GOOOOOAAAAALS.

I was looking for an old post a few weeks ago and ran across the last bullet and last paragraph of this post...

Six years later, six things crossed off the list. (Does "milking a goat" count for "milking a cow"? Yes? Then make that seven things crossed off the list.)

And let's not forget the official list which drew somewhat from the original list. Thirteen down there.

Make your list, people. Seriously. Before life gets away from you.

100 happy days: week 13.

I am totally cheating this week and next week because there are only 16 days left and I'm not doing a 2-day week as the finale. So! Behold the latest installment of the 100 happy days project...

Day 16

Day 16: when this scene greeted us from the back porch/living area/dining room of our WWOOF hosts' handbuilt stilt house in a small Karen village in northern Thailand.

Day 15

Day 15: when I got to help in the family's organic garden for the first of many days. My job was to find tiny pumpkins and cover them with fabric so that fruit flies didn't attack them. It was a detailed, tedious task - and I loved it.

Day 14

Day 14: when I finally remembered to take a photo of the family cat, Cat. We ate on the floor of the porch and Cat would wander over meowing for food, so he would be put on a loose leash. Cat could easily slip out of the leash at any time, if he wanted to, but he never did. He just waited patiently until we were done with meals. It cracked me up every single time.

Day 13

Day 13: when we got to help in the family's rice field. I think our "help" was more symbolic than anything, as we didn't really do much. But I'd been wanting to get up close and personal with rice fields since we first saw them in Hoi An. Squishing barefoot through mud doing the backbreaking work of edging the paddies was a really cool experience and I have a whole new appreciation for that little white grain now.

Day 12

Day 12: when the wife cooked instead of the husband, and we got to eat something other than veggies with chili paste. Don't get me wrong - his cooking was amazing - but hers was a little more thoughtful and creative, even with the use of just one pot, and therefore hers was more delicious to me.

Day 11

Day 11: when another volunteer made a clay elephant sculpture after we spent a few hours working on the clay hut. The work was messy and repetitive but this guy, a regular who visits from the city on weekends, sang and smiled and generally had a good time for the two hours we worked. His cheerful mood was contagious.

Day 10

Day 10: when we stumbled upon The Curry Shack after a long day of buses and windy roads, and I got to eat the most delicious khao soy curry dinner. Super spicy, freshly prepared, worth the wait.

Day 9

Day 9: when we hiked to Mae Yen waterfall and found all these magnificent trees with green bark and umbrella-like branches. I want to know what they're called...

100 happy days: week 12.

Seventh inning strettttttttccccccccccchhhhhhhhh on the 100 Happy Days project...  If we were at an Orioles game we'd be singing "Thank God I'm A Country Boy."

Day 23

Day 23: when the sky happened behind this awesome wat.

Day 22

Day 22: when we wandered through a fruit market and came upon a food cart that looked tasty. The chef didn't speak English and we had no idea how to order, so two nice Thai men at the next table helped us. "You like spicy?" they asked. We said "yes but..."  "You want normal?" they asked.  We said "um...yes." They ordered for us. The dish was still SUPER spicy but really, really good. We still have no idea what it was other than noodle soup with fish balls and a ton of spices.

Day 21

Day 21: when we made all three meals in our apartment. That was a good day.

Day 20

(no photo available)

Day 20: when we broke the key in the door lock and Patrick went all Toolman and we scrapped our plans to visit the museum so that he could fix the door and I got to catch up on blogs and pictures and reading and resting. That was also a good day.

Day 19

Day 19: when this awkward translation of "map not to scale" made me laugh out loud.

Day 18

Day 18: when the Chiang Mai Saturday flea market had everything including kitchen sinks (see bottom left).

Day 17

Day 17: when we stood ten feet from this scene with no barrier between us and them.

On being "simply" a writer.

A few months ago I joined several writing groups on LinkedIn. I did this mostly out of curiosity - some groups are travel-related, others are generally aimed at independent writers - and many of my favorite travel writers are members of these groups.

I've made a few new connections and discovered a handful of good resources from these groups but otherwise it seems to be a lot of self-promoting noise. (Like everything else on the internet?)

Recently someone posed this question in a discussion group: "Are you an author, a screenwriter, or simply a writer?" He included a link to his self-promoting blog in which he offered his self-promoting blah blah blah answer for himself and of course, a self-promoting link to his latest book.

When I read the question, I did a double-take. "Simply" a writer? Did he really type the word "simply"? Any writer reading this is probably cringing right now.

So I posted a reply: "I am a writer, but there is nothing 'simple' about it." (Since then a few people - total strangers to me in this new community - have liked my comment and another few have posted a similar retort. Zing!)

For better or worse, though, his question hung around in my head for about a week and I started to give some serious thought to why I write.

Well, not why I write - I know why. It's fun, it's creative, it's something I can truly call my own (those things are few and far between these days), it allows me to express myself without having to do that awkward social talking-to-others thing.

So I don't question why but I do question the purpose - my intended goal or outcome - of writing.

I don't write off the cuff. It doesn't matter what I'm writing about, nor does my intended audience matter - writing is a tedious, detailed process for me. Always has been. I draft, then I edit, then I edit some more, then I sleep on it, then I edit some more, then I edit one last time before "publishing". (Case in point: I've sat on this post for weeks now.) There's a bit of obsessive perfectionism to my method, but I also liken it to the athlete who studies the playback reel so that he can improve in the next game.

But why the perfectionist approach if only ten non-judging dear readers will ever see it? For whom am I trying to improve?

And how will I know if I have improved? I really like feedback, even the hard-to-hear constructive kind of feedback. I kinda need it to feel successful, actually. Would I learn guitar only to hole up in the basement and play to myself? Unlikely. Was cooking fun when it was just for me? Not really. Hell, I even looked forward to annual reviews at work, as bureaucratic and ridiculous as they were at times.  (Also known as "always".)

So apply all that to writing. You ten people are reading this blog because you want to, and that makes me want to keep doing it. But you're a pretty quiet bunch.  To get the feedback fix do I need a bigger audience? Even scarier, do I want that kind of feedback?

Everyone says I should write a book about our year-plus on the road but honestly, I can't imagine who would read it (other than me and maybe you, dear reader... unfortunately that won't pay my bills). Besides, what I have to say is already available in hundreds of blogs by like-minded travelers.

A published article here or there about a specific destination or topic would be an accomplishment, but when I consider the amount of effort it took to give my Canadian national parks road trip story away for free, I most certainly don't have time to look for paid outlets right now.

And while I have great respect for those (except for maybe that "just a writer" guy mentioned above!) who attempt novels, screenplays, television scripts - fiction writing does not appeal to me. I barely have the patience to read made-up stories anymore, let alone write one.

If you were expecting a tidy wrap up, I'm afraid this is going to be a little anticlimactic. After all this self-promoting blah blah blah I am still purposeless. Sigh.

But I will keep at it. Maybe the answer will come to me someday.

A lot of you (ten) dear readers write. Why do you do it?

100 happy days: week 11.

Getting soooooo close to the finish line with this 100 happy days project...

Day 30

Day 30: when we ran across this hand-lettered sign in Pak Beng.  There's just something nostalgic about hand-lettered signs.

Day 29

Day 29: when nine hours on the Mekong proved to be worth the time and cost.  I didn't even multi-task for the most part - I just stared at the scenery.

Day 28

Day 28: when this bus got us to Thailand.  Finally!

Day 27

Day 27: when we saw a billion decked-out elephants at an otherwise overly-decorated wat. It was a pretty wat, but as my mom would say, it was "busy."  The elephants, on the other hand, were mostly white with just a little embellishment and they all looked really happy to be there.

Day 26

Day 26: when I realized I'd just spent the last three months in communist countries where abstract art was rarely seen.  (Pictured: sculpted hands in hell at the White Temple.  The detail in this whole section was amazing - note the red fingernail!)

Day 25

Day 25: when we ran across a communal line-dancing party at the Saturday night market in Chiang Rai.  Wats and museums and ruins are all well and good, but scenes like this make me so happy to be traveling.

Day 24

Day 24: when I was wandering through the Chiang Mai Sunday night market on my own, and I ran across what appeared to be a Junior Star Search competition. These two were doing an amazingly awesome imitation of the dance scene from Pulp Fiction (with different music, and I'm sure that's not what they were imitating).

100 happy days: week 10.

Coming closer to the finish line on this 100 happy days project... This week featured lots of critters. Critters make me happy.

Day 37

Day 37: when we mustered the energy to walk down the muddy road and across the ugly concrete bridge to see the lovely views of Nong Khiaw. One of the remote places we've been (and probably one of the most remote places we care to go in SE Asia) - but absolutely gorgeous.

Day 36

Day 36: when food sounded appealing again.

Day 35

Day 35: when I was joined on the balcony by this fascinating (and surprisingly big) leaf-like bug. He let me touch him briefly, and he actually felt like a leaf!

Day 34

Day 34: when Patrick got a photo of this little guy in our bungalow. Nong Khiaw is crawling with geckos and they make the funniest croaking noises - it's almost like they're saying "OH-kay, OH-kay." I had no idea.

Day 33

Day 33: when we waded through dozens of butterflies on the way to the other cave. We got some video of it too.

Day 32

Day 32: when I coaxed this guy (gal?) onto my finger and he (she?) just sat there for 5 minutes, probably licking the salt off my hand. So pretty.

Day 31

Day 31: when we found a restaurant that only had three things on the menu. THREE things! It was heaven. I cannot wait to get back to the States and not make a decision for at least a month...