Gettin back on that horse....

Yes, it's me again. I'm sure the RSS feeds did a double take before they posted me back up. To be honest, it's been a hectic month for me with plenty to talk about but not much of it being anything most anyone here would probably care to hear.

The sparknotes? Sure, I am now an uncle (congrats Sis), have been working 40-50 hours/week (but getting paid for 40), have had packed weekends (for the first time in my entire life I may label myself as a nap-taker....scary), and have done a ton of catching up with "myself." Call it what you want, I've settled with the term "Quarter-life crisis" to describe the past month.

In the end I have come out of it realizing most that in the routine of life I have not taken any time to just sit back for even an hour and reflect on me as a person. Who am I? What am I really doing with my life? Am I really going to be happy with the choices I need to make now, five, ten, even twenty years down the road? While I'm sure this may sound like some Zen bullshit, I can't recommend just getting away from everything enough. No phones, no facebook (gasp!), no internet, no PS3 (double gasp!), no friends. You'll be surprised how much you can learn about yourself in just a short time of doing this.

My "get-away" consisted of literally getting away from my comfort zone and going somewhere completely new where I would be a stranger to everyone. After looking at the prices for plane tickets (holy crap.... no wonder GE can pay me what they do....) I quickly realized that getting to LA or NYC was just not possible. So I looked closer, maybe a few nights somewhere within driving distance would be do-able. The problem with that however, is that I wasn't truly leaving any comfort zones at all. If there is anything I have gotten a lot of experience in this past year, it has been long-distance driving. I have even come to enjoy it quite a bit. While my goal wasn't to do something completely miserable, it was to push myself out of the comfort zone. That wasn't going to happen in my 2 door Escort.

After a little inspiration, I became dead set on a few nights of wilderness camping. Bare essentials, no outside contact, me and nature: perfect. I also (ignorantly) figured that this would be a low-cost venture; no plane tickets needed. In the end, the bill stacked well over $700. I left Monday, July 13 for Shawnee State Forest, with a ~45 lb backpack with enough in it to last three nights (four if needed) without any human contact.

The sparknotes:
- I'm amazed (and overwhelmingly appreciative) that my parents not only bought into the idea, but even supported me throughout it. Backpacking is tough. Solo backpacking is dangerous. Solo backpacking with zero backpacking experience, is about a dumb as you can get. I don't think I can thank them enough for the support.

- Maybe the only reason they didn't object too hard is because they have some weird sense of foresight beyond my wildest imaginations. After getting three miles in (of a 26 mile loop) on my first day, I stop at a creek side for lunch. After eating I take off my shoes only to find 6 blisters already formed, and popped, on both of my feet. At this point I knew that I could either trudge onward, and risk some serious - potentially long term - medical issues, or do the only smart move and turn around. After amount 10 minutes of sitting in disbelief and a fair amount of cussing, I begrudgingly started walking back the way I came.

So, mission accomplished? no. I did however, catch the "bug" and fully intend on "getting back on the horse" as soon as possible. Back to the Zen bullshit though: even in the few hours I was alone ("in the wild" as I say), I feel like I took monumental steps in discovering who I really am. I would be fooling myself to say that going on essentially a day-hike with a toddler strapped to my back solved all the craziness in my life - it did make it seem a lot more manageable.



So, that about wraps up the first 10 days of my absence. Obviously I have a lot of catching up to do, and I intend on doing it. I was not-so-subtlety reminded by someone recently why I first started this blog. It was not so much for the video game reviews (though I love talkin some polygons for a few minutes), or the youtube videos (Fuck yea!), but a way for me to stay connected to people that I don't want to lose contact with. Whether posts are monsterous (see: this), or tweet-esque (see: what I always intend on doing, but never actually do), it is still a helluva lot better than lately!

With that, I bid you adieu. Until next time - peace up, a-town down.