Where the river meets the sea

Three weeks ago I woke up at 6:30 to climb the massive Kirrar Sandblow with my Fraser Island tour group.
Today I woke up at 6:30 to take the train into the city and make some promos. 
These two events need to have something more in common then an alarm clock.

This was my first week back in the city, and I f'ing hated it. Hard.  I want to throw a basketball in this week's face.  Not the job. That part is always good..the work, the people, the cash and the fact that it EXISTS.  It's life in New York City that I want to murder right now. Must it always smell like this? Does the line for the good salad place have to be that long at lunch?  Do I always need to get somewhere fast?  And if I do, does every single person in front of me have to be competing in the slowest walker race?!

One day this week in my post vacation depression, I took three naps and ate Doritos in between each one. Who eats Doritos anymore?! A particularly awful commute caused me to connect three random world events-record high temperatures in New York City, Sarah Palin, and probably dogs wearing clothes (because I really don't like that) and realized the world was probably going to end next week. Naturally, I texted my best friend Andrew to give him the bad news.

"You know it's over, right?  The world?"
"Duh. Of course."
"So I probably shouldn't have any babies, right?  Because that wouldn't be fair?"
"No. You have to.  They're going to have to fix shit."
"That won't work!  The only ones who are going to survive are the 30somethings because we'll be strongest and the babies because everyone will protect them. Then what?  We let the babies run the government! I'm not voting for a baby president!"
"Well, they're going to have to grow up quick!"
"And also, if the endtimes are upon us,  I ain't dying from a knife wound during a food shortage riot in Manhattan.  I want to be swept away by a gigantic wave in Australia like Tea Leoni in 'Deep Impact'. 

You know...really useful and accurate thinking like that.  

Here's the truth.  I'm a Big Brat Baby  I want to be on vacation forever. I don't want to be a total cornball drinking rum runners everyday in some bedazzled resort wear. Nor do I want to be some douche climbing every mountain just so I can tell everyone at home I had.

Here's what I want everyday...  I want to talk to weird-ass, awesome people whose only shared interest is in climbing a mountain sized sand dune.  When you get to know the details of a total stranger's life from that perspective, you realize that each one of us is just as special as the view from the top of a dune.  

Youngo from South Korea  thought it was completely hilarious to grab my personal journal one night and say, "what is this?  What are you writing?!"  And she was right.

Maria and Christian from Norway were traveling around the world at 18, because they are awesome and i guess Norweigans have some prunes.  I would never have done that shit at 18!

Pascal from Switzerland is totally crush-able, and in another life I would have asked him out on a date.  And by another life, I mean another age because I'm pretty sure I'm old enough to be his professor.  Or at the very least, the cool chaperone on a class trip.  

Fraser Island is kinda like Earth Science class. Lots of talk about fresh water tables and dingoes and ecosystems.  Blah blah.  But you can actually see the fresh water from Lake Mackenzie flow into the ocean right here.  And when you see it, you tap every shoulder around you and say, "Holy shit! Do you see that?!" It all connects and we're connected to it. On vacation, you actually see this.  At home, you forget.

Every single person on this planet is funny and gross, weird and nice, mean and lonely...all at the same time. And when you're doing extended travel like this, that is the major topic of conversation everyday. That is something I've never been able to achieve in New York City, and something I really can't live without now.  I certainly have a select group of awesome friends here whom I can do this with, and there are no words for my family.  But I want MORE. I want to walk into every situation no matter where I am, totally open and ready to climb a sand dune with anyone else who is down.

And honestly, is New York City any less amazing than a sand dune? No.  In fact, I'd say it's better. Because there's pizza.

So that's the goal, folks.  I want to be on vacation everyday, even in New York City.  I want to do new shit and meet new people and talk about new things. I'm going to try really, really hard.

Because when the endtimes come and I'm casting my vote for President Big Brat Baby, that will be the only thing that mattered.