel all the way across the country and back. I met some of the most amazing people at a far away place called Chestnut Lake. I also managed to survive a long stint in the midst of our Nation's Capital. For a boy that grew up under the wide open Nebraska sky, not seeing the horizon on a daily basis really drained me. That, and the twice daily bout of motion sickness from my metro ride to the State Department where I worked. I road tripped back across the country to New Mexico with my father, survived an earthquake in Oklahoma and actually found myself saying that Texas did indeed have some pretty country. I have also just started my student teaching and am currently in love with my Junior High students. Well...most of them. No matter how great the rest of them are, there are always going to be shitty teenagers. And now that I am back, I have been trying my best to stay in touch with the people that matter to me. I have rekindled at least one old friendship. My imagination is now running at full blast and I find inspiration every day.

What does this have to do with adventure and exploration? Its all part of life, man! Maybe its finally seeing a beginning of the rest of my life not so far off, or maybe its part of finally coming to terms with who I am. But I am finally coming to realize that the adventure and discovery doesn't just come from treasuring hunting, lost ruins and haunted caverns (although its definitely part of it). It is every where in life. My aunt was right, even my daily routine in 8th Grade Social Studies is an adventure (Thanks Pat!). Suddenly I see a future. It probably won't be what I imagine it to be, no matter how bad I want it. But maybe that will make it better still. In the mean time, I will do what I can to leave my mark for the better in this world. I will love who I love and treat my life as the adventure that it is meant to be. So many times, I have been asked, "why do you get up in the morning?" I usually answer, "why not?" Now, I can truly say that I wake up in the morning because I can't wait to see what happens next. That's the real adventure.

Enough of the mushy, feely stuff. Get out there and explore!

Mein Tile.

    Just the other day, I had gotten a hair cut from a very pretty girl at the hair college and then opted to walk down the the public library and see if they had a couple books I've been wanting to read. I got done with the hair cut at 9:30 and the route I took to the the place where knowledge lives (not the brain house) took me roughly fifteen minutes. I felt a mild sense of adventure as I wandered through alleys the morning light had yet to touch and slunk through restricted access areas of parking garages. When I finally reached the from door of the downtown library I was shocked to see it didn't open till 10! I still had fifteen minutes till open.
     So I just continued on my way knowing a quick walk through downtown would be an easy time killer. It was kind of interesting to see all my favorite bars closed up, knowing full well that these very side walks would be filled with tight jeans, short skirts and drunk partiers in less than 12 hours. I rounded the corner near a new Ramen joint I must try and then found myself on the corner of Centennial Mall and M street. There I was, looking up at our giant, less than vaguely phallic, capital building and all of a sudden I am filled with any overwhelming sense of place.
    I was standing on an insignificant street corner in a less than large capital of an under-populated state in an equally underpopulated region of the United States. My country, fairly large and dense with people, is only one of three on this continent, one of seven total. Only seven on the only planet yet discovered that supports life. We circle a single star, one of a seething roil of countless balls of light that fill the black, abyssal universe. Needless to say, that is a lot to have sink in on a Saturday morning walk.
     Its not that I have never realized it before, I actually think about it quite often. This time was different. It seemed heavier. Thick and tangible. As I continued my jaunt I wondered to myself how many other people recognize this. How many people are fully aware of where we are in the universe? How many people think about this stuff on  regular basis? I am sure more than a handful are just like me, but I'd wager that most have never had the idea cross their mind.
      There is a man, Dr. David Wishart, whom I infinitely respect; he teaches geography at my college and once said something that made me more than a little sad. He relayed to our class that hardly anyone has a sense of place anymore. They go on runs down wooded trails but their ears are plugged with head phones. People walk up and down city streets peering down at their smart phones. The do not hear the wind in the trees, nor do they see the bustle around them. People become absorbed in the tiny bubble that they have created for themselves.
     This can lead to strange consequences like disassociation of where one is, where they came from, why they are there and how they interact and effect the world around them. Why do people do this to themselves? I have no idea. Maybe its safe and sound when you have a false control over what you see and hear. Maybe its an ingrained need to stay connected to others, after all we are social creatures. Perhaps being conscious of the knowledge of exactly where one is in existence is too heavy a burden for some to bear.
     Do me a favor. Next time you are out and about just sit and think about where you are. Close your eyes and listen to your surroundings, take the time and look at the finer details of the world around you and think for a second why that matters to you or you matter to it.