Here's the deal: I operate mainly as an energy analyst, specializing in the liquefied natural gas trade, but I am going to spend the next seven months of my life blogging on the side about a trip I took 20 years ago.
Why, uh, why write extensively about something that you did 20 years ago that is only kind of mildly interesting to mention at a play date? Why not? There's kind of a poetic beauty in looking back on a specific day 20 years before and think OH, my God!!!! I kept a daily travelogue, just mundane matters such as where I went, where I slept, who I slept with (kidding! woman traveling alone no-no!!), how much I spent, what travelers checks I cashed and so on. I also have some pictures kicking around to jog my memory.
But really, the thought process: In my free time, which is really just the 1-hr each way commute to midtown, I read, usually classical fiction and/ or other well written books. And I am super picky about that, life is too short to read garbage. And I just read Cheryl Strayed's Wild http://www.amazon.com/Cheryl-Strayed/e/B001HCXFIE , inspired to do so for three reasons: 1. my own brother's ongoing project to hike the Pacifc Coast Trail 2. All the movie buzz- I mean the book came out in 2012 and finally, but most important, 3. I needed a break from Moby Dick http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moby-Dick, which I really need to slog through before I die. Did I mention that I am middle aged?
And, if you really want my opinion, I thought the book was terrible, as she was/is super annoying and she gained almost no self awareness whatsover. But guess what? She did that solo hike in 1995 and wrote about it almost 20 years later and now Reese Witherspoon is playing her in a movie and you know what? If she can write about her trip, well so can I . Now I have no designs on books or movies. And I am not a writer, in that sense. I really just want to see what happens, see if maybe I possibly have gained any self awareness since I set off 20 years ago. Don't get excited, I really don't think so, but maybe I can write it in and come out a better person somehow.
But I have another inspiration for this blog--gotta give credit where credit is due--early on the Cheryl Strayed book as I was thinking this book is terrible and I can't get through it, I mean did she hike or hitchhike this trail or what, I found this mordantly critical blog of the book (and no I have not blogged, read blogs or otherwise frittered away my days as an energy analyst doing things other than analyzing energy) http://cherylstrayedisaliar.blogspot.com/ that totally amused me and served as my reading companion to Wild. Califohioan https://www.blogger.com/profile/11663315815873691593 is on the harsh side, but hey, that's my ultimate inspiration for this blog, so let's get on with it.
Once upon a time...
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