Vagabonding begins!

Only 4 years left to go…

Using their highly accurate and intricate calendar, the Mayans predicted 2012 to be the end of civilization.

I can see them now…the chiefs sitting around in their elaborate head dressings, scratching their heads and trying to figure out how to keep their highly intricate calendar running past the year 2012. Eventually they threw in the towel, decided to declare it Doomsday since the math wouldn’t work, and went off to play with their human sacrifices some more.

Their calendar is only off by minutes a year, where our Gregorian calendar is off nearly 6 hours every solar year. Hence the need to add an extra day every 4 years.

Interestingly, on the winter solstice of 2012, the sun will be aligned directly with the center of the Milky Way galaxy, the first time in 26,000 years. Maybe they WERE on to something after all? Either way, I’ll be ready to retire in 4 years.

The Chinese and Hebrews have it even worse than we do. They have to add a full month every 4 years to keep things on track. Good thing they weren’t the ones predicting Doomsday for me. Actually, to give the Chinese credit, their famed book the I-Ching, which is used for making predictions and decisions, actually has 2012 as a termination point as well. An interesting coincidence.

Well, since I’ve only got 4 years to do something with my life and to make something of myself, I need to get busy…..and I have just the plan!

I ran into a friend at a pub tonight, and she asked how my writing was going.

I told her that it was going great, other than the fact that I make somewhere in the vicinity of .25 cents an hour. Mind you, that isn’t exactly the way to impress a woman in my home town. Sadly, at the moment, it isn’t much of a stretch either.

Considering I spend around 12 hours a day developing my carpal tunnel and future need for glasses, I earn around US $3 a day….almost enough to buy one Big Mac (shudder) a month. Almost, but not quite. The recent nosedive (even more than before) of my beloved dollar makes matters even worse.

To compare, on my first trip to Thailand I was getting over 40 Baht to a dollar. Last year in December, I only got 32 Baht. Now, with the current trend, I predict that I will only get 25 Baht to a dollar on my next trip there. That means that a bungalow which cost me $10 a night before, will set me back around $17 now. Multiply that by sleeping there 30+ nights. Ouch!

Other than sitting in the dark to save electricity and recycling my bath water as “gray water” to boil and drink (bleh), I have to get creative with the few funds that the internet reluctantly sends my way.

Thank God for craigslist.org. I am in the process of selling my old laptop on there to raise some ticket money. The best part is, that unlike Ebay, its free, there is no shipping, and evil corporations have yet to pollute it with their uninhibited marketing filth. I highly recommend using it to turn clutter into travel money.

I hesitate to call this dribble “art” but I am going to be starving soon. That means I’m half way to being a starving artist…..my mom would be proud.

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