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A Portal Into My RealmEnter, and journey with me ... |
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March 29 A Rough StartI just made it into Franklin, North Carolina 3 hours ago. I've had to change out my hiking shoes/boots already due to the heels of my feet being tore up. It's been wet and cold the last 5 days, but everything is starting to look up! I'm making this post before all my calls and e-mails so that I may not have to over explain everything each time. I will be here today and tomorrow, then hit the Trail back up. This should give my feet ample time to heal (maybe) and continue northward at a decent pace. I miss everyone of you dearly, and will speak to you as soon as I can. I will buy a pre-paid cell phone just to keep in touch. Pictures will have to wait until I feel like uploading them, though!
 People I've met on Trail already: Skip, Snuggles, Richard, Mr. Ed & Lightweight, Baltimore Jack, The Dude, Joe Kickass, Turtle, Pickle, Trusty, Moose, Monkey Wrench, Skunk Ape, Romeo & Juliet, Hot Feet, Chupacabra, Phil, Ken, Ron Haven, Miss Janet & on & on & on it goes! BTW, my Trail name is Tapeworm.Peace until next time.
March 01 One more countdown
So, I sit here with only 17 days before one more effort to complete the whole Appalachian Trail in one shot. The saying is "The 3rd time is the charm." Let's hope that I can complete this. I have my doubts and I have my hopes, so maybe I can meet them somewhere in-between. My house is no longer semi-vacant, and I have a cash flow for the first time ever. Things tend to be getting better, so I'm just waiting for the smaller storms to finish out. So, check out www.whiteblaze.net in the meantime to get an idea of the Trail, and maybe I'll see a few of you out there? Otherwise, you might be locked down in a boring job and planning some great adventure yourself! Here's to your dreams out there! February 18 Chat with me!So, Yahoo! has a new feature which allows you, the visitor, to chat with me via this blog anytime that I am on my Yahoo! Messenger! Isn't that just farking awesome? So, if you visit this, and want to chat with me, let's try this out!
February 16 The Pre-CalmAs with any Tempest, there is a lull in the storm, as it recedes in it's final throes. There will occasionally be a smattering of rain, as the storm fades, and dissolves to a memory. The memory will remain for a quiet time, but as all things, will fade in time itself. Even after the memory of the Tempest has faded, there will come a time on a most spectacular day that you will remember that you had suffered so much to enjoy what you have now. Either that, or on a most common day, when smaller storms seem to batter you, that you will come to a realization that you have survived much worse; and with that, your little clouds will seem like a speck of dust laying on a dusted counter-top.
As for Tests of Life, there is no Pass-Fail, just a common reoccurence of lessons unlearned, until they have been understood and you are able to move on to the next lesson. It's a common, glorious, often times forgotten fact of life that everything comes 'round again. When it does, though, who says we have to be standing in the same spot? Why, to do so would be death by complacency. I suggest, when those trials & joys of life come back round to you, that you can see them from either a lower perspective, or a much higher one!
Seize the chances as they come, do not force them. To force things is to imply we have power, although powerless. To realize the chance, and seize it then, now that is the true power! I have had many chances to be extremely happy or extremely remorseful. I have, by seizing or letting go certain chances, become stuck in a middle road that is border line complacency. When the time came to take the love of my life in my arms, instead of just letting her go.... I did not seize that chance and may never get that chance again. When I could have chosen to accomplish the needs of my being, I sacrificed them to another's needs, and have been left unfulfilled.
Now, I have to accept the choices I have made, and the choices left unmade. I accept them with no complaints, only a better understanding of what I have and have not done. A man that has taught me more than he knows once told me, "You just have to keep yourself interesting." I didn't know how to take the advice, as it didn't seem to fit in the conversation at the time. It just goes to show how little we pay attention to ourselves and others, as now I know what he meant. Correcting course always seems like a good idea. I think this time I will do just that. August 22 When it Rains it Pours"Life never gives us what we want, but what we need."
"What we need is never easier than the things we we want;
but will fulfill us more if we survive the test
of necessity."
So, once again, here I am staring down the gauntlet of life and her tests of endurance and fortitude. This time, I don't rush in headlong as I have been known to do in past tests. This time... I tremble before the magnitude of it all; not in humility, no, as that will come in another test. See, this test is not like the past ones, nor will it be like the future ones. This Test, as it shall forever be known, is an amalgamation of my past tests, and my future tests. It is a study to see how much I have learned so far, and a glimpse of what I might be capable in the long run.
This, you may say, is the Test of my life. The most important one that has been, and surely the most important one to come. Why is this Test so important? Mainly because it has me on a crossroads that if I choose wrong this time, I will never have another chance, in any form, to make up if I choose wrong.
Trembling... I make my way towards that gauntlet. I stand before this Test, and with a mental shudder, I step right into the mix of things... Thank you all for visiting. Please feel free to sign my guestbook or ask me any questions. |
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