On the road again: late September to early December

As I write this, I'm visiting a good friend in Raleigh, N.C. on the later part of my latest road trip. More on that soon.

Last time I wrote, I was preparing to go to a meditation course, visit San Francisco and move out of my apartment. All of that happened.

The meditation course was rewarding and difficult and interesting and many other things. It was probably the single most useful ten-day thing I've done in my life. I got a much better sense of the ways different things have been affecting my life unconsciously (cravings, fear, aversion) and now feel like I have much more choice and peace around what I do and what happens in my life.

Visiting San Francisco was lovely. I got to see a bunch of people I like, do some two-steppin', see Sweeney Todd (again, and yes, I'm looking forward to the movie), face some fears (like acupuncture) and just walk around and enjoy the city. There are things I miss about the place, and I do feel like I really like being in a city with lots of people around and things happening, though I don't feel like I made a mistake moving away from San Francisco.

I packed up my apartment and put my stuff into storage (again) and then went to do a couple weeks of volunteer work at the meditation center where I took my course. I ended up with a couple of manager positions, most interestingly being kitchen manager of six or seven volunteers for about ten days. Challenging and rewarding work, plus three or so hours of meditation a day.

Thanksgiving was celebrated with mom in Burlington, which was pleasant. Then I headed south for a US Rowing convention in Miami which happened this past weekend. I'm now a certified rowing coach and got more ideas about how to find and set up touring rowing, which is something I've wanted to do for years but hadn't actually done anything about besides think. Now I have much more specific knowledge for when I have the time to start doing things about it. And I feel quite confident about coaching rowing, at least beginning to early intermediate rowers for technique, which is another thing I've wanted to do since shortly after I first learned to row.

On the way to and from the conference, I visited Hershey, Penn., Raleigh and Asheville, N.C., Pigeon Forge, Tenn., St. Agustine, Orlando, Miami and Miami Beach, Fla., and Charleston, S.C. I was disappointed I didn't get to see friends who used to live in the south (they've moved), but happy to visit new places. I was most impressed and want to go back to St. Agustine, Miami Beach, Great Smoky Mountains, and Charleston. I was also happy to finally see the Cirque du Soleil show La Nouba at Downtown Disney in Orlando. Again, my favorite act was a trampoline act, and that got me wanting to get back to trampoline classes.

Coming up, I'm heading back up the east coast to visit people and places around Washington, D.C., Philadelphia, New York city, and then back to Vermont. Over New Year's there's a retreat in New Mexico I'd like to attend. Next spring there are interaction design conferences in Cape Town and Florence that I'm making plans for, and considering spending time volunteering in Cape Town, unless some work with start-ups I know about pans out soon.