The last two years have really flown by. It seems like I just had my 30th and now I'm on to 32. It was a good birthday spent with my family in Ohio. My sisters went out of there way to make me a great meal with some of my favorites - apple pie and tator tots . It was especially nice since I had been feeling in a funk leading up to my birthday. I'm still in the funk but slowly finding my way out of it. I think part of has to do with me being 32 and being where I am at in life. I have had a good two years since I decided to go travel but all of that two years has not been perfect. The hard times are when I'm back in the states and not working. I feel really unproductive. I also feel at times I have little control over what I do each day. Part of that is not having a car so that I can take off when I want to. In a way though I should be able to find enough things to keep me busy. And so the only one to blame is really me. Hopefully finding more things to exercise my mind as well as my body will help me get out of this funk.
Another thing about the hear and now and being 32 is I realize I'm not totally fulfilled yet with my life. Maybe I never will be totally fulfilled. All I know is that there is still some things missing. I love being able to travel and go to the ice and will continue to do so while figuring out those few things missing.
As an update, I've been back in the states now for two months and am in Ohio hanging out with family. I was in Denver visiting with my sis for the first 4 weeks. I've got two more months before deploying again to the ice. I am really looking forward to deploying and being busy again. I'll leave for St. Louis in a couple of days to visit friends out there and do my best to make it around the midwest once more to visit as many people as I can.
Someday I will get around to posting some pictures of Asia on the net. There are over 3,000 pictures to go through and I just haven't been motivated to look through them all and pick the best 100 or so to post. Most likely they will all go up on Facebook first.
Sunday, July 19, 2009
Friday, May 1, 2009
Happy Birthday Mom!!
Since I am on the other side of the world and unable to be there for your birthday I thought I'd post a few pictures for you of me from the trip so far. I had been trying to figure out what I could do other than just a phone call and buying you something. It is so hard to get a perfect gift for you. After I talked with you yesterday Kris actually came up with a suggestion of writing on my blog with a picture of me holding a sign saying Happy Birthday. I thought it was a great idea and instead of the sign I thought I'd just post some pictures of me from the trip so that way you know:
1. I'm alive
2. I have not contracted some disease that one in a million would catch that you found a warning for on some internet site
3. have not been robbed
4. have not been beat up
5. have not been scammed since Ecuador
6. or left for dead somewhere
Sorry Mom, you know me, I can't resist giving you a hard time. I hope you had a great Birthday and look forward to seeing you in June.
For anyone else reading - Yes, I am a Mamas Boy
Outside of Angkor Wat - Cambodia
At the entrance to Angkor Tom - Cambodia
An Thong Marine Park - Near Ko Samui - Thailand
An Thong Marine Park - Thailand - Kayaking
The Gibbon Experience Group - Laos
Ha Long Bay - Vietnam
Sapa - Vietnam
1. I'm alive
2. I have not contracted some disease that one in a million would catch that you found a warning for on some internet site
3. have not been robbed
4. have not been beat up
5. have not been scammed since Ecuador
6. or left for dead somewhere
Sorry Mom, you know me, I can't resist giving you a hard time. I hope you had a great Birthday and look forward to seeing you in June.
For anyone else reading - Yes, I am a Mamas Boy
Outside of Angkor Wat - Cambodia
At the entrance to Angkor Tom - Cambodia
An Thong Marine Park - Near Ko Samui - Thailand
An Thong Marine Park - Thailand - Kayaking
The Gibbon Experience Group - Laos
Ha Long Bay - Vietnam
Sapa - Vietnam
Wednesday, April 15, 2009
Latest Readings
On the trip I've been able to get quite a large amount of reading done. Thanks to long bus, train, boat, and short airplane rides and a lack of a whole lot to see at night I've flown through a number of books. Over the last five weeks I have been able to read:
A Thousand Splendid Suns
The Power of One
Three Cups of Tea
The Alchemist
The Time Travelers Wife
I thought I'd write about my reading as the Power of One and Three Cups of Tea are actually very inspiring books. The Power of One is a fictional story about a boy growing up in South Africa during the beginning of apartheid. The book has some pretty amazing stories about the small things the boy was able to do in his time in South Africa. While fiction it did make me think about the power of one and what can be done by just one individual.
Randomly the next book I picked up was Three Cups of Tea which to me is the Power of One personified. The true story is about a mountaineer who finds himself in a remote village in Pakistan after trying and failing to summit K2. After staying in the village and seeing that the children of the village did not have a school to take lessons he decided to make a promise to pay back the hospitality of the village by building them a school. For three years the guy works on the getting a school built while basically living in the back seat of his car. After he gets the school built and gets a benefactor he makes a career out of building schools in the remote villages of Pakistan and Afghanistan. In the building of these schools he is so hands on that he with the help of the villages makes this miracle happen. It was an incredible story that is about the most inspiring thing I've ever read. I recommend the book to anyone.
While traveling in Cambodia I also got the opportunity to go to a concert in Siem Reap hosted by a Swiss doctor. This was also a hugely inspiring story. I'll probably blog a little more about this in a different post but I thought it interesting that I was reading all about the Power of One and then saw it actually happening. The Swiss doctor built six hospitals in Cambodia that provides full treatment to all of Cambodia's children absolutely free. 90% of the donations to fund the hospitals is from private donations. This one guy's ideas have saved the lives of hundreds of thousands of children in Cambodia. Just amazing!
Reading and seeing this in action makes me wonder about all the friends of mine that have been active in the peace core at one point in their lives. I know the impact that they have had on the communities they worked at was huge and life saving. I really admire all my friends and all the others who have chosen to do such a great service to the world.
For me personally, I want eventually to spend time while traveling the world to give back and volunteer for a few monnths. It is the least I can do. The big thing is finding the right time to do this. This year it is not that time but it is one of my lifes goals to do this and to try and do it soon.
A Thousand Splendid Suns
The Power of One
Three Cups of Tea
The Alchemist
The Time Travelers Wife
I thought I'd write about my reading as the Power of One and Three Cups of Tea are actually very inspiring books. The Power of One is a fictional story about a boy growing up in South Africa during the beginning of apartheid. The book has some pretty amazing stories about the small things the boy was able to do in his time in South Africa. While fiction it did make me think about the power of one and what can be done by just one individual.
Randomly the next book I picked up was Three Cups of Tea which to me is the Power of One personified. The true story is about a mountaineer who finds himself in a remote village in Pakistan after trying and failing to summit K2. After staying in the village and seeing that the children of the village did not have a school to take lessons he decided to make a promise to pay back the hospitality of the village by building them a school. For three years the guy works on the getting a school built while basically living in the back seat of his car. After he gets the school built and gets a benefactor he makes a career out of building schools in the remote villages of Pakistan and Afghanistan. In the building of these schools he is so hands on that he with the help of the villages makes this miracle happen. It was an incredible story that is about the most inspiring thing I've ever read. I recommend the book to anyone.
While traveling in Cambodia I also got the opportunity to go to a concert in Siem Reap hosted by a Swiss doctor. This was also a hugely inspiring story. I'll probably blog a little more about this in a different post but I thought it interesting that I was reading all about the Power of One and then saw it actually happening. The Swiss doctor built six hospitals in Cambodia that provides full treatment to all of Cambodia's children absolutely free. 90% of the donations to fund the hospitals is from private donations. This one guy's ideas have saved the lives of hundreds of thousands of children in Cambodia. Just amazing!
Reading and seeing this in action makes me wonder about all the friends of mine that have been active in the peace core at one point in their lives. I know the impact that they have had on the communities they worked at was huge and life saving. I really admire all my friends and all the others who have chosen to do such a great service to the world.
For me personally, I want eventually to spend time while traveling the world to give back and volunteer for a few monnths. It is the least I can do. The big thing is finding the right time to do this. This year it is not that time but it is one of my lifes goals to do this and to try and do it soon.
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