Civil War

“Inside of me lives a civil war between me and me. It is amazing, because I am all the time winning and all the time losing.”

– Bshayer F.R

Outlive The Bastards

So get out there and hunt and fish and mess around with your friends, ramble out yonder and explore the forests, climb the mountains, bag the peaks, run the rivers, breathe deep of that yet sweet and lucid air, sit quietly for a while and contemplate the precious stillness, the lovely, mysterious, and awesome space. Enjoy yourselves, keep your brain in your head and your head firmly attached to the body, the body active and alive, and I promise you this much; I promise you this one sweet victory over our enemies, over those desk-bound men and women with their hearts in a safe deposit box, and their eyes hypnotized by desk calculators. I promise you this; You will outlive the bastards.” – Edward Abbey

Changin’

“Well, I’ve been afraid of changin’
‘Cause I’ve built my life around you
But time makes you bolder
Even children get older
And I’m getting older too
Climb a mountain and turn around…”

-Landslide, Fleetwood Mac

Man Alive

Madness does not come by breaking out, but by giving in; By settling down in some dirty, little, self-repeating circle of ideas; by being tamed.

– G.K. Chesterton, Man Alive

Dead or Alive

“Try to learn to breathe deeply, really to taste food when you eat, and when you sleep, really to sleep. Try as much as possible to be wholly alive with all your might, and when you laugh, laugh like hell. And when you get angry, get good and angry. Try to be alive. You will be dead soon enough.”

— Ernest Hemingway

Never Too Late

“For what it’s worth: it’s never too late to be whoever you want to be. There’s no time limit, start whenever you want. You can change or stay the same, there are no rules to this thing. We can make the best or the worst of it. I hope you make the best of it. I hope you see things that startle you. I hope you feel things you never felt before. I hope you meet people who have a different point of view. I hope you live a life you’re proud of, and if you find that you’re not, I hope you have the strength to start all over again.”

— The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

Roughing It

Why do people consider getting outside and into nature as “roughing it”?

Here in the city and in the suburbs are chaotic. The traffic, the hassles, the deadlines and the noise are unbearable.

The most enjoyable, peaceful times one can have are outdoors and even away from the city.

One of my favorite memories includes a weekend in a lakeside cabin, a borrowed Hemingway novel and no expectations.

“Three months of camp life on Lake Tahoe would restore an Egyptian mummy to his pristine vigor, and give him an appetite like an alligator.” – Mark Twain, Roughing It

Another memory included thin, crisp, clean evenings on a mountain range

Not very rough at all.