I’ve been trying to supplement my life outside of work with personal endeavors. In Austin, before I knew of a world outside the US, this was fairly straightforward: acting in community theater, hitting up 6th Street (I was in my 20s, after all), and running on Town Lake. For the most part, these activities...
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This past year has taken me across the globe, off the map, and back home again. From a stressful beginning in San Francisco to a whirlwind tour of Peru, I’ve had opportunities for adventure that I try to appreciate with every in breath and out breath. When I started 2013, I was beyond burnt...
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Do you know what the scariest thing is? To not know your place in this world, to not know why you’re here. That’s just an awful feeling. Sometimes I feel particularly despondent hearing stories of success. Mark Zuckerberg created Facebook in college. Steve Jobs had his own company before he was thirty. Kerouac belted...
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No one is paying me to write this. If Starwood wants to toss a few points my way for spreading awareness (hint, hint), I wouldn’t say no, but I say all of this of my own accord. Like so many Americans who are hesitant of signing up for credit cards or ignorant of the...
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There’s something I should address to all my readers, those who have been following me for years, and those who have only recently stumbled across my blog and have yet to get the full view of my experience: I’m not going to be down forever. If anything, I’m feeling pretty great at the moment,...
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It’s difficult to write. I’m only going through these words just to get my fingers moving and the thoughts slowly put down on paper. I don’t know how this will end. The truth is, I don’t think I’m ever going to find a career I consider satisfying. Even some of the jobs considered the...
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Ten-hour bus rides with the air conditioning set to full have seldom led me to desirable destinations. Even if the trip is worth it, I usually arrive sleepy and stiff from the cold. My journey back to Thai Mueang, home of my volunteer experience in 2008, was no different. I spent a mellow few...
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As many readers are aware, a few months after the earthquake and tsunami struck the Tohoku region of Japan, I volunteered to assist with cleanup efforts in Ofunato with All Hands, one of the few foreign-run organizations to make it past the Japanese bureaucracy. It was a remarkable experience, seeing the kind of people...
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I was never much of a photographer in high school or college. Even with the rise of Facebook and tagging, I wasn’t tempted to bring a camera to social outings and catch the photons from that sunrise to preserve for eternity on my hard drive. When I first started taking pictures abroad, I was...
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It’s only been six weeks since I took that flight from Incheon, and already my world is established. I have a job (well, series of jobs, anyway), a girlfriend, a place to stay, food in the fridge, money in the bank. I’d be lying if I said things are exactly the way I wanted...
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