RTW Memories - Time To Go

(This is the 2nd post, continuing the coverage of my 50-day Round The World (RTW) trip taken between May 19 & July 7, 2009. First post is here.)

On May 19, 2009, after spending weeks doing research on things to do, places to see, packing lists and packing, travel day has finally arrived. Of course, the night before was sleepless, with last minute repacking and feeling excited/anxious. It's a good thing the flight isn't until 3 o'clock in the afternoon.

I remember waking up that day and going through the morning routine, just taking it easy. Then I started to go through the usual questions as I waited for the right time to leave. Am I bringing too much? Did I pack the right things? What time do I need to be at the airport? Is it 2 hours or 3 for international flight? Do I look goofy carrying this huge backpack? Why did I bring a backpack again? Where's my passport? Itineraries? Well, it's time to go now!

DayPic 1 - Reflective

Distracted

OK, back to regular posting from here on. Yeah yeah, I know, you heard that one before. I had a busy weekend with golf outing on Friday, fantasy football draft on Saturday, and housework on Sunday. So now I'm thinking of participating in a picture-a-day program. I'll take a picture with my iPhone and post it here daily. That would definitely make me post more frequently. We'll see how this goes.

RTW Memories - My Travel Gear

My Travel Gear
Originally uploaded by benexist

I remember taking this picture the day I was leaving on my "round the world trip" (RTW) back in May. This is the new backpack I bought to carry everything on this 50-day trip. At the time, I was undecided about what kind of luggage to haul around with me. After all, the trip was going to cover three countries (India, Thailand, and Philippines), not counting the two airport connections in Germany and Hong Kong.

I own a variety of wheeled luggage, both carry-on and check-in type. I want to be flexible and efficient in and out of hotels, airports and the many types of transport. So, I settled for a new backpack. I figure to rough it a bit and fulfill that travel stereotype of backpacking. With this decision, it was time to shop. All I was looking for was a good comfortable fit, meet the requirements for carry-on, and be big enough for my stuff. I researched online (REI, Amazon, etc.) and found many that I like, but needed to see it in person for a try out. After all, it is necessary to make sure it is the right fit and look good, too.

Apparently, I had planned to bring way too much stuff. It's a good thing the size of the bag put a limit to it, however, I still stuffed it and was very heavy to carry. In the end, the size of the bag did not meet all carry-on requirements, even though the sales guy told me there would be no problem. I had to check in the bag every time I flew. This was my fault, I should have known better and researched more thoroughly. But, I like the bag too much at this point.

This is it for now. I'll continue this story in future postings ... stay tuned.

What Now?

Uploading my Round the World trip pictures to Flickr. You can catch it on the photostream somewhere on this page. I will be posting some thoughts on the subject as things come up.

Just Keep Posting

Another reason I started this blog is to just keep busy, stay sharp, and continue to work on my writing. Knowing how to correctly write has always been a problem with me. This is probably due to not having properly learned it during my early years in school. This finally became an issue in my freshman year at IIT (Illinois Institute of Technolgy).

It was in a requisite English or Creative Writing class that I basically butchered the first writing assignment. I'm sure before the instructor finished reading, I was directed to a tutor for a quick lesson on how to write properly. I think the tutoring department was part of the English as a Second Language program. Swallowing my pride, I went for only a couple sessions. It was my stubbornness that made me think there is not much need for writing since I'm attending an engineering school . Well, how wrong was I to think this, although, eventually I did pass the class.

Writing pretty much follows you your whole life. From writing a report on experiments in school to writing a memo or email at work. To top it all off, in addition to my responsibilities at my last job, I even had the honor of writing a column (called Bengineer) for the monthly employee newsletter. It's kind of funny thinking that even with all that, I'm still struggling with my writing. So, I'll work on posting something here at least once every day and hopefully it gets easier from here.

Storm Over the Bridge

Storm Over the Bridge
Originally uploaded by benexist

This is my first blog entry from within the Flickr site, so I'm curious to see how it turns out. Obviously, since it's from Flickr, it must be about a photograph ... well, yes it is. Actually, I'm introducing a set of pictures titled Zephyr. You can see it here.

Earlier this year, May 2009, soon after my "early retirement", I went to my sister's wedding in California. I flew one way into Oakland/Alameda and rode the train back to Chicago. The original plan was to spend an extra couple days up in the Pacific Northwest to visit friends then take Amtrak's Empire Builder line back to Chicago. A couple unfortunate circumstances changed this plan to just return directly from Alameda via Amtrak's California Zephyr.

This turned out to be a good thing because, as I understand, this is one of the most scenic of the Amtrak routes (I'll have to do a comparison during future train travel adventure). Of course, it didn't disappoint. From the starting point at Emeryville, CA to the Sierra Nevada and the Rocky Mountains, I was in heaven during the 50+ hour ride. You can read more about this Amtrak route here.

The uploaded photo set here is just a sampling of the pictures I took using my iPhone. Also, for the first time, I had my new Nikon D60 DSLR with me. I'll be uploading those to Flickr in the near future, but for now they can be seen on my Facebook site.

Anyway, I almost forgot to describe the attached photo. This was taken near Burlington/Des Moines, Iowa, as the train is crossing over the Mississippi River into Illinois. The picture turned out cool once I processed it through the CameraBag app using the Helga effect. Otherwise, it was just a flat plain gray scene.

Well, I'm hoping to do another train travel adventure soon and see more of this great country.

(P.S. As far as composing the blog on Flickr, it turned out great on the Or Maybe Yesterday site as I'm doing some minor editing to this post.)

Photos

I recently added another presence on the interwebs. This time it's an account with Flickr, the photo sharing site. I've accumulated a vast number of photos on my iPhone and new DSLR camera, that I thought it's time to share more of them. I've been uploading to Facebook and Tumblr, but they are mostly shots on the fly (along with vacation photos to share with friends and family). However, the uploads to Flickr will have a little more substance to them as I continue to put some effort in creating something artistically meaty.

Anyway, somewhere on this page is a photostream gadget showing and linking to my Flickr site. Feel free to check out and let me know what you think. My Tumblr site will basically repost many of these pictures, but only of the iPhone variety.

Well, enjoy!

My Kind of Movie

I have this habit of saving movies in my DVR and forgetting about them. Last night, I decided to "clean" out my DVR and saw one, apparently, recorded back in May 2008. It's a Japanese film called Tony Takitani. At the time, I thought it was one of those Asian horror movie I was into for a while. Although, I'm not into the horror genre that much, the Asian ones have more substance than simply blood and gore. Well, I sort of took a break from seeing any kind of horror, so the movie sat there for awhile.

Since I hate to merely delete anything saved, I decided to watch Tony Takitani. Really glad I did. It's my kind of movie. It is intelligent without having to over explain. From the haunting story to the tranquil sounds and visuals. It's basically just a cool movie overall. One that speaks about how one feels, a story of being lonely and loneliness. One line from it I remember is that "loneliness is like a prison" (probably have to gather some thoughts on that one).

Anyway, I won't spoil the movie, so go find it, watch, and let's discuss. If you want to read more, go here and here. Now, let me check my DVR. I think there's something there from 6 months ago.

Is Not Making a Decision, a Decision?

I have a tendency to let things happen without making a decision on the outcome. I think this is normal with everyone. However, I'm a little more conscious of this habit lately and I can't figure out why.

I'm not sure how this relates, but in my previous job of running the day-to-day operation of 19 office buildings, I'm presented with issues where a decision has to be made all the time. I mean, all day and night, during office hours and after hours ... all the time. Fortunately, that happened to be my favorite part of the job, to rise to the occasion, to use my brain and whatever talent I have to come up with an intelligent answer. Many times the decision is right on and other times not a good one (a very small percentage, of course :)). But a decision is made in a timely manner that everyone can appreciate.

On the flip side, when presented with a non-job related question, I can't seem to come up with an answer. This happened during the time I was working, as well. A few examples are where to go to lunch, where to go after work for drinks, what to do over the weekend, etc. Is this more a social issue with me?

Now that I'm currently not working, I have all this free time to do whatever. Do I go out and take advantage of it? Absolutely not. Many of my friends have asked me to go do something with them, but I can't seem to decide either way. The only time I would go is with some additional prompting. This is not good. Although, I've caught my friends doing the same thing. A typical follow up call asking for a decision often comes down to "I'll go if you really want to" or "I was waiting for your call to decide what to do". I think this might be pretty standard with everyone.

As a point, I used to be the person who would get things going with my friends. I would also do the follow up calls. I was the fun single guy who lives in the city. It seems now that I got out of initiating contact, I don't hear from many of my friends that much. I still call them once in a awhile just to say hey, but I know we're at a different stage of our lives, so I completely understand. Probably not the point I was going with but ...

Anyway, does it mean I have to now break out of this funk so I'm not like everyone else? I probably should before this habit consumes me. The question then is, how do I merge the quick decision-making tactic I had on the job and use it full-time as a life characteristic? I'll have to work on this, to get myself to think that life is a full-time job and return to the days of being the life of the party once again.

What's It All About?

I guess this is as good a time as any to discuss what this blog is all about. It's taken me a few days to think about how to approach the write up, but I'm not convinced I have it figured out. So just like how this thing started, I may as well just get on with it.

OK, then let me start with the title. Some of you may or may not know it's the second sentence to Albert Camus's book The Stranger. Why use the second sentence? Well, the first is, "Mother died today." I can't possibly go with that, can I? I'm sure with a title like that, it would definitely be quite a shocker. That's probably the reason Camus wrote it to start a book.

(click to enlarge)

The Stranger is my all time favorite novel. I first read it as a reading assignment in high school English class back in 1982. Of the other books on the reading list, like George Orwell's 1984, J.D. Salinger's Catcher In The Rye, or Anthony Burgess's A Clockwork Orange, The Stranger was the one that left the biggest impression. I'm sure it's the embodiment of many philosophies within the novel including existensialism, nihilism, absurdism, or athiesm that leaves a moment of wonder about one's life.

The Stranger is the story of one man (Mersault) and one life. Life is presented to Mersault and instead of taking it by the horns and living a "normal" life like everyone else, the horns got him. In general, life is full of choices; however, when presented with life changing issues, Mersault does not make a decision that is expected of him. To him, a decision does not matter, one way or other, so why decide? Besides, not deciding is still a decision.

I won't discuss every point of the book, but you can learn more about it here or you can just read the book if you haven't already. It's a short read, which is probably why I've read it a couple dozen times now. But then again, I'm sure what you get out of it will be completely different than mine, as one might expect.

There is one big question in the book, regarding living a life different than what society considers "normal". Is it a life nonetheless and worth living or is it a wasted life? I think we all know the basic answer, but if you dig deeper, the answer is not so basic. To me, if you want to live a life like Mersault, you have to live in complete isolation. In that way, there is no hurt and no loss.

Back to the blog. I hope mentioning The Stranger gives a little insight as to what this is about (or are you scratching your head more?). I just want to present my thoughts, ideas, and images that convey who I am and what's going on at the moment. That's pretty much it, nothing more, no additional meaning. Because, by the time you get down to analyzing everything, there's nothing but letting life happen. However, having a record of past thoughts and be able to return to it, will be quite interesting. I'm sure each re-reading will present a totally different understanding of how I feel or, perhaps, be completely disgusted by it.

New Photos ...

... posted at 1handshots.

I shot this after a day at Lollapalooza. It's an art design in an el station wall in Chicago's south loop. I decided to keep the light underneath as part of the picture.

Picture of an el train zooming by at the same station. I didn't think I was that close to it, but this picture sure shows me to be standing a little too close.

Better Than This

So, I was at Lollapalooza yesterday. It was going to be a great time spent with friends, outdoors, downtown Chicago, drinking and listening to a variety of mostly new musical acts. This was regardless of the rain that fell all day.

I'm not big into going to concerts anymore. I liked them before, back in my 20's, to see bands who's music I was really into. This isn't about being "old" or being short and not able to see. My biggest issue is with some people who's idea of going to a concert clashes with mine. To me, going to a concert is about enjoying the music and the band's performance. If they get me to move (dance) to their songs, then it's added entertainment value.

Some people go to concerts and do things that they wouldn't do otherwise, outside the venue and day-to-day life. This is not even discussing the "illegal" stuff or moshing (although that might be illegal now in some places). I'm talking about pushing your way to the front or calling friends to join the group even when there's no room. Conversing loudly throughout the entire concert. Throwing beach balls or frisbees or sitting on shoulders, come on (I just threw in that last part as more my annoyances). I know this has been happening forever and not a big deal and will probably continue on forever. But, this is just my point about not going to concerts. When I see this, it just ruins the experience for me and I can't get into the performance.

However, as I write this, it's becoming clear this is my issue to deal with. I have to be better than this and not let these "minor" things get to me. I guess with alcohol involved it just amplifies my reaction to a point that I've become combative at times. Nothing physical, just speaking my mind.

Is my idea of being able to enjoy a show worth more than other people's behavior in having a good time. I think, it's best to just stay out of the way. Because in the long run, this doesn't really mean anything anyway.

(See more pictures of Lollapalooza at 1handshots).

"Just because I'm not saying anything, doesn't mean I'm pissed off."

Oh, I'm sure someone else said that before, but I feel that way now. Nothing more to it, just a thought. Ok, now back to our regularly scheduled program.

More Photos ...

... from 1handshots.

The above was post-worked using Cinema effect from the CameraBag app.

This was an old picture I took sometime in the early spring or late winter somewhere in downtown Chicago. Post-work using Helga from CameraBag.

Crown Fountain - Ecstacy & Agony

Do I need to explain this? It actually looks better at my tumblelog, 1handshots.

These were taken with an iPhone and tweaked using the CameraBag app's infrared effect. That's my friend Jill and Sarah on the right side of the agony photo.

Creative when Idle

I'll admit now that I've been getting more in touch with my creative side lately. Now that I have plenty of time ... idle hands as they say. One outlet of creativity and primary focus for now, is digital photography. Yes I know nothing about it, but learning as much as possible right now (I'm also learning Photoshop). Therefore, I will be posting pictures that relate to the meaning of this blog. I can't discuss what that focus is yet, but I will cover soon.

Just to get off the ground, as I did with this blog, I started posting at my tumblelog, 1handshots. It's mostly general purpose photos that I think are "good enough" to share online and only pictures taken with my iPhone. So, here's the first to get it started:

I like taking pictures of my shadow as a self portrait. I have quite a collection, maybe I'll post them here. Can you see it's me?

Instant Coffee, part 2

This is a follow up to yesterday's post.

Upon further research, it's at least good to know that I'm not the only one who drinks instant versus real brewed coffee. It seems only a few will admit it. However, to clarify my statement from the previous post, given the availability of real brewed coffee, I would drink that over instant. Instant coffee is just what I'd like to make when I want coffee at home alone.

With that said, I was able to dig up many different brands besides the usual off the shelf Maxwell House, Folger's, and Nescafe. Although, these brands may not be readily available here, but it just shows their worldwide availability. Well, here's the short list I've compiled, in no particular order:

Medaglio d'Oro (Italy)

Kenco (UK)

Carte Noire (France)

Starbucks Via (US)

Cafe Pele (Brazil) - yes the same Pele

CofiCofi (Ukraine)

... and many many more.

I will be looking to get some of these to try. Perhaps I'll discuss in the future, but not hoping to get in too deep on the subject. And, one more thing, if you want to read a review of the Starbuck's Via, here's one to read.

Instant Coffee

So, I'm doing a little research to see if other people, besides me, like drinking instant coffee.

I know outside the U.S. it is popular or readily available or, even perhaps, more marketable. When I was in Asia, more so in the Philippines, that's the only coffee to drink when in someone's house. In commercial places, of course you get your coffee from a machine and poured from a pot; this I assume to be the more familar regularly brewed coffee.

Frankly, I like instant coffee. It allows me to cut back the number of cups I drink, since it's made one cup at a time. With regular brewed coffee, I would make 6 cups (can you really brew just one cup?) Since I'm the only one here drinking, I would usually drink the whole pot.

Anyway, I'd like to try other brands of instant coffee besides Maxwell House, Folger's or Nescafe. They are the more familiar brands available off the shelf at Jewel or Dominick's. Although, I understand Folger's and Nescafe are products of Nestle. I may have to venture into the gourmet market or even imports. Starbuck's instant coffee? Haven't had it yet. Have you? What do you think?

I'll do some more digging here and get back to you.

Pictures Posting

I've just set up a Tumblr account for posting pictures taken using my iPhone. The site is called 1handshots (get it?). I'm being a little more creative there, but will link to it here from time to time.

My Current State of Existence

From time to time, I have new friends following me on facebook or other social places (see previous post here). The question as to what I'm currently doing eventually comes up. This is mostly from friends I haven't seen or heard from in awhile. Anyway, here's where I am today ...

I'm currently unemployed and taking a sabbatical from the rat race. In February 2009, I accepted a voluntary separation package offered to me from the same company I've worked for 23 years. It was an agonizing decision and given only two weeks to decide. Eventually, when the pluses and minuses were added up, it was take the money and enjoy the summer. Although, I have to say, I love that job and all the people surrounding me. The burn-out factor was there, especially, when the amount of work was getting more and more overwhelming. Also, being on call 24/7/365 didn't help. Man, I don't miss those calls at 2 in the morning.

Well, it has been about 5 months now since I left and I couldn't be happier. I've set up a couple goals during this time off. One was to do a Round the World trip and second is to learn a new skill set or get into a new venture for making a salary.

The first goal was recently completed as I've made it around the world in 50 days. Between May and July, I spent time traveling in India for two weeks, Thailand for a week, and Philippines for one month. I know, probably wasn't what you had in mind when you read "Round the World". But hey, check out the map going east to west, Chicago to New Delhi to Bangkok to Manila to Chicago is around the world. I'll be posting more about this adventure at some point. In the meantime, you can check out the pictures on my Facebook page:

Taj Mahal/Agra/New Delhi - India 2009

Fort Kochi/Alleppey/Trivandrum - India 2009

Patong/Phi Phi/Phuket - Thailand 2009

I'll update this post when the Philippines pictures are uploaded. (see update below).

Anyway, I just have to work on the second goal. All I have right now is that I love to travel, I love taking pictures, I like being creative, and I like posting on the interweb. Now if I can put all that together, I may not have to do what I did in my previous job. Any suggestion or help is greatly appreciated.

Update:

The Philippines pictures are posted (links below).

Concepcion/Cebu/Bohol - Philippines 2009

Palawan/Baguio/Corregidor - Philippines 2009