An Extended Status Update

So, it’s strange to think that I haven’t posted anything on this blog since Chiang Mai.  Those of you who are among my Facebook friends have continued to follow my adventures.  Those of you who are not are probably out of the Chris-loop.  I extend my apologies to those few stalwarts among you who were actually reading my blog.  I hope that my travel stories provided you with some amusement.

I’m not going to go into the reasons why I failed to keep up a regular posting schedule… I was still writing, though only in my own notebooks.  Mostly it’s that I got really backlogged–there was too much to write about, and I was too busy actually traveling to spend hours at a time in internet cafes with unreliable connections, typing out lengthy blog posts.  Professional travel writers do it all the time of course–and next time I go vagabonding, I’m definitely going to bring a laptop with me so that I can write and revise in my room, then just go to the internet cafes to upload finished blog posts (let that be a tip for any of who are about to go traveling).

The other thing I realized was that writing about the external events of my travels was actually boring to me.  All the places and adventures are meaningless to me without their corresponding inner experiences… and there was something in me, while I was over there, that was just too resistant to putting the depths of my own inner experience on the internet for all the world to read.  Maybe with time, I’ll gain enough distance to write about what it was really like for me.  I still have my notebooks, and I am planning to post some reflections on my travel experiences on this blog in the future.

I’m back in California now.  I’ve been back since April 26th.  It’s strange to think it’s been almost a month already… and yet, Asia seems like a past life.  I’m happy to be home, and yet I miss the other places, especially Thailand… and given the current situation in Bangkok, there’s a part of me that wishes I were still there to write about it.

But life goes on.  As I write this I’m up in Arcata, northern California, spending time with my daughter, Tara, after a long time away.  I’m in the midst of applying to graduate school.  This summer is another transition period for me: what I’m going to be doing, where I’m going to be living, etc. are all being decided.  And yet, after my travels, I don’t have the same sense of angst that I did before about these questions.  I feel as if I’m once again in harmony with the Tao, so to speak.  My focus is on setting a course for the next few years of my life, a course that is ultimately fulfilling and aligned with my sense of purpose.

As for this blog, I’m planning to continue using it as an outlet for my creative expression and for contributing value to other people and the world, as much as I possibly can.  The emphasis of my writing will be shifting from travel (i.e. where I was at two months ago) to other areas of interest (i.e. where I’m at now).

Thanks for continuing to read what I write.