the world is such a big place
camped out in panera with a stack of travel books, planning my itinerary for the next year. i feel very simple whenever i sit down to read a new book and am utterly gobsmacked by the fact that "hey....there are millions and millions of people in the world who DON'T LIVE LIKE ME." such a universal no-brainer, but it takes sitting still and quieting my mind for me to realize it.
the more i read about traveling, the more confused i am about where i want to go, when i want to go, what i want to do, how long i want to be there, etc. i mean, i know what i want (beaches, good food, meeting new people, exploring, hiking, stumbling along in a foreign language, ASIA) but there are so many possibilities. another "no duh" realization: "hey...i can do ANYTHING I WANT!"
and the more i research, the more i think i should probably see more of asia and less of australia, for budgetary reasons and because i want to go there soooooo badly. australia maybe can wait until i'm rich(er). but southeast asia.....it just makes me jittery and excited and twirly when i think about it.
also, i attended a nursing class on death and dying yesterday, and it was probably the most moving thing i've seen/heard in a long time. i'm really interested in becoming a chaplain now.....i'll be the random hippie buddhist or non-denominational chaplain. either that or a mental health counselor. i kind of feel like that's what i'm meant to do with my life. it's a curious, but nice feeling.