May 13th, 2009
"Writing"
Life goes on. Writing continues to be a full-time job. I work 8-12 hours each day, reading through my travel journals (I’m on #10 of 25), taking notes (312 pages and counting), and condensing them into short chapters (26, totaling about 150 pages thus far). I’m in the first-draft stage and have not yet started poring through my 12,000 photos. This is hard work.
I have never taken a writing course. Figuring out how to condense such a random collection of sights, sounds, and thoughts into an ordered story is a challenge. My goal is to create a “coffee table” book, a tangible product of my four-plus years of travel. Though this is a personal project and not something I plan to market, it is important to me that it be competently constructed (I am an engineer, after all).
I have little social life aside from my interaction with Rebecca, but that’s fine. I’ll never finish this project if I get distracted. That said, we have managed to do some nice things since my last update. We spent a week on holiday in Sydney and the Blue Mountains. One weekend we drove to the Australian Alps northeast of Melbourne and we’ve also hit the Yarra Valley wine region. Mostly, however, we stay close to home. We walk to a produce market on Saturday mornings, often hitting the local library en route. Our neighborhood is great for walks and, being the richest part of the city, is filled with beautiful homes that we could never afford.
Unlike Minnesota, where fall strikes quickly and the leaves race to the ground, autumn here progresses in slow motion. Each day, more leaves change from green, to reds and oranges and yellows. The temperature has dropped; I no longer keep the door to the balcony open all day, and instead of working with bare feet, I wear my cozy and warm kangaroo-skin slippers. Speaking of slippers, my favorite things in the world, at the moment, in no particular order, are those kangaroo slippers, my MacBook Pro, the television shows 'Two and a Half Men' (Tuesday) and 'Iron Chef' (Saturday), my girlfriend Rebecca, Brunette Goddess shampoo, and the toaster that I found on the street last week.
All in all, I have no complaints. I work hard, but life has a relaxed pace. I don't race along in traffic; rather, I gaze out the window and watch the change of seasons. Despite the fact that I spend my days reading about the past and writing for the future, my life is more “present” than ever. Days pass pleasantly and each one is a new little adventure.
"And great Goethe, accepting the inevitable truth that human growth does not proceed in a straight line to its goal, had compared the development and progress of mankind to the reelings of a drunken beggar on horseback. What was important, perhaps, was not that the beggar was drunk and reeling, but that he was mounted on his horse; and, however unsteadily, was going somewhere." (Thomas Wolfe)
Away Awhile is hosted by Josh Trutwin.