What's this all about?

           Too many times, I've heard my friends bemoan their place in life, as if they were powerless to affect where they lived and what their lives were like. This kind of hopelessness has become common in our society. We have allowed our lives to become so automated, so dependent on outside order and influence, that we forget how the world works. We forget that each of us was born to adapt- that we are designed to live and thrive in a wide range of environments. Not only do people dull their minds by allowing themselves only one kind of lifestyle, they actually believe that anyone living outside of that social paradigm must be a failure.

            These are the same people who always feel bored. The kind that think the world is generally unfit for a lone traveler, and use their age, gender, or perceived obligations as an excuse. The kind of people who dream of adventure and then sedate themselves with the the vicarious adventure of movies and books. They think the adventure has gone out of the world, that traveling is only for those with unlimited funds or dream jobs.

This is a blog to dispel those myths.

           Adventure is always there for those who truly seek it. Theres an old story:

Pythagoras was an ancient mathematician who ran a school, and one day he was washing his      clothes by the river. From the street, a boy came to him and asked to join his school. Pythagoras asked him
"Are you sure you want to learn?" The boy nodded fervently. 

"Then come out into the water."

 The boy was confused but did not dare defy him. He waded out into the water, shivering a bit at its coldness. Suddenly, Pythagoras grabbed his head and held it under the water. The boy fought and splashed, desperate to get to the surface. Pythagoras let him come up, and the boy coughed and sputtered, breathing heavily. 

"Why did you do that ‽ ‽ ‽" the boy screamed. 

Pythogras responded fiercly "When you want to learn as much as you wanted air just now, then you can come to my school!"

           Most people are so full of addictions that they  cant even imagine leaving them behind. They spend their lives working for wealth so they can get away from their work. This is not a blog about the virtues of a sedentary life: being homeless does not mean being passive.  By almost all metrics, you will be more active as a nomad than you were in your old life. If there is any kind of activity you want to get better at, you know have the time to do it.  I do not advocate a "simple life"- I advocate simplifying the superfluous parts of life. Sometimes you need to live in Babylon- I do computer research, and its very nice living in a house and going to school sometimes. But what if I decided that, for a while at least, I wanted to focus on something else?
Do I want to learn to sing? write? draw? read? dance? get fit? meditate? Hell, im in the middle of programming a complicated app for google glass and communicating with a research team.             Its all possible on the road. There is no reason to play societies silly games if your goals lie outside them- life can be much more exciting!

           This is a blog about adding color back to a grey tinted life- a boot camp that brings yourself into perspective and forces your mind to live entirely in the moment. Living as a nomad can be a jarring and occasionally uncomfortable experience, but you will grow in ways youve never imagined, and see what the world is really like.           Do you think you already know how the world really is? If youve never been homeless, then you dont. How could you know? In a normal life, all we see tends to be on the same paths, exchanging one bubble for a new one. Go to school. Go to work. Go home. Go to the store. Go to friends house. Repeat. Sometimes we take a trip somewhere new, or are introduced to a new friend. We savor those moments-  the special things that stand out form the background of sameness. Those are the things we remember. Those are the things we live for.            What if there was a way to remove all the sameness, and just leave the special things? What if it wasnt that hard to do?  What if all you needed was a backpack and your feet? How should you go about it, and whats going to happen when you do?

                                                           Thats what this blog is about.


           So what are you waiting for? Start clicking the links in the upper right to get started- the guides you see are continuously updated, and written from years of experience. Once I get packing again in a week or two, ill be updating my experiences as often as I can!