All I Want for Christmas



With the protection offered by my 100%
polyester "Bug Out" head protection, no
Aussie insects will bother me.

Marley was dead to begin with. There is no doubt, whatever, about that... Everything else, however, is a different story. With less than 10 days till my departure I am beginning to feel the crunch of time and the uncertainty of the coming weeks. It seems there is still so much to do and yet my time is passing like sand through an hourglass. The Christmas season itself lasted only a moment longer than the blink of an eye. This year my holiday was marked by (as you can imagine) gifts centered around my coming journey (both practical and odd).

Among the many gifts were essential items, such as body wash, shampoo, a flash drive, and items of clothing. Other gifts of importance include a leather-bound writing journal, reading materials, a wrist watch, and a very nice digital camera given to me by my mother. Among some of the more spectacularly odd yet thoughtful gifts I received in preparation for my trip was Captain America underwear and a head-sized bug net, meant to keep Aussie pests away from the face. All in all, it was everything I could have asked. Still it was all very practical, as if to remind me that I will not be around long enough to use anything impractical.

Time is moving quickly. In a few days we will bid farewell to 2010 and usher in 2011. I have been thinking about what (if any) resolutions I should make this year. Going to a new place, means that I have the opportunity to reinvent myself in almost anyway I can imagine. Thus, any type of resolution I make will have an even greater significance because it could define who I am for the next year. Mostly, I think I have boiled it down to two ideas which I should focus on:

1. Be open to new experiences and ideas
2. Remain true to myself and my values

At first glance they seem mutually exclusive, but that is untrue. My real goal for this coming year is to focus on who I am and try to shed a lot of the unnecessary inhibitions, which have so commonly got in the way my whole life. It will not be an easy process as the phobias and quirks I have developed over a lifetime are not so easily discarded. However, if I can get beyond them, and let the real me come through, than regardless of what else does or does not happen, I will consider my trip a success. I suppose, my true resolution is to find a way for me to be me. This I fear, is a task more easily said than done.

Yet, wherever my travels take me and whatever I learn about myself, I am resolved to do so with an open mind, good humor, a net on my head, and Captain America in my pants. So as Tiny Tim observed, "God bless us, everyone."

Rock and Roll and the Post Office

So I finally am beginning to feel like my old self. Yesterday I visited my Alma Mater, TCNJ (or The College of New Jersey, for those of you who might be baffled why "The" gets its own abbreviation.) I saw some people, had some lunch. I also did some assorted errands, etc. I sent some Christmas packages... which I don't recommend. I have never waited in line to get concert tickets but I imagine it is something like the experience I had at the post office. I am pretty sure there was guy in a tent waiting for the doors to open. And yesterday marked my last day of teaching. I gave my final for the Writing Composition class I teach.

All in all it was a modest day, but a good one. Walking around TCNJ I was beginning to feel the old confidence returning. (Not that I had a whole heck of a lot to begin with...) This mini-vacation from work and stress may be just what I need to get my head screwed back on, before I set sail (figure of speech) on my voyage. The campus of TCNJ has that effect on me. It tends to remind me of better days and better times.

I also discovered yesterday that I do not necessarily need an international drivers license... After I spent $10 on passport photos. Apparently, the only people who recommend you get an international license is the US State Department... and I suspect they have a vested interest in receiving the $20 fee. Now that I am jobless, I just do not know if I have the money to be spending on a license I don't need.

I was also saddened to discover yesterday that the exchange rate between Australia and America has about flattened out. Originally, I thought the rate would benefit me by a few extra thousand dollars... but turns out that is not true now. What's worse, I was looking at prices over there, and I will give you a few items I found. Just bear in mind that the exchange rate is now $1 to A$1.

-6 Pack of Beer - A$8.00
-Movie Ticket - A$15.00
-Cup of Coffee - A$3.00 (not Starbucks)
-Cover Charge for a Nightclub - A$20.00 (okay that's pretty aligned with America actually)

Either way, I am starting to think that maybe I can go without that $20 international license. On the flip side, it is looking like minimum wage work nets anywhere from A$15 to A$18 an hour. I never made that working the cash register at A&P or sweeping the floors at St. Philips Church.

All and all, I am trying not to concern myself with monetary issues. I am $10,000 over the recommended value that they advise you take with you when going on a trip of this caliber. I should be able to live comfortably, (assuming I find a job), and still be able to enjoy the country. At the very least I will be able to live better than when I was in grad school. I may not even have to skip meals to save money.

On a side note, I am releasing this blog to the public today, and by public I mean people on Facebook. So if you are reading, or even enjoying my ramblings. I want to thank you and there will be more to come along with pictures and much better stories and insights. At the very least when I talk about nonsense it will be in Australia, so it will have the appearance of sounding interesting.

The Unheroic Journey

Today I closed the lights and locked the door on final day of work. I hesitated for a moment looking back at the darkened office where I has spent so much time over the past year and a half and expended so much effort and frustration. There were good times and bad and it was an eerie sitcom-ish moment. Like closing the lights on Cheers or JD leaving the hospital at the end of Scrubs. The moment was just that though, a moment, and it passed. I walk out the door never to return… until I got to my car and realized I had forgotten to drop off some deposit slips and I had to go running back up two flights of stairs and burst back into the door I thought I would never enter again. All and all it ended in my usually anti-climactic matter.

Now, all that is ahead of me is the Land of Oz. I am less than a month away and my journey is finally about to begin. I stand at the precipice of this new adventure like Alice at the rabbit hole, Ulysses at the shores of Troy, or even like Rod Albright at the foot of the good ship Furkel. (An obscure Aliens Ate My Homework reference… look it up…) I of course have less of a sense of destiny surrounding my trip than they did theirs. I have been told by several sources that this will be a trip that will define me. That I will come back a new person... In a way I would like to believe that, but there are reasons I named this blog: The Unheroic Journey. Mostly I see myself doing touristy things and trying to find a place to do laundry. Still I suppose my journey, in some ways, might mimic the Hero’s Journey. (A less obscure Joseph Campbell reference… look that up too)

In the Hero’s Journey there are many steps and temptations, most of which have been laid out and categorized by mythic scholars like a list or recipe on how to create a hero. Of course, that was then quickly exploited by many writers as a formula for adventure stories… I’m looking at you George Lucas… However, I cannot point fingers as I have used it in my own writings and found there to be a lot of truth in it. At the true heart of the hero’s journey, it is really a metaphor for growing. Luke Skywalker wears white in A New Hope and is wearing black by the time of Return of the Jedi. This is no mistake as it symbolizes that his innocent youthful self (white) has grown into the confident and powerful adult (black) with a greater understanding of the world. Maybe in a lot of ways that is the journey I am looking for.

It is something interesting to think about, and principally I have always been fascinated with mythology. Maybe parallels do exist between those old stories and our human experience. I mean most have survived since the dawn of human writing. Yet, if there is a connection between Aeneas and myself I am not saying I am going to find it in Australia, (nor am I looking for it). Really I am just trying to explain the name of my blog, so people will stop asking me.