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."