Almost Ready

After being lightheaded, exhausted, and a little nauseous the past few days, I'm starting to feel more physically and mentally stable today. Hopefully this means I will be all better by tomorrow, since my plane leaves at 8am! I'll be spending the next three weeks traveling to Germany, Austria, Italy, and England, on my first trip to Europe. This will also be my first time on a real train!

Last night I bid my parents farewell as they also depart for China tomorrow. Occasionally it hits me that this is really happening, but for the most part I don't think the reality will sink in until I return from my travels on Sept 23rd and 1661 E Stonybrook Ct no longer has a black Civic parked in the driveway.

Feel free to send emails if you need or want to get in touch with me over the next three weeks. I'll try to check my email and post blog entries periodically during the trip.

Musings from a Mantis

This little guy has been clinging to the underside of my bicycle for over 5 days. I first discovered him after riding my bike home from work last Friday, when I glanced down and saw a small green body hanging upside down from one of the metal bars that makes up the frame.

Despite the fact that he is hanging upside down, holding onto a rusty chain with some of the tiniest limbs I have ever seen, he appears calm and unafraid. Even when I brought a camera within 6 inches of his head and snapped a few pictures with the flash, he merely rotated his head sideways to started at me. Nothing else on his body showed the slightest hint of movement.

Does he have thoughts or instincts that tell him to sit calmly and not move? Is he unaware of the fact that green does not function as camouflage on a metal surface? Is he oblivious that I am very much bigger and stronger than he is and could pose a real threat to his very existence? Does he believe that he is tough enough and resourceful enough to handle anything that may happen to him?

It seems like we as humans are often oblivious to what is really happening around us, walking through life as though wearing blinders, seeing the current joys or irritations but missing the bigger picture. We lose sleep worrying about things that won't even matter in a week, yet neglect to consider the reality that any of us could die tomorrow and have to face whatever comes afterward. I feel indignant when someone borrows my parking space without permission, yet I have done nothing to support the fight against ongoing atrocities of genocide in Darfur.

Life in the modern world, especially in a small, safe American city, has become too easy and convenient. Day to day survival generally doesn't even enter into our minds as a problem to be addressed. There are plenty of toys and entertainment to distract us from the harsh realities of pain and mortality. We have instantaneous access to more world news than any other culture in history, but do we have compassion? Have our hearts become disengaged due to an overload of information? Have our emotions been dulled by the cinematographic assumption that physical suffering is just a matter of stunts that are made to look real?

Ninja Travelers

According to my dad, Chinese movies always seem to have ninjas, whether or not they have anything to do with the plot. This strikes me as greatly amusing, right up there with the English sign translations gone wrong. And while his assessment is probably based on a grand total of less than 5 movies, it does seem to reflect a certain randomness in the culture that I wholeheartedly support. My parents' departure date for Shanghai is quickly approaching, and since I'm the only kid still in town during the packing process, most of the "extra" stuff is ending up at my apartment. This seems to me to be a good system. Unfortunately it looks like my trip to China will be postponed until next spring though, based on schedule mismatches with Mark and Luke coming to Boise the day after Christmas.

The Europe plans are coming together nicely, with lodging and transportation nearly solidified. We're staying at a cute place in Venice that overlooks a canal, and I can't wait to ride on my first train! I have learned about a dozen words each in German and Italian, and would like to take the time to learn a few more phrases before I leave in two weeks, but we'll see how that goes. Fortunately my friend Mike keeps stubbornly speaking to me in German, so I'm picking up some words here and there -- some more useful than others. :)

Hopefully I will have time to post updates at various points along the trip, but regardless I will definitely take lots of pictures and have stories to report when we return. And since I'm barely getting back in time for the first concert of the year, it gives me the rare and lovely opportunity to listen and watch from the audience instead of from the stage.

Belated Introduction

Mostly I started this blog out of curiosity -- to test the blogging concept on a personal level, to experiment with format and layouts, and to play with RSS. Also I enjoy words, particularly when carefully arranged in clever sentences. After all, how often does one get to use "feckless", "insidious", or "forthwith" in normal conversation?

So I randomly started this blog one night last fall, but then it seems that I promptly forgot about it, because I have almost no recollection of the incident whatever. Nonetheless, I was recently reminded of its existence, and with my family scattering around the country and the globe, I find that a secondary motive for blogging has risen to prominence. My hope is that our family blogs will serve as a forum for sharing the minor but interesting bits of life that make it feel personal and real, despite the many miles that separate us from each other.

Comments from friends and family are always welcome and appreciated.

And now I leave you with some favorite literary quotes from the Tyson anthology.

'The time has come,' the Walrus said,
'To talk of many things:
Of shoes--and ships--and sealing-wax--
Of cabbages--and kings--
And why the sea is boiling hot--
And whether pigs have wings.'

"I never look back, darling! It distracts from the now."

"Your hair wants cutting."

"That Hansel -- he's so hot right now."

"Flowing robes...the grace...striking!"

Treacle.