reflections on this year

right around this time last year, i was sitting in a laundromat on a bright, clear, chilly afternoon in colorado waiting for my laundry to finish drying. the year before that, i was in my brand new car driving a hundred miles an hour through the desert in west texas. at any of those moments, i would have never believed the previous year that that was where i would be, and so it is again this year. how i ended up here is very much the same way i arrived at those moments: on a whim, with sheer hope, and blind confidence.

in a few short days, i'll be twenty eight, a disgusting age as one friend described it, and once again, i have the opportunity to go off, on a whim, and travel somewhere for a week, as my semester has finally finished. my first plan proved impossible. my backup plan is no plan at all, simply get to kenting. i don't know what's there. i don't know what the weather is like. i don't know what it will cost. and as a new feature this year, i don't speak the language. i hope tomorrow i'll know a little more about it.

fall in taipei has been beautiful, but short-lived. in that time, i've managed to let my studies slide and enjoy the city and enjoy the freedom of being a student without work. i realized today that the last time i was unemployed was nine years ago and that i had done five years of school while working. no wonder i had worn myself out. i suppose i should be thankful that houston and austin weren't any more attractive or else i'd have been a dropout for sure.

i've had quite the odyssey this year. really for the last several years. who knows when it began? am i in control or just along for the ride? i have no idea where i'll be next year, physically, spiritually, but wherever it is, this moment will be a hard act to follow.