The Luxury Of Time

BigLaw is notorious for pummeling the souls out of their worker bees with grueling 70-80 work weeks.  Despite working hard for my work / life balance, I was not immune.  With a job that required my brain to function at 110% all the time, the last thing I wanted to do after work was anything that required me to stare at paper or at a computer.  So I pursued hobbies like dancing, martial arts, hiking, parkour, climbing, kayaking, whitewater rafting, and biking.  

This trip is not just a chance to explore the world, but it offers to me the luxury of time to do all the things that I wanted to do, but was just too damn tired after a 12-hour workday to do.  

Drawing

Little do many of my friends know, but once upon a time, I was voted "most artistic" in the mock elections both at the end of middle school and at the end of high school.  For many years, you would never find me without a sketchpad, and I remember losing entire afternoons to a piece I was working on.  Over the years, I would pick up my drawing pencils and paper every so often just to prove I could still do it, but that was mostly before law school.  Only one drawing remains that I haven't thrown out or given away, tucked away in a box to be stored at my parents' house.  

Circa 2009-ish.

As I was packing this past weekend, I found all my old drawing pencils and decided to buy a Moleskin notebook to embrace the artist in me that was sacrificed over the years.  Since I'm using mini-dry bags to compartmentalize my belongings in my already waterproof panniers, I'm not too worried about losing the notebook to the elements.

Photography

I've always had an eye for photography.  I can observe a scene, find the angle, picture in my head what I want a photo to look like, but I've never had the time to actually learn how to make my pictures look like the mental image I have.  Most of my amazing travel photos so far have been the product of naturally good lighting or an amazing subject that anyone with a decent point-and-shoot would get an amazing outcome.

Death Valley: The Racetrack

Death Valley

Tanzania: The Serengeti

Tanzania: The Serengeti

Sure, these pictures look nice, but that's only because I lugged around a pricey DSLR... and when I say lugged, I mean lugged... those things weigh a ton.  Now that I've traded the DSLR for a mirrorless camera, which provides me just enough options and lenses to get good results, but doesn't weigh 400 pounds, I'm determined to play around with the aperture, ISO, and shutter speed to get the pictures I want.

Writing

I've always like the idea of writing a novel.  I'm not a writer in the sense that I wake up wanting to write, but I've come to enjoy being a wordsmith of sorts.  A well written brief or research memo is probably the part of being a lawyer I find the most satisfaction from.  Usually, it is the combination of boredom and a desire to create that drives me to write.  But that's the thing... I haven't been bored in years.  I started a novel in college before I had figured out that I am happiest when pursuing a goal of some sort.  So I wrote three chapters that to this day, I still like.  I'm not sure if I will finish that novel, but I want to write something meaningful on the road.

Oh sure, this blog is "writing," but it was never meant to be anything but a way of keeping myself accountable and documenting the greatest adventure of my life for myself, my friends, my family, and possibly others cycling nuts.  And while I may find myself waxing philosophic on bike touring, gear reviews, and routes, it's really just a fancy journal.  Maybe this trip will inspire a separate book based on these ramblings, but that's something I think needs to be written with reflection after the passage of time.

And All Those Other Things

I have dreams of becoming a bike mechanic (oh Park Tool School blue repair book, you will be my new best friend), a fluent Spanish speaker (I'm good, really good, but always looking to be better), a scuba instructor, and a dozen other hobbies and potential career paths that involve gaining expertise.  I'll be keeping my mind open as I roll along for opportunities to better myself in whatever ways I can.