Random Clearing
House / 1.5 Years on the Road
It’s been 6 months since I’ve posted my orphaned ideas and half-baked
musings. These are the underdeveloped
notions that sat down and wouldn’t play nice with others. Hell, let’s just
acknowledge that not everything can be an anecdote. But, for some reason, I
couldn’t bring myself to abort these zygotes with the delete key. Congratulations
folks, it’s another unrequested episode of Bobby’s Random Clearing House.
6 Years On Sails And Solar Panels
– I’ve bought my carbon credits.
Yes, I now drive a 7.3 liter diesel. Yes, I get less than 12 miles to the
gallon (5 km per liter). But, I only drive 10,000 miles per year. That’s less
than the average and I still live off a solar panel and clean burning propane. Not
to mention, I never reproduced. How many diapers did I save the landfills? Come
to think of it – I might be one of the most environmentally friendly people I
know.
If you’ve had a kid, sorry but you’ve lost your chance to complain about
my truck. If you’ve had 2 kids I could burn soft coal every night and still be a
better friend to the planet than you. And three kids? Why not just melt glaciers full time? If you have 4 kids, you are a
Mormon, and also have enough firepower, ammo and powdered milk to do whatever
you want. I love those blonde children of the corn. In conclusion – stop breeding.
Let’s Keep It Dirty
I
always keep one finger nail long so I can clean the grime from the others. It
collects incredibly fast. I still think in English instead of Spanish but my
English has an Australian accent because I feel so feral.
Coffee Irony
When
I order a cup of Central American coffee I know it’s going to be spectacular.
Wrong – The good stuff is grown here but it’s all exported for top dollar. The
shake they sell here in the local eateries is crap. You can find the good stuff, but it’s in “Whitey Town” in-between the new deli and the pet clinic.
Heart
and Lungs
2 reasons to never drive behind one of these enormous
passenger buses: 1.) There is no regulation on emissions so you will be driving
in a black cloud of death. 2.) They will break your heart with all the trash
you’ll see them toss out of the windows.
I didn’t know the bus went there – It doesn’t. I got a
Freedom Machine
There are those places
that tourists just don’t venture. They aren’t on the circuit because no buses
go there, so no hostels spring up, and because no hostels spring up the bus
schedules don’t change. They stay pure.
Death Awaits You
People ask if I’m happy. Is “happy” the goal? It
seems like we might be setting the bar too low.
“Happy” sounds too mundane, too
pedestrian. I want to feel challenged and alive and vibrant. It’s ice water to
the face when I realize I don’t hold the local currency, I haven’t mastered the
language, I don’t know where I’m parking
when the sun sets in 3 hours, and come tomorrow - I don’t know where I’ll find food and water.
Now that’s interesting! Now you have my undivided attention. I can’t “phone it
in” in those situations. There’s no sleepwalking through days like these.
I
think if all you are asking for is “Happy”… I think you’ve missed something, a
very important something. Let’s shoot for full vitality. Let’s keep our mortar
tubes pointing straight up so we get the best view of our own Supernova. And
let’s strive for nothing less than Supernova. You don’t score a Supernova when
you only shoot for “happy”.
You must stop tallying your life by
how many “likes” your post got, and how many “friends” wished you happy birthday.
Congratulations, you just lost another year. Listen, if you aren’t interested
in what I’m doing - no problem, I don’t blame you. But do something more than
the commonplace.
You saw The Matrix. Take the red pill and stop being a battery
for society. You do realize we all die, right? My hunch is, that whatever you
are doing; it isn’t making you as fully alive as what you could be doing. I
realize it isn’t easy to do anything outside of the norm. Everything in society
pushes you towards marriage, kids, a soul crushing mortgage and a job that
sucks the life out of you for the next forty years to pay for it all. That’s
how society makes a battery out of you. Know that it is possible to design your
own life and that no one has ever knowingly applied for the position of
“battery”. Take an inventory and “check your fire”. Is this really as good as
it’s going to get for you? If your aim is simply –“happy” – you are aiming too
low.
Potential squints into the Klieg Lights
of Actualization and does one of 2 things: Gallops headlong into it, or turns
away. Please, don’t turn away.
Changing Continents
As of today, it’s been exactly 18 months since I broke the border and entered Mexico to begin this snail pace
adventure in Spanishland. I spent 6 months in Mexico and 1 year in Central
America – I feel pretty good about that. And, it’s actually the 2nd
year I’ve spent in Central America since I spent over a year when I was here on
Barraveigh. But that was back when I was a “grotty yachty”, now I’m a “dirty
driver”. They are only slightly different tribes and today I combined them just
a bit.
“All of humanity's problems stem from man's inability to sit
quietly in a room alone.”
Back-on-a-boat-Bobby
P.S. - Next blog: Panama!
