Bad Old Memories

The six years immediately following September 11, 2001 were not exactly the happiest time of my life. Like so many of us around the country I was taking stock of the blessings I had left after that singularly tragic day. I was alive, I had my health and a rented apartment I could get out of very quickly as I pushed "Reset" to start my life over again.

Like so many of us I looked for and took what work there was to be had, going deep in to survival mode and eschewing all previous "necessities" for the mere sake of food and shelter. I moved halfway across the country back to where family was at for moral support and rented an apartment in Central Baltimore where I would begin again making $9/hour on the graveyard shift and be happy to have that much. Cable television and Starbucks nothing; this exercise would test the definition of an "austerity program" as I learned to survive the winter largely without heat or air conditioning except on the most extreme days.

Three years after the last day I left town I'm thankfully loving life again in Texas and solidly on the road to economic and personal recovery. Yet what I find interesting is the desire to revisit some of the old places where times weren't so good, money wasn't what it could or should have been and the emotions were thin to the point of breaking. When I lived in California most of the time there was among the toughest I'd ever had to endure. A gracious landlord and cooperative creditors kept me afloat while phone calls from home and a particularly timely visit from family kept me going.

Still, many were the times standing in line at the discount grocer trying to make five dollars pay for dinner and maybe a small treat that I would see families ahead of me in line paying for their essentials with food stamps. I wondered to myself what I would do if they unknowingly dropped some of that government aid on the floor. It took some years for me to return to the Bay Area and not shudder at the thought of being there or cringe from the old feelings at seeing my former home.

Few have the opportunity to live in several different parts of the country; most tend to stay within 100 miles of where they were born and raised I would imagine. For them going to visit the old stomping grounds might be little more than going from the front to the back yard or down the street to the kid's playground. Certainly for those less fortunate it can seem that moving away from bad times and vibes is like riding the tail of a comet, fleeting and unlikely to ever happen.

I'm no psychologist yet I wonder if there is something in everyone that compels us to take stock of our lives against the places we have lived. Certainly it is quite understandable to go back to where good memories are overflowing and pouring through the floorboards but what is the macabre urge to go back and see where sadness reigned supreme?

It is perhaps not as easy as it sounds but I can say at least that for better or worse I've survived. I'm not in that place anymore.

Gotta go.

You Want MY Autograph?

By now those of us who have been blessed have had a chance to enjoy the holiday with our families and friends or enjoyed an opportunity to give back to the community in some way, shape or form. We've eaten enough to fast until February so it seems and we've decided which gifts to keep or re-gift later. Then we get tootsed up for some New Year's Eve party or just pack it all in and head to a warm bed leaving the cold and carrying on for others to deal with and recover from in the morning.

I tend to ask myself not only if I did or experienced anything special but also if there was anything particularly unique that happened, good or bad. In this case I like to think the experience was quite good indeed.

I met my first fan.

I've been a fan, many times, like me and Adam Brand pictured here. Since pre-school, though, our friends and family have supported our various pursuits, be they sports, theater, writing, musical instruments or singing and across the spectrum of talent. Some of us are now "A-Listed" at the most exclusive parties on both coasts while the rest of us indulge ourselves in pottery, painting, cooking, macramé, triathlons, fishing, bowling and golf. Some of us blog, for ourselves mostly but always with some kind of hope that it catches on, that someone out there finds us. The point is that our friends and family continue to both appreciate and encourage us be they as tone deaf or color blind as we are or truly objective and astute in critical mind and experienced eye.

I was back home on the East Coast visiting family earlier this year before the weather turned but far enough out to not seem like I had just moved home with the holidays coming up. During a casual tour around town of some of the places that meant a lot to me one way or the other I chose to stop by my old apartment building in the middle of town to visit with my former landlords who were very good and caring towards me during my six years there.
One of the two ladies is no longer at that location but the property manager, my mother and I enjoyed catching up on good times when we got around to the subject of my travels around the world. As I mentioned that I keep this blog about those experiences a new leasing agent at the property suddenly perked up.

"Oh, I've read that before!"

It was harder to determine who was more surprised, me or her. Having never met her before and thus encouraged or cajoled in to following the website, I listened with stunned excitement as she explained how she simply stumbled across my page. She was complimentary of the subject matter and the writing style and I still remained shocked in to complete slack-jawed silence. Those of you who know me are aware of how rare that is.

Out of the millions of websites, both professional and personal floating through space somebody that I did not know or target specifically found mine and enjoyed it. And I actually met one in person which is the point of this particularly unique story. To the others who have also found The Traveling Optimist I thank you for your curiosity and continued support. To my first random fan, you have re-gifted my goal in the most pleasant way possible.

Thank you and Happy New Year.

Gotta go.

The Optimist Bucket List - Item 9

I love the new Gateway desktop computer I bought last Fall. Thanks to the 23" hi-def monitor I bought with it I'm sitting here writing this and watching a movie on the same screen, combining two favorite hobbies in to one joint activity. I've always enjoyed the different worlds, real and imagined, that movies can and do take me to , from beneath the sea to the farthest planet in the farthest galaxy or perhaps to some long forgotten battle in some out of the way corner long past any further value to the rest of the world. I've been suspending my belief system with a bag of buttered popcorn as far back as I can remember, always slack-jawed and spellbound for a good story. One day after a particularly good movie the idea for a sequel came in to my head.

Never mind what the story is about, I was then and am now faced with the dilemma of having an idea with no credential, experience or training in putting it all on paper. I looked at websites, bought books and software, all the while fumbling about as best I could in piecing together my first script. How hard could it be, I asked myself in the beginning, to come up with 120 usable pages of material?

Scripts, I have discovered, are blue prints, maps as it were, in word form. Words paint the picture, create the mood and the setting and give voice to the characters resident in the mind of the writer. It has to be written down for the imagined to be realized, the vision to have substance, the musings to have meaning. Oh, and a good script requires a vessel, someone who can put their thoughts on paper first of all and in a strictly standardized format after that.

"If you're going to write, Forrester, just write," said Sean Connery in the film "Finding Forrester." Truer words were never spoke or imagined as it said to me to not worry about structure or format. Just write. Let the words, thoughts, feelings and ideas fly, it said, at any and all provocation and opportunity, the clean up process via editing can come later. Even more it said not to fret about the lack of background but rather more to fear not making the attempt - experience comes with trying.

Item 9 on the Optimist Bucket List is to realize the dream of a lifetime, for it certainly has been and feels like a lifelong pursuit. I would be thrilled beyond reason to sell my first project. To wake up and put together all of these individual pieces together at this point is truly to have come to a personal calling later than most. I know I wouldn't necessarily have scripted things this way.

Now comes the real work which, firstly, is to decide if it is harder to finish the project or get somebody to actually buy it.

Gotta go.

Smart Travel and National Geographic

Why is it so difficult to love the National Geographic Society? Most people would say that it is impossible NOT to love this global institution of journalism, nature, history and photography. They've been around a lot longer than me and certainly have done more for the world at large than I could ever accomplish. For me, though, the difficulty began with a growing sense that nearly every feature article in its flagship magazine comes with warnings about not going.

Uh..not going? How can a magazine noted for some of the most exquisite photography in the world warn travelers about the dangers of visiting a particular destination? What is the purpose of a magazine that routinely features the most exotic, long-forgotten and off-the-beaten-path locales on the planet if not to encourage willing tourists to see and experience the destination for themselves?

Three words jump out at the visitor to their website which sums up the society entirely: to explore, educate and conserve. Since its earliest inception in 1888 (!) the society has sought to understand our world, educate others about it and do its level best to ensure the treasures of nature and mankind are preserved for all to enjoy. The photography is award-winning, the journalism first-rate and the research impeccable, so what is my problem?

They don't seem to want me to go, that's the problem! Like so many around the world I rely on National Geographic to introduce me to forgotten history such as the empire of Timur the Lame or "Tamerlane" of Central Asia or the Etruscans of Italy. Pick any island or region in Greece and National Geographic will have a new article on some unique culture, empire or political movement based there. Yet with each find, with every discovery there is a caution not to tread on the precious soil.

Plants and animals have their own rhythm and are susceptible to life-threatening disruptions in foraging, mating, pollinating or recognizing threats if we disturb their daily routine. Over-fishing, poaching and land cultivation threaten stocks, ranges and the very existence of creatures the world over as wildlife competes with man for lebensraum. "Every new home, road or acre of arable land is one more defeat for Mother Nature from which she is less and less likely to recover" is the apparent message.

Civilizations old and new are not immune to the ravages of time and ignorance. Cleopatra's Needle, the obelisk at the center of Place de la Concorde in Paris is threatened by auto pollution as it stands in the middle of what has become nothing more than a traffic roundabout at the end of the Champs Elysees. Greece, Italy and Egypt are constantly unearthing ancient dwellings and artifacts and must decide how best to preserve them as they pave over their respective corners of the world in lock-step with the rest of the planet.

The ultimate for me was the amount of light pollution spoiling the night sky and blocking the view of the heavens from major urban centers. Light pollution!? What was Athens like 3000 years ago? Could a major city today take even one night out of the year burning nothing more than candles?

In the beginning world travel consisted of immigrants and conquerors. As recently as the 1950s tourism remained the playground of the rich and famous willing and able to spend days at sea, on trains and even flying to the far corners of Earth. Today few destinations on the planet cannot be reached in less than a day and for under $1000, making the work of the Society that much more critical for future generations.

There has to be a balance of some kind in preservation through smart tourism. It's not high on my list to visit the limestone canyons of Madagascar so the lemurs are fairly safe from me but I have wanted to see Samarkand and the rest of Uzbekistan since that article on Timur the Lame over 15 years ago. I'm sure the local economy would appreciate new tourism revenues as well.
I'm insatiably curious about the world around me and I'm also willing to learn how to visit a destination in as environmentally friendly a fashion as possible.


I further promise to try and leave no more than I have to behind.

Gotta go!

Why Are You Here?

Yoda asked that question of Luke Skywalker on Degoba, Khan grilled Chekhov with it on Seti Alpha V and a local asked me the same thing one fine day on my first visit to her country. Being a minority and an American I could have taken instant offense but instead I knew what she meant and smiled:

“I’ve never been to New Zealand before and wanted to see what it’s like.”

Hello and welcome to The Traveling Optimist! The idea is to explore every facet of the travel experience using my experience as a 20-year industry insider and now as a customer. While there will be views on traveling, shopping, touring and dining in unique places around the world the main focus is meeting people, interacting with their culture on their turf and sharing what I do and don't know about mine.

One of the things I hear quite often from locals is how I’ve been to places and seen things they’ve hardly ever bothered with. Nearly every visitor to England goes to Stonehenge but I was quite alone the day I went to Southampton to view the pier from which the Titanic sailed and other places of interest around the town. Other than why I’m there, however, I am more often asked what it’s like to be an American which really allows for a much longer conversation and deeper sense of understanding.

Yes, yes, nosy and suspicious people with rude manners, a fear of outsiders or nothing better to do pose this challenge all the time but so do people from all walks and in all corners who are simply not expecting visitors. Behind the audacity is perhaps a more innocent question of validation. New Zealand is not alone in seeing larger neighboring countries receive greater numbers of visitors.

“Yes, I came here on purpose.”“Good on ya, mate!”

Who needs another complaint blog, although a few posts like that on here are inevitable. Join me every Monday, Wednesday and Friday at 8AM Central Standard Time for new posts in an ongoing journey of personal enrichment and discovery on this floating boulder we call Earth.

Thank you, stay tuned, and look for my first post on Friday, July 10th, 2009.


Gotta Go!