October 27, 2006
T-Minus 11 days!!!

If the point of a journey is the trip itself and not the destination,
a traveler stepping onto this path will exist and continue traveling for the remainder of time.
-me

What is the point? The point of this journey, as in life, is not necessarily defined by the terminal destination, but by the mile-posts and rest-stops along the way. Yes, there are indeed people I wish to meet in person and talk with and spend time with at the other end of the road. But the story of this journey starts here and may well never end.

Sure, I can hope my trip is like this. I hope the journey is a good one. I hope that I feel refreshed and renewed upon return. I hope the trip is safe. I hope the trip is not TOO safe. I hope I can live up to my convictions and rhetoric. I hope to see my friends there and spend sufficient time with them.

I hope I don't spend too much money.

I hope I don't drink too much and waste precious time in an inebriated state.

Perhaps this is a function of my “insecure me” but I do not want the people I meet, to, well, dislike me. I know it is silly and now recognize this almost immediately. Instead of throwing the feeling away, I embrace and revel in the fact that I recognize it, for what it is.. That is not to mean these feelings are completely expressed or removed from my psyche. Some are filtered and others thrown away, others are recycled and still others are finally acted on.

I want to enjoy this trip. I WILL enjoy this trip. I WILL do and see things that I have never experienced before and may never have the opportunity to experience again. I WILL take advantage of the opportunities given to me on this voyage. To others, I may falter and I may fail but I shall try to do these things. Within these attempts, for me, I will not fail.

-prologue--
All of life's journeys should send out ripples, effecting others' Journeys. A life without ripples is one existing in a tea cup, on the sandy beach, near the crashing waves of the ocean.