Selling My Motorcycle, Buying a Westfalia

Well that travel bug is biting hard once again. I think this time I am going to make it stick. I haven't been really engaged in school this semester and my grades, although passing, are not where I would like them to be. No one to blame there but myself. It is one more thing now not in the way of me taking off on a cross country road trip in a van. So, I am selling my GSX-R 750 and using the money to first pay off some debt and second finance part of this dream. I am hoping that I will be able to pick up odd jobs here and there throughout the journey in order to extend my voyage. It is now closer to happening than it ever has been before, and that is exciting and a little scary at the same time. Having to sell some of my beloved materials (the motorcycle and contemplating selling my 74 Chevy Nova) is pretty scary to me. Although a big part of this trip is escaping all the material excess and consumerism which is so rampant in America. There are so many more important things in life to focus on. I need to start a list of all the amazing things I want to go and see.

The Liquid Fast Concluded

So the fast is over. I ate lunch and dinner yesterday, and have already had a small breakfast this morning. All in all it was again a very good experience. I think I went into it with too many ideas of how it was going to be rather than just letting it be. I think they are always a good thing to do though. Food is a big part of everybody's life and when you eliminate that it causes you to give more attention to other aspects of your life. I am sure I will do one again some time in the future.

Liquid Diet: Day 6 and 7

Well yesterday really sucked but not because of the fast. I finally caught whatever the kinder gardeners have been passing around for the last week or two. In my half asleep/half sick stupor yesterday morning I woke up in a panic thinking I was late to work, to end up getting there forty five minutes early. Not realizing how sick I was I went back to work on time and only lasted maybe an hour before I was calling to find someone to fill in. Turns out there wasn't anybody available so I had to stick it out, with the assurance that today would be covered. So here I sit on day seven, taking a sick day from work. Since becoming sick I have even less appetite which has made these last couple of days of the fast a little easier. I can't lie though, I am looking forward to lunch tomorrow!

Liquid Fast: Day 4 and 5

Well yesterday (day 4) was the toughest one yet. I was very close to eating something. I was able to drink a smoothie and contain my desire but it was rough. Luckily today was much easier. I didn't really feel hungry today. I am feeling like I have a little less energy than normal but that is to be expected considering the calorie cut back. I didn't weigh myself before the fast this time but I can pretty much guarantee I have lost at least four to five pounds since the start, a nice little bonus if you ask me. I am already looking forward to the lunch me and my brother in law are planning on having on Friday. We decided sushi would be a good way to introduce our body's back to solid food, and I love sushi!

Liquid Fast: Day 3

So there is not much of an update today. Still going strong, despite today being a family day which included my sister cooking... Man I love her cooking. Made some good drinks today but drank less than I had the first two days. Today I think was the hardest day, hopefully tomorrow it will start getting easier.

Liquid Fast: Day 2

Alright so I decided I am only doing a liquid diet. I have decided to drink soy milk in order to get some protein in my diet. Anyway, today went very well. The hunger pangs were not quite as bad. I made a really good smoothie out of two apples, two pears, and two bananas. I have only been juicing about three to four paper cups of fresh juice. At other times I will have a glass of the soy milk or just some water. I didn't do to much today but am planning on going for a nice little hike tomorrow early afternoon. Hopefully I will have the energy, I have felt a little drained today but all I did was sit around and do laundry. I know when I sit around for too long it just makes me more tired, so I could just be falsely correlating it to the fast. I guess I will find out tomorrow.

Seven Day Fast: Day One

So unfortunately I started the day off bad. I was at work, which is a kindergarten class, and they were having a snack. The kid I work with is a little particular about foods and to get him to try now stuff we often "model" to the kid that the food is good. Well they were having frosted animal crackers and I had never seen him eat those so I grabbed some myself and started eating with him. A few crackers in, and mid bite, I realized what I was doing. After that little setback the day went very well though. A few hunger pangs around lunch time and dinner time but they only last a short while. I went for a walk and can already feel that "light" feeling people often describe when doing a fast like this. From what i remember from my first fast the first couple of days are by far the hardest, while your stomach gets used to not having much of anything in it. So far so good.

Seven Day Fast

As of about an hour ago I started a seven day juice fast. My brother in law is going to join in on it with me and our plan is to go till Friday of next week. These first few days are probably going to be a little rough but I am sure I will hold up. I am not sure exactly what I am looking to get out of it this time. I went into my first fast (the last one I did) with all kinds of expectations and although it was a profound experience it wasn't at all what I was thinking it would be. This time around I am going to try and focus more on God and meditating on the Word. My brother in law should help with that, we already discussed doing some kind of daily study. I think we are going to be reading My Utmost for His Highest . I have read it off and on for a while and it is a good little study book. Maybe I will share my thoughts on the daily passage and how I am feeling each day throughout this fast. Yeah I think that is a good idea.

My Last Post Was Premature

Well when I posted a comment on Island2012 is was pending moderation for a while, but then just disappeared. I guess it was still there somewhere because after a little while, pop, there it was. I must say though, even though I am only paying (or going to pay) a dollar a month it is a little disheartening to see the blog go down for a couple days. Plus my link is still not back up. I think I will forgo this months payment. I'll buy a pack of gum or something instead.

I am Officially Under the Bus

Well, I guess you can officially say that Casey has thrown me under the bus. I was the spot holder of the one dollar a month link on his website Island2012 site. When his site reappeared after being down for a few days I and the rest of the sponsors were no longer there. Casey cited "sponsorship" problems as his reason for pulling the plug initially so I commented on his latest post asking if it was me that he had the problem with. Well my comment never made it through moderation and I have not received any kind of response from Casey. It is not so much the sponsorship thing I am even wondering about, but more so why he did not contact me personally if he had some kind of problem. He has not only thrown me under the bus as a sponsor but also as a friend.

Want to Just Take Off

That travel bug is biting again. Really, it never took it's teeth out. I can't stop thinking about it though. It's a daily thing. If I just had a van that was semi set up for living in, I would be gone already. Preferably I would want a six cylinder or ideally a bio diesel conversion so that I could just fill up with old grease from whatever fast food joint happens to be close by. I could pick up side jobs here and there building fences or doing garden work. Really, any kind of work I could find. i could visit churches in the towns I travel through and ask if the congregation if they have any work I could do. Only staying in one spot long enough to fill the gas tank, fill the food reserves and put a little emergency money in my pocket and just keep moving. Imagine the people you would meet. Imagine the sights you would see. Imagine how much you would learn not only about yourself but life in general. I have the utmost faith that God would provide, it is just taking that first step on my own that is the hard part. This is going to happen eventually, I don't think the desire is going to go away until I fulfill it. It is only a matter of when.

Gun Laws Don't Work

Gun laws for the most part do not work. It is tragic that so many people are killed every year by guns but passing more and more laws to outlaw guns is not going to change that. The sad truth is that the criminals committing these heinous crimes will get their hands on a gun no matter what. Do you really think the majority of criminals are walking into a gun store and going through the due process in the first place? Did you know you can go to gun shows and pay cash for an unregistered gun from a private party and with no paper work? When I was in high school there were several opportunities where I could have purchased a "dirty" gun. A few of my buddies at one point had an illegal gun. Illegal guns are much much easier to get a hold of then legal ones. Barring going back in time and preventing the invention of the firearms there is no way to rid the world of crime involving guns. Even if you could exterminate guns the criminals would find other tools to carry out their devious acts. The first murder in the history of man was committed by Cain and most likely carried out with a rock or his bare hands. While guns certainly make it easier and less personal to take the life of another it is human nature that is really to blame for the murder of the innocent. All gun laws do is make it harder for honest law abiding citizens to purchase guns.

My Tattoo

Someone was asking about my tattoo so here goes. As you can see it is a cross with symbolic American flags behind. It is actually two separate pieces done probably close to two years apart and by two different artists.

The first part was obviously the cross. Inside the cross is "Psalms 19:14" which reads "Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be pleasing in your site, O Lord, my rock and my redeemer." This is a special verse to me because it was given to me by my great grandmother who is now almost 100 years old. One day when she was visiting she handed me a piece of paper with this verse on it and the title of "Our Verse". When I finally decided to get a tattoo I put some thought into it and wanted to be sure it would be something that I would be OK with fifty years from now. I figured this was about as good as it could get. I hoped that I would always have my faith and figured if I ever lost my faith maybe this could serve as a reminder and rekindle my faith.

The flags I added at a later time and again I wanted to be sure it would be something I would be OK with for the rest of my life. I love this country, although it has it's problems and figured why not display my patriotism. From here it can have, and for me does have multiple meanings. The fact that the ends of the flags are tattered and torn symbolize first that our flag is still flying even after all it has been through. Kind of on the same line of thinking but a slightly different take, the tears symbolize that our country is falling apart and has seen better days. It can be mended though, and I hope that it will be. Regardless I wear the colors proudly. That about sums it up. Hope I have answered any questions anyone might have about my tattoo.

Tom's Shoes

I just received my first pair of Tom's shoes, and I am very happy with them. I wasn't sure how I would feel once I saw them in person but I am nothing but pleased. I got the burlap ones due partly to the fact that I have lots of brown and other earthy colored clothing. Also I like the natural material, which I believe is the way they make all of their shoes. They are a bit of a hippie corporation which is right up my ally. I think this is such a good cause too. For every pair that is purchased the corporation gives a pair to a child in need. Straight up, one for one. I am definitely going to be buying some more in the future! If anyone is interested in purchasing a pair you can use the promo code "ShareTOMS" and get five dollars off of your purchase. Go to Tom's Shoes and take a look at the many styles they have to offer. I hope that some people will take advantage of this!

Number One Sponsor

Hey hey I am the number one sponsor on Island2012. When Casey decided to abandon the banner "million dollar home page" idea and went back to the 1-100 sponsor bracket I figured... what the heck it is only a dollar a month. That is what, 1,200 dollars in a lifetime; a very long lifetime at that. Realistically my dollar a month is going to do virtually nothing to help buy an island, but hey, I will still have rights to it if it really does materialize. Besides all of that I am inevitably connected to the community through comments on the blog and the fact that I actually know Casey in real life. So I pay a minuscule "sponsorship" fee, and I get some extra traffic on my personal blog (which I actually didn't even really think about until I saw my link up on Island2012). Now I just have to get motivated to once again post on a semi regular basis.

Come on Casey

Let me just start off by saying I am not trying to be a hater. I would love to see you succeed at this island project, who wouldn't want to have a friend who owns their own island. I even think it is remotely possible, with a LOT of work. Now what I have to say is that I am losing "faith" very quickly. It seems like you are pulling back on this project. You don't seem to be as motivated as you first were. I don't think your "island time" work ethic is going to work. At least not for an island2012 project. You are contradicting yourself by putting such a short time frame on the project but then saying "its all good it will happen on it's own." If you want it to happen by 2012 it is going to take a lot of hard work on your part. Also I don't believe the whole offline/online separation you are creating is healthy for the project. You may be networking and working on different angles behind the scenes but you need to share that with the online community. Right now the online community thinks you are doing nothing, and they are a big part of your audience with the potential of being a HUGE audience, don't neglect them. Again I would really love to see this happen, and believe me I would love to come to the island and drink a long island ice tea on the beach. Make this thing happen bro.

No Such Thing as Normal

What do you consider normal? It is hard to pin down, isn't it? I guess you could go with the majority as "normal" but the majority could just as easily be abnormal. I can think of some things that I believe to be normal, like going to school, but in some places that is not even an option in life and therefore by the majority rule is not normal. So in one case a specific task is considered normal and in another it is not. So then which one is really normal? They cannot both be normal. The only thing I can come up with is there is no such thing as normal. At least not in the absolute sense. Normality is shifting and subjective to the situation. If there is not an absolute normality I have to believe there is really no such thing as normality.