About miandering
If you were to throw up your hands in exasperation and yell "it's the story of my life," what would you be talking about?
It would involve getting something I didn't want and/or not getting something I did want. The jury's still out on the getting-what-I-need part.
Besides SMITH, I read stories at:
thisamericanlife.org. OK, that's not reading, but truth be told, I listen to more stories than I read. Ira Glass rocks my world. Also, I've somewhat belatedly become a fan of The Moth. Am currently loving the podcast.
In bed I like to read:
but only sometimes.
My favorite story of all time is:
impossible to choose, but the other day I was thinking that 'A Fine Balance' might be the best novel I ever read.
Right now, I'm reading:
'The River's Tale: A Year on the Mekong' by Edward Gargan (because that's where I am, though it hasn't been a year yet).
My Stories
- Overcame phobia. Snorkeled first time. Magical!
- Indonesia: where funerals are tourist attractions.
- Blood, guts, gore: Torajan funeral.
- Many rituals involve animal sacrifice. Shudder.
- So much Indonesia, so little time.
- Leaving Bali behind. Starting travel anew.
- Amazingly appreciative of walking normally again.
- Temples, tourists, ceremonies, tourists, beauty, tourists.
- Bali magical as touristy can be.
- Lost two(+) months to slippery floor.
- Turning doing nothing into an art.
- Bali-bound. But I'm no Elizabeth Gilbert.
- Rainforest lesson #1: rainforest equals rain.
- Borneo-bound. Rainforest world music festival awaits.
- Island idyll. Bored. Grumpy. Only me.
- Sleeping late makes the days shorter.
- Astonishingly adroit at doing absolutely nothing.
- Incapacitation yields overabundance of sixes. Sorry.
- Another hospital, another cast. Plus crutches.
- Hoping immobility forces me to write.
- Kindness of strangers now a necessity.
- Calm, cool, collected...maybe next time.
- Malaysian hospitality unmatched. Hospital? Sadly sub-par.
- Handled crisis with no equanimity whatsoever.
- Downed in one fell slip. Ouch.
- Wet flip-flops. Shiny linoleum. Bad combination.
- Best Indian food outside India. Mmmmmm.
- Loving laid-back Melaka despite partial Disnification.
- Kuala Lumpur: skyscrapers, shopping malls, skyscraper-shopping-malls.
- Only sad leaving students (‘my girls').
- Travel calls. Time to move on.
- Four months in Cambodia. Seems impossible.
- Dalat. Cool mountain air. So lovely!
- Visa expired again. Another Vietnam border-run.
- Developing a strange obsession with Milo.
- Office work too much like home.
- Teaching teenage girls challenging, exhausting, rewarding.
- Found second job. More hands-on. Psyched.
- Couldn’t find perfect volunteer job. Settled.
- Remote provinces: 2weeks, 1jungle, 5waterfalls, 4books.
- Reading in hammock all day. Aaahhh.
- Senmonorom. Sanctuary for elephants. And me.
- Crammed into pickup. Bumpy dirt road.
- Ratanakiri. Trees, dogs, skin: dirt-covered everything.
- Leaves aren’t dead. It’s the dirt.
- No fever. No love. Just jungle.
- Getting too old for hard travel?
- Trekking was easier eight years back.
- Trekked through jungle thinking of sixes.
- Another country, another temporary boyfriend. Sigh.
- Riverside, countryside, seaside. Just-caught seafood. Ahhhhhh.
- Former cellphobe now queen of texting.
- Traffic. Motorbikes galore. Now with helmets!
- Computer, couchsurfers, cover bands. Goodnight, Saigon.
- Bus ON ferry. Good morning, Vietnam!
- One woman. Myriad mosquitoes. War declared.
- Hidden gems make uninspiring city worthwhile.
- So much need. Volunteer opportunities abound.
- Brutal history both unspoken and everpresent.
- Data recovered. Memory intact. Memories preserved.
- Phnom Penh. Caution: No traffic laws.
- Fearing memory loss means memories lost.
- Laptop died. Back to pen, paper.
- Financial news: Excel trounces pen, paper.
- Forty. Most seem surprised. Me too.
- Birthday: drinking and dancing with strangers.
- Angkor ruined future ruins for me.
- Might fall in love with Cambodia.
- Farewell, Laos. Back to bad beer.
- Not true love, but lovely nonetheless.
- Rushed through Laos for a boy.
- He called what we had beautiful.
- He cleaned up my vomit. Love?
- Slow boat. Wrong direction. Following boy.
- New Year's: drinking, dancing with strangers.
- With one boy. Falling for another.
- Luang Prabang Christmas with fellow non-Christian.
- Carrying bamboo for villagers makes friends.
- Ubiquitous restaurant décor: Beer Lao flags.
- Bus, ferry, Laos. Easiest border-crossing ever.
- Tourist town feels like coming home.
- Farm like family. Hard to leave.
- Not sure burning wood is permaculture...
- Filthy fingernails. But no beach tar.
- Carved bamboo chopsticks and spoon. Cool!
- Organic farm. So peaceful. Nice life.
- Ditched tourist town for organic farm.
- Thanksgiving dinner: salty-fish coconut fried rice.
- Learned the art of Thai massage.
- Freckles were cute. Age spots aren't.
- Still doing nothing. Should perhaps rethink.
- Can't seem to leave tourist town.
- Liked boy who didn't reciprocate. Figures.
- Sticky rice every day. No shit.
- Sticky rice at every meal. Yum.
- One week. Done nothing. So happy.
