Date: 2008-02-20
To: View Entry
Miles today: 0.0

      I would just like to say to anyone reading this journal that I appreciate your interest in my life and my goals, however confusing they may be at this point. Your support is what will carry me to the end of this and to the beginning of something new. As part of my foundation, you ground me and guide my decisions. Sometimes I feel like the people who are most active in my life don't get the recognition they deserve, so I am taking this opportunity to express how thankful I am to have strong people in my life who can help me make my life outstanding.    Now, I apologize, but I am going to rupture the little bubble of 'nice' I just created in the last paragraph of this entry for a topic that is a bit less interesting but very important in its own right. Today I started to set up my maildrops for real. I have played with them before, as I may have mentioned in past entries, but since I was unsure about the time intervals between these drops I really couldn't do much. Today I realized that beyond oatmeal, which I don't enjoy enough to eat every morning, I don't have any other breakfast options amd I also noticed that the only thing I have for lunches is a big chunk of salami. So, if I don't figure out other things to eat I will end up A) Only eating dinner and breakfast on 11 out of the first 31 days, B) Never eating lunch and C) Not being warm since I won't have any calories to burn to produce heat. After many hours of debate on whether I should go shopping for food or not, I decided that I will go to Cub tomorrow for MORE food<--That was me being facetious. Did you catch that?! I have three HUGE boxes (ok, so maybe not huge but not too small) full of packaged meat, rice, noodles, dehydrated sauces, trail mix and Beef Jerky. Sheepishly, I admit that I was so excited about putting together great dinners I completely forgot that that isn't the only meal in the day. :P That will be remedied tomorrow. Bagels, here I come!   This afternoon I went to my elementary school. It felt so good to tell people that I used to know so well about my life and I have to say that telling people about my trip and plans made me feel very, uh, directionized... Who knew these entries would inspire such creativity? So much of the time I feel like a fish out of water and today it felt nice to be very much IN the river with the other fishes. This was the first time since High School that I realized that this trip isn't a means to an end (the end being a moment where I realize something profound about my life, of course). This trip is part of the journey to my ultimate destination and I need to stop looking at it as if it were unimportant in the grand play of my life. "You're like everybody else,    Gotta deal with what you're dealt.   You choose the story that you tell,   Blame the world don't blame yourself.   Sometimes life comes at you hard    And it's easy to let it drag you down   Yah, I get it its a mess, it's a struggle, it's a test,   But can you find a place to rest in a house of bitterness?   Just cuz it isn't what you planned don't mean it ain't what it oughta be.      Cuz it's only what you make of it, and you make it so hard on yourself."      --Little Big Town, Only What You Make Of It   I love you.Like damn, I'm from Minnesota, land of the cold airToo many mosquitoes and our fair share of egosBut like my man Sabe says, that's where my mommy staysSo if the people laugh and giggle when you tell em where you liveAnd if you know this is where you wanna raise your kidsIf you're from the Midwest and it doesn't matter whereIf you can drink tap water and breathe the airSay shhh, say shhh