Some Sights

Just some photos from the day. I will mention them in my next post no doubt.

India (Or at least an Indian airport)

Well I was wrong it was more like 9 hours to Amsterdam and then something like 8 to Bombay. So my mom and I have been waiting in the Bombay domestic airport since 11:30 pm on Dec. 29. It is currently 4:45 am or at least close to that time. Our plane leaves in an hour. I'm not sure how long that flight is, I believe it will be at least three hours. Ah well. My body has no sense of time or anything. Between not having a watch, (I forgot to bring one) and being thrown from one time zone to another, I'm thoroughly confused.The energy in India is amazing. We took a cab from the international airport to the domestic. I saw such a mix of cultures. Western advertisements right next to terrible poverty. It's so wild. It's hard to grasp. I feel like a camera that has been overexposed. A lot of my memories are all melded together. My mom and I are waiting in the lobby for our plane. There are tons of people here. Mostly Indian, but other foreigners too.

An interesting thing that I've noticed is the nearly continual presence of armed guards. Soldiers really. They carry large guns that are highly visible. I can only imagine that it is in response to the Bombay attacks. Yet, the security is nothing like American airports. It is pretty casual feeling.

There is so much noise all the time. For the last 20 or so minutes these airport workers have been trying to fit this large escalator type machine through this very narrow entry way. The machine is constantly beeping and every so often there is a bang as it hits something. This wouldn't happen in America. They would give up or do something else. Another thing. All the noise is meaningless, at least to me. Different languages all blend together into back ground noise.

Update on the workers. They are removing part of the handrail to make the machine fit.

Well, no more for now. We're still waiting for our flight. We don't know which gate it will leave from as that kind of thing isn't decided until the last minute. So far I love the Indian feeling.

Oh and one last update. As of right now we can't get on the Internet. Our computer is somehow messed up. So, if you are reading this you know that we somehow managed to make it work.

Departure

It's 9:47 am and I'm sitting in the Seattle Airport. We left my house at 5:30 am this morning. This morning is a blur of last minute preparation and packing. Overall we did pretty good I think. We have four bags between the two of us.

I said goodbye to my dad and brother. I won't see either of them for about five months. My mom and I are traveling to India. We will stay in India for a little less than two months. After that I will go and live in Holland for almost four months.

It's pretty amazing to realize that I will get out of a plane and be in India. I will step off the plane and it will be 80ish degrees. Meanwhile in Post Falls, Idaho it is cold and wet. The middle of winter.

To get to the international section of the Seattle airport we took a subway. Once in the train the feeling of things began to change. The automated directions were given in English and other languages. We got off the train and arrived in the lobby. It wasn't a huge shift or anything. It didn't overwhelm me with foreignness. However, people were speaking other languages. Directions over the PA system were given in English, Spanish and other languages I can't even name.

So, right now we're waiting at the Northwest Airlines terminal. Our plane leaves at 12:45 pm. It is 10:03 am right now. It feels like I should be thrust forward into my travels without a break. But the truth is there are a lot of breaks. Many, many breaks where I will just sit waiting for the next thing. It isn't a movie. There aren't any sped up scenes of airplanes cruising over the Pacific. I have to live every minute. There isn't a soundtrack either, however, if there was it would be "One more cup of coffee" by Bob Dylan. That is because I'm really tired.

The Pack

Hey. I got this pack online. So far I absolutely adore it. It's amazing. It's called the MEI Voyaguer. A company called Genuine Travel Gear makes them.

Packing

The day has finally come. I'm packing for my trip to India. I'll be gone for five months. What do you pack for a trip of that length? How do you manage to pack enough, but not pack too much? Luckilly that wasn't left up to me. http://www.onebag.com/ tells you what you should, and what you shouldn't, pack. It's a great resource. Anyways here is what I ended up packing:

underwear (2)
journal(2)
pencil case
ties
reporters notebook
extra passport photos
garbage bag for shoes
USB cord/headphones/Ipod
splitter
watch (except I forgot it)
pillow case
shorts (tech)
board shorts
socks (four pair)
shirts (3)
button shirt
pants (2) yoga mat
viscose towel
sun glasses
bandanas (2)
shoes (3)
travel wallet
belt
MEI Voyaguer bag

sinus rinse
sinus rinse packets
water purifer
duffel
floss
soap
toothbrush
cable locks
bungies
mosquito net

Altogether it weighed about 20 lbs. I also took some books and other miscellanious stuff in a messenger bag. Hopefully it will all prove to be usefull. However, I bet there is much room for improvement. We will see.

We leave in less than a month

We leave in less than a month. Yes, it's true. I can't believe it. I'm very nervous. I'm also very, very excited. We've purchased tickets and our itinerary is becoming clear. The last major thing we need to work out is what backpack I'm going to take and the immunization stuff.

Walking around Coeur d' Alene I can hardly imagine being in India. CDA is so safe and familiar to me. Soon I will be on the other side of the globe in a foreign country, where I'm the minority.

Wow.

After India I'm going to Holland for sure. I'll get to Holland in late February (I forgot the actual day). I'll return to the states on May 18 (I believe). I'm really excited to see Freek. I think that after India Holland will be much easier to navigate. But we'll see.

A trip to Missouri

Well, just returned from Kansas City, MO. Actually didn't just return, returned Sunday night. The trip was amazing, we got there Saturday. There were just around 2000 other college journalists and something like 200 other schools.
The Sentinel, the paper I write for, won two best of show awards (1st place) and one pacemaker award.
Overall it was a very fun convention. I probably drank a bit too much, however, I had some great conversations and met some very interesting people.
One odd thing about Kansas City is the size of the place versus the feel of the place. The city itself is huge, lots of big building, etc. However, during the day it feels absolutely deserted. It's very weird. I asked a barrister about it and he said that it's because it's so corporate. There just isn't much life outside of business. There was a neat covered area, which had a lot of bars/restaurants and featured music almost every night of the week. The area, called the Power and Light District, is privately owned, and features of of the most bizarre dress codes I've ever heard seen. Among other things you aren't allowed to wear plain white t's, cut up pants and frayed hats. So weird. It was a fun place, but kind of weird because it was all so controlled. There were many many private security guys all over the place.
The other bummer was that you had to be 21 to get in. After being turned away at the door I managed to wiggle my way in a back door. Yay for underage drinking.
So, I'm back home for now. We leave for India on Dec. 29. Which is coming right up, hard to believe. No more traveling until then, however, I will try to write about my trip preparations.
It is rainy and cold in North Idaho. This hasn't stopped me from riding my bike, of which I'm very proud. Hopefully I keep it up!
My plans in Holland are begining to solidify. Tomorrow morning I'm talking to Freek to finalize. Looks like I'll be living with him. That will be a lot of fun. I hope to bike around Holland, I've heard it's very very bike friendly. Speaking of bikes, check out my uncle Pat's blog. He's insane!

Off again

Hey heading out tomorrow morning. This time I'm going to Kansas City, Missouri. Should be a blast. Packed a little better this time. Meaning I didn't take as much uncecessary shit. So that should be good. Not taking my camera. Kind of wish I was but it's such a pain in the ass and you know everyone will have a camera there so I might as well not bring one there will be plenty of photos.
So yeah very tired so off to bed getting up super early.
P.S. The photo has nothing to do with anything, kind of neat I though. So i posted it.

Washington D.C.

Well hey. So I'm back. I've been in Washington D.C. for the last several days. Going into my adventure on the east coast I intended to write while actually there. Well that didn't happen. So, I think the best way to recapture the events of the last several days is to break this entry into days kind of like a diary, minus all the sappy sentimental snivilings that are so often found in my real diary. (yup i have a diary)

Saturday:
So, woke up Saturday morning at 6 a.m. I believe. I went to bed at 3 a.m. Now this late to bed early to rise thing was completely necessary. The reason I say this is because the night before I was descended upon by my friends who were quite unexpectedly in town. Actually being so tired was pretty interesting. I was forced to interact/navigate the craziness of the airport on almost no sleep. I did ok. I think this will serve me well in India/Europe. Anyways slept on the plane and kind of caught up. We got to D.C. at 7 p.m. there time, which is 5 p.m. our time. Oh this whole time I'm/I was traveling with my dad. Anyways arrived in D.C. My sisters brother, which would be my brother in law picked us up. His name is Mathew. Got to their house, Gabriel, my five month old nephew was asleep so I didn't get to see him that night. Ate a great dinner with Allison (my sister), Mathew and my dad (Chris). After dinner I was exhausted but Mathew had tickets to a punk band that was performing in their neighborhood. So we went to that.
I like punk music, well some punk music. This punk music fell into the category of punk music that I don't like. It was too loud, too incoherent and the musicians had almost no energy. THey were kind of old. But going to the show was completely worth it. Seeing the crowd in particular was like looking at a history book. While in the bathroom I saw this guy who was probably 35. He walked with a cane, had punkish sunglasses on, was covered in tatoos and wore a punk like hat. He looked completely burned out and I bet his hearing isn't so hot either. It was pretty amazing just seeing the effects of a certain lifestyle.
Wow, long day, went to bed.

Monday
Didn't do much on Monday. Walked around with Allison, Gabriel and Mathew. They didn't work because it was Columbus day, which is a day off in our nation's capital. Gabriel is a great kid. So open and awake to everything going on around him. Glad to know him. I'll be 40 when he's 20. Pretty amazing. Hard to believe. Throughout the whole week I ate very well. It's really nice traveling with your father because everything is free, or heavily subsidized. Went on a night bike ride with Mathew. Oh yeah biked with my dad. I love biking in the city, so fun and exhilarating.

Tuesday
Did the monument thing, kind of. Went to the National Portrait gallery, which was interesting. And then went to the Holocaust museum. We spent three to four hours in there. It was mind blowing. It's hard to believe that humans can be so cruel to each other. Yet we are and we continue to be. People need to go the that museum. It's so important never to forget what can be done in the name of ideology. I wish that every politician had to visit that museum at least once a year. Being there was scary. Knowing that something like that could happen in our country. In fact has happened (Native Americans, easy to forget isn't it?). I hope that if that ever does I have the balls to stand up for what is right.

Wednesday
Well i have a confession. There has been about a two week break between Tuesday and Wednesday. So sorry. However, an interesting study of time, I mean who's to say that its been several weeks? Huh? My memory that's who. So lets go back and remember what Wednesday was like.
We went to Baltimore on Wed. This was probably the most profound day for me. We went to Baltimore to meet with a friend of my dad who works at Catholic Relief Services(CRS). It's the 30th biggest non-profit aid organization in the world. CRS is located in a part of Baltimore that is seriously depressed. My dad and I had about an hour to kill when we got there, so we walked around. The majority of the buildings were boarded up. My dad and I, who are both white, were the minority. In fact I don't think I saw another white person the whole time.
You could feel the poverty in the air. It was amazing. I've never been around that kind of condensed poverty. However, intermixed with all that poverty was this profound amazing sense of community. Not my community. Not my dads community. We were total outsiders. But there was a community there. Men and women haning out on the street corners. Greeting each other, hugging each other.
I don't want to paint some dumb, rosy bullshit fake picture of it all. I don't know and I don't want to characterize or anything like that. But what I observed, what I saw, was depressing and hopeful. These men and women have been forgotten by the elites of society. They are the ones who will be kickced out when Baltimore is 'gentrified'. They are the ones who fill our jails. They're the ones who die in our wars. But they also are the some of the only ones in American society that have any type of community. It's not a nice community, perhaps, it's not even necessarily a safe community, but it's a community. Thats more than I can say. Living in my middle class, safe, warm compartamentalized life. I don't talk to my neighbors. Hardly even see 'em. My family could move tomorrow and no one on our block would think twice.
Again I've never lived in urban Baltimore, so my description of their life could be totally crazy, just the romantic ramblings of a bored middle class white kid.
Going into CRS was such a huge contrast. The building they are in is beatiful. It's probably 15 stories tall. We spent the whole day meeting different people in the organization. I learned so much about what aid organizations do. It was very hopeful. Aid organizations also have a huge need for journalists, so perhaps thats what I will do someday. Go from one disaster to another and try to make sense of it. Sounds instense.

Conclusion
Well, I think there was another day or something, however, I'm not going to even try and attempt to dredge that out of my mind. My trip to D.C., in many ways didn't prepare me for India/Europe, however, in many ways it did. It was just reinforced into my mind the importance of expereincing where you travel as 'really' as you can. Whether that be spending a day in the slums or whatever. It also reminded me that I can't be a dumbass and overpack. I took three pairs of shoes to D.C. Stupid.
Oh, yes! Speaking of traveling. We bought our tickets last week. We leave Dec. 29. My mom flys back to the U.S. on Feb. 28 and I fly out of Amsterdam on May 18. I'm so excited. Can't wait.
Oh yeah, while in D.C. my dad and I were interviewed by FSN (Feature Story News). They asked us how we felt about the economy etc. I guess it's going to air somewhere in Asia, pretty neat. Perhaps when I go to Asia they will all know me for my witty comments and insightful observations about the world economy.
Well, tell the next trio, which starts Wednesday, I'm going to Kansas City, Missouri for a Journalism conference, should be pretty fun.

Seattle

Well, I traveled to Seattle this last weekend (Oct. 4,5 and 6). I went with Katie Swanson aka Kazaam. We left Saturday heading into the west.
The interesting thing about this trip was that the weekend we left was also production weekend (at the Sentinel the college paper I work for). This was an issue as the pages I'm responsible for don't get done on their own. I overcame this obstacle by working all week before leaving. So all my shit was done by Saturday at 2 a.m.
Katie/Kazaam met me at my house at 1 p.m. We drove to Moses Lake in separate cars because her G-Ma lives there and Swanson was going to stay with her after we returned from the city.
Driving to Moses Lake I was just reminded of how much I hate driving. Biking is so much nicer. (I won't deny the convenience of being able to drive 300 hundred miles in a day, however, I prefer biking still)
Kazaam and I had a very nice drive to Seattle. We laughed and talked about camp non-stop. Camp people will understand this, non campies will think that we're insane.
While stuck in traffic outside of Seattle we blasted country music and stared at people. We were obviously from out of town and obviously obnoxious.
Soooo...
That night we went to Tom's house. Had a great time with a bunch of camp folks. Again we just talked about camp.
The next day I split from the rest of the group and went to hang out with Hannah Reid a good high school friend of mine. My mode of transportation was a bike, which I brought in the back of my mom's subaru. It's a fixie, which means two things, one being you can't stop pedaling and two being there are no hand brakes or brakes period. The only way to slow down, short of hitting something, is to resist the forward momentum of the back wheel by pedaling backward.
Soo...
I was pretty nervous when I began biking on Sunday morning. Seattle has some big hills. It also has a lot of traffic. Well I did fine, and thanks to that experience I feel 200 percent more confident in little old North Idaho.
I hung out with Hannah for probably five hours on Sunday. We went to an excellent Indian food restaurant where we talked about her experiences in India and my upcoming experiences there. After eating there we went to Pikes' Place Market, where I bought the biggest avocado I've ever seen. It it huge and I will definitely post a photo of it. I guess it's a water based avocado not your regular old oil based avocado. I also learned that there are over 70 types of avocados. (I might have misheard that, it's between 70 and 700 I would look it up but I'm lazy so...) Anyways we went back to Hannah's dorm and tried to make a mango smoothie (we bought a mango as well). That did not work out because we couldn't find a blender. So we just ate mango. Hannah's roommate then appeared. She is hilarious and in my opinion her and Hannah are a good match.
Hung out there for a little bit longer than returned to UW to have dinner with my camp friends at this mexican place. I ate a lot that day but I also biked a lot so I felt faily balanced between my consumption/movement.
Then went to a friends house and watched Ironman. A ridiculous movie that makes me mad every time I see it.
I noticed that people are very afraid of being out alone in Seattle. No doubt it's a warranted fear and I'm probably ridiculously naive but I still feel like it's a big waste not to go out and see things. I guess it's all about where your edge is.
I only got really lost once. I was riding from Capital Hill to UW and it was dark out (probably like 8 p.m.). Anyways I ended up way the hell not where I wanted to be. I was kind of by the bay I think and UW isn't by the bay. So I ended up asking this guy where I was. He was helpful but all-buisness. I think he thought I was a complete idiot for a. biking at night and b. not having any idea where I was.
Anyways made it back all ok. Had a great ride back with Kazaam. I love Seattle U and maybe someday I will go there. But probalby not any time soon.
Oh and if everything works out I will be oing back to Seattle with Libby Redline, which would be awesome. But we'll see. I'm missing a lot of class.
On Saturday I'm going to Washington D.C. to visit my sister and meet my nephew. I'm going with my father. Very excited for that.
So I don't know if I really learned anything from the Seattle trip that will carry over to my India/European travels. I did learn a lot about city bike riding and late night Seattle navigation, both of which I'm glad too know. Unfortunately I won't be able to take my bike to India.

DNC

Protesters are not allowed within one mile of the Democratic National Convention.

A mini trip

Well, today (Sunday) I just got back from a little jaunt in Montana. Specifically I went to Missoula, to visit Heidi.
I rode up with a girl named Chynna, who is a friend of Luke and Hannah's. It was a very nice ride and she's a great person. I love the ride to Missoula. From Coeur d' Alene it's about three hours and it goes through the Silver Valley. The land is beautiful but scarred. You can completely tell that it was mined and logged nearly to death. But it's healing. Trees have come back and while they aren't large by any means they are trees and they are beautiful. A friend (who is older) told me once that when he was growing up in this area the Silver Valley was completely barren. No trees. Just dead land. This was 15 maybe 20 years ago. Hearing that story made me very hopeful. The Earth is resourceful and perhaps, despite our single minded pursuit of wealth, the Earth will recover.
Anyhow i got to Missoula and hung out with Heidi. Seriously Heidi Groover is one of the premier human beings on this planet.
Missoula has a independent theater called the Wilma. Heidi and I watched Gonzo, which is a documentary about Hunter S. Thomas and his journalistic career. It was a very good film and inspiring in some regards.
After the movie Heidi went back to her dorm. I didn't know where I was going to sleep so I walked around U of M's campus for a bit. Then I realized that the best spot to sleep would be up the hill by the giant M. (Missoula has a very large M tattooed onto one of it's hills, Sentinel Mountain to be precise) It was a long hike, probably 45 minutes. I didn't expect anyone to be on the hill but apparently it is a prime make out spot, which I can definitively see. It looks over the city and is very beautiful, but the biggest draw, for couples at least, is its remoteness. So anyways I saw quite a few couples. At first I was very scared (it was 12:30 am) but then I realized that everyone was more afraid of me. A lone male hiking up the mountain in the middle of the night. I guess I can see that as well. Eventually I made it up past the 'M'. I found a level spot and went to bed. I slept very well, but not for very long.
I woke up. Isn't that weird. Everyone 'wakes up' every morning their whole life, until one morning they don't. Or they do and then they're hit by a truck.
I woke up around 7:30 am. I wasn't going to meet Heidi until 10:00 so I decided to hike around and see what I could see. It is beautiful country. I wish I had taken a photo so I could post it but I didn't so rats. Missoula is in a valley. The hills surrounding the valley are treeless except for in the shaded areas, where some trees grow. The main hill by the town is called Sentinel Mountain. Directly behind Sentinel there is a National forest, which one I'm not sure.
Eventually I returned to Missoula and had coffee with Heidi and her roommate. Her roommate is/was very nice. She grew up somewhere in Montana. Her nearest neighbor was a mile away. Her life story and life experience was drastically different than mine, in some regards. However we found common ground when we began discussing the ubiquitous nature of corn in the American economy. Her father is a farmer and a rancher. She didn't know much about politics or other 'hip' things to know about. But she did know a lot about farming, land and nature. I envy her knowledge. Knowing about the various instituitions of humanity is great, but I think that we as modern humans are too immersed in the invisible structures of society that we have erected. I think it's important to remeber that everything we build is built on Earth, however distant and removed it may seem.
After coffee we parted ways. I was on my own and about to hitchhike for the first time in my life, I was scared. I walked to the nearest exit, which unfortunately was the most eastern Missoulian exit, therefor the farthest exit from my eventual destination, Coeur d' Alene. I waited there for probably one hour. The first time I stuck my thumb out, hoping someon would give me a ride, I felt completly vulnerable. Some people stared at me as they drove by. Others avoided eye contact. Some sped up. Some shrugged their shoulders, almost apolegetically. The only constant in their behavior was that no one stopped.
Then a car, a real beater of a car, approached. I told myself (like I had said about countless other cars) this is the one. This time I was right. Two young men were driving. They were Native American and rough. But nice. Within five minutes of getting in the car they asked if I had any pot. When I responded in the negative they asked how much an ounce was in CDA. Again I was unable to help them. They weren't going very far, so they dropped me off at one of the most western Missoulian exits. It was, by my estimations a good exit to hitchhike from. Several gas stations and a truck stop were located within sight of the exit.
And then I wait. This time my wait was much less. In stark contrast to my first ride, my second was an elderly couple. They were visiting their son, who lived outside of Missoula. They drove me about five miles to the next exit.
This exit was a god forsaken hellish place. At first it appeared fairly decent. By this I mean there was a gas station. I figured "oh there will be lots of people stopping and filling up here". I was wrong. At this point it is at least 85 degrees outside. But by the road it was probably more like 95 degrees. I was roasting. The longer I waited, the more hopeless I became. I began singing. I began writing descriptive pieces on the scenery around me. Hardly anyone drove by. And of those that did not a one stopped. Actually that's not true a few did, but they were only going a couple of miles, so that didn't help. Finally I see a Subaru with Idaho, yes Idaho license plates drive toward me. I throw out my thumb, just hoping, praying that they would stop. At first they don't, my hopes die, then, miraculously, they stop. I grab my stuff and begin running toward them, so happy, so relieved.
And then it happens. Both doors open and two obese, sweaty men step out. The driver, he sees me running and he's afraid. He throws up his hand and bellows "No! No!" as if I was a dog, or some other animal that's just barely able to understand. I stop. So much for that. I return to my spot and watch as the two men switch drivers. I can't help but notice there shirts clinging to their sweaty bodies. At this point all I can think is "Fuck, try sitting in the sun for hours". But I can understand, hitchhikers are scary. Especially 19 year old prep school graduates. Seriously though fear is a powerful force. Still I don't feel especially amenable toward those men.
So I continue to slowly roast. At this point my thoughts are becoming muddled and I know that I've been in the sun too long. The songs, poems and stories I'm making up begin to make less and less sense.
I decide that my best course of action is too hitchhike back one exit. Getting back isn't a problem. I find a ride with a middle aged couple. They were kind and helpful.
Now that I'm back at the happening exit I feel better. (Also I changed into shorts) Probably 30 minutes after getting dropped off by the middle aged couple a car stops for me. I run up to it, not hoping for much. But when I ask the woman where she's going she says Coeur d'Alene. I jump and exclaim in joy.
Her name was Ana. She was older. She lived in Billings. She told me she picked me up because of my youth and because she has a son. I was hoping that my youthful innocence and bright eyed smile would pull on some mothers hearstrings. Ana was very kind. We talked on and off throughout the ride. She told me bits and pieces of her life. She seemed very smart, but ignorant. She has lived in Montana her whole life and never went to college. In the back of her car she had a book called "Love Smart: Find the One You Want -- Fix the One You Got" by doctor Phil. I also gathered that she had no husband only boyfriends. I hope someone finds her and realizes what an amazing woman she is. Myabe she's not amazing, maybe she's an alcholic, but I don't think so. She seemed pretty amazing to me. She dropped me off in Post Falls and we parted ways. I will probably never see her again.
Hitchhiking is the way for me to travel. I'm tentatively planning a trip to Boise to visit Greg. Hopefully at least. You meet so many people and you save a lot of money. But your also at the mercy of stranges. I believe in human goodness. Hopefully someone doesn't prove me wrong.

Mental Preperation

Well hey, writing again. Obviously I haven't written in a while. This summer I worked at a YMCA summer camp. I was there 10 weeks. Quickly let me back up, the overarching purpose of this blog is to document my upcoming travels in India/Holland/Thailand/Asia/?. However I believe that it is also very important for me to simply write. So, my point in bringing this up is that I will be referring to my trip or some other permutation of that phrase, and I wouldn't want my readers (dare I hope there are any?) to be confused. So, I will continue.
Like I said I spent 10 weeks at camp, living with other people my age, not showering much, not having alone time, not having quite, not eating how I like to eat while taking care of children. (I loved every minute of it) The experience, although it was simply a summer camp, really helped prepare me for what I imagine my trip to be. My mother and I will be traveling in close proximity to hordes of other people we don't know. We won't be eating what we like. We won't be given many opportunities for quite. Somehow I doubt we will be taking care of children, but you never know.
So the point of all of this is more of an acknowledgment of how you can learn from unlikely sources. Going into the summer I never would have expected to learn about traveling by going to a summer camp.
As for the actual traveling, things are beinginning to pick up in terms of planning. While we are sill fairly unsure about the specifics of the trip the broader strokes are being filled in. We will leave in December, and most likely confine are traveling to Southern India, so as to not cram as much in.
Anyways I'm leaving to hang out with my friends from High School they're all leaving soon. Write more at some point.

Violence

Well still in Seattle but I guess now I'll try my hand at some societal commentary.

            Heidi and I have been sitting at a coffee shop called Bauhaus in Seattle. (Great place by the way) Anyways the people sitting behind us spent a fairly long time talking about various automatic weapons. They weren’t talking about hunting rifles or anything like that. They are talking about full on automatic implements of death.

It makes me wonder.

I understand the rational behind the ownership of such weapons. Many many people that won these kinds of weapons are just average people. They would never use these weapons to hurt much less kill another human being.

But still.

Later. I was reading Google news. Grand Theft Auto IV comes out on April 29^th. Here is a game that exemplifies the violence that is inherent in weapons of all kind. I don’t subscribe to the belief that video games are solely responsible for violence in young adults. But I believe it is related.

I’ve played GTA. I don’t know which one I played. But it is addictive no doubt about it. When I was younger I would spend literally hours playing that game, often late into the night. While I would like to think that I have matured past that puerile level of violence I don’t think that is the case. I’m just not in situations where that game is present. If I was I would probably play it.

Why is this? I’m a civilized dude. Right? I hate violence. I’ve been in only one fight my whole life and that was mostly just a joke. But there’s something about violence that attracts us humans. Maybe more specifically us human males. It’s in our genetics. Or maybe it’s just in our society. I don’t know.

Anyways just going to bed now. Seattle has been great. Very glad I’m here hope to come back soon.

In Seattle/My first time blogging

Well this is my first blog ever. Don't really have a whole lot to say, but I figured I should get used to this now as it would be nice to continue blogging while traveling.

Currently I'm in Seattle with North Idaho College's (NIC) journalism program. We arrived around 2 p.m. Went immediately to Safeco field to get our tickets to the Mariners game. Never been there before quite the experience. Huge and lost of money/time invested in it. Went to our Hotel. The Quality Inn near Aurora Avenue. Then we went on a tour of the Seattle Times. Guy giving us the tour had been working in journalism for almost 40 years. For the majority of that time he had been doing shitty work (that's how he made it sound). Finally he landed the job at the Times but it still seems like and awful lot of nothing for not all that much.

There were 40,000 people at the game tonight. I really enjoyed the game, don't get me wrong. But it seemed kind of wrong that all that attention and energy was being focused on a sporting event. Wouldn't it be better to invest that money and time in doing service for others? (Nah that's stupid)

That reminds me of an idea my father introduced me to known as servant leadership. The best leaders (according to this philosophy) are those that are willing to serve others wholeheartedly and unashamedly. Which, needless to say, is hard to do.

But it that does seem fundamentally true to me. The times that I am happiest are when I'm serving others. Not when I'm just lookin' out for maself. I wonder what it's like for other people?

Well it is late and I hope to wake up in time for the complimentary breakfast that this hotel provides its paying guests. 

Eli