coldhearted scientist وداد

My friend from elementary school is starting to hike the John Muir Trail today, and Jonathan Mayhew is in Barcelona, and I envy both locations.

Regular presence in locations of interest is the main thing I have renounced and it was not worth it, Rebecca. I did not know in graduate school what the situation would be if one did not have one of the very best jobs, but it became clear soon afterwards — although everyone said one should not look at reality directly since it “could not be true” because it “should not be true.” But I saw it, and acting against what I knew was violent.

All my plans — the first was to get a job in business in Los Angeles, which had jobs and affordable housing back then, and study Near Eastern Studies at UCLA, so as to get on track for jobs with international organisms, were good — very good.  But most people do not have such good ideas, and they claim to know more than one does oneself, and one is pushed and pushed to keep trying and trying on this little track, how can you abandon us.

Verden var ung og grøn og saftig, og man lad alle forår gå til spilde. Og det var sent nu. Many faculty still resemble the teacher in Scherfig’s novel, and many graduate students still seek to emulate that person. Or are his flip side, which is just as bad.

Men det er sent nu, it is late now and I am writing these books — which I was never against writing, but was only against sacrificing a whole life to write. But that is done now, and this is just what I had to say today, to clear my mind of dreams. Here is a hike I have made; you start to hear sound after the first minute or so of the video: water over stones, footsteps.

I keep saying I will find a way to take an August trip to the Sierra Nevada. Flying with camping equipment and then renting a car seems daunting, and I think driving is the answer. The good route be the old 66: Austin, Albuquerque, Flagstaff, and into California at Needles. Then up 395, into the Sierra from the Eastern side.

I could come out of the mountains to Santa Barbara, and visit the Channel Islands. Then I could go down the coast all the way to the border, starting East on the 8 rather than the 10, so as to go to Casa Grande. From there it would be Big Bend, the missions in San Antonio, the Ménil Collection in Houston, and home.

I should create a budget for this. If it cost $100/day and took 20 days, that would be $2000. One could compare this to a two-week flying voyage to San Francisco and environs: $500 to fly, $500 for rent for a week, $500 for a rental car part of the time and for other expenses, and $500 of random cash because somehow money always does go in the Bay Area.

For $2000 I could also spend a month in Mexico City, flying, renting an apartment, and spending $25 a day otherwise. If this odyssey really can be done in 20 days at $100/day, it is comparable. If I grade the AP examination, I will earn almost $2000.

Axé.