I’m chilling in my room after a shower, just waiting for my hair to dry a little more before I start to get dressed. That’s a thing I wait for now, hair drying. I’ve vowed not to trim my locks until after I get back from the AT, but so far this awkward stage of growing it out long is really starting to get on my nerves.
Anyway, as the title implies, this is a spontaneous blog post. I’m not even writing in Ulysses, my word processor of choice, just writing straight into the ol’ Squarespace blog app for iPad, which has gotten marginally better, but is still pretty bad. In my constant quest to actually produce steady content, I’ve decided to try out one of my “template” blog post ideas for today. I haven’t decided on a name for this one yet, the working title is “Thinking of”. Basically, I’m going to answer five questions: Who, what, where, when, why? As in, who am I thinking of, what am I thinking of... you get it. Some of these may be a bit abstract, and I may hate this and never do it again, but here’s to variety.
##Who
Right now the person I’m thinking about most is Bill Gates. And no, it isn’t those dreamy brown eyes drawing my thoughts. He did an AMA on reddit earlier today. The whole thing is worth a read, he’s a very humble and wholesome man. But one response in particular caught my eye. This question about how he thought his life might be different if he were born into a low income family is a great question, and his response is very well put.
I benefited from having a great education - public schools through 6th grade and then a great private School (Lakeside). So there is a good chance I would never have gotten turned on to software and math the way I did and therefore not as successful.
It’s refreshing to see a famous rich person be honest about how lucky they were. People like to sling around the phrase “pull yourself up by your bootstraps”, possibly not realizing that it’s a tongue in cheek phrase, as literally pulling yourself up by your bootstraps is impossible, so the original intent of the expression was one of sarcasm.
##What
The thing on my mind most right now is, probably obviously, the Appalachian Trail. I’m re-listening to “AWOL on the Appalachian Trail”, reading blogs of people out there right now, watching videos of pack lists and trail vlogs. It’s all I can think about.
And I keep getting anxiety about my own plans and gear. Since writing my pack list post only 5 days ago, I’ve already ditched some stuff sacks in favour of a garbage bag pack liner, and I’m switching out my wall charger for something a little heavier and faster. I know logically that once I get on the trail I’ll find out what I need and don’t very quickly, but I can’t stop myself from obsessing.
##Where
Other than the AT, which I’ve decided I can’t do again since that seems like cheating, I’ve been thinking about Kamloops a lot. I don’t know if I mentioned this on the blog, but I’ve been accepted back to Thompson Rivers University! I’ll be going back in the fall and finishing my Bachelor of Arts degree. I’m not sure exactly what I want to major in yet, maybe Economics or History, but I know that I’m going to take the creative writing minor, since the end goal is still to write for a living.
##When
I can not get my mind off tomorrow, the 28th of February, because that is the day I will be done driving oil truck FOREVER! I’m so glad that I’ll be done. I know that it’s a job that my dad has done basically forever, and he likes it, and I’m thankful that he’s employed me for three years and been a great boss. But I’m just so done. I’ve mentally checked out for the last week or better, and I have no desire to ever return to this job. It’s not for me, and that’s fine. And there are plenty of people that enjoy working in the oilfield. And that’s fine too. But it was bad for my mental health and I’m so anxious to finally be done.
##Why
I wasn’t originally sure what I would do for this section. It’s kind of a wildcard section I suppose. The “why” I’m spending the most time thinking about right now is: Why do people insist on trying to force their beliefs on others? Like, I don’t understand how someone can believe that there’s an all knowing being somewhere out there that created the world, and that when they die they will be transported to this being’s home to live an external happiness. I don’t understand how anyone can think that’s true, but as long as the people who believe in that aren’t harming others, I don’t really care what they believe. I just wish everyone would just let everyone else do whatever they wanted as long as it wasn’t affecting others. Yeah, if there’s a Muslim person that’s attacking people in the streets, stop him. But that doesn’t mean that all Muslim people are going to attack people in the streets. And here’s another thought for you: Before you go preaching that we should hate all Muslims because of something a few of them did, realize that Muslim extremists are teaching their kids to hate all white people and all Christian people because of something that our ancestors did. In the end, we’re all people, just fucking chill the fuck out and let people do whatever floats their boat. Again, and I can’t believe I have to append this disclaimer, as long as it doesn’t harm or interfere with others.
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So let me know what you thought of this type of post in the comments. I haven’t decided if this would be a scheduled thing, like every second Tuesday is a “Thinking of” day, but when I get back from the trail and get into a more consistent routine, I wouldn’t be against doing something like this at set times.
Thanks for reading everyone. Have a great day!