cc licensed ( BY SD ) flickr photo shared by qthomasbower
I’m starting a countdown for the start of my Road Odyssey, and today is 7 days out. I doubt anyone cares to read the minutiae navel gazing as I ramp up (or down) to this, but hey, I am writing for ME, ME, and Me.
I’m juggling two curves of intersecting organizational tasks- one is getting all the stuff ready I need to take with me, figuring out what I will need, where to put it. My guest room is covered with various boxes, and on a daily basis, I move things from one to another, or take something out, or put it back. Today I picked up the remainder of gear for cooking while camping, and have that all organized in a single plastic bin.
The other task is also organizing all the stuff I am leaving behind– and trying to figure out how to make sure things stay okay at a house that will be mostly empty for four months, but I am having som friends use iy for vacations while I am gone, so I am boxing up alot of stuff I am leaving here. Today, I emptied all the hanging clothes in my closet, stuffing it into 2 suitcases. There was no need to have those dirty shirts and slacks dry cleaned, cause they all will need a redo in October.
I also am boxing up stuff to take down to the thrift store.
Today was taking care of two doctor appointments, general check up and regular 6 month follow up with a retinal specialist (checking on the laser work down 17 years ago to deal with some diabetic retinopathy). I was glad I also saw by general doc, because I was pretty sure I had gotten a piece of glass in my foot from something that broke on my floor, but I had dug at it so much I could not tell if anything was in there- he pulled at a sliver about 1/4 inch long! Yikes.
Thats the mundane part that fills the day. I feel a bit of paring back on stuff I’ve given a lot of attention to the last few weeks, and am feeling a but sad on not following as many online threads as I might have before, especially peeling back on ds106 and accepting that I may never get cuaght up on updates for 50+ Ways to tell a Web Story (though I have set up the new wiki in a way so that others can help fill in content, examples, etc).
And I have more fiddling to do with the StoryBox (still waiting to see, ahem, some contributions… i guess I have to go track y’all down and shake it out of ya), mainly setting up some file structure on the PirateBox. I tested the battery today, and it does look like I can get maybe 3-4 hours out of it.
Thats still just the stuff.
I’m trying to get my mind organized as well, but I dont think I can really suss this out until 7 days from now when I back out fo the driveway, and head north on AZ 87, aiming for Colorado. it’s a cocktail of excitement and some dread/worry, that just keeps sloshing around.
I am looking at the photo I chose for this post, mainly by searching for tags of “seven” in flickr – It’s title is “Eternal Youth”- it references and “Enneagram Personality Type” and Type 7 is “The Enthusiast”:
Sevens are extroverted, optimistic, versatile, and spontaneous. Playful, high-spirited, and practical, they can also misapply their many talents, becoming over- extended, scattered, and undisciplined. They constantly seek new and exciting experiences, but can become distracted and exhausted by staying on the go. They typically have problems with impatience and impulsiveness. At their Best: they focus their talents on worthwhile goals, becoming appreciative, joyous, and satisfied.
Oh that’s ringing some resonance– in the photo’s caption it also lists:
Type Seven is the Puer Aeternus, the Peter Pan.
The Enthusaist, the Generalist, the Compulsive, the Escapist.
And that is where I sit, Seven Days Out.
Remember this is an Odyssey with a purpose. The box you carry with you is as much a macguffin as it is a honest to goodness treasure trove. You are a brave man pulling up stakes and hitting the road for 4 whole months. That takes guts, planning, and a sense of adventure, and all that can pay off majorly for all of us sitting at home dreaming we were you is if you capture the narrative of that odyssey in that tin can and share it back. I’m psyched for you, it is gonna be a blast. Every artist feels dread before they start their next big project (or so I’ve heard 😉 ), but that feeling is a strong reminder you are alive and you need to capture it while you can.
Shall follow you logs with interest hoping that in the spirit of the Enterprise that the “CogDog will boldly go where no CogDog has gone before”. It is poignant that you begin on this journey through unknown experiences just as NASA winds down its ventures with manned space flight. You are our astronaut Alan, an astronaut of the mind.
Cheers, John.