The clock is ticking away the weeks before I take off for parts both known and unknown. Well, it’s not actually ticking but it’s humming a pretty sweet tune. While preparing, I wrote out how I would measure successes and failures on my trip. After all, I may be leaving to travel but that doesn’t mean I can just slack off and drink mai tais all day.

I must have been sucked through some weird dimensional time warp at some point because when I looked at that list yesterday, I realized that my trip was already a success.

Isn't it nicer when the road to success is downhill?

Here are some of the ways my travel plans are awesome RIGHT NOW:

1. Simplification – When you get out of school, life is a cute little goldfish and it’s easy to care for, but then you shove it into bigger and bigger tanks, it eats everything in sight until it eventually turns into a big, ugly carp. I can’t keep up the fish metaphor forever, so let’s just say I’ve thrown away a lot of shit.
2. Frugal living – Last year, I stopped blowing money on stuff I never use. I’m sure Reader’s Digest is still a wonderful magazine but really, they should have lost my loyalty when they stopped sending me letters telling me I had already won a million dollars. It may have been a lie, but I used to feel like they cared.
3. Personal assessment – Prepping for extended travel gave me the incentive to look inside myself and be honest about what I wanted in my life. Amongst other things, I want to go to my grave after living a life that is extraordinary. I mean, not… you know… soon with the whole “grave” thing. But someday.
4. Getting in shape – It hasn’t been easy, but increasing my riding has finally enabled me to counteract the free snacks at work. I know, technically I still shouldn’t eat an entire bag of Oreos in one sitting but I’ve never been much for rules. Or even principles of common decency.
5. Goals & renewed sense of purpose – Setting a date and working toward something meaningful has lifted my mood tremendously, even though the final outcome is a big unknown. Mysteries are great motivators. I mean, look at Scooby Doo and the gang. They always seemed to get a kick out of traveling aimlessly and pursuing mysteries, but that might be because they were all high.
6. Connecting with old friends – Leaving Los Angeles, perhaps for many years, sparked me to catch up with people I haven’t seen in months. Facebook is great for keeping in touch with far away friends, but when it takes the place of real contact with people who live in the same town, it’s a problem. Knowing you’re going to leave is like a pleasurable form of being given 6 months to live. It’s time to catch up, to laugh about the past, even tidy up unfinished business.
7. Writing again – for fun! My first few blog posts were oozing with business-speak and CYA as though someone might get pissed if I didn’t leave myself weasel room. It was all “the outcome is most likely to be x” and “I would imagine that y might happen.” Now I can write whatever the Hell is on my mind and only worry about people telling me it sucks. And screw them, anyway.
   

   mmmm...giant donut...

If my life has improved this much just from planning to travel, then I’m looking forward to the marshmallow clouds, lollipop trees and ice cream gardens out on the road. And the virgins. There’d better be virgins.

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