Archive for 2010
Planning My Own Walk in the Woods
I re-kindled my love of camping in 1993. I was in the Oklahoma Army National Guard, and we were doing our annual two-week training/summer camp. That year, instead of setting up the usual big-ass tent that could house my entire platoon with our cots and all of our gear, we bivouacked, which is basically forced camping. One evening, I was sitting on the ground outside of my pup tent and reading a book, and thought that some coffee would be good. I looked through some MRE packets and found packets of instant coffee, sugar, and cocoa mix. Meal, Ready-to-Eat (MRE) packets are widely despised except by me and 3 other people in the world. When some of my army friends walked by my tent, and asked what the hell I was doing, I would tell them. They were all skeptical of the idea of an MRE mocha, but after one sip, they were hooked. By the time the sun had gone down, there were 4 or 5 people sitting around my canteen stove, drinking coffee and talking about whatever. It was great.
A couple of friends and I liked it so much, we went camping a few weeks later, and that was it. No army uniforms, roomier tents, and a huge crackling fire. No phones, no work, no noise. (To this day, whenever I claim a campsite for the weekend, I feel like a big weight has been taken off my shoulders. Cindy feels it, too.)
Anyway, we would go on small hikes during these camping weekends, and we started thinking about doing longer ones. When you start thinking about stuff like that, sooner or later you hear about the Appalachian Trail, a 2,200-mile footpath from Georgia to Maine. The AT is like Route 66 for hikers. It would take lots of time and money to hike the AT, and if I ever had plenty of one, I had none of the other. So, I put it off.
It’s been 15 years since I first started talking about hiking the Appalachian Trail. I still haven’t done it, but I still talk about it a dozen times a year. A few years ago, I read A Walk in the Woods: Rediscovering America on the Appalachian Trail
Case in point: A couple of months ago, Cindy and I were sitting on the couch, and she was reading Bryson’s book, and after reading a section about bear attacks and missing hikers, she looked up and said, “And you want to do this?!” and proceeds to read aloud the section about bear attacks and missing hikers. “Are you crazy?”
“Well, I don’t want to do that part,” I said.
I still don’t have the time or money to thru-hike the AT, but that’s okay. I don’t really have the body for it anymore for it either. I think I would be satisfied with just spending 4 to 7 days on the trail, a section of it that’s not too harsh. I want to enjoy the experience, after all.
It’s on the list for 2010.
So, I have already taken steps toward making that a reality this year. I’ll keep you updated when everything starts coming together. I can’t say much right now because I have two friends that are going and it all requires some co-ordination.
My Goals List for 2010
Okay, this is not everything I plan to work on, or towards, or do, or whatever, but it’s a fairly big chunk of mostly-little things that I would like to do this year.
- Complete 365 Days Project on Flickr
- Try 52 new fruits
- Write one novel
- Keep my blog updated
- Write one short story a month
- Lose 50 lbs.
- Get a tattoo
- Write one screenplay
- Float the Illinois River
- Hike part of the Appalachian Trail
- Start a weekly podcast
- Participate in the 5K Alien Fun Run in Roswell, New Mexico
- Make mozzarella
- Make bread
- Make beer
- Make chocolate-covered bacon
- Visit Kansas City, MO
- Visit St. Louis, MO
- Set aside time to write daily
- Join or start a writing group
- Go camping at least 6 times
- Make time to read
- Try a new wine every week
- Make a great costume for Halloween
- Stop using so many damn plastic eating utensils
- Do a better job of getting Christmas stuff together
- Make a living will
- Make pizza from scratch
- Learn a second language
- Make a pound cake
- Be more positive
- Nest at work/Create a positive working environment for myself
- Take Cindy to an elephant sanctuary
- Visit my cousin in Durant, OK
- Refinish a piece of furniture
- Go to a crawfish festival, preferably one in LA
- Save for a pick-up truck
- Take more naps
- Get more sleep/Go to bed at a reasonable time
- Create a small side business
- Hack a Magic 8 Ball
- Make a Millennium Falcon birdhouse
- Participate in Script Frenzy
- Participate in Nanowrimo
- Put quality before quantity/Fewer things, but better things
- Carry a notebook everywhere I go, and remember to use it
- Start an Emergency Fund
- Start saving more
- Contribute regularly to our Edward Jones accounts
- Do 30 minutes of cardio each day
- Complete the P90 workout program
- Do crossword and logic puzzles
- Give to charity each month
- Plant a small garden
- Start a compost bin
- Save stuff that I use at work that can be recycled and recycle it
- Visit Tiffany, Tom, and Allison in Lake Charles, LA
- Get the watch my dad didn’t wear for 30 years fixed
- Organize my finances
- Rebuild my Ghostbusters proton pack
- Ride my scooter in the Ghouls Gone Wild parade, or spend Halloween in New Orleans, LA
- Make soap
- Update my resume
- Get rid of a lot of stuff I don’t really love, use, or need
- Organize our storage unit
- Have a Charlie Brown Thanksgiving dinner with friends
- Get a membership to Art Museum
- Renew our Zoo Friends membership
- Buy our Flaming Lips Freakout tickets early
- See some roller girls in action
- Put a sports rack on the car
- Put a trailer hitch on the car
- Have turducken
- Create a vegetarian version of Thai soup
- Make som tum tacos and hot dogs
- Cook blue crab
- Make a crawfish bowl and have king cake for Mardi Gras
- Go bowling
- Increase readership of my blog
- Do something with each domain that I own
- Visit the Ruckers
- Have movie nights and dinner
- Do two charity walks
- Cheer on marathon runners with Misti
- Get a group together to cheer on the Gay Pride parade
- Keep track of the books I read this year
- Get everyone’s contact information updated and into my address book and cellphone
- Fix that hole that Hooper tried to squeeze through
- Ride with one of the local scooter clubs on a day trip
- Visit that thrift store in Enid that we keep talking about
- Get an eBook reader – either a Kindle or Nook
- Dress better
- Make something artsy-crafty and sell it
- Always carry a book to read
- Always have music or audiobook to listen to
- Learn the metric system
- Fly a kite
- Spend a day at the horse races
- Learn 3 ways to make fire
- See 4 stage productions
- Contact friends I haven’t seen in a while
- Drink more water, and avoid bottled water
- Start a vehicle repair fund
- Set-up wifi at Cindy’s parents’ house
- Learn how to fillet a fish
- Learn to play chess (and then strip chess)
- Avoid the Rapture and stop it from happening again this year
- Make some beef jerky
- Stop complaining and stop making excuses
- Actually go somewhere for our anniversary
This is not the full list. Sure, there are some big things here, but most of the items are small, easy-to-do things that I’ve thought about doing, and put off year after after because they are small, easy-to-do things. I keep thinking I’ll do them later. Then, one day, you realize you’ve been meaning to “make beef jerky” for the past 15 years.
