America, January 1, 2009
About Belly Button Window
Who are you to be writing this?
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What would posses a guy to put up over a decade of his life now on the Internet for the whole world to see? Am I some freak exhibitionist? A narcissistic exhibitionist even? While I've been called both , I am more humble than that.
See, it was early 1995, and I was a fresh face in Washington DC, having just graduated from the University of Central Florida where I studied business, surfing, partying, and women, trying to excel at each. In that foolishness I never thought about the permanence of my memories, I just made as many as possible. Visiting the Library of Congress one day, I happened to read a page from one of Lincoln's diaries. It wasn't a famous date, just one the curators picked seemingly at random. Reading that page, I realized all the days, experiences, moments, that define me were unrecorded. That my whole life was only in my head and a few scattered photographs. That no one would ever read about a day in my life. Now don't think I'm feeling special. Yes, I was born on Bali, Indonesia to very cool parents who were travelers, off on a 10-year adventure when I arrived. They infected me at birth with the travel bug, so I've been from Finland to the Philippines, and even the famously remote Timbuktu, but so have others. I may even mix stories and photographs well, yet others are better here too. But this is my life, not others', and therefore it is very special for me. That means I write first and foremost for me - not you. Then, I write for my children, and their children, lest I not be there to tell these tales myself. I write because I know what its like to loose a Dad and realize what will never be. I do write here, in this public forum, for my family and friends, and for you, and I hope you'll be entertained. I think my life is interesting - it is to me! I don't look at BMW's or big houses with want, I think of distant lands and dark people with desire. I make adventures happen, even if they're in my own backyard. So check out all those links to the left - places and dates, and click around. I promise there will be a story or two you like. Who else you know went overland from Moscow to Perth, via Siberian banyas, Mongolia yurts, and Chinese hutongs, using the Trans-Sib, Wuhan Air, slow boats to China, Thai tuk-tuks, and the MRT, even hitchhiking four thousand miles across Australia, right through the Nulabar Desert, and doesn't regret a second of it! What a lucky guy I am! |
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I love your connectedness, Wayan, and would like to emulate in some form...
Would like to talk more when you get back...should we try to schedule now, or wait?