Religion

To write or not to write?

Once again, it’s about 11 p.m., and I’m mulling whether to post a blog entry or continue studying Spanish until about midnight or 12:30 p.m., when I usually drag my keister to bed.  Lately I’ve decided to forego blogging in the interest of learning Spanish, an endeavor I am thoroughly enjoying.  Tonight I decided to take a break and blog for a change.  So what should I write about tonight?  What could I write that would be remotely interesting that I haven’t written about in the past?  Would you care, Dear Reader?  Another blogger I knew in Seoul mentioned that she doesn’t blog unless she has something noteworthy to share.  More recently, I met a colleague here in Virginia who told me that he once had a blog but quit because he didn’t have time to maintain it.
 
Many bloggers face an ongoing dilemma, particularly those who are busy and/or have been writing their blogs for a long time.  Blogging requires updates, and good blogging means that you should write something your audience actually wants to read.  I’ve struggled with this dilemma lately, because I’ve been writing World Adventurers for almost 2.5 years and haven’t had much time to blog.  I come up with new blog topics almost daily, but I forget to recall them when it comes time to blog.  I suppose that lately I’ve decided not to blog because I did not want to force myself to come up with something less than riveting to share.  Tonight I decided to share this dilemma on the off chance that you would curious as to why I haven’t written much lately.  There are many things I would like to share, deeper thoughts about life, love, happiness, and a bunch of topics related to technology, investing, and travel, among others.  Unfortunately, I never have more than about half an hour to spew forth these thoughts on this blog.  I thought that four months in the U.S. would give me a reprieve from the treadmill of life, but language study has sopped up most of my downtime.  I’ll continue to write as much as I can and choose topics that I can turn into condensd soundbites and infomercials.

Burn calories, not gas

We arrived in Washington, D.C. without motorized vehicle in tow.  The car we shipped to Korea is now on a ship in the Pacific Ocean bound for a U.S. port where it will sit for three months until it heads by ship once again to Paraguay.  We explored the option of taking it out of storage to use during our four-month tenure in the United States, but we were told that the cost will only be covered for a single destination.  If we wanted to divert the car from its journey to Paraguay, we could do so, but we would have to cover the cost to ship it again from Washington to Paraguay.  We didn’t even check to see how much that would cost–most likely astronomical. 
 
So now we’re hoofing it here in Virginia, so to speak. Although a shuttle runs from our apartment complex directly to work, for the most part we’re on our own.  Ironically, our former neighbors in Seoul are now living in the same complex, and once again they’re graciously offering to let us use their car, just as they did when we first arrived in Korea.  I appreciate the gesture but feel a bit awkward following them around the world and using their automobile.  Nah, I’ve adopted a "feet first" philosophy here.  When possible, I shall walk.  The weather hasn’t been so good (it snowed yesterday), so our movements are a bit restricted, but I did manage to find out that our apartment is one hour and 15 minutes from work while dressed in business casual and carrying about 40 pounds. 
 
Without a vehicle we sacrifice some mobility and need to be more flexible and strategic when planning ahead, but we make up for this by burning more calories, burning less gasoline (Conservatives, read "save money," liberals, read "help the environment"), and reducing our automobile budget, particularly maintenance.  It’s a win-win proposition.  We need a car in Paraguay, and we needed a car while living in Seoul, but Washington is a pedestrian-friendly city.  Whether it’s the Metro, the bus system, or a relatively straightforward grid design, Washington makes it easier to eliminate the need for an automobile.  It would be easier if we lived near a Metro station, but our apartment’s shuttle system is more than adequate.  That’s fine–I’d rather walk.

Time, strength and money

It snowed today in Washington.  It was a good day to reflect on something other than my never-ending to-do list, so I pondered three things that people are often preoccupied with, time, money, and strength.  When you’re young, you have plenty of time and strength but no money.  This is my son’s case.  When you’re in your prime years, you tend to have money and strength but no time.  That’s me.  When you’re in your twilight years, you have time and hopefully have money, but you often don’t have strength.  That’s my grandmother, whom I visited in Montana a few weeks ago.  She is in her mid-90’s and wheelchair-bound.  It would be nice to have more of all three in order to enjoy life more.  Sometimes we trade one or more of these for the other; for example, we sometimes pay someone to do a task for us to buy us some more time.  Or we let our strength escape us because we are so focused on making money that we have no time for strength.  Or we spend so much time on other pursuits that we end up broke and/or without strength.  I think a balance between all three is best.
 
Blog Notes:  I didn’t really have time to write this tonight, and it isn’t one of my finest entries, but I am determined to make time to blog.  If we don’t take the time to do what we want to do that will help us enjoy life, what makes life worth living?