I like to say that I started hiking in January 2014, but really, I’ve hiked long before then. Probably one of my earliest memories is of me walking somewhere in the Philippine countryside, temporarily losing sight of the adult accompanying me. The fear was so strong I had a nightmare soon after of getting lost, and I woke up crying. My first real hike was in the sixth grade, at sixth grade camp. Honestly, I don’t remember much about it…
It rained all weekend, so I spent some time with a set of Hero watercolor pencils that I have and made myself a color chart. See above. My first set of watercolor pencils was by Derwent, and it had 6 colors. It was what I could afford at the time, and they were pretty good. But this Hero set that I have has 72 watercolor pencils, and they cost about the same as a Derwent or Prismacolor 12-pack or 24-pack….
I’m aware the inauguration is today. It’s a distant event that holds little interest for me because my own little world holds my attention right now with a fierce two-handed death grip. Whoever randomly broke my windshield last week has set off a chain of events that continue to plague me. I got the new windshield installed on Monday, but the guy installing it warned me that the windshield wipers may need to be replaced or fixed soon — not…
Last Friday, I carpooled with friends to hike El Cajon Mountain, and when I got back, I saw that someone had bashed the windshield of my car. At first I thought it was a freak accident and looked around for whatever had hit my car — rocks, road debris, whatever — but I couldn’t find anything amiss. The windshield had been hit dead center, and in the middle of the rings of shattered glass was a long rectangular depression, so…
I regularly rediscover that the secret to happiness is learning to be happy with what you have. I always forget that bit of wisdom, and then I witness Life happening to other people, which reminds me all over again. It’s a challenge for most people, though; people usually want what they don’t have, and that want — it could be anything: a new car, a bigger house, a better job. They see what other people have and think to themselves,…