Tea, beer, some bowel movements and a lot of loneliness. (Malaysia)

Tea anyone?
I've got some time to kill, I'm here in the Cameron Highlands where its absolutley gorgeous, nothing but green wherever you turn. Unless its raining of course! That's what it has been doing for the last two days and when it does stop all you see is fog.

Luckily this morning and afternoon there was sunshine and no rain, I was able to go for a nice hike. Marlene and I met up with these two English ladies (Claire and Tara). We walked through the jungle for about 1.5 hours and then took a road towards a tea plantation. We were informed by other backpackers to hitchhike up the mountain to the plantation. So we did. We first sat at the back of this Malaysian man's truck and then got dropped off up a few minutes later. Only had enough time for us silly tourists to take some photographs in the back of a truck. Then we got picked up again by some Austrians, in 2 seperate SUV's. Marlene is Austrian so they were all like blah, blah, blah. I didn't understand a word. Anyway, we had some tea and I learned how tea is made. All I can really say is... beautiful.

If weather permits tomorrow I'm going to go for another hike on a higher elevation this time. I'm told that all the hikes around here (except the one I did today) are quite steep. However this Danish guy Anders tells me that I can go to the top of this one mountain and its all paved to the top. Bit of an easy way out, but it seems nice enough. I guess I'm a little lazy, being unemployed is a hard life you know.

Here's a few more stories...


A failed night in Kuala Lumpur

So after a day by myself off to see the Batu caves just outside of K.L. where I had to climb a horrific 275 steps (think about that one) and was greeted by cute monkeys eating everybody's food, not to mention getting startled to near death by a long line of very LOUD firecrackers inside the cave, which echoed like mad, I felt I was entitled to have a night out on the town. This was after I had walked to the KL Tower and the Petronas Twin Towers (which by the way are quite an awesome sight when you're at the base of it). In the bottom of the twin towers was a gigantic mall where I was able to find Erykah Badu's new CD, I was so thankful to find it, I've been looking for it ever since Taiwan. Quite good. I'll call it my Batu souvenir... get it... BADU and BATU... hahaha!!!

The night before Marlene and I wanted to check out K.L's night life district which it is so popular. Well that didn't happen, we didn't know exactly how to get there and all the taxis were trying to rip us off by quoting a crazy amount. We were told by our hostel recptionist that it would be cheap.

Anyway, we took the LRT to the district and we knew we had to walk about 15min before we actually hit the scene. We had a map, I had my compass... all good. Well, we got lost quite quickly. Luckily we found a couple who lived in the area, and English man who was married to a Malay woman. They were very kind and drove us there, thank God because it started to pour rain once we got into their car.

We wanted to eat some food at the pubs, but the food was way too expensive. I ate at food stall down the street. These are normally quite cheap, you pick out whatever food you want and then pay afterwards. I got 2 pieces of chicken and some rice. Normally I select like 3 or 4 different dishes. I had to pay RM7.50, normally it would cost only like RM3-4. I felt like I was ripped off, the guy was like, "oh... 2 pieces of chicken, not 1, then... 7.50!" Fine whatever its not like I agreed on a price before I chose my food, I can deal with that.

My guide book told me there was a bar called "Echo" that played acid jazz on Tuesdays, we couldn't even find the place. So we ended up going to this one place called "Four" (I think) and it was ladies night so Marlene was given 2 drink tickets for free margaritas. That was nice, but nothing for me. I've always hated stupid ladies night, what benefit do I get out of it? Anyway, Marlene was going to try and redeem both drinks at once so that I could have one, but they said one at a time. Fine. I looked at a menu and chose to have "Picor" beer which cost RM12.50, plus a 10% service tax on top of that. This is crazy expensive, normally a beer will only cost RM5-7, it was even cheaper in Melaka.

Whatever, I'm supposed to be having fun, as if I'm not going to get a beer and just sit there empty handed. I have a sip of the beer... mmmm this is so yummy. Marlene has a sip to taste as well. 2 seconds later the waiter comes with the bill and its something like RM18.60!!! How did 12.50 plus 10% come up to 18.60. It doesn't. They claim that their menu is old and these are the new prices. I tell the guy I don't want it. He panics and grabs 3 other waiters and they all come to the table and stand around. I don't think it was to intimidate me, for one thing Malaysian guys aren't very big. It was more like to show that they are concerned, or maybe they wanted to see the stupid tourist who didn't want to pay, I dunno. Anyway, another guy starts talking to me saying "so sorry, so sorry, our fault, our fault" as he's bowing to me with his hands in prayer position. The thing is though, he still wanted me to pay the whole bill. "so sorry, so sorry, our fault, please pay, please pay" If its your fault, why should I pay the whole bill you idiot? Then another guy comes along and takes the bill and says "no, no that's okay", and he walks towards the bar, all 4 other waiters follow. Marlene and I are like, what the hell is going on? I'm like "let's get out of here now". She was really hesitant because she still had another free margarita to go. Hello, I'm about to get kicked out or beaten up in a bar in Malaysia and you want your free margarita?? We left after I said it again, not in a quick hurrying motion, just a casual exit. The thing is though, I really wanted the rest of that beer, it tasted really good and I had only one sip. I would of paid the quoted price, but they just didn't get it.

We found an irish pub and we only had enough time to have one beer. We had to go to the train station by 11:30pm and didn't really know how to get there. We found it right on time, when we ran down to the platform, the train was just arriving.

Well... that's my Malaysian night on the town. Expensive and rushed.


"If you look in your Lonely Planet"

Here's just a quick rant, hope it doesn't offend anyone who uses the Lonely Planet travel guide series. Its just my own opinion.

Everyone and I mean everyone uses the Lonely planet books. Why? How did these books get so popular. I know that they're good, but they're no better than lets say the "rough guide" or the "let's go" books. Whenever backpackers are talking about a specific hostel or a great sight to see, they'll always say "its in your lonely planet".

Okay, for one thing, what makes them so sure I've got a lonely planet? Secondly, when did "lonely planet" become the new word for "travel guide". Its just like how people will always say 'xerox' instead of 'photo-copy'. Everyone always just assumes that everyone else has a frickin' lonely planet.

I've noticed that lots of people are using the "LP for Malaysia, Singpore & Brunei". Its from 2001 for crying outloud, its a little outdated, not to mention that just because it was put out in '01 doesn't mean the info was compiled in '01, its probably from late 2000. Heaven forbid when they were in the bookstore they look at the publication date, if they were smart they'd notice that they could have gotten a book that was published this year. But oh no, they've got to just grab the lonely planet, its the best!

Toilet talk
This is a popular conversation topic among backpackers. I guess its a useful and practical information session. You learn how to use the 'hose' or the 'bucket' or learn how squat, or how the flusher works, etc. However, I don't think I want to hear much more of it.

Since we're on the topic though.... (I'll be brief... get it... BRIEF!... hahaha!)
I had my first case of the runs yesterday, it was minor though. Phew!!! I was lucky enough to have toilet paper with me in my daypack. It must have been the curry bun that I ate first thing in the morning. Note to self: don't do that again.

Today was my first squatting experience, not so difficult. I had the option of using a western toilet, but I was about to take a shower anyway, so I thought I should get the practice.

It's gettin' hot in here! (Malaysia)

What a tacky title!! Anyway, its so freeking hot here, everywhere I go, the heat follows me, what's up with that? I take a shower and five minutes later I'm sticky. You go outside and its like you've walked into an oven, on slow roast, trying to make me into a nice juicy meal for a 6:30pm dinner party. I've been taking 2 showers each day, mind you this in in my hostels, where the showers aren't the best and its a big hassle. Its worth it!

My skin hates the heat. I normally get heat rashes, but I've got a prescribed cream from the doctor, however they gave me one of those tubes that everytime you open it, like a big blob leaks out, I only need a drop! Not to mention my acne is acting up. Great way to meet strangers... with a pimple staring them in the eye.

I like to sweat though, makes me feel healthy, like I'm in a sauna... relaxing. But when I only have a selection of 5 t-shirts and have only done my laundry once since I've left, its not so nice.

Gotta go... I'm in Kuala Lumpur by the way. Huge... crazy... air's polluted... but its the capital of Malaysia, how could I stay away? Hope the night life is good, I'm about to find out.

Whatchamacallit??? (Malaysia)

I'm in a city called Melaka, Malyasia. Its a very touristy town with a few sights to see, nothing totally exciting though. Tomorrow I'm off to go to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia's capital... supposed to be huge and chaotic.

I've been travelling with this girl Marlene (pro-nounced Malina) for the last couple of days, she's from Austria. Its nice to have a companion and at the same time it can get a little annoying, but no offense to her at all. Just the fact that 2 strangers thrown together are going to have a few hiccups along the way, no big deal. I love how travellers put this huge trust into each other, its because we have no one else to. Yesterday, we got a bus to Melaka together from Singapore, I didn't have any Ringgit (Malay $$) so she lent me some.

Last night we just hung out at the hostel with a bunch of other travellers and drank beer, played cards. Marlene and I are also sharing a room because they don't have dorms here. I'm sleeping on a matress on the floor though, but its quite comfortable, we were going to trade the bed today, but since I had such a great sleep last night, I don't want to jinx it. Very nice place though with a roof top garden patio (not as glamorous as it sounds). Its a Muslim owned place so we can't wear shoes or slippers at all in the whole place, but Marlene and I have been sneaking our slippers into the shower. Nor are we allowed to bring any pork or chinese food into the place.

The food here is really good, tastes a lot like Filippino food. Rice, fish, stews, etc... spoon and fork! Yesterday at this market I wanted to buy some kind of dessert type food, it took us forever to decide what to get. I finally ended up getting this brown jelly type stuff. After eating it, its something I've totally eaten before, a Filippino food. I think there's coconut and something else. Its been bugging me the whole time as to what this... whatchamacallit is! I like the way the food stall are set up here, its kinda like buffet style. You get a plate of rice and then you can choose to fill your plate with whatever food there is on the counter to offer. After you eat your meal the worker will tell you how much it costs. Generally one big plate of food costs about $1 Canadian.

Speaking of Filippinos, I didn't realize how similar we look to the Malays. Everyone keeps looking at me with this white girl and get confused. I could totally fit in if I wasn't with the whitey. Oh well. Even the language seems similar. They Selamat which is like a greeting... as in Selamat Detang meaning welcome. However in Tagalog it means thank-you. At least I think its the same spelling. I wish I could actually speak Tagalog, I've got some months ahead of me to learn before I actually get to the Philippines.

Everything's so cheap, but others say that Malaysia's so expensive compared to Thailand, Vietnam and Laos. Can't wait. Its hard not to buy stuff, because there's some really cool things but I don't have any space for them in my backpack. I did buy this wood beaded bracelet yesterday and have been wearing it on my ankle, its pretty cool but its already starting to break. I think its too small for my ankle... and wrist for that matter.

Anyway, gotta go.... this cyber cafe is less than $1 Cdn/hour, but I've got to meet Marlene, we're going to eat some more yummy food.

On My Own (Singapore, 1st of 3 visits)

So my first day by myself didn't run so smoothly. Had a couple problems with rushing, not finding a thank-you card for Mike that I purchased a few days before, money exchanging mishap... let me explain this one. I was at the airport and I gave the teller all my Taiwan NT and wanted Singapore Dollars. So she gave me all this money back and I didn't even realize that half of it was still the Taiwan NT. (They were all the color red) When I got into Singapore I pull out the red bill and they're like 'we don't accept Taiwan money you dufus'. Well no kidding, tell that to the girl sitting behing that stupid money exchange counter in Taiwan!!!

I didn't get very much sleep the night before. I was at the airport too early, I couldn't figure out how to use the stupid payphones (3 different kinds). Mastercard couldn't help me over the telephone once I finally got through to them.

Once I was in Singapore I was exhausted! I took a nap in my gross hostel, you'd figure that it would be nice seeing as though the whole is city is immaculate. The A/C wasn't on and I wanted to take a nap, I was sweating buckets. After I woke up it took forever to find an ATM, luckily it worked for me though. I ate a very expensive Burger King meal (I know, I know... why eat Burger King in Singapore... I was in a crappy mood and wanted familiarity).

I came home and wrote in my journal how shitty my day was. I was ready to sleep when one of my roomates came in. This guy Mark from Germany. We talked for quite a while, its his first time backpacking and he's totally enthusiastic about his whole trip. He's only going for 2 weeks, but has caught the travel bug and is now planning a huge trip for next year after he works and saves money. Sounds a little familiar. That's what I said when I was in Europe for my measley 2 weeks.

Later on Terry, our other roomate from London came in and well all talked until about 2:45am. We all ate durian for the first time (mine and Terry's last as well).

Before I went to bed, I couldn't help thinking... life's good, I'm doing what I totally want to be doing. A few little problems along the way ain't so bad. I'm on my own and I'll be fine.

Unemployed and Homeless (Taiwan)

I catch a taxi in less than 2 hours to catch a flight to Singapore... my thoughts are, I'll miss Taiwan. Its fun here, I've been having a blast. I'm so glad that I came here for my first international stop, I now have the courage to go out on my own.

Mike has been nothing but a great friend these past days. One day I was going to go out on my own while he was at work and he made sure that I was all prepared with a map, phone card & emergency contact #, keys, phrase book, and in the end a pick up ride from wherever I ended up. Thanks Mike!!! (For those of you who don't know Mike, we went to High school together, but then we also worked at Chapters together years ago, he left and moved on to Indigo... ironic.)

Sights I've seen:

Chiang Kai Shek Memorial Hall (in Taipei), Chiang Kai Shek's body in tomb (in Cihu).
All I know about this guy, is he basically made Taiwan what it is today by freeing it of the Japanese.

Long Shan Temple (in Taipei)
My first Budhist temple to see. I'm sure many more to come. I find it so interesting that they pray outside, in public where there's tourists taking pictures and stuff, as opposed to like the Mormon temple where the public are totally restricted.

Taroko Gorge (in Hualien)
Amazing... just amazingly beautiful. Mountains, waterfalls, dark tunnels, raw marble, marble bridges, bird shit on my shirt (well this wasn't so amazing), Pagodas, trees... just an astonishing place to see. Not only was this really cool to see, but it was an adventure riding up a winding road on the back of a scooter. Probably one of the coolest things I'll do my whole trip. I do intend to try and surpass this level of coolnees though.

Tung-Hua University (in.... Tung-Hua?)
Beautiful campass, with a little lake and cool buildings. It was a Sunday so not many students were about. We were visiting one of Mike's friends there, however she's not the best tour guide. Oh well, it was still fun.


My entertainment:

Shopping
Wow, if you need something, doesn't take long to find it. There's shops and markets EVERYWHERE! I think that every Taiwanese person owns their own shop, maybe two! If not a shop, then a food stand or restaurant. Normally there'll be a cluster of similar stores together, ie: shoes, cel phones, tailors. Creates a competitive edge I guess. In Taipei there was fancy district called Hsi Men Ding, you know, the big billboards and designer clothes, etc. Lots of CD shops where they alphabetize all the english stuff by first name, however not that many english CDs. That's ok, I'm holding myself back from buying any... however I realized there's a new Erykah Badu CD out that I really, really, really want. I just have to find it now.

Snake Eating only at the Night Maket
Yup, I did it! I had snake soup and had a tiny sip of snake wine (very stong). The snake itself didn't taste so bad, just like dull turkey and very bony. Didn't have any blood though, too expensive, I would of ran like a girl anyway if I was forced to drink the blood. Supposedly there's venom mixed in with it and you get a weird high and your body gets all warm. There's a big display box where you can choose which snake you want and then they kill it for you. Ewww.

Pubs
So we wanted to just hang out at a local bar and have a few drinks... you know. We went into one place called "Margaret" (I wonder if they were trying to spell the english word Margarita?) and were the only customers in the whole place. The two ladies there were very excited to have us though, they turned off their Chinese music and played some good ol' fashioned white music... Britany Spears!! It was the only CD they had, well actually they played the videos of Stronger, Oops... I did it again, and Lucky. They replayed it like 7 or 8 times!!!! The sad thing is I couldn't stop watching the videos and singing along. I think they finally got the hint that we didn't like Britany Spears and finally reverted back to the Chinese music.

Afterwards, we found another bar that had a live band. They played english cover songs, pretty good actually. There's a Heniken representative that gives you free prizes for ordering Heniken. I got a little money pouch, might come in handy. Mike got a little rugby ball... he loves rugby!


KTV
I think it just stands for Karaoke Television. Most interesting experience, there's tonnes of KTV's around. It's like a hotel, you go in and there's a swanky lobby with couches and a reception desk where you book a room for a certain period of time. They escort you up and inside there's leather couches and a big Karoke screen and microphones. Pick your own songs, drink some beer, eat some food at the free snack buffet and you're off to a great night of bad singing with your friends. I guess for a little $$ you can get an escort to join you and do "special favors".

English Teaching
I went to a few of Mike's English classes to keep me busy. It was actually fun to go, I learned some things about the Taiwanese culture doing so. Not to mention, I got to see Mike in action, made me think... I could do this too... hmmmm... maybe one day. Mike would always to introduce me after he did his roll call and all the student would just think I'm a new student. When Mike would tell them I'm from Canada, they got confused... "but... but... he's Asian... he's dark skinned... how can that be??" One of the words they were discussing was 'unemployed', Mike pointed at me and said that I was unemployed AND homeless. Hmmmm.... never thought of it that way, kinda weird but its true.

Yummy Chinese food... and Korean, Vietnamese and Japanese

All the food here is delicious. A lot of the Chinese food is actually quite the same than what you can find in Canada, which surprised me, just different veggies I guess. Then again, I only ate whatever Mike would order, he's learning the language and is able to pass by. Anyway, I'm sure there's a lot stuff on the menus that Mike and I have never heard of and is completely rare to find in Canada, but it sucks to try and order food you can't pronounce. Everyone always talks to me and I just turn my head to Mike. Before I left home, my friends and I were joking about asking the locals if they have "Chinese food". I don't know what I was expecting really.

Lots of bakeries everywhere... I love the bakeries.

Breakfast stands are color coded with red, yellow and orange signs.

There's a gross smell everynow that enters your nostrils and you think that its like a garbage truck driving by or maybe a dog shit in the alley or something. Nope, its "stinky tofu", don't know the Chinese name. Supposedly its really good though, must be if they cook it all the time. I guess its like how Filippinos have Tuyo fish and bagoong.

Little tidbits I've observed and learned

There's booths on the side of the road where a lady will get dressed up in a bikini or mini skirt and sell that weird stuff that makes your gums bleed. (kinda like chewing tabacco)

No shower curtains are used here, water splashes everywhere.

Its rude to leave your chopsticks standing up in your food.

Wedding rings are given at the time of marriage but are not worn in everyday life.

Its mandatory for men to give 2 years of military service.

Stray dogs everywhere... (Sonny you were right, I just never saw it). Supposedly these dogs know when to cross the street in conjunction with the stop lights, they'll normally go a few seconds before it turns green.



Hmmm... so many things I've seen but I can't remember them now. I've really got to run, my taxi is coming soon!!! Talk to you from somewhere else. Take care.

Planes, Trains and Automobiles. (Taiwan)

Planes:

One 14 hour flight from LA to Taiwan on Singapore Airlines. Much better than that stupid Air Canada flight I took. I'm so glad that through out my whole trip, I'm with Singapore Airlines. I've heard that they're good, but they surpassed my expectations. They consist of:

- Hot, wet facecloths
- A menu to choose from a variety of different meals that you can have
- Leg room wasn't amazing, but enough to stretch your legs
- The nicest staff in these cool Asian dresses
- Each chair is equipped with its own tv screen and remote
- around 35 channels, 80% are brand new movies that I don't think have even been released on DVD yet, such as Charlies Angel's 2, 2Fast 2Furious, Matrix Reloaded, Daddy Day Care, etc.
- ear phones with Dolby sound
- games, including nintendo games, I was playing like Dr. Mario and Pokemon puzzle and stuff, there was Zelda and all these other games; interactive brain games, personality quiz, etc.
- Washrooms had mouthwash, lotion, cologne, etc
- Drinking water and glasses were also provided by outside the washroom
- They give you a toothbrush and toothpaste, as well as socks to wear so you don't have to worry about your feet stinking up the whole cabin.

All in all, Singapore airlines is the way to go!


Trains

Mike and I have now been on a few different trains, within Taipei, the Metropolitan Rapid Transit (MRT) is much like the train systems in most efficient cities, ie: Montreal, Toronto, Berlin, Paris, London. The cars are all connected, so you can see from one end of the train all the way down to the other end if the train is going in a straight line.

Then we also took a train to Taipei and down south to a city called Hua Lien.
- Tonnes of leg room
- Can recline almost all the way down, probably about 145 degree angle.
- The train doesn't stop booking tickets once the seats fill up, they'll continue to sell "standing" tickets. There's handles on the sides of each seat where patrons can stand and hold for the duration of their trip from city to city. Mike and I had to do this for 45 minutes, it was originally supposed to be 3 hours, but we found seats last minute.
- To go from one side of the train station to other side is not possible unless you have tickets, which kind of makes sense, but to walk through just the station doesn't really consist of going on to the platform or anything. Mike and I had to pay 60NT (about $2.50 - $3.00) just to get to the other side of the train station.


Automobiles

So you know how Canadians have that stereotype that Chinese people can't drive? Well, its not that they don't know how to drive, they just drive as if they're back home. Everyone here doesn't really follow the traffic rules, but amazingly I think it works, there's hardly any backed up traffic and I haven't seen any accidents on the side of road yet.

Scooters
Mike says everyone calls them Motorcycles here, but don't really know what the difference is between the two. If you think about it though, a scooter is a motorized cycle. Anyway, they're everywhere! I'm sure there's way more scooters than cars.

I've never been on one until a few days ago. I was pretty freaked out at first, you've got to put a lot of trust in the driver to just hop on the back of one and go. Thank God for helmets. At first I was clenching on to the little handle bars behind my seat with all its worth, afterwards my hands would be vibrating and soar. Not to mention, my legs and ass get really soar too! I've got to stretch my ham strings wide open as I straddle the bike sitting behind Mike, try staying like that for a long time, not easily done. The last couple of days while in Hua Lien, we had rented a different scooter, and I got quite used to it. Its quite adventurous, but at the same time, really safe.

Its amazing how many people you can fit on these things! I've seen a family of 4 on one little scooter. One child will stand up at the very front, the driver (usually the father) will the be at the front of the seat, behind him is the other kid being squished by the Mother who is at the very back. Mike has seen a family of 5!

One last thing about scooters... you get filthy!!! After riding and riding through all the polluted streets, your face becomes like a sponge for soot and dirt. You scratch your face and there's dirt under your nails, lots of it! I saw some people wearing masks while they were driving and thought it was for SARS, but it because they don't want the pollution in their face!

Just like the movie!

The reason I titled this one "Planes, Trains and Automobiles" is because Mike had booked a hotel room in Hua Lien and could only find a room with one double bed and a little heart on the door. We had to sleep in the same bed and all I could think about was that scene where Steve Martin wakes up with his hands between John Candy's "two pillows"! Don't worry, it didn't happen though... phew!

First Day and Counting...

Well, I left Canadian soil yesterday evening. Saying goodbye was pretty hard, trying not to cry was even harder. A few tears were shed, but I'll be back, no worries.

Flying into the mega city of Los Angeles was pretty cool, seeing all the lights go on and on. It's like a big grid. There was also the coolest sunset overtop all the clouds, the widest horizon I've ever seen. I'd say its a good omen to have such a beautiful take off. However Air Canada didn't play a movie, the flight was almost 3 hours long, as if they couldn't of shown a movie instead of all the boring crap they chose to show us. Made me tired, I took a nap! I had a whole row to myself, at first I was beside the emergency exit and 2 other people but had the option of moving to my own row... hmmm... decisions, decisions.

I've spent last night and today in LA with my friend Abbey. She's been an excellent host showing me around. We drove around last night and saw a bunch of cool stuff and today we went to a farmers market, the beach front, Melrose, this cool little square called the "Grove". Saw CBS, Flynt Publications (as in Larry Flynt), where Tyra Banks was shot in the Movie "Higher Learning", bunch of other neat things. Anyway, my flight takes off in about 5 hours and we're going to do a bit more hangin' before I leave for Taiwan. A 14 hour flight... that'll be fun.

Talk to you soon.

Oh the places I'll go!

So... the book "Oh! the places you'll go" by Dr. Seuss is one of my favorite books, I live life by it. Or I at least try to. It was given to me on my 21st birthday from my friend Candie. It was right around the time when I was still fresh out of the closet and high on life and my whole outlook on life was changing. This book helped me form the person I am today. I read it every now and then and I say "oh yeah, forgot about that". If ever you need a self-help book, this is the best one.

Below are a few excerpts from the book... I hope I'm not going against any copyright laws here. Consider it the abridged version.

"You’re on your own. And you know what you know.
And YOU are the guy who’ll decide where to go.

And when things start to happen,
don’t worry. Don’t stew.
Just go right along.
You’ll start happening too.

I’m sorry to say so
but, sadly, it’s true
that Bang-ups
and Hang-ups
can happen to you.

And when you’re in a Slump,
you’re not in for much fun.
Un-slumping yourself
is not easily done.

You can get so confused
that you’ll start in to race
down long wiggled roads at a break-neck pace
and grind on for miles across wierdish wild space,
headed, I fear, toward a most useless place.
The Waiting Place...

Waiting for the fish to bite
or waiting for wind to fly a Kite
or waiting around for Friday night
or waiting, perhaps, for their Uncle Jake
or a pot to boil, or a Better Break
or a string of pearls, or a pair of pants
or a wig with curls, or Another Chance.
Everyone is just waiting.

NO!
That’s not for you!

Somehow you’ll escape
all that waiting and staying.
You’ll find the bright places
where Boom Bands are playing.

Oh, the places you’ll go! There is fun to be done!
There are points to be scored. There are games to be won.
And the magical things you can do with that ball
will make you the winning-est winner of all.
Fame! You’ll be famous as famous can be,
with the whole wide world watching you win on TV.

I’m afraid that some times
you’ll play lonely games too.
Games you can’t win
‘cause you’ll play against you.

And when you’re alone there’s a very good chance
you’ll meet things that scare you right out of your pants.
There are some, down the road between hither and yon,
that can scare you so much you won’t want to go on.

On and on you will hike.
And you know you’ll hike far
and face up to your problems
whatever they are.

So be sure when you step.
Step with care and great tact
and remember that Life’s
a Great Balancing Act.
Just never forget to be dexterous and deft.
And never mix up your right foot with your left.

And will you succeed?
Yes! You will, indeed!
(98 and ¾ percent guaranteed.)

KID YOU’LL MOVE MOUNTAINS!

So...
be your name Buxbaum or Bixby or Bray
or Mordecai Ali Van Allen O’Shea,
you’re off to Great Places!
Today is your day!
Your mountain is waiting.
So...get on your way! "

- Dr. Seuss



Hope that inspires all of you to do what YOU want to do! If you've never read the book, buy it and read it. If you've read it before, read it again!

Thanks to Joy from my work, I've got an "Oh! the places you'll go" journal to take with me. I'm going to write the whole story on it for my first entry, keep me motivated.